Biography:

Steve Albini (/ælˈbiːni/; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was the founder, owner and principal engineer at Electrical Audio, a recording studio complex in Chicago. It has been estimated that he worked on several thousand albums over his career.[1] He worked with acts such as Nirvana, Pixies, Bush, the Breeders, PJ Harvey, the Jesus Lizard, and former Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. He also played in various bands, most notably Big Black and Shellac.[2]

Albini was critical of the music industry, arguing that it exploited and stylistically homogenized artists. As a part of his opposition he refused to take royalties from artists he worked with, arguing that it was unethical.[3]

Early life

Albini was born in Pasadena, California, to Gina (née Martinelli) and Frank Addison Albini. On his birth certificate, the middle name section says “(None)” as his father refused to leave it blank.[4] His father was a wildfire researcher. He had two siblings.[5][6][7][8] In his youth, Albini’s family moved often, before settling in the college town of Missoula, Montana, in 1974.[5] Albini was Italian American, and some of his family are from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy.[6]

While recovering from a broken leg, Albini began playing bass guitar and participated in bass lessons in high school for one week. He was introduced to the Ramones by a schoolmate on a field trip when he was 14 or 15. He felt it was the best music he had ever heard and bought every Ramones recording available to him, and credits his music career to hearing their first album.[5][9][10] He said, “I was baffled and thrilled by music like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Pere Ubu, Devo, and all those contemporaneous, inspirational punk bands without wanting to try to mimic them.”[11]

During his teenage years, Albini played in bands including the Montana punk band Just Ducky, the Chicago band Small Irregular Pieces of Aluminum, Stations, and another band that record label Touch and Go/Quarterstick Records explained “he [Albini] is paying us not to mention”.[12]

After graduating from Hellgate High School,[5] Albini moved to Evanston, Illinois, to attend college at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where he earned a degree in journalism.[13] He said that he studied painting in college with Ed Paschke, someone he calls a brilliant educator and “one of the only people in college who actually taught me anything”.[14]

In the Chicago area, Albini was active as a writer in local zines including Matter and Forced Exposure, covering the then-nascent punk rock scene, and gained a reputation for the iconoclastic nature of his articles. About the same time, he began recording musicians and engineered his first album in 1981.[15] He co-managed Ruthless Records (Chicago) with John Kezdy of the Effigies and Jon Babbin (Criminal IQ Records). According to Albini, he maintained a “straight job” for five years until 1987, working in a photography studio as a photograph retouch artist.[16]

Credits: