Kerosene - Big Black | Composers React (feat. Nathan Moody)

Listen to Nathan Moody's music:
nathanmoody.bandcamp.com/
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obsidiansound.net/
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[@bullittvolante8215]

Big Black were the band of the 80's for me and Kerosene is an absolute classic song. Still knocks me on my arse after all these years, epic stuff.

[@ThePorpoisepower]

I kinda wish the local metal station or maybe classic rock station would play this, I just wanna see tons of people's heads explode confronted with rock this visceral.

[@user-id3kx4jj4b]

RIP Steve Albini

[@northerntao]

Nice deep dive from some synth guys. This song is heavier and biting than any song has a right to be. Can’t believe he’s gone. R.I.P. Albini.

[@Oni64]

Before Godflesh there was Big Black. Godflesh was basically Big Black + Swans + Black Sabbath

[@PushButtonPress]

I met Steve when he was running sound at a Jesus Lizard show in Tampa around 1990-ish with Helmet head lining. I was a huge fan of BB and had just learned to play guitar. I asked the worst question, "How do get that guitar sound?". He looked past me as if he had heard this a million times and said, "I build my own amps". Throwing the glove down at my feet to be a better artist.

[@chizarsu4769]

There's such a worrying lack of Kerosene reaction vids on the internet, I'm glad I got this recommended, this was a great song breakdown! It's been 5 years since I heard it for the first time and even though I'm currently 18 it's interesting to listen how we had the same experience discovering this song. I too think this song singlehandedly shaped my interest in noise rock and it made me deep dive into most Touch & Go releases from the time. It's been my favourite song ever since and I don't think that's dying down anytime soon. Great video, definitely subscribing!

[@malakistahl4832]

This is the path I took to electronic music as well. Kerosene and Big Black albums across the board led me to Godflesh, and then Skinny Puppy and Ministry, I continued collecting punk and math rock and progressive strange music as well as electronic, but I don’t know where I would be without Albini.

[@goetia13]

Exactly the same here. Godflesh prob ended up as my lasting favorite.

[@marasmusine]

Someone put Kerosene on a mixtape for me in the mid 90's that also included some Dead Kennedys, Alice Donut and Crucifucks. What a cool gift that was, really broadened my palate. Loved how heavy and bleak Kerosene was.

[@kooale]

Alice Donut, OMG, thanks for reminding me. XO

[@txzz4688]

Atomizer. One of the greatest albums. Vale Steve Albini

[@GuyInnagorillasuit]

I'll never forget the first time I heard Big Black. I'd listened to all kinds of metal and punk, but never heard music that I once described as "an army of angry insects that wants to get out of the speakers and harm you"

[@davek8706]

Atomizer is a classic.

[@MrCijuciju]

first seconds give proper goosebumps....one of the coolest anthems on life itself,made by a genious man....I love love live this band and sound...whenever it hits the dancefloor,people just shyly go away from me🤣🤣🤣

[@mistercheetah9717]

Loved all this... But a couple of details: This track predates the Harmonic Percolator. The guitar pick-ups Albini is using are wired out of phase which produces that microphonic, metallic sound, then that was accentuated by going into cheap solid state amps and PA speakers with horns and using metal pics with slices cut into it so that the pic "brushed" against the string rather then plucked it.I suspect he also used Stainless Steel strings.

[@beforever]

The harmonic percolator circuit was first produced in the early seventies, over a decade before this song, in addition the Intervoice Preamp pre-dates this song and can be used to create the tone.

[@mistercheetah9717]

True, but I still don't hear the percolatoro in this, and by his own admittance, he uses it very rarely@@beforever

[@beforever]

@@mistercheetah9717 I think he uses his Intersound Intervoice Preamp rack module which when saturated will result in mega clang

[@mistercheetah9717]

Agreed… and the fact that he used PA speakers as well.

[@nickjbland]

Contrary to popular belief, the drum machine on this song isn't a TR606, it's an E-Mu Drumulator. The 606 was only used for the first handful of EP's.

[@dtb2229]

I was going to comment this, as I just learned this today after looking it up.

[@grandadwithnonehair]

Why haven't I heard this before? Gonna check the album.

[@jack_rabbit]

2 best big black albums: atomizer, and songs about fucking. if you like those, then check out steve's current band shellac. their album at action park is incredible.

[@MrCijuciju]

yea,why haven't you?...huh?

[@gimmigimmigimmi]

because you find about music on youtube

[@pnadell9231]

It is one of their best.

[@kooale]

@@pnadell9231 Absolute best, priceless

[@justme6591]

I'm wearing an Atomizer tshirt right now!

[@eyevocal]

I suspect that the BOC-ish song on Atomizer that Nathan was trying to think of was "Bad Houses."

[@mikequinlivan8842]

I think you’re right. I listened to “fists of love,” and “bazooka Joe,” but they were faster than I remembered. I think you hit the nail on the head with “Bad Houses.”

[@GirlPower342]

This is an epic song!!!!! I lived in a boring small Illinois town during my teen years (in the '80s), with long, dark, bitterly cold winters, and this song perfectly nails my emotions during that interminable epoch. Thank you, Big Black! And thanks to Initial Replays, too. BTW, does anyone know the backstory to Big Black's song "Bazooka Joe," if there is one??

[@tonlop1]

a friend of mine noticed it sounds really similar to dead joe by the birthday party. albini is a birthday party fan, plus similar name. maybe they took influence from it?

[@nameless646]

This song is the epitome of the rural U.S. prior to the Internet.

[@Awesomenoisycat]

I don't personally know much about "Bazooka Joe" , but the inside-of-the sleeve poster for the Atomizer record has explanations for the songs and the one for Bazooka Joe says "Joe comes back from the great war very different. He has done nothing but kill and watch death for many long months. He has trouble adjusting until a friend suggests a new line of work, compatible with Joe's new skills. Part of the drum track is an M1 Carbine being fired in a field exercise. By a guy named Joe."

[@GirlPower342]

@@Awesomenoisycat thanks for the info. Such a great song. Even if you don’t know the backstory!!

[@kcl4364]

Cables is my fav Big Black track however

[@TheMotorRAJ]

Big Black Kerosene is Phenomenal. Pretty much everything Steve Albini does is Gold. I' Venture to say, the Album Hammer Party was the very First Industrial Metal (1986). Ministry left New Wave 2 years After Big Black's 'Hammer Party' and 'Atomizer' Albums. Songs 'Heartbeat' (single), and 'Stinking Drunk' are much slower than Kerosene.

[@Soandso801]

To your point, ‘Hammer Party’ is actually a collection of two 12” EPs that were originally released in 1982 and 1983.

[@eyevocal]

"Stinking Drunk" is really fast. The two slow grinders on Atomizer are "Bad Houses" and "Fists of Love."

[@eyevocal]

@@Soandso801 Three EPs if you get it on CD.

[@MDK2_Radio]

@@eyevocalwhen Hammer Party came out, Racer-X was still in print as its own release. It wasn’t for a couple of more years that indie (real indie, that is) labels started producing CD’s. Those labels, aware of the higher price compared to vinyl and cassette (at that time), were good enough to offset that when possible by combining different releases onto one disc. That especially happened a lot when they were issuing older material on CD for the first time, and it worked with punk because most punk LPs were 35 minutes or less in duration. Or in this case, 3 EPs which ran about 15-20 minutes each. It’s also why Atomizer, Headache, and the Heartbeat single were combined as the infamous “The Rich Man’s Eight Track Tape” disc which proved to be a prescient commentary on the CD format.

[@atiostefony3760]

Best Song From The 80´s..... I Think

[@ferreflamand7040]

Legend :)

[@will4486]

Btw the St Vincent cover is indeed incredible, one of my favorite covers ever, find it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4XYiKaHZtigh9E

[@ThePorpoisepower]

Big Black would collapse into unlistenable noise if the their rhythms weren't so tight/driving.

[@Brokenface]

Exactly, that's why the bass is very important in Big Black and i think in noise rock in general an instrument that plays a melodic line Is important for that reason.

[@davek8706]

Sounds like noise rock in general

[@kooale]

@@davek8706 You're mistaken

[@omniobadiahmee1989]

Naked Raygun existed before Big Black.

[@harveycryst222]

Cool.

[@ArzHole]

Easily one of the top five noise rock tracks, from back in the days when noise rock was something other than just metal derivative bands...Killdozer, Scratch Acid, Laughing Hyenas, Tar, etc. wipe the floor with 99% of modern attempts.

[@Alltoofinite]

Guys have a lot of research to do

[@smegger68]

There's a couple of bands that attempted to cover this and they come nowhere near the level of brutality required. Don't cover Big Black. You will not win :)

[@yurirepollo1494]

you guys should react to basketball shoes by black country new road!

[@johnnymidnight2982]

I think Big Black used an E-Mu Drumulator on Atomizer for the beats.

[@johnnymidnight2982]

And, if you would like to have Drumulator sounds, I believe the Rossum Electro Assimil80r eurorack module has it in its sample library.

[@sumner-kv3gh]

I think they used Roland for the studio. The emu for tours but I could be wrong

[@naskivik]

roland tr-606

[@cftvdata]

The "original" Roland was indeed a TR606. That was used live and on recordings until 1985 or so - I think Racer-X was the last record to utilize it. Past that point, they 100% used the EMU Drumulator on stage, and I'm almost positive it was used for Headache / Atomizer / Heartbeat / S.A.F. as well. I know it often gave the band trouble onstage, but Albini loved the samples, which were way thicker and meatier than those heard on, say, the Lungs EP. If anyone with more refined ears than I wants to compare and draw a definitive conclusion, the (semi-)official bootleg Sound Of Impact! uses the Drumulator for sure on the B-side, which was taped at gigs in Minneapolis and the Netherlands in late '85 and late '86, respectively. And, come to think of it, the live version of "Cables" that concludes the Atomizer LP is from that same MN show at the 7th St. Entry.

[@midorimage]

I am surprised that this never made it on a movie soundtrack...

[@MarquisVonLion]

Great Vinyl ...! where do these people come from ( talking about you guys :>) The Silicon Valley ? hahaha!

[@theneighbor4209]

I’m sweating kerosene listening to this song

[@duncan-rmi]

huge loss to the music biz. wherever you went, steve, take no shit.

[@will4486]

Definitely not a song for ear buds like y’all said lol 😂 All that said, love this vid and analysis

[@fuckamericanidiot]

To be a twat about it, it goes on for a bit too long BUT the sound is incredible, love the ideas, the drums, the bass is absolutely glorious and one of the best things I've ever heard.

[@kooale]

No, it does not go on a bit too long. It's a singular work of genius in it's time, don't - you - dare -.......

[@nazfrde]

RIP Steve Albini