The legendary rock producer was 61

Photo: Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS/Alamy

Steve Albini, a towering figure in underground rock who recorded some of the genre’s greatest albums and fronted the band Big Black, has died at age 61. Albini had a heart attack, employees of his recording studio Pitchfork said on May 8 confirmed. His death comes just as his band Shellac was preparing to release their first album in a decade, To all trains, on May 17th. Albini began his career as the frontman of the Illinois post-punk band Big Black, which he founded at Northwestern University. The band gained influence in the burgeoning rock underground of the 1980s, particularly through Albini’s use of a drum machine in their music, a precursor to industrial rock. They released two albums in 1986 Atomizer and 1987s Songs about fucking, before disbanding in 1987. Albini then formed the short-lived band Rapeman (a name he has since regretted). In 1992 he founded the trio Shellac, which regularly released albums in the 90s. Shellac released the album most recently Dude, unbelievable in 2014. The group recorded the upcoming To all trains sporadically from 2017 to 2022.

Albini is even better known for his work in the studio, where he was alternative rock’s most influential producer and engineer. (A critic of the music industry’s power structures, Albini famously disliked the term “producer” and shied away from crediting albums he worked on, even foregoing royalties.) Albini recorded some of the albums that shaped alternative rock in the 1980s and 1980s 1990s: Nirvana’s In uteroPixies’ Surfer RosaPJ Harvey’s Get rid of methe breeders PodJawbreaker’s 24 hour revenge therapySuperchunks No Pocky for Kittyand several Jesus Lizard albums. In later years he recorded albums for Joanna Newsom, Ty Segall, Cloud Nothings, Sun O))), Laura Jane Grace and Code Orange. Albini opened the Chicago studio Electrical Audio in 1995, where he recorded until his death. In his free time he was a successful poker player, win two World Series of Poker bracelets.