Kind of shocked:

https://pitchfork.com/news/steve-albini ... ies-at-61/

_________________
Not a mult.

Too many COVID shots?

Nope. Safe and effective.

_________________
Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

Damn. I wasn't a huge fan of his music, but he had become an ambassador, of sorts, for Chicago.

murderer. you dont understand. spreading lies will only cause more death. therefore, you are a murderer.

_________________
the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

I have all kinds of mixed feelings about Steve, but I do think the world is a lot less interesting without him.

_________________
Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

that was pretty funny

I can't believe he was only 61. He got started with the heavyweights early; I guess he picked some winners. "Steady as She Goes" is one of my favorite tunes, too.

I heard he was no longer a jerk during the last several years of his life. He did once give me a polite, if disinterested, nod.

_________________

Steve Albini & Ralphie's Card Collecting brother in law. These things come in 3's.

RFK Jr's worm-eaten brain?

_________________
"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

The best. Helped him order a drink for his wife and himself at the Gingerman before the Jesus Lizard show back in 2017 (?). Also, chatted with he and Bob after some Shellac shows. An ardent hater of the Cubbies.

Not Crap, wf 0 (if you know, you know)

None of this happened

I think it's possible that the "evolution" of Steve Albini is a lot more simple and probably doesn't require a white paper to explain it. Most likely he loved a woman who wasn't going to put up with him running around saying "n!gger" and "f@ggot" and he loved her so much that he went to the extremes of adopting lunatic positions on COVID policy and "trans" among other things.

Anyway, like I said above, I have a lot of mixed feelings about Albini. He was an interesting person in the extreme. I don't think the hour of a person's death is the time to highlight that person's worst moments and I've seen plenty of people doing that on social media right along side all the praise and good memories related by others.

It's not like I knew Albini very well, but all things considered I think he was a pretty damn good guy.

My friend Bill and I went to Dreamerz on a night when Eleventh Dream Day was playing. This was during the time of the Sonars, so we were drunk as usual. We had this guy named Christopher Bell with us. (Just like the guy from Big Star!) He was a guy Bill knew from working some job or something. He was a complete fucking moron.

Bill and I hated Eleventh Dream Day. I don’t really remember why. Oh, it just came to me! Because they suck. I suppose if I had to describe them I would choose the word “precious” or perhaps just “Neil Young tribute band”. So we went to the edge of the “stage” which wasn’t really very high and the three of us stood there flipping the bird with both hands. I could see Rick Rizzo had a nervous look on his face. He knew Bill was an unpredictable sonuvabitch. There were two cinder blocks on the ground in front of the stage. Christopher picked one up and began slamming it against the ground. Bill grabbed the other one and followed suit. As Bill was drawing his back, he hit himself in the face, breaking his nose. Fucking ridiculous. He was bleeding all over. Christopher walked over to the railing going upstairs and began kicking the slats out. The owner, Dan saw him and told him to get the fuck out. As we were leaving, Steve Albini was walking in. Bill was still carrying a plastic cup with the remnants of his drink and some ice in it. And of course, there was blood running down his face. Steve said, “Hey Bill! What happened?” Bill snarled, “Fuck you, Steve Albini!” and threw the drink at him. I drove Bill to Grant Hospital. When the admitting nurse was filling out the paperwork she asked Bill how it happened. He snapped at her, “A human fist!” Good times.

In spite of that, several years later Steve recorded one of Bill's bands at his home studio. And as with most of the stuff Steve recorded, it sounded better than anything Bill put down before or since.

https://soundcloud.com/joe-orr-road-rod ... p-the-wild

_________________
Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

I was hoping for some kind of JORR/Steve Albini story, and I got one.

The Letters to Santa charity that he started with his wife, alone, has done far greater good than the sum output of the haters and losers online has ever accomplished.

I'm regularly reminded by the postings at this place that my knowledge of music is the rare combination of both narrow and shallow

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Unless it's the Beatles. Then shallow is fine. I want to be a Paperback Writer.

You are the Shakespeare of oddly tense human interactions.

_________________

He is also is the all time dolt of political posts.

_________________

That has been going on rather quietly for some time. People helping kids at Christmas without a lot of hoopla or camera crews. It is really nice.

I can forgive him for insisting I be imprisoned for controlling my own body because he recorded this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvmkraz ... 7fGgZDajNH

_________________
Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.

I went back the other night and listened to In Utero again for the first time in about 20 years. I stand by my 1993 assessment, that album is borderline unlistenable. I need some tunefullness or some clearly articulated lyrics, that album has neither.

To me, Albini's signature is the way he recorded drums. The drums sound great on every Albini project. With his own bands, the vocals were usually buried beneath the guitar cacophony. Almost as if they were an afterthought. Which is odd because a lot of his lyrics are clever and/or hilarious.

I bought the first Pixies EP on cassette right when it came out and I played the living shit out of it. I just absolutely love(ed) that record. I was kind of disappointed when I got Surfer Rosa. I don't blame Albini though. The record sounds great. I think that was the beginning of Steve being the "go-to" engineer in the "alternative" world.

_________________
Communists are just people who are terrible at capitalism.