Shellac has a distinctive, minimalist sound based on unusual and urgent time signatures, repetitive heavy rhythms, an angular guitar sound, and both Albini's and Weston's surreal, bitingly sarcastic lyrics.

The band acknowledged no taboos, and Albini's lyrics openly dealt with loaded topics including murder, rape, child sexual abuse, arson, racism, and misogyny.

Many of the EP's lyrics depicted scenarios drawn from Albini's midwest upbringing, such as " Cables ", which described the slaughtering of cows at a Montana abattoir, and " Pigeon Kill ", about a rural Indiana town that dealt with an overpopulation of pigeons by feeding them poisoned corn.

Compounding the problem were the band's aggressive, noise-driven sound and Albini's confrontational lyrics, which tested the tolerance of his white liberal audience by mercilessly satirizing racism, sexism, chauvinism, and stereotypes of homosexuality, sometimes using pejoratives like " darkie " and " fag " to drive home the point ; this led some listeners to consider him a bigot.

Albini's lyrics drew criticism for apparent racism and homophobia.

American noise-rockers Sonic Youth melded the rock-feedback tradition with a compositional / classical approach ( notably covering Reich's " Pendulum Music "), and guitarist / producer Steve Albini's group Big Black also worked controlled feedback into the makeup of their songs.

They performed at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium with Sonic Youth on July 22, Albini's 25th birthday.

No matter what well-meaning rockers think of Steve Albini's supremacist lies, they lie themselves if they dismiss what he does with electric guitars — that Killdozer sound culminates if not finishes off whole generations of punk and metal.

Albini's touring schedule with Shellac did not allow time for the band to rehearse a full set, so they instead played a short set of four songs: " Cables ", " Dead Billy ", " Pigeon Kill ", and " Racer-X ".

Some critics viewed these defenses as mere justifications for actual deep-seated racism, homophobia, and misogyny on Albini's part, given his level of familiarity with the subject matter, but he insisted that he was not a prejudiced person and was merely satirizing those impulses that rational, civilized persons normally suppress in the course of social interaction: " So once that's given, once you know what you think, there's no reason to be ginger about what you say.

Some bands signed to the independent label Homestead Records, including Squirrel Bait ( as well as David Grubbs-related Bastro and Bitch Magnet ) and Steve Albini's Big Black ( just as his subsequent projects Rapeman and Shellac ) are also associated with post-hardcore.

This is in line with Steve Albini's general dislike for the CD format.

" Cobain cited Surfer Rosa as one of his main musical influences, and particularly admired the album's natural and powerful drum sounds — a result of Steve Albini's influence on the record.

William d ' Albini's monastery was a dependency of the Benedictine monastery at St Albans, where his uncle Richard was Abbot.

Steve Albini's Big Black followed a similar path, while also incorporating American hardcore punk.

The contrast between Wallace's style of mixing, which involves ( among other things ) triggered samples ( leading to the album's distinctive half wood, half metal snare drum sound ), and Albini's style of recording, irritated Albini.

Albini's producer's fee was US $ 1, 500 and he received no royalties ; Albini has a practice of refusing royalties from records he produces, viewing it as " an insult to the band.

Albini's name does not appear on the original record sleeve.

Both Surfer Rosa and Steve Albini's production of the album have been influential on alternative rock, and on grunge in particular.

The trio clicked as a unit, Durango's ability to rework arrangements and tweak sounds helping to refine Albini's song ideas.

With their breakup announced well in advance, Big Black recorded their final album, Songs About Fucking, half in London and half at Albini's home studio.

Albini's recording style is characterized by the use of vintage microphones placed strategically around the performance room, keeping vocals very low in the mix, and using few special effects.

The next stop was Steve Albini's studio, Electrical Audio, where the Blues Explosion cut some tracks in the days following their 1998 New Year's Eve Chicago performance.

Critic Mark Deming describes Santiago as an ideal guitar foil for Albini ; " his muscular guitar sound was the ideal match of Albini's jagged, metallic tone.

With the addition of Balthazar " Baltie " de Lay, of the band Mother ( later Menthol ), the band recorded their first demo in famous engineer Steve Albini's basement in Chicago, Illinois.

Subsequently the Beatles experimented with a more complex, psychedelic style of music and anti-establishment lyrics, while The Rolling Stones sang " Sympathy for the Devil ", a song openly written from the point of view of Satan.

Many funk artists have openly associated themselves with black movements and often in the lyrics of their songs, comment on race relations and openly express black pride.

The Hutus and Chicken McHead openly acknowledged PSD's influence on both their lyrics and performance antics.

His songs openly called for the violent overthrow of the government, with lyrics like " Mothers, send your sons to war.

However, Sharp did accurately note such lyrics in his field notebooks, which, given the prudery of the Victorian era could never have been openly published, thus preserving them for posterity.

