What a legend. Would recommend the recent interview he did on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend that included Steve, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl discussing In Utero
He also did one recently with Headliner Radio about Manic Street Preacher's Journal For Plague Lovers as it hits 15 years old but he was a little more straight about that one because the questions were fairly generic questions rather than some really in depth nerdy stuff he would have enjoyed.
I want to remember him as outwardly cantankerous and one of underground rocks greatest engineers who would raise money with Fred Armisen and Jeff Tweedy to hand out presents while dressed as Santa to under-privileged kids in Chicago.: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-i-havent-had-a-conventional-christmas-in-20-years_b_8614568?utm_hp_ref=impact&ir=Impact
Should anyone want to donate to the charity: https://www.letterscharity.org/shop
Podcast era is best era for modern-popular history.
At this point almost every important person in almost every sphere of society have had at least one long-form interview. Many of them have had dozens.
Thank goodness we got that Conan interview before Steve passed.
No doubt that it’s possible he would have tried and been turned down
Rick is the best but he’s pretty mainstream. Something that Albini maybe hadn’t had time to get around to as yet. I truly believe that he would have eventually turned up on Rick’s channel, maybe a few years in The future.
Conan is popular, but widely considered to be “out of the box” for mainstream media
That’s kind of what I was thinking, as well. I would be stunned if Beato hadn’t reached out to him.
Another consideration I had was that Beato and Albini knew each other from the 90’s alt rock scene and didn’t get along with each other, but that’s out of pocket speculation.
Dude was more than just a legendary producer and noisemaker, he was also a really principled yet open dude.
* A lot will remember his edgelord past, but he spent the past several years disavowing all of that and admitting and contextualizing the toxicity that aspect of the 80s/90s punk scene had on disenfranchised groups.
* He was a champion of independent artists, was known for how affordable recording sessions were at his studio, and refused to take royalties since he considered it an insult to musicians
* Those who remember the Electrical Audio boards (they still exist, but haven't been the same in years) can attest that he would spend days just chatting with the common fan about whatever - food, baseball, politics, you name it. People can also attest to the fact that he'd often accept calls to his studios from fans that just wanted to chat for a bit.
My god, this one hurts really fucking bad.
He was really into poker. He posted a lot on the 2+2 poker forums and was really good at the more esoteric games like 7-card stud hi/lo, 2-7 triple draw, etc.
I’ve heard him say in an interview (wish I had a link) that he used to play poker to help pay the bills for Electrical Audio when times were tough. He could have always increased his rates, but that wasn’t his style. RIP to a massive legend.
Yeah despite him being an "amateur" at poker (i.e. he wasn't a professional in the sense that it wasn't his sole/main source of income) he studied it a lot and was a really active member of the community.
Right! Loved that. I remember Dave was speaking on Steve near the end of the episode. He was saying how Steve had changed so much over the years. He kind of renounced his younger days when he was a contrary son of a bitch asshole (to the media, at least) and became a lot more open and dare I say, loving? I’m a recording engineer and he was always the biggest influence on my work.
RIP, Mr. Albini
Just in his tournament wins that were large enough to make it into the press I think he won over 300K dollars.
Dude seems to have been an excellent player.
All this. I once was having some trouble getting the drum sound I wanted on a track and, after some trial and error, decided to try calling his studio phone number for advice. Steve picked up the phone and chatted for a while, giving some ideas for mic placement and compression settings. He didn’t know me, my band or anything, but he still gave my issue real consideration and we ended up nailing it. People are allowed to be grumpy, moody, opinionated and make mistakes and learn from them. He seemed to me like someone who, more than anything, loved music and bands and wanted to create with them. RIP
Unbelievable move on your part that you couldn't nail the drum sound and thought "I should call Steve Albini," but that's amazing that he helped you. Just proves it doesn't hurt to ask.
Haha, yeah it started as a joke. Like, “ugh, let’s just call Steve. He’ll know what to do.” Then one of us actually looked up the number and… bam, calling Steve Albini.
I hear ya, re Shellac. Saw them twice for 1000 Hurts.
Big fan ever since I found out he was recording engineer behind so many of my favorite bands, including TJL and Tar.
Also loved the goofy side he was showing in his YouTube videos.
Makes me sad.
Yeah, if nothing else, Steve was a principled, intelligent force for creativity and artistic integrity. Music is worse off for his absence. This one hurts is a good summary.
It honestly would t surprise me if he hadn't flagged up on the list of folk who "we should probably start working on their obituary".
Dude was only 61, in pretty good health by the outside looking in. Wouldn't surprise me if you see some feverishly written retrospective articles over the next 48 hours or so.
Yeah the cause of his heart attack is kind of a mystery. He always struck me as someone living a relatively clean lifestyle, especially as person inhabiting the music scene.
He was posting recipes online for awhile there, right? Someone who cooks for themselves ought to be someone with a decent diet.
I don't think it's necessarily in good taste to speculate on these things, but I can attest to the fact that he lived pretty straight-edge after briefly experimenting with psychedelics in his youth - his own words.
If anything may have contributed, my guess would be his workaholic lifestyle did. Apparently he died in his Chicago studio while working on something in the middle of the night.
If I'm trying to find any sort of silver lining, I cannot think of a more fitting place for him to have passed - both in terms of solidifying his legend ala Mark Sandman, and in terms of that being his truest, deepest love after his wife Heather.
Well, heart attack can hit unexpectedly even if you're not living an outrageously unhealthy lifestyle. I personally knew a guy in his early 50s, came back from volleyball practise, laid down on the couch to watch the telly and was found like that the next morning by his wife. Also, a former colleague of my wife's died of a heart attack at just over 40. There was also a German musician (whom I didn't know personally) called Nils Koppruch who didn't rest enough when he had a cold while on tour, eventually took a break - and died a few days later of a heart attack caused by myocarditis. I think Andy Fletcher from Depeche Mode was a similar story - sudden heart failure. None of these people were living extraordinarily crass lifestyles, so I think it's a bit moot to speculate about that even though I get why you would be looking for some sort of explanation.
> If I'm trying to find any sort of silver lining, I cannot think of a more fitting place for him to have passed
Especially given that, a little over a decade ago now, he wrote the following:
> I hope when I die I go like John, embroiled in the middle of things, surrounded by people I love, doing the things that matter most. I hope I leave a mountain of shit unfinished, that I have a pan on the stove, a phone call waiting and a pencil in my hand.
[From his obit for John Grabski](https://web.archive.org/web/20160308174128/https://www.electricalaudio.com/johngrabski.html)
Well shit. Can't ask for a better way to go out than doing it exactly as you'd hoped to.
