Trivia / Steve Albini

• Creator's Oddball: He's known for his harsh production for loud indie and punk bands, so this was what happened when he departed from his stereotypical production style, and worked with people like Joanna Newsom, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Cheap Trick.
• Doing It for the Art: He worked for a flat fee and accepted no royalties, believing it to be an insult to the artist. In addition, he exclusively recorded in analog, did work for a lot of unknown/underground bands, charged artists on major labels more than those on indie labels, called the CD "The rich man's 8-track." and didn't like to be credited on albums, only agreeing if the label insists, and even then as "engineered/recorded by" instead of "produced by".
• Irony as She Is Cast: From 1982 to 1987, the man notorious in alternative rock for his Brutal Honesty and dark subject matter had a day job as, of all things, a photograph retoucher; he was paid to take photos of car crashes and death scenes, and remove or obscure too-graphic details, so that they could be published in a newspaper. Yes, he was once paid to tone things down.
  • The flipside of this was that he spent much of his time staring at photographs of things that would turn most people's stomachs, making him something of a Shell-Shocked Veteran.
• Money, Dear Boy: According to an interview with Kerrang, Albini said that he played poker competitively purely for the money, stating "It's a fascinating game, and it stimulates my brain, but if I didn't make money from it, I wouldn't do it".
• Old Shame: Albini later regretted his former "edgelord" behavior, such as naming his old noise rock band Rapeman, after a black comedy manga of the same name.
• Referenced by...: The band Songs: Ohia named their song "Steve Albini's Blues" after him, although his name does not appear within the song itself. Albini would later work with the band and its successor, Magnolia Electric Co.

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