Steve Albini, engineer of classic indie rock albums and frontman of underground rock groups, has died of a heart attack at age 61. His passing was confirmed to Pitchfork by the staff at his studio, Electric Audio.
Albini worked on an incredible number of beloved rock albums, including Nirvana’s In Utero, The Breeders’ Pod, Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me, and Low’s Things We Lost in the Fire among many others. He also produced Bush’s 1996 album Razorblade Suitcase, with frontman Gavin Rossdale recalling, “to me he was the king of the underground.”
Albini was also the frontman of the group Shellac, whose first album in a decade, To All Trains, was scheduled for release next week. The group were in the midst of preparing for a tour.
Albini was born in Pasadena, California, and first started playing bass while recovering from a broken leg in his youth. He grew up inspired by groups like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Pere Ubu, and Devo, and began playing in bands in high school. He went on to get his degree in journalism from Northwestern University and began covering the Chicago punk-rock scene for local zines.
Around the same time, Albini recorded the first EP for his DIY group, Big Black, which would kickstart his career as a recording engineer. He often said he preferred the term ‘engineer’ to ‘producer,’ as he felt his job was to record the band, not shape their sound. He also didn’t take royalties on the records he engineered, opting instead for a flat fee due to his belief that it is unethical to make money off an artist’s work indefinitely.
As Albini gained fame in the music world, he also became known for his incendiary statements and abrasive attitude. In recent years, he expressed regret in regards to his past: “A lot of things I said and did from an ignorant position of comfort and privilege are clearly awful and I regret them,” he wrote on Twitter.
In spite of it all, Albini’s love of music never changed. “My essential relationship with music is that I am a fan of it,” he told Fevers of the Mind in 2023. “Everything else has grown out of that, and despite being battered with music all day every day, I still find things that surprise and delight me, and I still want to play guitar in a band.”
