Instead, Steve Albini expressed his general dislike for the compact disc format in the CD's liner notes, saying, "This compact disc, compiled to exploit those of you gullible enough to own the bastardly first generation digital music system, contains all- analog masters. That same year, the band recorded and released the 7” of ‘The Model’ / ‘He’s A Whore’ as well as their second full-length album, ‘Songs About Fucking’. You should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them, and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them. Reviewing for The Village Voice in September 1986, Robert Christgau wrote that, "Though they don't want you to know it, these hateful little twerps are sensitive souls—they're moved to make this godawful racket by the godawful pain of the world, which they learn about reading everything from textbooks to bondage mags. The CD omitted track 9 "Strange Things", as well as the artwork and liner notes from the original records.

Big Black was started by Steve Albini in 1982 while he was attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Don't worry about their longevity, as Philips will pronounce them obsolete when the next phase of the market-squeezing technology bonanza begins.

Steve's guitar is the distance between ice and hoarfrost, the lyrics archetypal of on the edge sociopath, or maybe just a frustrated disc-jockey. Additionally, Atomizer and all post-Atomizer releases by the band do not feature the TR-606, instead opting for the E-mu Drumulator. This is the band’s first recording since bassist Jeff Pezzati left in late 1984 to work more closely with his other group, Naked Raygun.

Soon after, Steve recruited Jeff Pezzati (Naked Raygun) on bass and Santiago Durango (also Naked Raygun) joined them on guitar.Pezzati was replaced by Dave Riley, an audio engineer who worked closely with Parliament/ Funkadelic. Apparently they ran out of inner sleeves before first press vinyl (if it's even true that the printed inner sleeves predate the inserts). My copy (bought new in '86) has white labels, plain white inner sleeve with a printed insert, so make of that what you will.

He played everything on the EP himself, except the sax bleating courtesy of pal John Bohnen and the drums courtesy of Roland.By 1984, the band haddone some touring and recorded the ‘Racer X’ EP andthe start of the ‘Il Duce’ 7”. In the year after Atomizer's release, Big Black recorded their 4-song Headache EP and released it with a sticker that bore the words, "Warning! The label sent the promo 12" to radio stations, then sold extra copies outside of Big Black's native Chicago, hoping the band would never find out. Big Black always credited Roland along with the band's members, though Roland is a brand of drum machine and not an actual person. Homestead Records also issued "Big Money" and "Il Duce" the A-side of a 12" record with three live songs on the B-side (including the live version of "Cables" that would appear on Atomizer) with the agreement that the 12" be used for promotional purposes only.

Atomizer was originally planned for release sometime in late 1985 – however, the band ran into some legal issues with the album cover, which originally featured Marvin the Martian. Instrumentally, Atomizer is a wailing behemoth of assaultive Roland beats, Steve Albini and Santiago Durango's clanging and whirring guitars, and new member Dave Riley's lumberjack bass. It's also Albini at his most plainspoken and bleak: "Stare at the wall/Stare at each other and wait 'til we die.But needless to say this is a great album, really an example of the Great Lakes underground sound of the 80s, where you can really feel the failing cities and abandoned industrial dystopia of that time and place.