Rapeman

History

In an interview, Albini reported that "'Rapeman' is ... the title character in a Japanese comic book that I had come across through a friend of mine. The comic book is just a total mind-bender. There's a whole genre of comics in Japan, rape stories where women are raped in really graphic detail for whatever reason." Albini and Washam became "sort of obsessed" with the comic, and named their new group after the titular antihero.

Rapeman's performances would often be the target of protesters, who felt that the band was mocking or even encouraging rape and violence against women. Albini has rejected such criticisms, arguing that punk ideology is generally very sympathetic to feminism, and has stated that he feels that "[i]t is imperative for an artist to be honest, to respect the creative impulse, wherever that may go. Anything less is just decoration or inconsequential humming. Sometimes the resulting art is repugnant, but I believe the world is better for it, that it is made richer by having those thoughts explored."

The band's style at times was reminiscent of more traditional noise punk, at other times cranky art rock.

Albini played bass with Flour before going on to form Shellac. Sims reunited with ex-Scratch Acid vocalist David Yow to form The Jesus Lizard (with Albini recording their albums).

Discography

All originally released on Touch and Go Records in the US, Blast First! in the UK and AuGoGo in Australia unless otherwise indicated. Rapeman left Blast First! in 1990 after Albini had an argument with the label over the release of a Big Black record. Touch and Go started distributing in the UK in 1992 and re-released Rapeman's records.