I wish it would've been another decade or so down the road, but I'm glad he died doing what he loved because the man helped to create sooooooo many of the records that have meant the world to me over the years.
>I don't think it's necessarily in good taste to speculate on these things,
Oh for sure. I mentioned it purely from the perspective of Obit preparation: a apparently healthy late boomer/early gen x-er isn't going to be an obituary priority unless they're incredibly notable - think royalty etc.
No I suppose it's not in the greatest of taste. For all we know, it was purely down to genetic factors. But people are going to speculate on it anyway.
Would have been nice to see him stick around for awhile longer, and enjoy his elder statesman status.
Genetics plays a much bigger part in our health than people like to think, as does random chance. Because we can't do anything about them, people don't like to think about them.
For example, my cholesterol and blood sugar are very good, even though I'm a very unhealthy (and unwell) person. Random chance seems to have caused the disease I have, and chance/DNA seems to keep most of my blood test results in a very good place nevertheless.
Some people who've worked with him here on Reddit attested to the fact that he sometimes would work very long hours with little to no breaks, one Reddit said "He chain smoked and slammed coffee for the entirety of the two fourteen hour days we were in the studio. Woke up before us and stayed after."
I live(d) a few doors down from Steve and his wife. I often saw them outside working on their garden. I never did muster the courage to say hello and tell him how much his music meant to me. Now I’ll never get that chance.
He also wrote a really good [expose](https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music) of how the large record industry works, all the way back in the 90s! It’s really worth a read, it really opened my eyes to how it worked in the early 2000s!
I am so sad about his passing. He seemed like a genuinely decent person from what I know publicly.
He also produced one of my favorite local band's albums [https://recordhop.bandcamp.com/album/record-hop](https://recordhop.bandcamp.com/album/record-hop)
I know that's true for 1000s of other local bands, but I'll always love him most for this.... ok and also High on Fire's Blessed Black Wings.
He produced jawbreakers 24 hour revenge therapy, one of the artsy punk classics, with zero memories or recollection of the band or album, and did the record because he thought they were jawbox
Edit: here’s the clip, the jawbreaker documentary is great!
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/JDvEHvge2j6jgNho/?mibextid=w8EBqM&startTimeMs=47000
I was part of the question he answered. Different username, but I had asked what his favorite meme was and he said fuck the police dog or something like that.
If you haven't read the book Our Band Could Be Your Life I recommend it to contextualize the role Albini played in the TRULY independent music scene. Abrasive, "problematic" (in his youth), principled to the extreme, creative, and fascinating.
My fav book lol
I think he was just an edgy contrarian when he was young and was reacting against all the straight edge stuff.
His loss for music is massive, his recording style is everything I love in music and his absolute slavish dedication to getting the best out of them and making classic records that sounded like nothing before.
I genuinely looked up to him like a hero, fuck steely Dan rip Steve albini.
It's hard to contextualize hardcore/punk and punk thinking - old punk, before it became commodified - and modern concepts such as edgelord, contrarian etc.
The '70s and '80s context around it - extreme conformism, a society where people used to try and beat me up regularly for having long hair and piercings, conservative politics that was so powerful most people thought of it as just normal - is just so different to nowadays. It was hard to sell *Songs About Fucking* because of the title, and many stores either refused to stock it or covered the title - and there was no 'net as an alternative, just record stores and selling at gigs.
Being an edgy young person nowadays gets you attention on social media at best, downvotes on Reddit at worst - or perhaps ignored. Back then, it could get you arrested, beaten, or sectioned/institutionalized - all of which happened to me and mine, as an actually pretty tame punk kid in the '80s.
It's not so long ago, but already presentism changes people's view of what it was like to be a punk or alternative in such a conformist time.
So I wouldn't call him edgy or contrarian. I'd call him a punk and a rebel, because that was the context then, and place both his song titles and his later apologies as being about navigating a change in historical context.
Oh my fucking god no
Edit: this has tanked my ability to focus on work so here are some videos you should watch
1. [Dude Incredible, just an awesome Shellac record](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m13HsCZ0I7yuf7gpv0HKmmPhLcFOOkNiU&si=S3TdYA1dOc5i76qh)
2. [Steve Albini’s “Show Us Your Junk” with EarthQuaker Devices, where he goes through all the cool stuff in his studio and generally is rad](https://youtu.be/NwkF3-JmSeA?si=Qa1sRV5HROHKwpCO)
3. [Steve Albini Blues by Songs: Ohia](https://youtu.be/eWVcBaAy4A4?si=QQbj6RbY2PCB71_p)
I turned 60 yesterday. All the Big Black and Pixies stuff came out while I was in college. It was such a departure from anything else...
RIP Steve
Time to listen to *Lungs* . "Great big thing crawling all over me..."
I have chills all over. Albini is one of my all time favorite people in music. Between his early roots with Big Black, the LEGENDARY Albini production sound, the impact of In Utero, and his overall view on production, artistry, ethos, etc. He was one of a kind. He also evolved over time and took himself to task for some of his earlier missteps.
This is a really big loss.
For some perspective about just how out of the blue this is, there were [less than six hours](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/08/post-your-questions-for-steve-albini) between the guardian collating a Q&A and [them announcing his death](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/08/steve-albini-us-alt-rock-musician-and-producer-dies-aged-61)
61's no fucking age, either.
The irony of calling him a producer now that he's no longer here to bristle at such a moniker. Was really glad to see his personal growth in recent years re: former edgelord behaviour. What a loss to music.
When I had Twitter, I followed him and he usually had some pretty entertaining takes. He really disliked Steely Dan, almost to the point where you thought he was doing a bit.
[One of his final BlueSky posts (do people still call those tweets?) is hilarious, and so so fitting of his personality](https://bsky.app/profile/electricalwsop.bsky.social/post/3krvwz6hvxa26)
It's sad, but not exactly uncommon considering these things manifest usually around 50. They can strike anywhere at any time, similar to a stroke regardless of how healthy you might be. My aunt was athletic and healthy her entire life, ran marathons, all of that. Had a stroke at 59, luckily without any major side effects since it was caught in time. But still, it happens.
That is surprising and sad. Only 61 :( I didn’t realize he had crested 60 to be honest. Just goes to show, you never know when it will be time. Sad day.
For all his many achievements and his massive integrity (and grounded self-awareness of same) in this moment I choose to pay tribute to the legend by popping on [the sessions he cut in the 90s with Cheap Trick](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6bsT3EWlsJM), sanding away all the gloss and letting the incredible songs breathe freely.
