Marty Albini wrote: Steve Albini entered this world on July 22nd, 1962 in Pasadena, CA. He left it by a heart attack May 7th, 2024. He leaves behind a grieving family and many friends and peers; this obituary will try to give the world an idea of the man we’re missing.

He was the youngest of three by Frank (at the time a grad student at Caltech) and Gina--high school sweethearts from the hardscrabble town of Madera, CA.

Steve played clarinet in grade school. Starting in high school in Missoula, MT, he gravitated toward the emerging punk rock genre, teaching himself the bass to play for the band Just Ducky. This obsession with music led to playing guitar and forming the band Big Black while he attended Northwestern University studying journalism.

His journalistic career also started in high school, writing record and concert reviews for the Hellgate Lance. These writings led to his first death threat. He would go on to write essays for various fanzines and music publications, including one called The Problem With Music detailing how musicians benefited very little from the business practices of the recording industry. Go read it. It’s epic.

Steve was fearless, willing to speak up about what he cared about and unconcerned about who took offense. This behavior did not always serve his commercial interests, but it gave him a reputation as a man of integrity who could not be bought or bullied in an industry that did a lot of both.

Following Big Black he formed the band Rapeman (named after a Japanese comic book and intended to be provocative, but a name he later regretted), and the band Shellac. Starting with his own bands and those of friends, he began to record as a sound engineer. This activity led to a studio in his home in Chicago, which eventually grew into Electrical Audio, a converted commercial building he turned into his dream studio. You can read about all the bands and projects he’s been associated with elsewhere; he’s not hard to find on the internet. It’s a long and storied list.

In 1996 he and his girlfriend (later wife) Heather Whinna began a simple project to help Chicago area families in need. They picked up letters that the post office collected from kids writing to Santa. The requests were for basic necessities, and they were moved to organize friends to donate what they could. They spent every Christmas thereafter delivering gifts to change the lives of the poorest of the poor. This effort grew into an annual 24 hour fundraiser at Second City, which is now a charity known as Letters to Santa, part of Poverty Alleviation Charities in Chicago.

All that activity is public, but Steve and Heather are responsible for countless other acts of private generosity. Without going into that list (you know who you are!) your stereotype of a punk rock musician probably doesn’t include the beloved uncle who barbecued for the weddings of his nieces and nephews. The devoted husband who stayed up late to cook for his wife. The studio owner who listed his cats as staff and went deep into debt to keep that staff employed during the pandemic. Host of many stray humans in need of a bed, a meal, a refuge from the cruelties of life.

Steve tended to obsess about various projects, master them, and move on. Among these were model rocketry, photography (he worked for a time retouching photos for an ad agency), cooking (he published a food blog, mariobatalivoice, for a time based on the meals he prepared for Heather), woodworking (he made some of the furnishings for the house he and Heather lived in), and of course poker. Steve won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker and hosted a regular game at his home.

Steve was also generous with his time, willing to talk to anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps as a musician or recording engineer. He gave lectures around the world and sat for many interviews, often patiently fielding the same questions but always with a thoughtful answer. His studio hosted many light-hearted but highly technical videos on the science and technology of sound recording and hosted numerous interns looking to learn his craft.

His family is drawing some comfort from the worldwide outpouring of support and affectionate remembrances. We’re glad we got to share him with you, and we urge you to go do something generous in his memory.

Steve is survived by his wife of 16 years, Heather Whinna; his mother, Gina; his brother Marty; sister Mona Goldbar; and numerous nieces and nephews who urge you to make a lot of noise in his honor.

sparky wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 9:18 am The tribute by his brother is lovely.

Marty Albini wrote: Steve Albini entered this world on July 22nd, 1962 in Pasadena, CA. He left it by a heart attack May 7th, 2024. He leaves behind a grieving family and many friends and peers; this obituary will try to give the world an idea of the man we’re missing.
...
Steve is survived by his wife of 16 years, Heather Whinna; his mother, Gina; his brother Marty; sister Mona Goldbar; and numerous nieces and nephews who urge you to make a lot of noise in his honor.

Heather Whinna wrote: If I prayed, I would pray for you that someone loves you the way that Steve Albini loves the people with whom he loves, all of the animals, the work, the words, the purpose, the dream. All of it is meant to be loved. And if there is a power imbalance, then it is worth fighting for. But don’t go into a fight unprepared because Steve will wipe the floor with you. A master wordsmith, an impressive orator, only ever trying to impress himself with the dance, he was more like the GOAT than he was the curmudgeon he was often mistaken for by those who refused to admit that their underlying behavior was steadied by greed. You see, you are not excused. No matter who you are. Power and privilege (which he had a much greater understanding of in the last 10 years - thanks to @danaandjulia and @rashidasheedz and @newman.ariana) is insidious and thrives unless you take it upon yourself to recognize your own misdeeds and apologize for them as publicly as you did make them. But for the rest of us he is a fucking champion and worked harder than anyone else with soft hands, to make sure that the greedy were never allowed to believe their own bullshit as long as he was in earshot. Don’t let anyone try to fool you now. If he called you greedy in conversation it never ended with the two of you laughing about it. And if he told you he loved you in a conversation, it never ended up with you questioning it. Next to Muhammad Ali, he was the Greatest Of All Time. #stevealbini

guilty_mug wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 3:42 am I am an outsider to this community and hope I'm not intruding by suggesting this.
To honor Steve's lifelong work, I think it would be great to put together a list of all the album he recorded and make it as complete as possible. There's a list on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Alb ... o_engineer but it doesn't look complete to me, I think that some albums mentioned on this forum are not there. It would also be great if the list contained, when possible, links to listen to the music.
I'm suggesting this because over the years I've discovered many great bands just by looking for albums that were recorded by Steve and I think it would be a nice gesture to make it easier for other people.

I forgot to write it in my previous message: My sincere condolences to all who were close to him: family, friends, and coworkers.

tonyballzee wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 6:58 am I couldn't find the bee joke, I'm pretty sure the video is from an outdoor interview at some festival in Europe. This cracks me up though:

Charlie D wrote: Wed May 08, 2024 12:08 pm FM El Protoolio texted it to the group chat not five minutes ago.

Fuck.