History Music / BigBlack

** As noted, the TitleTrack of ''Racer-X'' is about the ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' character. In the EP's liner notes, the band and their engineer give themselves nicknames based on other anime from TheSixties (''Franchise/AstroBoy'' Albini, ''[[Anime/EighthMan Tobor (Eight-Man)]]'' Durango, ''Anime/{{Gigantor}}'' Pezzati, ''[[Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion Kimba]]'' Burgess).

* NiceHat: The group took to wearing fedoras at one point in their career.

* FilkSong: "Racer-X", about ''Anime/SpeedRacer''.

* ContemptibleCover: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] on "Songs About Fucking" and "Headache".

* PassFail: "Passing Complexion"

* MohsScaleOfLyricalHardness: A solid 10, occasionally drifting into 11.
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: A hard 7 at their softest, mostly 8-10.

* FilkSong: Racer-X, about Anime/SpeedRacer.

** ''Racer-X'' is named after the ''Manga/SpeedRacer'' character.

* SelfDeprecation: The ''Headache'' EP had a sticker saying "Warning! Not as good as Atomizer, so don't get your hopes up, cheese."
* ShoutOut: Atomizer's album cover is one to [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Looney Tunes]], specifically Marvin the Martian and his dynamite-operated weaponry.

** From the liner notes on "''The Rich Man's Eight-Track Tape''":
-->"''YOU PUSSIES CAN SUCK OUR COCKS [...] This compact disc, compiled to exploit those of you gullible enough to own the bastardly first-generation digital home music system, contains all-analog masters. Compact discs are quite durable, this being their only advantage over real music media. You should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them. Don't worry about their longevity, as Philips will pronounce them obsolete when the next 'phase' of the market-squeezing technology bonanza begins.''"

-->"''When, in [[HilariousInHindsight five years]], this remarkable achievement in the advancement of fidelity is obsolete and unplayable on any 'modern' equipment, remember: in 1971, the 8-track tape was the state of the art.''"

-->"''This compact disk is made from analog masters recorded without noise reduction. Half the tracks, in fact, were recorded in a dismal, cheap basement eight-track studio with puddles of water on the floor. Digital technology will now faithfully reproduce those noisy, lo-fi, unprofessional masters for you at great expense. Feel stupid yet?''"

YMMV tropes [[YMMV/BigBlack here]].

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: A hard 8 at their softest, mostly 9-10.

* BreakupBreakout: Steve Albini has remained a prominent figure in the underground music scene after Big Black's breakup, both as a musician and as a recording engineer who has worked with many notable alternative bands like {{Music/Nirvana}}, Music/ThePixies, and Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor.
** Santiago even had one of his own. Right from the bat, he helped the Cynthia Plastercaster recover her body of work, and he was their label's lawyer in multiple cases.

** Then again, his Breakout is somewhat expected, considering part of the reason why the band broke up was so Santiago Durango could pursue his law degree, Dave Riley's music career was cut short by a life-altering stroke, and [[CompanionCube Roland was a drum machine.]] The only other former Big Black member who has remained active in the music scene is original bassist Jeff Pezzati, who was already a member of his main band, Naked Raygun, before joining Big Black.

* AffectionateParody: On their "He's A Whore / The Model" single, both sides of the album art parody of the cover art of the albums the songs are originally found on. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Big_Black_-_He%27s_a_Whore_cover.jpg The "He's A Whore" side]] has the members of Big Black dressed like CheapTrick and posing similarly to them on [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/Cheaptrickalbum1977.jpg their debut self-titled album.]] Likewise, [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Big_Black_-_The_Model_cover.jpg on the back side]] the band parodies ''Music/TheManMachine'' by Music/{{Kraftwerk}}.

* BreakupBreakout: Steve Albini has remained a prominent figure in the underground music scene after Big Black's breakup, both as a musician and as a recording engineer who has worked with many notable alternative bands like {{Music/Nirvana}}, {{Music/Pixies}}, and Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor.

* ShoutOut: Atomizer's album cover is one to LooneyTunes, specifically Marvin the Martian and his dynamite-operated weaponry.

-->''"''When, in [[HilariousInHindsight five years]], this remarkable achievement in the advancement of fidelity is obsolete and unplayable on any 'modern' equipment, remember: in 1971, the 8-track tape was the state of the art.''"

->''"1, 2, 1, 2 Fuck You"''

* SmallTownBoredom: "Kerosene" and "Cables" are both about the extremes that people go to in combatting this.
* TakeThat: This excerpt from ''The Rich Man's Eight-Track Tape'', aimed at [=CDs=] and digital recordings.
-->You should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them.

* AffectionateParody: On their "He's A Whore / The Model" single, both sides of the album art parody of the cover art of the albums the songs are originally found on. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Big_Black_-_He%27s_a_Whore_cover.jpg The "He's A Whore" side]] has the members of Big Black dressed like CheapTrick and posing similarly to them on [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/Cheaptrickalbum1977.jpg their debut self-titled album.]] Likewise, [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Big_Black_-_The_Model_cover.jpg on the back side]] the band parodies [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Kraftwerk_The_Man_Machine_album_cover.jpg the cover art to "The Man-Machine"]] by {{Kraftwerk}}.

* CoverVersion: Several, including Music/{{Kraftwerk}}'s "The Model," {{Wire}}'s "Heartbeat," and {{Cheap Trick}}'s "He's A Whore."