Big Cyc ("Cyc" is Polish for "Tit") is a Polish rock band formed in March 1988.
The band is well known in Poland for their controversial behaviour. The cover of their first album, Z partyjnym pozdrowieniem (Polish for With a Party Greeting), was an image of Vladimir Lenin with a Mohawk hairstyle. The title of their second album, Nie wierzcie elektrykom (Don't Trust Electricians) refers to the Polish president Lech Wałęsa, an electrician by profession. Their fourth album cover, Wojna plemników (War of Spermatozoons) featured a nun drying condoms on a clothes line. In May 1999, the band leader Krzysztof Skiba was charged with indecent exposure and fined the equivalent of US$308 for mooning the Polish prime minister Jerzy Buzek during a festival in February 1999.
History
The members of Big Cyc met at the University of Łódź. Jędrzejak played guitar in a student reggae band Rokosz (laureate of the Golden Ten during the Jarocin Festival), Skiba performed in student theatre Pstrąg and in many school cabarets, also co-creating street happenings named “The Orange Alternative”. In 1988 Rokosz broke up, and Jędrzejak wanted to create a new rock band. In this new group such artists as Jarosław Lis (drums), Roman Lechowicz (guitar) and Robert Rejewski (vocal) performed. After some time, Rejewski was replaced by Skiba, who introduced a significant creative potential. Jędrzejak, Lis, Skiba, and Lechowicz became the four of Big Cyc. The members of the band took pseudonyms: Dżej Dżej (Polish for JJ, Jędrzejak), Dżery (Polish for Jerry, Lis), and Piękny Roman (Polish for Pretty Roman, Lechowicz). Skiba remained with his own name.
In March 1988 the student club and hostel number 2 Balbina housed the first show of Big Cyc, during a cultural event Uroczysta akademia na cześć 75-lecia wynalezienia damskiego biustonosza (A solemn ceremony to celebrate the 75th anniversary of invention of women's brassiere). The nationwide media were invited (among others): Teleexpress, Polish Radio Channel 3), and the cabaret performance was introduced by Piotr Trzaskalski, then a student.
Big Cyc made many successful songs, and in 1990 in a new political environment - after Solidarity's victory and the fall of communism in Poland - they published their first album, With the Party’s salutations. 12 hits in lambada-hardcore style. The album contained hilarious poetics mocking the atmosphere of the late PRL (Polish People's Republic) - which the title and the cover – Lenin’s portrait with punk-like mohawk – bear witness to. The record introduced such well-known compositions as: "Piosenka góralska", "Berlin Zachodni" (reminiscences from first performances in Western society) and "Ballada o smutnym skinie". It became a hit in Poland, and in short time Big Cyc became well known in the country. Soon after, the band played part in the film named The Chemical Weapon, devoted to life and creative activity of the group, accomplished by independent creators team Garage-Film.
The following records never caused such sensation as the debut. The authors precisely stigmatized Polish reality, but the music background was weaker and less innovative. The second one, Nie wierzcie elektrykom (“Don't Believe Electricians”) (1991) carried a prophecy of Lech Wałęsa’s failed presidency, the third Miłość, muzyka, mordobicie (“Love, music, brawl”) (1992), brought an ironic critic of the musical environment – the Jarocin Festival. The Fourth record, Wojna plemników (“War of spermatozoon’s”) (1993) was condemned by members of the Catholic party ZChN (National-Christian Union) for moral boldness and provoking cover. Nie zapomnisz nigdy “You'll never forget” from 1994 was a collection of the greatest hits and some new songs, among which “It’s for you my brother” can be stated as a bands ideological hymn. Subsequent one, Golonka, flaki i inne przysmaki (“Pig Knuckles, Intestines and Other Delicacies”) (1995) became a sneer of the pseudo-grunge wave and TV-commercial culture (“Hairdresser drama”).
