In January 1987, Sears returned to Dag Nasty and was replaced by Brendan Canty, formerly of Rites of Spring . One day, Picciotto, Canty’s Rites of Spring bandmate, dropped by during a practice session to see how his friend was getting along; he later admitted he secretly harbored the idea…
Read More
Tensions were also mounting within the band. Albini did not drink alcohol, so Riley and Durango became drinking buddies on the road while Albini was doing interviews and handling the band’s logistics. Riley, however, was drinking to excess, and his behavior ruined several of the band’s performances. During a key…
Read More
Their second LP was finally issued as Rembrandt Pussyhorse on Touch and Go in April 1986. Coming out some two years after the original sessions, it featured a different mix and song selection than Alternative Tentacles’ unreleased version. Best known for its minimalist reworking of The Guess Who ‘s ”…
Read More
Another project, this time featuring originals, was also attempted in late 1986. Bob McFadden was enlisted to play drums, but after a month this project also fell through.
Just before the release of Psychic… , and with new bassist Terence Smart in tow (the first of many through 1986), the band commenced their first nationwide tour. It was on this outing that they truly established a national presence, starting at Touch and Go’s early headquarters in Detroit before…
Read More
Albini claimed to be aiming for a “big, massive, slick rock sound” with Racer-X , which was less frantic than Bulldozer , but ultimately felt that the EP was “too samey and monolithic.” The band had already begun writing new songs by the time Racer-X was released, stating in the…
Read More
Atomizer was a polarizing record that was praised in the national press and became an underground success, surpassing the band’s expectations by selling three thousand copies soon after its release. Big Black secured a European distribution deal for their records through Blast First , a label recommended to Albini by…
Read More
Picciotto, Janney and Canty formed One Last Wish with Embrace alumnus, guitarist Michael Hampton . They recorded one studio album, entitled 1986 , which was released in 1999 due to the band breaking up after mixing was finished.
The compilation album The Hammer Party , combining Lungs and Bulldozer , was also released through Homestead Records in 1986, but later that year Big Black had a falling out with the label and its distributor, Dutch East India Trading. According to Albini, Dutch East India’s accounting practices were “always…
Read More
Signing to Enigma’s Restless Records division, Wipers released 1986’s Land of the Lost , featuring the song “Let Me Know”, used in the film River’s Edge . It was followed by Follow Blind (1987) and The Circle (1988). All three records were recorded in Sage’s studio 421 Sound .