Songs About Fucking

Infobox Album | Name = Songs About Fucking
Type = Album
Artist = Big Black

---

Released = January 01, 1987
Recorded = Side One recorded at Southern Studios, Wood Green. Side Two recorded in Chicago
Genre = Noise rock
Length = 31:45
Label = Touch & Go
Producer = Big Black
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:w1ug6j2h71u0 link] |
Last album = "The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape"
(1987)
This album = "Songs About Fucking"
(1987) | Next album = "Pigpile"
(1992) |

"Songs About Fucking" is the second and final album by the noise rock band Big Black. It placed 54th on Pitchfork Media's 'Top 100 Albums of the 1980s'. Included are covers of Kraftwerk's "The Model" and Cheap Trick's "He's a Whore".

Steve Albini has said that "Songs About Fucking" is the Big Black album that he is most satisfied with. In a 1992 interview with "Maximumrocknroll" magazine, Albini said: "The best was side one of 'Songs About Fucking'. I was real pleased with the way we did that. We just hopped into the studio, banged all the songs out and hopped out. Didn't take long, didn't cost much, just real smooth. Side two we recorded at a more leisurely pace and I think that hurt us. And that Cheap Trick song got on the tape and the CD by accident, and we just left it on."

"Songs About Fucking" has been called "certainly the most honest album title of the rock'n'roll era".cite book |last=Taylor |first=Steve |title=The A to X of Alternative Music |year=2004 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |location= |language= |isbn=0826482171 |pages=35 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ] Lyrical themes on the album include South American killing techniques ("Colombian Necktie"), bread that gets you high ("Ergot"), and how "slowly, without trying, everyone becomes what he despises most". While the album's title (commonly blanked out when displayed in shops on its release) and the sleeve were controversial, according to one reviewer, "as brutal as that cover is, the music is even more so",cite web |url= http://www.cdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=196|title=Big Black - Songs About Fucking (review) |accessdaymonth=30 March |accessyear=2008 |author=McCusker, Eamonn |year=2003 |month=November |work=CD Times |publisher= |quote= ] and it was considered "as dark and frightening as the band name suggests" by another, "Treble" webzine's Hubert Vigilla, who goes on to say "Songs About Fucking" is loud, it's abrasive, it's unattractive in the extreme...So really, it's everything that made Big Black so great in the first place".cite web |url=http://www.treblezine.com/reviews/1617-Big_Black_Songs_About_Fucking.html |title=Album Review: Big Black - Songs About Fucking |accessdaymonth=30 March |accessyear=2008 |author=Vigilla, Hubert |year=2006 |month=December |work=Treble |publisher= |quote= ]

The band had already decided to split up before the album was recorded, prompted by guitarist Santiago Durango's decision to enroll in law school, and the band's desire to quit while at their peak.cite book |last=Buckley |first=Peter |title=The Rough Guide to Rock |year=2003 |publisher=Rough Guides |location= |language= |isbn=1843531054 |pages=90 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ]

Track listing

#"The Power of Independent Trucking" – 1:27
#"The Model" – 2:34
#"Bad Penny" – 2:33
#"L Dopa" – 1:40
#"Precious Thing" – 2:20
#"Colombian Necktie" – 2:14
#"Kitty Empire" – 4:01
#"Ergot" – 2:27
#"Kasimir S. Pulaski Day" – 2:28
#"Fish Fry" – 2:06
#"Pavement Saw" – 2:12
#"Tiny, King of the Jews" – 2:31
#"Bombastic Intro" – 0:35
#"He's a Whore" – 2:37*

* *only available on CD reissue

Personnel

*Dave Riley: Bass Guitar
*Santiago Durango (Credited as Melvin Belli): Guitar
*Steve Albini: Guitar, Vocals
*Roland TR-606: Drums

References