The Big Heat is the debut solo album by American musician Stan Ridgway (former Wall of Voodoo vocalist), released in 1986 by I.R.S.

Ridgway said of the album, "I wanted to bring a lot of influences to the surface.

My heroes are people like Miles Davis who go through different musical stages and don't get stagnant.

"[5] Spin said, "A man of few words, he makes every line count for something — either an image that evokes a scene or a line of dialogue that evokes a character.

His decision to build and record in his own studio has paid off with a well-balanced sound that has lots of space for odd acoustic instruments to dart in and out of his synth-based arrangements.