He became famous especially as the producer of the third album of the group Nirvana In Utero, which was released in 1993. After his death, a letter that he sent to the band before the start of joint recording appeared on Nirvana’s social networks.
Among other things, it states: “I do not want and will not take royalties for any recording I make. I think paying a fee to a producer or sound engineer is ethically indefensible. The band writes the songs. The band plays music. It’s her fans who buy records, whether it’s a great record or a terrible record. Royalties belong to the band.”
Albini was the founder, owner and chief engineer of Electrical Audio, a recording studio in Chicago. It is estimated that he worked on several thousand recordings during his career. He has worked with such names as Nirvana, Pixies, Bush, The Breeders, The Jesus Lizard, PJ Harvey, Urge Overkill, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Killdozer, Veruca Salt, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and more.
His group Shellac’s new album is scheduled to be released next week. He was going on tour with her in the past few days.
Albini criticized the music industry, claiming that it exploits and stylistically homogenizes artists. As seen in the letter above, he refused to take royalties from the artists he worked with, claiming it was unethical.
He was married to film director Heather Whinna. According to a 2022 interview, he avoided drugs and alcohol. He stated that his father was an alcoholic and this made him aware of his own vulnerability, especially in relation to the independence he had longed for throughout his life.
Frances Bean remembered her father, Kurt Cobain
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He couldn’t bear the weight of the world or his talent. Kurt Cobain died thirty years ago
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