Steve Albini: A Controversial Icon of the Music Industry Passes Away

The music industry is like a 200 foot ditch full of shit, thought Steve Albini. Artists have to struggle through, while fighting against colleagues, on the way to a contract on the other side. But once it’s there, the winner is told: “You still have to improve something. Go back, in a backup.”

The artist and recording director, who died at the age of 61, fought against the music business throughout his life. With his vague attitude he often made enemies, but he also brought success to artists such as Nirvana, Manic Street Preachers, Bush, the Pixies and PJ Harvey.

It was a mission to always stay as close as possible to the sound the band had in mind. Digital recording was taboo, no fiddling with post-processing, as little influence as possible from above. “We put the album together in a few days, high quality but very little ‘production’ and no interference from the switches from head office,” was Nirvana’s praise for their last album – as it turned out. In Utero.

Albini, who was born in Pasadena, had come into contact with the punk scene as a student in Chicago. At a time when many indie bands were willing to trade their credit for widespread success, the chaotic Albini seemed to do everything he could to remain commercially ‘radioactive’. “Everybody’s trying to get on MTV, so we’re doing the opposite.”

Hence a band name like Rapeman, bloody cover art and songs about child abuse and shooting sports. Albini was heard with rude, racist and homophobic words and harsh criticism of colleagues who were said to be too flexible. All to reject authority and kick against power.

Albini applied his philosophy to the records of hundreds of other artists. His refreshing impudence made him indispensable as a recording director for alt-rockers in the ’90s. He recorded The Pixies’ first album, worked with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and helped Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker with his solo career.

For recordings of In Utero he helped Nirvana release from the suffocating fame the band had found never mind. The work was done anonymously in a studio outside of Minneapolis. Albini deceived fans, paparazzi and drug dealers by booking the studio under the name of Simon Richie, the real name of the original punk Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols.

Albini was an idol of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In his youth, he had once received a piece of guitar that Albini had broken at a concert, a prize that he proudly brought to the recordings.

As with other records, Albini refused to be named as a producer in the sleeve text. He believed that producers were just analysts who described music with meaningless descriptions such as warm, warm, warm from vibe“so that their clients think they know what they are doing.”

Albini preferred a career as a technician, with only one line “recorded by Steve Albini”. As always, he passed on the usual royalty arrangement, with which he would share the millions in profits from the record forever. He felt that it was impossible to continue to make a profit from the success of an artist, “although my wife thinks otherwise”.

In the following years, Albini continued to tour with his acoustic rock band Shellac, described by Paradiso in concert last year as “a minimalist rock trio with a real disinterest in the rules of the world” ‘music’. A new album from the band is expected later this month.

Although he remained true to his roots, Albini caused excitement and respect in 2021 to apologize to X for offensive statements from the past. “We thought we were not harming anyone with contradiction, shock, sarcasm and irony,” he said. “A lot of it came from ignorance of privilege and convenience and I’m sorry for that.”

His musical legacy was Albini, who died of a heart attack on Tuesday expressed normally. “I don’t give a shit.”