The singularity that existed just prior to the Big Bang was a quark plasma, sometimes referred to as a quark soup in popular literature. It wasn't matter as we know it. Only some time after the Big Bang began did the universe become cool enough (though still incredibly hot) for the quarks to combine to form sub-atomic particles like protons, neutrons and electrons. Some additional time passed before additional expansion and cooling allowed these particles to combine into atoms, mostly just hydrogen, a little helium, and a very little lithium.
A chemical explosion such as might occur if you provided a spark to a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen is the wrong analog for the Big Bang. The Big Bang was not the result of chemical forces, because such forces only exist between elements, and no elements, ie, no atoms, existed at the time of the Big Bang. It was due to the interaction of the fundamental properties inherent in matter and energy, and to properties inherent in the universe itself.
--Percy