Steve Albini Dies at 61
Steve Albini — the indie rock performer who worked with Nirvana, Pixies, Bush and Jimmy Page & Robert Plant — has died. He was 61.
Albini’s death was confirmed by a number of outlets, including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and Consequence. Both Pitchfork and Consequence report Albini’s cause of death being from a heart attack.
While Albini was a member of a number of bands, including fronting Big Black and Shellac, his biggest credits came from his behind-the-scenes work. He founded the recording studio Electrical Audio in 1997 in Chicago. Alibini did the work of a producer, but he wasn’t a fan of the term and preferred to be called an “engineer.”
Steve Albini and His Engineer Credits
Albini has an impressive list of credits throughout his career. Among his engineering credits are Pixies’ 1988 album Surfer Rosa, PJ Harvey’s 1993 album Rid of Me, Bush’s 1996 album Razorblade Suitcase, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant’s 1998 album Walking into Clarksdale and Flogging Molly’s 2000 album Swagger and 2002’s Drunken Lullabies.
Albini’s biggest engineering credit, however, will forever be Nirvana’s 1993 album In Utero. In what was Nirvana’s final studio album, In Utero features the classic tracks “Heart-Shaped Box” and “All Apologies.” It’s well known that Albini was offered a cut of the royalties from In Utero, but he refused to accept them, even though he had the potential to earn about $500,000. Instead, he opted to take a flat fee of $100,000 up front, because he didn’t believe in taking royalties away from an artist.
Albini told Mojo about his flat fee, “That seemed to satisfy everybody. I think at that point there were still people who were sort of justifying their jobs by being suspicious of me.”
As far as pressure goes in making the album that followed the smash hit Nevermind, Albini said he and Nirvana really weren’t phased. He told Louder Sound, “The pressure was all on the industry people, the people who were terrified of losing their status, influence, and income if the record wasn’t a success. The band knew they had a good record in them, I knew they were doing a great job in the studio.”
Released on September 21, 1993, In Utero debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart and sold 180,000 copies in its first week, despite some major retailers refusing to sell it due to its artwork. The album has since gone on to sell five million copies in the United States and 15 million copies worldwide.