Rapeman was a short-lived American noise rock band founded in 1987 and disbanded in 1989. It consisted of Steve Albini on guitar and vocals, David Wm. Sims on bass and Rey Washam on drums. Their sound was also described by some as post-hardcore. Rapeman were formed as a parallel sister project to The Jesus Lizard, although they outlasted Rapeman by several years.
Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. Over the years, Fear Factory has seen frequent changes in its lineup, with lead vocalist Burton C. Bell being the only consistent member for 31 years until his departure in 2020. Other than guitarist Dino Cazares, there are no original members left in its current lineup. The band went on hold in March 2002 following some internal disputes, but resumed activity a year later without founding member Cazares. Previous bassist Christian Olde Wolbers replaced him as the new guitarist, and bassist Byron Stroud joined the band. In April 2009, a new lineup was announced. Cazares returned as guitarist, and Gene Hoglan as drummer. Bell and Stroud reprised their respective roles, and this lineup recorded the band's seventh studio album titled Mechanize (2010). Former members Wolbers and Raymond Herrera—both of whom were playing in Arkaea—disputed the legitimacy of the new lineup, and a legal battle from both parties had begun. Despite this, Fear Factory has since released three more albums: The Industrialist (2012), Genexus (2015) and Aggression Continuum (2021).
Dismember is a Swedish death metal band formed in 1988. They split up in 2011 but reunited in 2019. Pioneers of Swedish death metal, Dismember is now considered one of the country's "big four", alongside Entombed, Grave, and Unleashed.
Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of Naked Raygun. In 1985, Pezzati was replaced by Dave Riley, who played on Big Black's two full-length studio albums, Atomizer (1986) and Songs About Fucking (1987).
Joseph Alberto Santiago is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer. Active since 1986, Santiago is best known as the lead guitarist for the American alternative rock band Pixies. His signature style changed the sound of alt-rock and has served as a major influence in music to this day. After the band's breakup in 1993, Santiago produced musical scores for film and television documentaries, and he formed The Martinis with his ex-wife, Linda Mallari. He also contributed to albums by Charles Douglas and former Pixies band-mate Frank Black. Santiago resumed his role as the Pixies' lead guitarist when they reunited in 2004.
Possessed is an American death metal band, originally formed in 1983. Noted for their fast style of playing and Jeff Becerra's growled vocals, they are often called the first band in the death metal genre, and paved the way for the 1980s Bay Area thrash metal scene, along with Metallica, Exodus, Testament and Death Angel. The band is also notable for featuring future Primus member Larry LaLonde, who was the lead guitarist for Possessed from 1984 to 1987.
The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas and based in Chicago, Illinois. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground…[who] turned out a series of independent records filled with scathing, disembowelling, guitar-driven pseudo-industrial noise, all of which received positive reviews in underground music publications and heavy college-radio play."
Naked Raygun was one of the first, one of the longest running, and one of the most recognized Chicago punk bands. They are considered by many to be the most important band in the history of Chicago punk rock and credited with creating “the Chicago Sound.” Raygun was active from 1980 to 1992, along with reunion shows in 1997. In late 2006 Raygun reformed to play Riot Fest and is still active today. Over the years Naked Raygun has 6 studio full length releases, multiple EPs, singles and a DVD What Poor Gods We Do Make (2007). After the passing of Pierre Kezdy in 2020, the current lineup consists of original member Jeff Pezzati, Eric Spicer, Bill Stephens, and Fritz Doreza.
Killdozer was an American rock band formed in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1983 with members Bill Hobson, Dan Hobson and Michael Gerald. They took their name from the 1974 TV movie, directed by Jerry London, itself based on a Theodore Sturgeon short story. They released their first album, Intellectuals are the Shoeshine Boys of the Ruling Elite, in the same year. The band split in 1990 but reformed in 1993, losing guitarist Bill Hobson and gaining Paul Zagoras, and continued until they split up in 1996. Their farewell tour was officially titled "Fuck You, We Quit!", and included Erik Tunison of Die Kreuzen in place of Dan Hobson on drums and Jeff Ditzenberger on additional guitar. The band released nine albums, including a post-breakup live CD, The Last Waltz.
Santiago Alonso Durango is a Colombian–American attorney and retired musician. He is best known for his work with the 1980s punk rock groups Naked Raygun and Big Black.
Atomizer is the debut full-length album by American punk rock group Big Black released in 1986.
A Wilhelm Scream is a melodic hardcore band from New Bedford, Massachusetts formed in 2003. Their music has been compared to Strung Out, Hot Water Music, Propagandhi, and Strike Anywhere as the band's similar artists. Their name is a reference to the Wilhelm scream, a famous stock sound effect mainly used in films. The band previously went by the names Koen, Adam's Crack, and Smackin' Isaiah, though the last was the only name to be used in any major releases. "The reason for the name changes from Koen to Smackin' Isaiah, then to A Wilhelm Scream was really a matter of them adding new members, and progressing/maturing as a band".
Songs About Fucking is the second full-length and final studio album by the punk rock band Big Black, released in 1987 by Touch and Go records. The album includes a rendition of Kraftwerk's "The Model" in a remixed version from that which appeared on Big Black's then-recent single. The compact disc of Songs About Fucking added the other side of that single, a cover of Cheap Trick's "He's a Whore".
The Meatmen are an American punk band headed by Tesco Vee, originally existing from 1981 to 1988, before reforming in the mid-1990s, and again in the 2000s. They were known for their outrageous stage antics and offensive lyrics. They reformed in 2008 and continue to tour and record.
Steve Albini is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal engineer of Electrical Audio, a recording studio complex in Chicago. In 2018, Albini estimated that he had worked on several thousand albums over his career. He has worked with acts such as Nirvana, Pixies, the Breeders, PJ Harvey, and former Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.
Axxis is a German heavy metal band that was founded in 1988. Their debut album, Kingdom of the Night, became the best-selling debut album by a hard rock band in Germany in 1989.
David Michael Riley was an American musician who was the bassist in the punk rock band Big Black from 1985 until the band's dissolution in 1987. Riley moved to Chicago in 1982 from Detroit, where he had worked as a recording engineer. He played on Big Black's two studio albums, Atomizer (1986) and Songs About Fucking (1987), as well as their Headache EP (1987), several singles, and two live albums. After Big Black, Riley recorded tracks with several other artists before being incapacitated by a stroke in 1993, losing the ability to walk. He became a blogger, and published a book in 2006 titled Blurry and Disconnected: Tales of Sink-or-Swim Nihilism. He died in late 2019 from squamous cell carcinoma.
Laughing Hyenas was an American post-hardcore band from Ann Arbor, Michigan that existed from 1985 to 1995, fronted by Negative Approach vocalist John Brannon. According to AllMusic, "At first, the band specialized in dirges overlaid with the tortuous, throat-shredding vocals of frontman John Brannon. As time passed, their blues connections became more and more explicit".
Bulldozer is the second EP by Chicago post-hardcore band Big Black, released in 1983. It was their first release to feature an actual band performing, including Pat Byrne from Urge Overkill playing drums on some of the songs in addition to the Roland TR-606 drum machine that provided rhythm tracks on all of Big Black's records.
Racer-X is the third EP by American post-hardcore band Big Black. It was released by Homestead Records in 1984 and reissued by Touch and Go Records in 1992.
