Big Black was an Independent noise rock band founded in Evanston, Illinois, United States, that was active between 1982 and 1987. They were headed by singer, lyricist, guitarist, and co-songwriter Steve Albini. They have been classified as post-hardcore/noise rock, and were a formative influence on industrial rock, but the band members have always described the band as solidly punk rock; in the notes for Pigpile, a live recording of their final London performance, Albini explicitly describes Big Black as punk.