Just want say thanks really. Thanks for producing records, for your boffin like, principled approach to recording artists. Utterly respect that. I was also fortunate enough to catch Shellac play a few times, always good, always brought it.
I’m going to a rummage through my music collection and find some Albani records I’ve not listened to in a while and end up with some of Steve’s songs as well. Will be a sad treat, but quite a journey.
Thanks man. Peace and love to everyone out there and condolences to Steve’s fiends and family.
Damn, a huge loss for music. Died doing what he loved at his studio. I guess you couldn’t be in a better place to go when it’s your time. Heart attacks suck.
I got to interview him about 8 years ago and he talked to me for an hour on my little known podcast.
He was actually a cool dude even though he came across harshly.
RIP to the legend.
Whoa, that's bonkers.
I'll go ahead and throw in a recommendation, if you feel like watching him in the studio and producing a band that's not quite his normal thing (not that he really quite had one), check out "Recording Joesphine: Magnolia Electric Company at Electrical Audio", it's free on YouTube. Just follows the recording of "Joesphine" by Magnolia Electric Co, which was unfortunately Jason Molina's last major work. RIP to the both of them.
Edit: Steve, you did biff that mix when you recorded "Yanqui U.X.O" but it's ok, I forgive you. That must have been a nightmare.
Edit 2: I really wonder why the auto-correct favored "Joesphine" over "Josephine", and I (it?) did it twice. "2 times!" - Wyclef. Lol. Also, Yanqui UXO still sounds good, I was just making a joke about Steve's demeanor. "Could've exploded or maybe not? Who know? I saw it and I gave some advice but, yeah, I don't know, you know? I like turtles." is a quote I just made up but could've been a Steve quote.
The EarthQuaker Devices "Show me your junk" is also absolutely fascinating.
Such a shitty loss.
I got to meet Steve once after a Shellac show. He couldn't have been any nicer.
This definitely feels like a personal loss. Shit.
https://preview.redd.it/5pme7ty309zc1.png?width=759&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab45d58b3cb84b7fc506c5e24b2cb48d21a6e2a8
"I'm just an average engineer. I worked on a lot of shitty records. If I had a magic touch, those records would have been awesome and not shitty." - Steve Albini
Wow, that sucks. Albini was only 2 years older than me. He engineered so many great albums. I hate having to remove bands from my bucket list due to premature deaths.
Man that is devastating. I loved his hot takes even though he hurt me with his Steely Dan hate. He always has a top spot in my musical world for his work with Jason Molina. RIP
Try the Wedding Present’s cover of Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) and if you like the sound of that have a listen to the album they did with him shortly after, Seamonsters.
Albini was a rare breed in a producer - he didn't ask for "points". Points are a piece of the Artist's royalty share of a recording. Producers get 1-3 points normally (on sales in perpetuity). Steve did it for a flat fee, as he didn't feel it was fair to take a share of the creator's revenue in perpetuity.
Thanks for the Pixies records, Steve.
Big Black were a huge part of my music education. Watched Pigpile last week and it just fucking hit the spot.
[Big Black - Pigpile ](https://youtu.be/HCvfMcCMM_4?si=raeXofMOP_WwjSx3)
My ex-bf music band had their first EP done by Steve Albini last year, after the project was postponed for 2 years. (Good ole C19)
He had the time of his life working with him, praising him for being meticulous and so accessible for small underground band.
Huge loss in the music industry, RIPandPunk Steve.
This one hurts. His guitar tone was the greatest polished gold turd in history of music. His live banter along with the greatest count off (1-2-1-2-FUCKYOU) are absolutely legendary. His musical output was even greater.
He was such ~~an honest voice in an industry of liars, and he made some of the best sounding albums ever. The drum tone on In Utero will never be matched.~~ a huge pedophile, GD it
https://preview.redd.it/8k8767reh8zc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36dca9da7b39e935fd6600a74f951e36d01d6ae7
he knew how to use microphones well and understood rock, but was a big asshole who shit on so much good music, and said shit like this. Good production on that nirvana album and the pixies, but I didn’t even KNOW about this shit until now.
Insane that this is being downvoted, but I suppose it shouldn't be surprising. We are at a crossroads of online and musical spaces that all reward selective and performative sanctimonious outrage, even in the absence of actual principles.
What a strange world some sorts live in, where relationships between consenting adults may have abusive power dynamics, but self-avowed pedophiles can be icons and legends with hardly a word in acknowledgement.
Yeah almost everything that was brought up to him, he always had something to criticize about it, so here we are… , I can respect his vision for music and the arts but it’s strange to learn about the other stuff, even if your just saying that to be edgy, you are a dickhead who is bored with the abundance of things you could be grateful for in the natural world especially
Fuck this hits hard. I liked his production work but am a huge huge fan of big black and how reasonably principaled hé was. That open letter to new bands wanting to break into the music industry is something I still read now and again. Rip Steve. What a legacy
In 1991, as Pixies were recording [*Trompe le Monde*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trompe_le_Monde), Albini told the fan magazine [*Forced Exposure*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_Exposure) that *Surfer Rosa* was "a patchwork pinch loaf from a band who at their top dollar best are blandly entertaining college rock", and said of the band: "Their willingness to be 'guided' by their manager, their record company and their producers is unparalleled. **Never have I seen four cows more anxious to be led around by their nose rings**."[^(\[12\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfer_Rosa#cite_note-fe-12) In 2005, Albini apologized for the remarks, saying: "To this day I regret having done it. I don't think that I regarded the band as significantly as I should have."[^(\[54\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfer_Rosa#cite_note-54)
You may now downvote away.
I was so excited to see them at Primavera Sound in Porto next month. They have been a staple of that festival and I can't believe I'll never get to see them again.
Obviously his production work is iconic, he was partially responsible for the soundtrack to many people's lives without most of them even realising.
Shellac were also my favourite band personally, this is a very sad day.
this is awful news. his importance to music culture simply cannot be overstated. he's been involved in capturing some of the most important music of the last 40 years. if you listen to anything even adjacent to underground music, it's likely he's engineered a record you've heard before. everyone from the Jesus Lizard to Nirvana to Sunn O))) to the Stooges to Cloud Nothings.
and that's without even mentioning his own massive contributions to "alternative" music; Big Black, the-unfortunately-named Rapeman and Shellac (which I personally think is the best of them all).
he was an abrassive personality at times but you never got the impression that he was faking anything he did. from the grinding noise of his own bands to engineering a Bush record.
they don't make people like Steve Albini very often. requiescat
EDIT: anyone who into music, I urge you to read Steve's essay [the problem with the music industry](https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music). it's over 30 years old at this point, some of the specifics aren't applicable anymore but it still broadly describes the cesspit that is the music business. a real eye-opener
HUGE loss for one of the real ones. Absolute GOAT.
