STEVE ALBINI

ah interesting, i don't know a whole lot about king crimson post-discipline probably why i don't know him, sounds like a pro's pro for sure

Rieflin was still with KC when I saw them in July 2017. Given the number of health problems he had, only revealed at the time of his obituary, plus the death of his wife before him, that fact kind of astonishes me.

Found this Q interview from 1994 where Elvis Costello's comments are not exactly in agreement with his more recent comments about the album:

"The atmosphere of it is great but I had no idea what she was singing about and do you know what? I don't care. I'm not the right age. From what I could gather, it seemed to be a lot about blood and fucking. But I don't need to pore over it like someone who identifies directly with her. I don't want to be one of these middle-aged guys who turns up with the baseball hat on the wrong way round."

"Q: Have you heard anyone who's made you fear for your job?

I don't think anyone would want my job (laughs). PJ Harvey I really liked for the sound and the overall commitment. I loved Björk's album. To me it sounded like a dance album arranged for a jazz quartet. I've always liked her voice though. I remember going to see her with The Sugarcubes and your man with the trumpet was shouting his fucking head off. I was like, Shuddup! I can't hear her sing! Lyrically, I liked Aimee Mann's record. She has that ability, like Chris Difford, to draw you into her world through sheer attention to detail. To me, it's very reassuring that three of the albums I've liked most are by women. The guys are just boring at the moment, the young guys more boring than anyone."

i love the sound of this album albini is obviously such a creep cancelling is not a real thing

Genuinely charmed by people trying to "out" me regarding stuff that had print runs in the tens of thousands, bands that toured the world, stuff that was already reported on by Pitchfork... whatever. I am not afforded the luxury of secret shame, guys. Knock yourselves out.

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) October 12, 2021

a thread

I certainly have some 'splainin to do, and am not shy about any of it. A lot of things I said and did from an ignorant position of comfort and privilege are clearly awful and I regret them. It's nobody's obligation to overlook that, and I do feel an obligation to redeem myself...

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) October 12, 2021

I'm overdue for a conversation about my role in inspiring "edgelord" shit. Believe me, I've met my share of punishers at gigs and I sympathize with anybody who isn't me but still had to suffer them.

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) October 12, 2021

Good for him.

About time!!

I disagree this is a problem or ridiculous. People of privilege expecting not to have to take ownership of their own words and actions, like fucking grownups, that's ridiculous. These were formative experiences for me, and owning the embarrassment of them is *my* responsibility.

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) October 12, 2021

Wow

i couldn't find what this was in response to. who out there thinks they are some amazing detective who has uncovered unknown Albini nastiness?

Good question

Zoomer: "Songs About What-ing?"

i appreciate the context he includes there, not to excuse, but to explain. these types of discussions seem to usually occur with no context at all and this one probably will too but that is about as clear-eyed a statement as possible.

Good for him; I know at least a dozen white dudes who were awkward, ignorant music nerd proto-edgelords 20 or 30 years ago who said all kinds of vile shit punching downward at people less privileged than them, and I know for sure (or feel pretty confident) that the majority of them see the world in a much different way now and are lucky that the things they said no longer follow them around because they were never captured in print or on video.

The ones who doubled down on it though...

re: what this was in response to — random responses to this:

It's not hard to reconcile that Dave Chappelle, once he got rich enough to be comfortable for life, reverted to ideas suited to people who feel entitled to certainty and comfort in their notion of the world, including their perception of others. You know, regular asshole stuff.

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) October 8, 2021

About time!!

fwiw I have seen several wokebini instances in recent years - this interview from February is good

Lol the post eazy highlighted definitely changes the context of this

He seems like an ok guy now, so much so that I overlook his penchant to tweet about poker (which would normally warrant an immediate unfollow).

Never really been a fan, but this is an excellent tweet

I disagree this is a problem or ridiculous. People of privilege expecting not to have to take ownership of their own words and actions, like fucking grownups, that's ridiculous. These were formative experiences for me, and owning the embarrassment of them is *my* responsibility.

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) October 12, 2021

Albini has always (or long as I can remember) been an OK guy, as far as I know. And I forgive him the poker tweets because he's good at it! (And cooking, too.) Either way, he has of course never been shy about speaking his mind. What's relatively new is that he seems willing to preemptively speak his mind and participate in the (more) public discourse, not as a reactionary talking head good for a quote but as a leader of sorts.

well the next thing he can do is admit that, part and parcel to his status as king Edgelord, his attitudes about music other than his vaunted indie and punk were hideously bigoted… specifically his comments re: hip-hop to John Leland in Spin in '85 or '86… and he can also say he's sorry for referring to VH as "the Halen," as one would refer to Priest or Maiden, in his capacity as the cub reporter for whichever Montana newspaper it was…

I bet he was a little asshole in kindergarten too

I enjoy some of the edgelord-era Albini stuff, not the things vm is referring to there, more the scathing takedowns of bands like Pixies or whatever. I know that's not what he was referring to in those tweets. More just the withering, yes-they-are-as-lame-as-you-imagined type stuff, which, even though he has apologized profusely for it, still seems like it was probably right otm:

Their willingness to be 'guided' by their manager, their record company and their producers is unparalleled. Never have I seen four cows more anxious to be led around by their nose rings

I wonder if his music tastes have changed much or does he just listen to The Mentally Ill and MX-80 Sound?

