Steven Albini (July 22, 1961—May 8, 2024) was a famous Alternative Rock musician and studio engineer from Chicago by way of Montana. Some of the bands he worked with included: Nirvana, The Pixies and The Breeders, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Helmet, Robert Plant, Fred Schneider, The Stooges, Mogwai, The Jesus Lizard, PJ Harvey, Manic Street Preachers, Screaming Females, Joanna Newsom, Low, Cheap Trick, and Slint.
If you looked up Invisible Producer in an illustrated dictionary, Steve Albini would be the picture. His style had such hallmarks as recording live with minimal overdubbing, using microphone placement to get some harsh guitar and drum sounds, keeping the vocals low in the mix, and completely averting Executive Meddling: he preferred to not be credited (if the company insisted, he preferred the term "recording engineer"), didn't collect royalties, and let the artist/band make all the creative decisions. Due to his stereotypical association with producing critically acclaimed harsh albums, there was a degree of surprise whenever he worked with more "mellow" artists like Joanna Newsom and Nina Nastasia.
Albini was also famous for having a big mouth, being very liberal with throwing insults and nastiness around (ask The Pixies, Liz Phair, Urge Overkill, and The Smashing Pumpkins about it sometime), harsh criticism of the music industry's practices, and being something of a Luddite: he refused to record in anything but analog, and back in The '80s he disparaged the CD as being "the rich man's eight-track tape". On the other hand, for several years he and his wife (along with others) had also functioned as something of a secret Santa
to cash-strapped families in Chicago, distributing money, clothes, and toys at Christmas. In recent years, he had also expressed sincere regret for his earlier behavior, remarking, "I can't defend any of it. It was all coming from a privileged position of someone who would never have to suffer any of the hatred that's embodied in any of that language." He also had a food blog. YMMV page here, indeed.
Albini died in May 8, 2024, suffering of a heart attack.
As a musician, Albini played guitar, bass, sang and programmed drum machines. He was a member of the following bands:
- Big Black (1981–87), with guitarist Santiago Durango and bassists Jeff Pezzati and his replacement Dave Riley. Technically a Post-Hardcore/Noise Rock band, their use of a drum machine, distinctive "clanky" guitars and shouty, confrontational lyrics made them a big influence on the Industrial Rock/Industrial Metal scene.
- Rapeman (1987–89), another Post-Hardcore/Noise Rock band, with David Wm. Sims and Rey Washam of Scratch Acid on bass and drums. Named after a manga called The Rapeman; predictably attracted more attention and controversy for their name than their music. In a 2020 interview, Albini said it was an unconscionable and indefensible name for which he felt he had "not been held to account".
- Shellac (1992-?), a Noise Rock/Math Rock band with bassist Bob Weston and drummer Todd Trainer.
Famous albums he produced:
- Surfer Rosa (1987) by The Pixies.
- Pod (1990) by The Breeders
- Tweez by Slint.
- The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (1992) by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
- Rid of Me (1993) by PJ Harvey.
- In Utero (1993) by Nirvana.
- Ys (2006) by Joanna Newsom.
Steve Albini provided examples of:
- Brutal Honesty: Let's just say that he liked to speak his mind. Even about people he's worked with.
- The Cameo: He briefly appears in the video for fellow Chicagoan Jeff Tweedy's song "Low Key", as a local resident who rejects Tweedy's attempt to sell him his new album.
- Capitalism Is Bad: He discussed in interviews (e.g., with Anthony Bourdain) that the values that contribute to the creation of good art frequently clash with the values of capitalism. This was also a contributing factor to his refusal to charge artists as much as he could get for recording them; his fees were noted in the industry for being quite reasonable. It was probably also why he charged artists on major labels more than he charged independent artists.
- Caustic Critic: He once described the Pixies as "blandly entertaining college rock". Albini later apologized for these remarks in 2005.
- Celebrity Resemblance: Harry Potter looks like a younger version of him, right down to the glasses.
- Credits Gag:
- He had a habit of occasionally crediting his engineering to his cat, Fluss. The practice was retired after Fluss died in 2003.
- Overlaps with I Have Many Names; one-off production aliases include "a skinny bespectacled guy," "some fuckin' derd niffer," "Ding Rollski," "Terry Fuckwit," "Buck Naked," "King Barbecue," "Robert Earl Hughes," and "engineer."
- Deadpan Snarker: Often came across as one in his writings.
- Hidden Depths: He was an accomplished poker player, even earning a World Series of Poker gold bracelet for the Seven Card Stud event in 2018.
- Insistent Terminology: He disliked being called a "record producer" and preferred being credited as a "recording engineer" (while normally preferring not to be credited at all). This was because he wanted bands to have as much creative control over their own music as possible, so he offered minimal input, which is different from most music producers.
- Invisible Producer: Trope Codifier. Best exemplified by the stories of recording Cloud Nothings' album Attack on Memory where the band states that Albini was hands off during the four days it took to record it, with him either blogging or playing Scrabble, and only interrupted when he heard something wrong.
- When discussing his methods, he stated how he read "dry, uninteresting" things, rather than listen with furious concentration, because in his early days as a producer, focusing too hard on the music led him to twiddle with it unnecessarily.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The man was known for his vitriolic attacks on performers and the industry, but he genuinely wanted the artists he worked with to sound as good and have much control over their own music as possible. Also, he and his wife donated money, toys, and clothes to poor Chicago families for Christmas.note In recent years, the "jerk" part has all but faded entirely, and he's expressed sincere regret for having been one.
- Loudness War: Even though the bands he recorded were frequently loud, his recordings usually averted this. This is unsurprising, as he strongly disliked digital technology, and most dynamic range compression is applied digitally.
- New Technology Is Evil: Albini recorded exclusively in analog, and derided the CD as "the rich man's 8-track tape."
- Perishing Alt-Rock Voice: As part of his signature style and in his bands.
- Perpetual Frowner: Albini's version of smiling was when his mouth formed flat horizontal line.
- Prank Call: After Jerry Garcia's death, somebody pranked Albini — who loathed hippies — by posting his phone number on fliers, asking for Deadheads to call in, and relate their stories of how Garcia touched their lives.
- Refuge in Audacity: Every aspect of his musical career.
- Signature Style: Live recording to analog, microphone placement, vocals low in the mix.