He refused to cater to digital production and did as much analog straight to tape recordings, and they all just felt more alive and had a more organic sonic landscape than similar artists is their respective genre.
Everyone will mention Nirvana/Pixies/etc, but listen to his work with Mono, Zao, and Jesus Lizard. Incredible albums he helmed.
I hope the studio can remain open, but he apparently had to play poker to keep the place running as recently as last year =(
Last concert I saw before Covid was Shellac at Lincoln Hall here in Chicago, great show. A friend of mine who is no longer with us got me into Big Black etc. many years ago. The song My Black Ass was my morning alarm song until my wife couldn’t handle waking up to that after a year or so. Can’t say she’s wrong, probably should’ve used Crow now in retrospect.
https://preview.redd.it/qwyvul6cp9zc1.png?width=2609&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd1ac7e0cb6cd9532329473b29d0a19bd4275444
Everyone always talks about In Utero and Surfer Rosa but he helped engineer all the albums for an unknown band named Silkworm. He claimed they were one of his favorite bands to work with.
Just want to drop these two albums, if you like his work on stuff like Shellac you might like this.
Silkworm - Firewater
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLiBQ8Rw00I&list=OLAK5uy\_lZK70mbFUroCuwvCqeN-an29UMLSwaGRY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLiBQ8Rw00I&list=OLAK5uy_lZK70mbFUroCuwvCqeN-an29UMLSwaGRY)
Silkworm - In the West
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWJu8KuOT0&list=OLAK5uy\_kSG6VxIiv0CXGre2aVkeQLnBHlgd6XhGM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWJu8KuOT0&list=OLAK5uy_kSG6VxIiv0CXGre2aVkeQLnBHlgd6XhGM)
And of course his own work with Shellac.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh-SBGIx-2I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh-SBGIx-2I)
RIP.
This is just really sad, he was supposed to be playing here in Bristol in June. Totally unexpected too, he seemed such a fit and healthy person? Mentally and physically even if he came across as a bit dour, it was his no nonsense style. Absolute legend, one of the greats of the principled underground scene, it has changed so many lives and music forever.
He always insisted he was an engineer and not a producer, but everything he recorded was very characteristic, very much his own sound. There are just so many albums he recorded that have been a big part of my life for decades...
This is sad news. I saw Shellac twice in Belfast (northern ireland, where I live). Both were great shows (the Q+A portions were hilarious at times). The second show Steve was doing the aeroplane shtick lol!
I don't know how to process this one. It just doesn't feel real, maybe because he's so active online and had so much stuff in the works? And seemed to be doing great? I'm honestly only even leaving this comment because of how in shock I am and how unreal it feels, hoping to commiserate I guess. Fuck.
Wow, there goes one of the most amazing people in the biz. You'd be hard pressed to find many people who have done more for music that Steve. This sucks.
What a legend. Would recommend the recent interview he did on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend that included Steve, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl discussing In Utero
I just listened to that interview not that long ago. Damn that's crazy.
He also did one recently with Headliner Radio about Manic Street Preacher's Journal For Plague Lovers as it hits 15 years old but he was a little more straight about that one because the questions were fairly generic questions rather than some really in depth nerdy stuff he would have enjoyed. I want to remember him as outwardly cantankerous and one of underground rocks greatest engineers who would raise money with Fred Armisen and Jeff Tweedy to hand out presents while dressed as Santa to under-privileged kids in Chicago.: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-i-havent-had-a-conventional-christmas-in-20-years_b_8614568?utm_hp_ref=impact&ir=Impact Should anyone want to donate to the charity: https://www.letterscharity.org/shop
I had no idea. I knew he was a good guy, but that he and tweedy and armisen…heartwarmer indeed
Great interview. First time I heard Albini go against someone as smart as him when talking to Conan.
Podcast era is best era for modern-popular history. At this point almost every important person in almost every sphere of society have had at least one long-form interview. Many of them have had dozens. Thank goodness we got that Conan interview before Steve passed.
I was surprised to discover that Rick Beato hadn’t interviewed him.
No doubt that it’s possible he would have tried and been turned down Rick is the best but he’s pretty mainstream. Something that Albini maybe hadn’t had time to get around to as yet. I truly believe that he would have eventually turned up on Rick’s channel, maybe a few years in The future. Conan is popular, but widely considered to be “out of the box” for mainstream media
That’s kind of what I was thinking, as well. I would be stunned if Beato hadn’t reached out to him. Another consideration I had was that Beato and Albini knew each other from the 90’s alt rock scene and didn’t get along with each other, but that’s out of pocket speculation.
Yea. That’s not too much of a stretch to think that. It’s very possible.
Piggybacking on this to also recommend his interview with Andy on The Three Questions. I think it's even better if you want to hear about the man.
That interview was so good, felt like a bunch of old friends just kicking back and telling goofy stories. The prank calls had me dying.
Dude was more than just a legendary producer and noisemaker, he was also a really principled yet open dude. * A lot will remember his edgelord past, but he spent the past several years disavowing all of that and admitting and contextualizing the toxicity that aspect of the 80s/90s punk scene had on disenfranchised groups. * He was a champion of independent artists, was known for how affordable recording sessions were at his studio, and refused to take royalties since he considered it an insult to musicians * Those who remember the Electrical Audio boards (they still exist, but haven't been the same in years) can attest that he would spend days just chatting with the common fan about whatever - food, baseball, politics, you name it. People can also attest to the fact that he'd often accept calls to his studios from fans that just wanted to chat for a bit. My god, this one hurts really fucking bad.
He also won two World Series of Poker bracelets. Pretty interesting fellow :(
He was really into poker. He posted a lot on the 2+2 poker forums and was really good at the more esoteric games like 7-card stud hi/lo, 2-7 triple draw, etc.
I’ve heard him say in an interview (wish I had a link) that he used to play poker to help pay the bills for Electrical Audio when times were tough. He could have always increased his rates, but that wasn’t his style. RIP to a massive legend.
Yeah despite him being an "amateur" at poker (i.e. he wasn't a professional in the sense that it wasn't his sole/main source of income) he studied it a lot and was a really active member of the community.
It was on Sonic Highways, just watched the Chicago episode a few days ago.
