RIP Steve Albini, You F*cking Legend

When I saw Steve Albini’s name trending on Twitter, I hoped it was just people appreciating the incredible recording engineer and musician. Instead I saw that he had passed away, followed by numerous responses of grief and love for someone who meant so much to the Chicago music scene and well, the goddamn music world as a whole.

He’s one of those guys where at the mention of his name, I don’t think of something specific, but rather a plethora of videos, sound bites, songs, albums, performances.

I think about the time I was working at Invisible Records and I had to call his studio to find out his shirt size. And being so surprised and awe struck as an intern in my early 20s speaking to him that I asked his shirt size, promptly forgot it, called back, forgot again, and then just guessed.

I think about his absolutely insane discography.

I think about me and BeefLoaf seeing him play with Shellac with his weird belt guitar strap opening up for Fugazi at the Congress, then running to Fireside Bowl to catch Loraxx (who Steve of course recorded multiple albums for).

I think about him eating Ricobene’s with Anthony Bourdain.

I think about him making prank calls with Nirvana

I think about his refusal to take points on records because it was unfair to the band and a relic of a bullshit system.

I think about this crazy ass story he told in the Out of the Loop documentary:

I think about the fact that in addition to his incredible music career, he also has 2 World Series of Poker bracelets.

But I probably most often think about the letter he wrote to Nirvana and, in fact, one paragraph:

I love this way of thinking about music, but I also want to live like this. There will always be accidents, there will always be chaos. Steve Albini embraced that and his life certainly was exceptional.

-Chorizy-E