POLL: Best Song on Atomizer

It's a tie between Kerosene and Fists of Love. Totally agree.

Kerosense, followed by Passing Complexion

I swear we did this one.

Nate OTM, those are the two.

I had a good look, couldn't find a poll.

Sticking w the herd: Fists of Love. Sexiest Big Black song (not that there's much competition). Kerosene's great, but it wouldn't be my 2nd choice. Bazooka Joe or maybe the live Cables. They're more fun.

Jordan, Minnesota wins for me. really pretty much all good though, an unstoppable album

Jordan, Minnesota goes with Kerosene. A solid wallop, but I'm not sure I enjoy it much.

Kerosene

"Bazooka Joe" is so underrated.

"Fists of Love"

"Cables"

"Bad Houses" it totally underrated, too.

In some ways it's unfortunate that "Kerosene" is so massively amazing because it hides the fact the pretty much every other song on the album is also awesome.

OTM on Bad Houses being underrated - enough so that I voted for it!

Being a contrary old curmudgeon like Albini, I'm going for 'Passing Complexion'.
The first Indie Dance crossover.

Albini looked ace at ATP last year. Same jeans since '85.

Nods head to Bad Houses too.

Yes Kerosene was the immediate thought.

passing complexion never gets enough love. it's got my favorite guitar riff ever.

If I could vote for the sleevenotes I would.

Can a good mix save a bad song? We'll find out I guess.

jordan, minnesota just cuz that event seemed so dreadful when i was a little kid and it's a great and dreadful song

My band back in '92 did a cover of Bad Houses... always a fave.

The version of Jordan, Minnesota on Pigpile pretty much melted my face when I was like 18 or whenever I bought it. Would *probably* go for Fists... from this actual record, however

'Passing Complexion'. The first Indie Dance crossover.

I'm trying damn hard to see this but it ain't happening. 'Kerosene', maybe. (I have a cover of it by a band called Pop Negatif Wastad, sung in Welsh, that plays it pretty straight but with a bit more of an electro-y slant.)

God, I wish I'd bought the Pigpile video when it came out.

it's all on here, but not in one go, obv.

Been waiting for that VHS to turn up somewhere for, well, best part of 10 years. Thing is I don't think it's worth a ton of money or anything, you just never see one for sale

Funnily enough I was thinking of selling my VHS of Pigpile, it's not like I ever watch it or anything. Keep an eye on ebay over the next month or so! Shilling over.

I'd have to buy a VCR first.

Voted 'Cables' 'cause it slays, quite literally...

Well I managed to find the 'Heartbeat' 7" on my lunch which I've needed to own since forever, so I'm pretty satisfied with that

You're in Cardiff aren't you? Where'd you find that?

D'vinyl, for a fiver

Passing Complexion.

The riff is actually pretty.

Don't know about it being an indie-dance crossover. And that'd be ignoring a hell of a lot of previous indie-dance crossovers!

I swear we did this one.

There's this:
BAZOOKA JOE vs. PASSING COMPLECTION

It's still Kerosene then Jordan, Minnesota for me.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

alright! one vote apiece, great record all around.

didn't vote for it but i'm surprised jordan, minnesota polled so low.

me too

How did I miss this? I went through an intensive reevaluation on this album a few months ago.

FWIW, I would have voted "Passing Complexion" but "Bad Houses" holds a special place in my heart also.

It would be interesting to see how this polled without Kerosene blasting the competition away. I think I'm coming round to Bad Houses being my favourite Big Black song.

Had Kerosene not been there I'd have voted Passing Complexion

do it without Kerosene then

i'd vote fists of love probably

Best song on Atomizer that isn't 'Kerosene'

hallo!

from the talk in the other 2 bb threads and the best of the 80s results, it looks like passing complexion is one of the two clear ilm favorites that aren't kerosene - the other being bad houses.

i dunno though. i see passing complexion and bad houses, which i prefer, as interesting experiments that give the album some needed textural variety, but they're not as viscerally appealing as bb's best & most representative material. (on atomizer that = kerosene, fists of love, bazooka joe and the AMAZING live cables.)

it's weird that songs about fucking seems to have wound up the long-term crowd pleaser, cuz it's a much less varied and inventive record than atomizer. basically just takes the bazooka joe/shotgun/sleep template and runs a bunch of short sharp variations. some of em are GREAT variations (pavement saw, fish fry, l-dopa), but i wonder why that record is so loved when the comparably "punk" tracks on atomizer get so little respect.

i suspect the long term success of songs about fucking is a 50/50 split between the cover art and the simplicity. looks punk, sounds punk, therefore fits the niche better than weirdo shit like atomizer. too bad though...

I could see that Songs would be a comparatively easier-going, sing-along listen than Atomiser. Dunno how many times I'd want to sit through 'Jordan, MN' tbh.

yeah, that's a v good point. though i'll stan hard for big black & atomizer i never got comfortable with jordan mn. still creeps me out

I prefer Atomizer but probably play Songs more often. Atomizer takes you places you might not want to go on a morning commute or w/e (says the guy who played it this morning thanks to reading ILM).