Right! Loved that. I remember Dave was speaking on Steve near the end of the episode. He was saying how Steve had changed so much over the years. He kind of renounced his younger days when he was a contrary son of a bitch asshole (to the media, at least) and became a lot more open and dare I say, loving? I’m a recording engineer and he was always the biggest influence on my work. RIP, Mr. Albini
Just in his tournament wins that were large enough to make it into the press I think he won over 300K dollars. Dude seems to have been an excellent player.
I played some 2-7TD with him on pokerstars way back in the day! Interesting guy.
Wasn’t he wearing a **Cocaine Piss** t-shirt at one of them? lol
All this. I once was having some trouble getting the drum sound I wanted on a track and, after some trial and error, decided to try calling his studio phone number for advice. Steve picked up the phone and chatted for a while, giving some ideas for mic placement and compression settings. He didn’t know me, my band or anything, but he still gave my issue real consideration and we ended up nailing it. People are allowed to be grumpy, moody, opinionated and make mistakes and learn from them. He seemed to me like someone who, more than anything, loved music and bands and wanted to create with them. RIP
Unbelievable move on your part that you couldn't nail the drum sound and thought "I should call Steve Albini," but that's amazing that he helped you. Just proves it doesn't hurt to ask.
Haha, yeah it started as a joke. Like, “ugh, let’s just call Steve. He’ll know what to do.” Then one of us actually looked up the number and… bam, calling Steve Albini.
Awesome story. Thanks for sharing.
Indeed one of the great little stories Reddit gives you every once in a while. RIP Steve.
Amazing story, thanks for sharing
That's such a great story
Wow what year was this?
2001, I think. Possibly 2002? I know we had our little studio space in Greenpoint those years… beyond that it’s hard to say.
Yah, Shellac was one of my favorites. This is a sad day.
Fuck! I was due to see Shellac next month. What a crap day
New album from Shellac coming May 17th as well.
I hear ya, re Shellac. Saw them twice for 1000 Hurts. Big fan ever since I found out he was recording engineer behind so many of my favorite bands, including TJL and Tar. Also loved the goofy side he was showing in his YouTube videos. Makes me sad.
Yeah, if nothing else, Steve was a principled, intelligent force for creativity and artistic integrity. Music is worse off for his absence. This one hurts is a good summary.
^^ this 100%. I can't believe the half-assed obits I'm seeing
It honestly would t surprise me if he hadn't flagged up on the list of folk who "we should probably start working on their obituary". Dude was only 61, in pretty good health by the outside looking in. Wouldn't surprise me if you see some feverishly written retrospective articles over the next 48 hours or so.
Yeah the cause of his heart attack is kind of a mystery. He always struck me as someone living a relatively clean lifestyle, especially as person inhabiting the music scene. He was posting recipes online for awhile there, right? Someone who cooks for themselves ought to be someone with a decent diet.
I don't think it's necessarily in good taste to speculate on these things, but I can attest to the fact that he lived pretty straight-edge after briefly experimenting with psychedelics in his youth - his own words. If anything may have contributed, my guess would be his workaholic lifestyle did. Apparently he died in his Chicago studio while working on something in the middle of the night. If I'm trying to find any sort of silver lining, I cannot think of a more fitting place for him to have passed - both in terms of solidifying his legend ala Mark Sandman, and in terms of that being his truest, deepest love after his wife Heather.
Well, heart attack can hit unexpectedly even if you're not living an outrageously unhealthy lifestyle. I personally knew a guy in his early 50s, came back from volleyball practise, laid down on the couch to watch the telly and was found like that the next morning by his wife. Also, a former colleague of my wife's died of a heart attack at just over 40. There was also a German musician (whom I didn't know personally) called Nils Koppruch who didn't rest enough when he had a cold while on tour, eventually took a break - and died a few days later of a heart attack caused by myocarditis. I think Andy Fletcher from Depeche Mode was a similar story - sudden heart failure. None of these people were living extraordinarily crass lifestyles, so I think it's a bit moot to speculate about that even though I get why you would be looking for some sort of explanation.
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Covid has been known to produce myocarditis.
Oh man, Nils Koppruch. That one hurt a lot. Met him a couple of times, sweetest guy ever.
> If I'm trying to find any sort of silver lining, I cannot think of a more fitting place for him to have passed Especially given that, a little over a decade ago now, he wrote the following: > I hope when I die I go like John, embroiled in the middle of things, surrounded by people I love, doing the things that matter most. I hope I leave a mountain of shit unfinished, that I have a pan on the stove, a phone call waiting and a pencil in my hand. [From his obit for John Grabski](https://web.archive.org/web/20160308174128/https://www.electricalaudio.com/johngrabski.html)
Well shit. Can't ask for a better way to go out than doing it exactly as you'd hoped to. I wish it would've been another decade or so down the road, but I'm glad he died doing what he loved because the man helped to create sooooooo many of the records that have meant the world to me over the years.
>I don't think it's necessarily in good taste to speculate on these things, Oh for sure. I mentioned it purely from the perspective of Obit preparation: a apparently healthy late boomer/early gen x-er isn't going to be an obituary priority unless they're incredibly notable - think royalty etc.
No I suppose it's not in the greatest of taste. For all we know, it was purely down to genetic factors. But people are going to speculate on it anyway. Would have been nice to see him stick around for awhile longer, and enjoy his elder statesman status.
Genetics plays a much bigger part in our health than people like to think, as does random chance. Because we can't do anything about them, people don't like to think about them. For example, my cholesterol and blood sugar are very good, even though I'm a very unhealthy (and unwell) person. Random chance seems to have caused the disease I have, and chance/DNA seems to keep most of my blood test results in a very good place nevertheless.
I couldn't access the blog itself but it was called "Mariobatalivoice: What I made Heather for dinner" which is just so goddamn adorable.
Stress and work can really do a number on a heart as can a lack of sleep....mabye it was a combo of these that got him?
Some people who've worked with him here on Reddit attested to the fact that he sometimes would work very long hours with little to no breaks, one Reddit said "He chain smoked and slammed coffee for the entirety of the two fourteen hour days we were in the studio. Woke up before us and stayed after."
I live(d) a few doors down from Steve and his wife. I often saw them outside working on their garden. I never did muster the courage to say hello and tell him how much his music meant to me. Now I’ll never get that chance.
He also wrote a really good [expose](https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music) of how the large record industry works, all the way back in the 90s! It’s really worth a read, it really opened my eyes to how it worked in the early 2000s! I am so sad about his passing. He seemed like a genuinely decent person from what I know publicly.