I wonder if his music tastes have changed much or does he just listen to The Mentally Ill and MX-80 Sound?

― Maresn3st, Wednesday, October 13, 2021 8:20 AM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

He likes Leather Nun too

The tweets by Todd Trainer's drummer are pretty consistent with my interactions with him off & on for last twenty-ish yrs

Sorry he's Todd's *guitar player*, I forget Todd plays drums cuz he's the frontman

and he can also say he's sorry for referring to VH as "the Halen,"

Have heard this said "in the wild", so giving Albini a pass on that one.
I once crossed a (v.small) picket line of protestors outside a R@peman gig in London, sorry all.

it is a deeply shameful band name and
i do not care if it's from a comic
i do not care if it was the 80s
i do not care that the project didn't last very long
i do not care that he apparently apologized in april 2020 on some random podcast about it

i have yet to see evidence of understanding of exactly how bad it is

I wonder if his music tastes have changed much or does he just listen to The Mentally Ill and MX-80 Sound?

not a huge odd future fan iirc

The odd future thing did sound like a fucking nightmare tbh. And with Heathcliff Beru working for them at the time as well.

Tyler said it didn't happen, but ok

Or at least not the way Steve claims

https://i.imgur.com/kmfAq.jpeg

Ah well case closed

Fwiw, even Beru said "Lol. I was there too ... I felt bad for everyone in the back of the ride that day."

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/aug/10/steve-albini-odd-future

I am quite happy none of them engaged me directly, because at least one of us would have regretted it.

This is such a Reddit tough guy thing to say

details of the actual ride aside, steves obvious thrill at the chance to use certain words was always the real WTF for me there

fun fact: people have tried to cancel me before because my wife worked for albini and he is someone i generally fuck with. the reason i do is because i have watched him learn and grow, quietly, from the sidelines - even over the past 15 years https://t.co/C5G7Rrc25B

— jes skolnik (ghost version) (@modernistwitch) October 12, 2021

xp Give me a break with "obvious thrill". How could you know that? He should have said "n-bomb" in his messages, but his words could easily be interpreted as a person repeating to convey the offense/shock he felt as a captive audience in the situation. I don't care one way or the other, but to say he experienced a thrill from writing it is projection.

it is a deeply shameful band name and
i do not care if it's from a comic
i do not care if it was the 80s
i do not care that the project didn't last very long
i do not care that he apparently apologized in april 2020 on some random podcast about it

i have yet to see evidence of understanding of exactly how bad it is

The guy is 60, maybe he'll have gotten it by the time he reaches 70.

xp "the bad rappers then said - and it is with great anguish and certainly no pleasure that i type these awful words, but i feel it is my journalistic duty to do so - the following specific epithets:"

a 50something white man in 2011 with his pedigree knows better, and does not put those words before an audience before thinking "can i get away with this". he did it bc he thought the EA messageboard wouldnt care.

his attitudes about music other than his vaunted indie and punk were hideously bigoted

I remember seeing him talk about House Music (maybe in that Grohl series?) and say that even though he dismissed it at the time he can now see that it was as revolutionary as punk rock

omg this dude is so boring

Im a fan of him as like a pundit weirdly but a lot of ppl here are bending over backwards to make someone who doesn’t fit into the current discursive paradigm seem like they fit in lol

Like, he’s clearly been super wrong and the test of time has embarrassed him but ppl want his framing of shit to remain righteous & central so they rewrite everything

xp Give me a break with "obvious thrill". How could you know that? He should have said "n-bomb" in his messages, but his words could easily be interpreted as a person repeating to convey the offense/shock he felt as a captive audience in the situation. I don't care one way or the other, but to say he experienced a thrill from writing it is projection.

― beard papa, Wednesday, October 13, 2021 12:34 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Lol I’m sorry, no

Give me a break with "obvious thrill". How could you know that?

https://www.discogs.com/artist/2431412-Run-Nigger-Run

Stoically and sternly turning in my track with Nash Kato to Tellus intending to convey the offense and shock I feel as a captive audience in a situation

I remember seeing him talk about House Music (maybe in that Grohl series?) and say that even though he dismissed it at the time he can now see that it was as revolutionary as punk rock

Have y'all seen him in "The Art of Sampling"? Has he made a similar mea culpa with the dumbass opinions he made there?