Continuing our tour of Chicago acts, I thought we'd check in with Steve Albini
I'm not sure what I can say about Steve Albini. He's one of the most influential producers of the past 20 years, but do most people care about producers? I mean, most people probably can't name three producers, even though one of the most famous music producers ever is currently on trial for murder.
Before he was a producer, he wrote for music 'zines. (A 'zine, for those of you too young to remember, is like a blog where you have to mail the entries to people. Not e-mail -- real mail.) That's an interesting parallel between comics and music, by the way -- the path from fan to professional. I suppose that happens to some extent with a lot of art, but it seems to happen more with comics and music (and maybe film) than any others. You don't often read about somebody who self-publishes a magazine about oil painting, then becomes a fine artist; or someone who is part of a network of novel fans who then writes her own novel. I wonder why that is?
After he wrote for 'zines but before (and while) he was a producer, Albini formed a couple of bands. The first and most popular was Big Black. Big Black was a neat band. They didn't have a drummer -- just a drum machine named Roland. Guiarist Santiago Durango eventually left the band to go to law school, and in his first case helped Cytnhia Plaster Caster recover her "collection." Durango is now works in the State of Illinois Public Defender's office.
Anyway, here's a Big Black song. Like most of Big Black' stuff, it was controversial. Steve Albini had a tendency to find the most vile people he could and write songs from their perspective. One song, for example, is about a group of people he knew growing up who enjoyed going down to the local slaughterhouse and watching animals get butchered. This song was inspired by a late-20th century Salem Witch Trial. In 1983, a man named James Rud was arrested on sex abuse charges. He was told he would receive leniency if he named names, so he named names. Dozens of people were accused and arrested, based on Rud's tales of satanic ritual abuse, although all but Rud were ultimately exonerated. This song was written before people realized that the accusations were fabricated. The video is from just prior to Big Black's 1987 break-up.
Jordan, Minnesota
Big Black
This is Jordan, we do what we like
This is Jordan, we do what we like
Stay with me, my five year old
Stay with me, play hide and seek
Stay with me, my five year old
This is Jordan, we do what we like
And this will stay with you until you die
And this will stay with you until you die
And I will stay with you until you die
And this is Jordan, we do what we like
And this will stay with you until you die
And this will stay with you until you die
This will stay with you until you die
And I will stay with you until you die
Posted by Jason Fliegel at August 19, 2007 12:23 PM
One comics connection that comes to mind with Big Black is that their album covers either used comics or were inspired by comics imagery. The band wasn't particularly forthcoming in giving credits, so I've never seen it pinned down what might have come from where. Albini himself has a graphic design background, so if the art is swiped from elsewhere, it's possible that he created it himself. The cover of their first album, Atomizer, always had a Jaime Hernandez feel to me, and their second (and last) studio album is the first album cover I encountered that used manga (or manga-inspired) artwork. Savage Pencil also did the art for a couple of their singles and EPs.
Good point. Big Black also has an EP (and a song) called Racer-X.