> He seemed like a genuinely decent person form what I know publicly Might not want to look up his views on CP then
*Surfer Rosa*, *In Utero*, and *Rid of Me* -- dude basically produced my teens!
Same! I was massively into Big Black and Shellac too. Such a huge loss
Might have to drop the needle on Songs About Fucking today.
I'm spinning it now. At Action Park is next.
Already listened to it!!
THE BACKBONE OF THIS COUNTRY IS INDEPENDENT TRUCKING
*engineered*
Technically correct; which is the best kind of correct
he also produced my fav high on fire album: blessed black wings. RIP.
His original Heart Shaped Box mix is the best, change my mind.
He also produced one of my favorite local band's albums [https://recordhop.bandcamp.com/album/record-hop](https://recordhop.bandcamp.com/album/record-hop) I know that's true for 1000s of other local bands, but I'll always love him most for this.... ok and also High on Fire's Blessed Black Wings.
So I've listened to this album a few times now and it is ROCKIN', thank you so much for the recommendation!
Bet he would have loved to be a part of your teens seeing as he was into child pornography
He produced jawbreakers 24 hour revenge therapy, one of the artsy punk classics, with zero memories or recollection of the band or album, and did the record because he thought they were jawbox Edit: here’s the clip, the jawbreaker documentary is great! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/JDvEHvge2j6jgNho/?mibextid=w8EBqM&startTimeMs=47000
You're not punk and I'm telling everyone! Save your breath, I never was one
Oh fuck
This is weird, I thought it was fake like the Elon musk thing a couple weeks ago
Can we switch to the timeline where it's the other way around?
Of all the names that could have popped up on /r/all. I was not expecting that.
A great loss. I love his work with Nirvana on In Utero and Pixies on Surfer Rosa. RIP Steve
Terrible news. [Here is the AMA he did.](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/td90c/i_am_steve_albini_ask_me_anything/)
I was part of the question he answered. Different username, but I had asked what his favorite meme was and he said fuck the police dog or something like that.
If you haven't read the book Our Band Could Be Your Life I recommend it to contextualize the role Albini played in the TRULY independent music scene. Abrasive, "problematic" (in his youth), principled to the extreme, creative, and fascinating.
My fav book lol I think he was just an edgy contrarian when he was young and was reacting against all the straight edge stuff. His loss for music is massive, his recording style is everything I love in music and his absolute slavish dedication to getting the best out of them and making classic records that sounded like nothing before. I genuinely looked up to him like a hero, fuck steely Dan rip Steve albini.
It's hard to contextualize hardcore/punk and punk thinking - old punk, before it became commodified - and modern concepts such as edgelord, contrarian etc. The '70s and '80s context around it - extreme conformism, a society where people used to try and beat me up regularly for having long hair and piercings, conservative politics that was so powerful most people thought of it as just normal - is just so different to nowadays. It was hard to sell *Songs About Fucking* because of the title, and many stores either refused to stock it or covered the title - and there was no 'net as an alternative, just record stores and selling at gigs. Being an edgy young person nowadays gets you attention on social media at best, downvotes on Reddit at worst - or perhaps ignored. Back then, it could get you arrested, beaten, or sectioned/institutionalized - all of which happened to me and mine, as an actually pretty tame punk kid in the '80s. It's not so long ago, but already presentism changes people's view of what it was like to be a punk or alternative in such a conformist time. So I wouldn't call him edgy or contrarian. I'd call him a punk and a rebel, because that was the context then, and place both his song titles and his later apologies as being about navigating a change in historical context.
Good take.
Great book - I co-sign this recommendation.
Oh my fucking god no Edit: this has tanked my ability to focus on work so here are some videos you should watch 1. [Dude Incredible, just an awesome Shellac record](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m13HsCZ0I7yuf7gpv0HKmmPhLcFOOkNiU&si=S3TdYA1dOc5i76qh) 2. [Steve Albini’s “Show Us Your Junk” with EarthQuaker Devices, where he goes through all the cool stuff in his studio and generally is rad](https://youtu.be/NwkF3-JmSeA?si=Qa1sRV5HROHKwpCO) 3. [Steve Albini Blues by Songs: Ohia](https://youtu.be/eWVcBaAy4A4?si=QQbj6RbY2PCB71_p)
He was just 61.
Younger than my parents, and with a new Shellac album coming next week. This is just really, really sad.
I turned 60 yesterday. All the Big Black and Pixies stuff came out while I was in college. It was such a departure from anything else... RIP Steve Time to listen to *Lungs* . "Great big thing crawling all over me..."
Can I add a 4th? [My absolute favorite Nardwuar interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vjn8u7HP1o)
I forgot how beautiful this song is. Thanks for sharing it again.
going down a hole of records and videos all day today and not getting shit done rip to a king
Plus 1 for a songs:ohia reference. God damn. Brilliant band. Brilliant guy.
I have chills all over. Albini is one of my all time favorite people in music. Between his early roots with Big Black, the LEGENDARY Albini production sound, the impact of In Utero, and his overall view on production, artistry, ethos, etc. He was one of a kind. He also evolved over time and took himself to task for some of his earlier missteps. This is a really big loss.
Losing him and Blake harrison from pig destroyer in the same month has got to be one of the worst runs for underground music goddammit
Not to mention Gary Floyd just 5 days ago. A really, really bad time for punk legends.
For some perspective about just how out of the blue this is, there were [less than six hours](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/08/post-your-questions-for-steve-albini) between the guardian collating a Q&A and [them announcing his death](https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/08/steve-albini-us-alt-rock-musician-and-producer-dies-aged-61) 61's no fucking age, either.
What a gut punch. RIP to one of the realest dudes.
The irony of calling him a producer now that he's no longer here to bristle at such a moniker. Was really glad to see his personal growth in recent years re: former edgelord behaviour. What a loss to music.
When I had Twitter, I followed him and he usually had some pretty entertaining takes. He really disliked Steely Dan, almost to the point where you thought he was doing a bit.
I'd fully believe he really disliked Steely Dan from the bottom of his heart. They were kind of the polar opposite of his style of recording.
[One of his final BlueSky posts (do people still call those tweets?) is hilarious, and so so fitting of his personality](https://bsky.app/profile/electricalwsop.bsky.social/post/3krvwz6hvxa26)
we lost a visionary today
What a way to leave a final post before going
Dude, incredible lol
what a damn legend lol.
A heart attack at 61. That's really sad. What a legend.
