You may not think you know who Steve Albini was, but if you've heard any music even sort of related to rock music in the last 30 years, you're familiar with his work even if you don't realize it. You'll find countless tributes to Steve Albini online and they'll all be better than this one, but I'll give it a shot anyway.
It was a rainy night in College Station just a few weeks into my freshman year and I remember standing outside a record store (remember those?) in Northgate...it was either Marooned Records, CD Warehouse, or maybe Disc-Go-Round...and I waited patiently for midnight so me and maybe a couple of dozen other weirdos who were clamoring to get our hands on the hottest newest releases, especially the highly anticipated release of In Utero, Nirvana's follow-up to the album that helped bust open the rock universe to the grunge sounds. My old truck didn't have a CD player so I had to wait till I got home to listen to it and I listened to it front to back (no skips, as the kiddoes say today) and was blown away. Because I'm one of the sickos who read liner notes to albums (like I could possibly find enlightenment or maybe even just some lyrics to read through) I made notice of the producer...it was Steve Albini. I'd become a fan of figuring out who produced the albums that I loved the most, and deciding whether or not I should be happy with the results. Mike Clink got on my radar due to his work with Guns N' Roses. George Drakoulias was the man who corraled a southern Faces/Rolling Stones mashup set of brothers into becoming the Black Crowes. Fleming Rasmussen was the guy who (probably as a bit of hazing if you believe the stories of the day) toned down Jason Newsted's bass in his first few albums Newsted did with Metallica after the tragic death of Cliff Burton.
And now I had some other guy to keep my earlids open for....Steve Albini crushed In Utero. It definitely sounded like Nirvana. It sounded like the breakthrough Nevermind album. But it also sounded newer. Evolved. Grindy and crunchy and sticky and painful in parts and I was uhh..."hook"ed.
That was the last in studio album for Nirvana but that album got my attention and I would gladly seek out releases he was involved in. From there (and getting started in college radio) I got to experience the Pixies, dipped a toe into punk and a whole lot more of other genres and bands I'd never even thought of and bands that I still listen to today. As life changes and we get older, I'd gotten a little away from my musical soul but a few years ago I randomly came across a retweet of an exchange between the guy from Eve 6 and Steve Albini, and both dudes were so hilarous, acerbic, and just SO 90s and SO GenX, I followed them both and had been wildly entertained by both of them and awash in the awareness of my own aging and mortality. What more can you ask from someone who twists knobs and pushes buttons and hangs out with bands all the time and they get to call that a career?
To you, someone who stumbled upon this...thank you for reading it. And to Steve Albini...just...thank you.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/entertainment/steve-albini-death/index.html
