R.I.P. Steve Albini

A eulogy for the most influential producer of the 90s, also a pioneering musician in the 80s and an outspoken critic of pop culture throughout his life but particularly in the 00s…

Steve Albini has died. He was (just) 61. A heart attack, apparently. He was in final preparations for his first tour in a decade with his band Shellac. The tour in support of a brand new album (scheduled for next week).

Albini is held up as an example of a producer working for the music rather than the glamour, working with the artists to ensure ‘a sound’ rather than getting caught in the bullshit. His raw approach is behind some of the most adored, and influential indie/grunge records of the late 80s and early 90s. In particular we think of Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, The Breeders’ Pod, Nirvana’s In Utero, and PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me. But there were dozens of albums by all sorts of names, and Albini helped singer/songwriters (Nina Nastasia) alongside bands (The Jesus Lizard). He popped up where you might least expect it (The Wedding Present, The Frames) and exactly where you expected he might be (Boss Hog, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Pussy Galore, Pigface, Superchunk). He was the antithesis of the “big name” producer, but carried all of that cache for those that knew, and for those that wanted a raw energy captured inside their projected work.

Albini hated the term producer, often not taking any actual credits, and preferring the term “Audio Engineer”, saying that was closer to what he offered.

One of the reasons people looked to Albini to help with their records, and he took the jobs for money, to work, to be engaged in work, rather than for kudos and elevation, was due to his own studio work as a musician.

He recorded under the names Big Black, Rapeman (a name he would later regret) and Shellac. These were all hugely influential projects/bands. With Shellac existing across 30 years, and some half a dozen recordings. Their final album, completed, and due next week, is called To All Trains, it will be the band’s first record in a decade. I loved their last album, Dude Incredible (2014), though writing about it at the time, I felt the need to calm the frothing critics who were calling it the best ever simply because Albini-mania was doing the rounds.

Shellac: Dude Incredible

But, actually, l love that album, a lot more than I let on at the time — it’s grown with me across the years, and seeing the band live in Wellington, NZ on the back of that album’s release was such a treat. Such a great gig.

Big Black’s Songs About Fucking is the album that really blew my mind though. Just the audacity of it, to begin with. And then shortly after the abrasiveness, and the songs. It was a whole new thing for my ears.

Albini was critical of the music industry, hated streaming, hated the pantomime of pop stars, hated the lies the record companies told, and the grift they played and the vice they held. He wrote compelling about this several times. Including his influential essay, The Problem With The Music Industry, an early fanzine piece about Husker Du, a Reddit AMA (ask me anything), and a taking stock of his lyrics, his music, and his actual intentions to be a feminist ally.

Across the last decade, Albini wrestled somewhat with his influence on “dude, bro” culture. Like Henry Rollins, and others of his era/generation, he grew up in public and some of his earlier views and output were not consistent with where he was at as a human being in his later life; also some had been co-opted or misrepresented. His regular engagement with the industry, and ability to voice his frustrations, and own up to his own demons, and intensity of earlier positions, was an important aspect of his acknowledgement that we are all just works in process.

Albini’s process and works will continue to be influential across generations. He was one of the DIY/indie kids that broke through and made major impact. One of his greatest production tools was his own skepticism.

You’ll read better, clearer tributes, and your feed — and the internet — will be awash with them. But I just had to try to write something, as I woke to this news, and it rocked me. I just loved knowing Steve Albini was around. Cutting through bullshit. Making art. Promoting the good energy around creativity, wrestling publicly with earlier versions of himself and acknowledging change. And then there’s all the incredible music he had a vital hand in.

R.I.P. Steve Albini