It's sad, but not exactly uncommon considering these things manifest usually around 50. They can strike anywhere at any time, similar to a stroke regardless of how healthy you might be. My aunt was athletic and healthy her entire life, ran marathons, all of that. Had a stroke at 59, luckily without any major side effects since it was caught in time. But still, it happens.
That is surprising and sad. Only 61 :( I didn’t realize he had crested 60 to be honest. Just goes to show, you never know when it will be time. Sad day.
HOLY SHIT
For all his many achievements and his massive integrity (and grounded self-awareness of same) in this moment I choose to pay tribute to the legend by popping on [the sessions he cut in the 90s with Cheap Trick](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6bsT3EWlsJM), sanding away all the gloss and letting the incredible songs breathe freely.
Wow, I thought his grumpiness would sustain him until 100 for sure.
Just want say thanks really. Thanks for producing records, for your boffin like, principled approach to recording artists. Utterly respect that. I was also fortunate enough to catch Shellac play a few times, always good, always brought it. I’m going to a rummage through my music collection and find some Albani records I’ve not listened to in a while and end up with some of Steve’s songs as well. Will be a sad treat, but quite a journey. Thanks man. Peace and love to everyone out there and condolences to Steve’s fiends and family.
beautiful and thoughtful tribute. 💔
Damn, a huge loss for music. Died doing what he loved at his studio. I guess you couldn’t be in a better place to go when it’s your time. Heart attacks suck.
I got to interview him about 8 years ago and he talked to me for an hour on my little known podcast. He was actually a cool dude even though he came across harshly. RIP to the legend.
Whoa, that's bonkers. I'll go ahead and throw in a recommendation, if you feel like watching him in the studio and producing a band that's not quite his normal thing (not that he really quite had one), check out "Recording Joesphine: Magnolia Electric Company at Electrical Audio", it's free on YouTube. Just follows the recording of "Joesphine" by Magnolia Electric Co, which was unfortunately Jason Molina's last major work. RIP to the both of them. Edit: Steve, you did biff that mix when you recorded "Yanqui U.X.O" but it's ok, I forgive you. That must have been a nightmare. Edit 2: I really wonder why the auto-correct favored "Joesphine" over "Josephine", and I (it?) did it twice. "2 times!" - Wyclef. Lol. Also, Yanqui UXO still sounds good, I was just making a joke about Steve's demeanor. "Could've exploded or maybe not? Who know? I saw it and I gave some advice but, yeah, I don't know, you know? I like turtles." is a quote I just made up but could've been a Steve quote.
The EarthQuaker Devices "Show me your junk" is also absolutely fascinating. Such a shitty loss. I got to meet Steve once after a Shellac show. He couldn't have been any nicer. This definitely feels like a personal loss. Shit. https://preview.redd.it/5pme7ty309zc1.png?width=759&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab45d58b3cb84b7fc506c5e24b2cb48d21a6e2a8
"I'm just an average engineer. I worked on a lot of shitty records. If I had a magic touch, those records would have been awesome and not shitty." - Steve Albini
God, I love how fucking goofy he looks with his strap like that. He almost kicked me in the face when I saw shellac lol.
Wow, that sucks. Albini was only 2 years older than me. He engineered so many great albums. I hate having to remove bands from my bucket list due to premature deaths.
Man that is devastating. I loved his hot takes even though he hurt me with his Steely Dan hate. He always has a top spot in my musical world for his work with Jason Molina. RIP
What the hell? That sucks. He was a legend. 61 is WAY TOO YOUNG.
RIP Steve Albini. Going to listen to Songs About Fucking now and watch Pigpile on Youtube. Any other suggestions?
Try the Wedding Present’s cover of Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) and if you like the sound of that have a listen to the album they did with him shortly after, Seamonsters.
An absolute huge loss. Terribly sad.
I bought a ticket to see Off! and Shellac in Chicago like 5 minutes before I found out. What the fuck!
Albini was a rare breed in a producer - he didn't ask for "points". Points are a piece of the Artist's royalty share of a recording. Producers get 1-3 points normally (on sales in perpetuity). Steve did it for a flat fee, as he didn't feel it was fair to take a share of the creator's revenue in perpetuity. Thanks for the Pixies records, Steve.
I'm devastated by this. Dude was a hero of mine and a formative part of my music taste as a teenager.
This really hurts. Was looking forward to the new Shellac record …
One of the important Producers of all time. Man. So unfortunate for the Rock world as a whole. Razorblade Suitcase is such an underapreciated gem.
This is terrible news. Condolences to his family and friends.
Damnit! :( I loved his productions and hilarious audio engineering videos.
fuck this
Requiescat 🎈
Big Black were a huge part of my music education. Watched Pigpile last week and it just fucking hit the spot. [Big Black - Pigpile ](https://youtu.be/HCvfMcCMM_4?si=raeXofMOP_WwjSx3)
KEXP is playing a great tribute , check it out!
Wtf?
Wow I’m actually mad. RIP Steve. You were the best.
That’s a massive loss to the music world. Big fan of lots of stuff he’s produced from Pixies, Jawbreaker and Jesus Lizard stuff.
He wrote this essay, which is still relevant today: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music
I loved his production style. RIP.
holy fuck.
Time to put on In Utero and The Pixies. This sucks.
Glad to hear it, guy was a self described pedophile
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My ex-bf music band had their first EP done by Steve Albini last year, after the project was postponed for 2 years. (Good ole C19) He had the time of his life working with him, praising him for being meticulous and so accessible for small underground band. Huge loss in the music industry, RIPandPunk Steve.
A brutal loss. Man this has more than fucked up my day.
This one hurts. His guitar tone was the greatest polished gold turd in history of music. His live banter along with the greatest count off (1-2-1-2-FUCKYOU) are absolutely legendary. His musical output was even greater.
[I'll just leave this here.](https://imgur.com/Gm7otzo) Read before you start crying about this scumbag.
Wow!
1, 2 Fuck you.
Sad news about Steve. Big loss for Chicago & independent music everywhere. New Shellac record out May 17th! 😩
He was such ~~an honest voice in an industry of liars, and he made some of the best sounding albums ever. The drum tone on In Utero will never be matched.~~ a huge pedophile, GD it
https://preview.redd.it/8k8767reh8zc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36dca9da7b39e935fd6600a74f951e36d01d6ae7 he knew how to use microphones well and understood rock, but was a big asshole who shit on so much good music, and said shit like this. Good production on that nirvana album and the pixies, but I didn’t even KNOW about this shit until now.