Whereas in Defenestration it was all tempered with a vaguely mainstream rock sensibility, Todd Walker ’ s main contribution to the band — the Chainsaw Kittens dove enthusiastically off the deep end, into the extreme waters of glam-pop-punk, full-on transvestitism, and openly gay lyrics.

* Despite some openly homophobic and misogynistic lyrics, Hipodil were never really a racist or a sexist band.

Also, Fitzgerald was openly gay, and his lyrics were unapologetic, especially on tracks like " Prize " and " Within the Daze of Passion ".

Drawing from Black Sabbath for inspiration ( with occasional nods to the psychedelic sounds of the late 1960s ), the band used gloomy down-tuned riffs and spiritual, often openly Bible-inspired lyrics, which led Metal Blade to market the band as " white metal " as opposed to black metal.

The mixture of openly Neopagan lyrics, occultism, and the counter-cultural impulses of the post-punk era would create fertile soil for the inspiration of several bands that would form from the late 1980s forward.

Throughout the band's career, the members ( especially vocalist Roddy Moreno ) openly expressed opposition to racism and fascism — in their lyrics, interviews, on-stage comments and other actions.

Afriforum argued that " Boer " referred either to Afrikaners or farmers and that Malema was a public and influential leader, openly singing lyrics that incited violence towards an ethnic group, which constituted hate speech.

Christian hardcore bands often openly state their beliefs and employ Christian imagery in their lyrics, and may be considered a part of the Christian music industry.

It used minor chords that made the tracks darker and more moody, and its lyrics tended to be about unrequited love or more somber themes that dealt with the reality of what inner city teens were experiencing emotionally.

An example is her Platinum-certified " Girls Just Want to Have Fun "; Lauper says the original lyrics of the song dealt more with a girl pleasing a man, and therefore she changed the lyrics, wanting the song to be more of an anthem as she felt the original song seemed misogynistic.

With the 1990 release of Hammerheart, Bathory had changed style towards less aggressive, more epic and atmospheric music ; the lyrics dealt with themes about Vikings and Norse mythology.

The album's lyrics dealt with criticism of pollution, chemical warfare, deforestation, rape, cocaine addiction, and the promotion of sexual abstinence to stop the spread of AIDS / HIV.

The concept of persona in music was introduced by Edward T. Cone in his The Composer's Voice ( 1974 ), that dealt with the relation between the lyrical self of a song's lyrics and its composer.

The lyrics of Machaut's works almost always dealt with courtly love.

Staley's lyrics are largely viewed as having often dealt with his personal troubles, such as drug use and depression.

Though not a true concept album, many of the lyrics dealt with the common themes of religion and relations between human and divine powers.

On earlier albums, the lyrics are all written and performed in Swedish, and dealt with topics of nature and paganism.

With the advent of Cosmic Genesis, the lyrics were now written and sung mostly in English, and now dealt with scientific ideas such as astronomy and cosmology, philosophies such as metaphysics, and other ideas such as astrology.

" Staley's lyrics dealt with his personal troubles, with Martin saying, " Layne Staley felt as though he was on a spiritual mission through his music.

The second album dealt more extensively with themes of alienation, with many dark lyrics about apparently psychotic characters, including the opening track, " Jimmie Jones ", about cult leader Jim Jones.

Pansy Division's sound was heavily influenced by 1960s pop and 1970s punk rock, most notably bands such as the Ramones, the Buzzcocks and early Beatles: short, catchy pop punk numbers with humorous, in-your-face lyrics that dealt with various aspects of both gay life and life in general.

The lyrics of The Sonics ' original material dealt with early 1960s teenage culture: cars, guitars, surfing, and girls ( in songs like " The Hustler ", " Boss Hoss " and " Maintaining My Cool ") alongside darker subject matter such as drinking strychnine for kicks, witches, psychopaths, and Satan ( in the songs " Strychnine ", " The Witch ", " Psycho ", and " He's Waitin '", respectively ).

The band were also known for their over-the-top, dark humoured lyrics, which often dealt with serial killers, failed relationships, social outcasts, and mental illness.

* The avant-garde heavy metal band maudlin of the Well created music, lyrics, and atmosphere that dealt predominantly with the subject of astral projection.

Also, Cuckston's eerie vocals and lyrics dealt with depression, loneliness and the dark side of childhood.

Phil Collins's lyrics to " Tonight, Tonight, Tonight ", another hit song from the album, dealt with drug addiction, while " Anything She Does " ( lyrics by Tony Banks ) is about pornography.

Alcoholism, mortality, sex, class struggle and family dysfunction are recurring themes in his lyrics, often dealt with satirically.

Their music combined elements of rock, ambient music and world music ; their lyrics dealt with characteristically Australian topics: word-pictures of landscapes and people, the seasons, and some political issues – such as Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.