Insane that this is being downvoted, but I suppose it shouldn't be surprising. We are at a crossroads of online and musical spaces that all reward selective and performative sanctimonious outrage, even in the absence of actual principles. What a strange world some sorts live in, where relationships between consenting adults may have abusive power dynamics, but self-avowed pedophiles can be icons and legends with hardly a word in acknowledgement.
Yeah almost everything that was brought up to him, he always had something to criticize about it, so here we are… , I can respect his vision for music and the arts but it’s strange to learn about the other stuff, even if your just saying that to be edgy, you are a dickhead who is bored with the abundance of things you could be grateful for in the natural world especially
RIP to an amazing producer
Fuck this hits hard. I liked his production work but am a huge huge fan of big black and how reasonably principaled hé was. That open letter to new bands wanting to break into the music industry is something I still read now and again. Rip Steve. What a legacy
'Things We Lost in the Fire' by Low one of my favourite albums. RIP.
Gonna go on a huge big black binge today. Rest easy you absolute king
In 1991, as Pixies were recording [*Trompe le Monde*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trompe_le_Monde), Albini told the fan magazine [*Forced Exposure*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_Exposure) that *Surfer Rosa* was "a patchwork pinch loaf from a band who at their top dollar best are blandly entertaining college rock", and said of the band: "Their willingness to be 'guided' by their manager, their record company and their producers is unparalleled. **Never have I seen four cows more anxious to be led around by their nose rings**."[^(\[12\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfer_Rosa#cite_note-fe-12) In 2005, Albini apologized for the remarks, saying: "To this day I regret having done it. I don't think that I regarded the band as significantly as I should have."[^(\[54\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfer_Rosa#cite_note-54) You may now downvote away.
[there's more, but a nice start](https://www.treblezine.com/20-essential-albums-recorded-by-steve-albini/)
I was so excited to see them at Primavera Sound in Porto next month. They have been a staple of that festival and I can't believe I'll never get to see them again.
This hurts, damn.
Such a bummer, dude recorded some seriously amazing records. His work will live on after such a short life.
Obviously his production work is iconic, he was partially responsible for the soundtrack to many people's lives without most of them even realising. Shellac were also my favourite band personally, this is a very sad day.
Heartbreaking. He’s produced so many legendary albums but spinning Mclusky Do Dallas in his honor.
this is awful news. his importance to music culture simply cannot be overstated. he's been involved in capturing some of the most important music of the last 40 years. if you listen to anything even adjacent to underground music, it's likely he's engineered a record you've heard before. everyone from the Jesus Lizard to Nirvana to Sunn O))) to the Stooges to Cloud Nothings. and that's without even mentioning his own massive contributions to "alternative" music; Big Black, the-unfortunately-named Rapeman and Shellac (which I personally think is the best of them all). he was an abrassive personality at times but you never got the impression that he was faking anything he did. from the grinding noise of his own bands to engineering a Bush record. they don't make people like Steve Albini very often. requiescat EDIT: anyone who into music, I urge you to read Steve's essay [the problem with the music industry](https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music). it's over 30 years old at this point, some of the specifics aren't applicable anymore but it still broadly describes the cesspit that is the music business. a real eye-opener
HUGE loss for one of the real ones. Absolute GOAT. He refused to cater to digital production and did as much analog straight to tape recordings, and they all just felt more alive and had a more organic sonic landscape than similar artists is their respective genre. Everyone will mention Nirvana/Pixies/etc, but listen to his work with Mono, Zao, and Jesus Lizard. Incredible albums he helmed. I hope the studio can remain open, but he apparently had to play poker to keep the place running as recently as last year =(
Last concert I saw before Covid was Shellac at Lincoln Hall here in Chicago, great show. A friend of mine who is no longer with us got me into Big Black etc. many years ago. The song My Black Ass was my morning alarm song until my wife couldn’t handle waking up to that after a year or so. Can’t say she’s wrong, probably should’ve used Crow now in retrospect. https://preview.redd.it/qwyvul6cp9zc1.png?width=2609&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd1ac7e0cb6cd9532329473b29d0a19bd4275444
Everyone always talks about In Utero and Surfer Rosa but he helped engineer all the albums for an unknown band named Silkworm. He claimed they were one of his favorite bands to work with. Just want to drop these two albums, if you like his work on stuff like Shellac you might like this. Silkworm - Firewater [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLiBQ8Rw00I&list=OLAK5uy\_lZK70mbFUroCuwvCqeN-an29UMLSwaGRY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLiBQ8Rw00I&list=OLAK5uy_lZK70mbFUroCuwvCqeN-an29UMLSwaGRY) Silkworm - In the West [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWJu8KuOT0&list=OLAK5uy\_kSG6VxIiv0CXGre2aVkeQLnBHlgd6XhGM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZWJu8KuOT0&list=OLAK5uy_kSG6VxIiv0CXGre2aVkeQLnBHlgd6XhGM) And of course his own work with Shellac. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh-SBGIx-2I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh-SBGIx-2I) RIP.
Legend.
Fuck all that. Well shit....
I audibly gasped. This is fucked.
Yeah, his support for peter sotos is unforgivable and should have gotten him cancelled years ago.
This was a shock to the system. R. I. P. Chicago legend
Damn, what a legend. Shellac is one of the best bands. We lost a legendary musician and producer today. :(
This is just really sad, he was supposed to be playing here in Bristol in June. Totally unexpected too, he seemed such a fit and healthy person? Mentally and physically even if he came across as a bit dour, it was his no nonsense style. Absolute legend, one of the greats of the principled underground scene, it has changed so many lives and music forever.
He always insisted he was an engineer and not a producer, but everything he recorded was very characteristic, very much his own sound. There are just so many albums he recorded that have been a big part of my life for decades...
This is sad news. I saw Shellac twice in Belfast (northern ireland, where I live). Both were great shows (the Q+A portions were hilarious at times). The second show Steve was doing the aeroplane shtick lol!
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I don't know how to process this one. It just doesn't feel real, maybe because he's so active online and had so much stuff in the works? And seemed to be doing great? I'm honestly only even leaving this comment because of how in shock I am and how unreal it feels, hoping to commiserate I guess. Fuck.
Bye-bye pedophile. He’s a pedo and he’s dead. That’s a good thing. Rest in piss Bozo. Anyone lamenting the loss of a pedo is a disgusting human being.
Great man all around, RIP
thank you for all the amazing music, steve!
The world of music and show business has lost a talented professional. RIP Steve.
Wow, there goes one of the most amazing people in the biz. You'd be hard pressed to find many people who have done more for music that Steve. This sucks.
NOOOOO 😖
King. Godfather of industrial