Record producer and poker player Steve Albini abruptly passed away at 61, but was dogged by controversy in final years of his life

[Dan Druff]

Steve Albini was a semi-famous record producer. He was the founder, owner, and principal engineer of the Chicago recording studio "Electrical Audio", where he recorded thousands of records, for acts including Nirvana, Pixies, the Breeders, PJ Harvey, the Jesus Lizard and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

He was also an active recreational poker player. He had three good scores at the WSOP, earning two bracelets. In 2013, the first year he qualified to play the WSOP Seniors event, he finished 12th for about $40k. In 2018, he won the 7-Card Stud event for $105k. He then won the $1500 HORSE event in 2022.

He liked poker so much that his Twitter handle was @electricalWSOP, even though he didn't tweet about poker all that often.

In the record industry, he was mostly well regarded.

In the poker community, he was also well liked, especially because he was pleasant at the tables, and various schlub poker pros loved the idea that they had befriended a fairly famous record producer.

He passed away on May 7 at the age of 61, from a heart attack. It was not likely drug related, as Albini had long claimed to have sworn off drugs and alcohol due to witnessing his father's alcoholism.

Albini was not known to be sick nor have existing heart trouble. He did vanish completely from Twitter on December 17, 2023, without warning. However, he did claim in November 2023 that he was "about done" after getting a right wing PragerU ad when searching for the topic of "transgender":

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/electricalWSOP/status/1720294602245038268


As you might guess, Albini was very left wing. My one interaction with him was a political argument. He entered a fairly obscure political thread of mine, where I was mocking a ridiculous article by left wing agitator Noah Berlatsky. I'm not sure how Albini found my thread, because he didn't follow me, nor did that particular thread get wide engagement. Albini came at me in a very condescending fashion, likely assuming he was dealing with an uneducated right wing rube he could easily run over. When I kept my cool and pointed out a lot of ridiculous fallacies in Berlatsky's article, Albini seemed to realize he was in an unwinnable argument, and quit responding. That was my only interaction with him, and I don't believe I ever played with him at WSOP.

I didn't have the warmest feelings for him after that exchange, but I didn't hate him. He wasn't the first left wing poker player to attack me on Twitter, and he wouldn't be the last. I didn't bother to look much up anything about him beyond my existent knowledge of his success in the record industry.


When Albini passed away on May 7, many poker pros were memorializing him on Twitter like he was a saint. I have seen other examples of poker pros who received high acclaim from the community after their death, but these were always pleasant, non-controversial people like Chad Brown and Perry Friedman. I was surprised that, given Albini's outspoken and often condescending behavior on Twitter, there still seemed to be nothing but sweet things said about him on poker Twitter.

However, upon looking at Twitter outside of poker, I found reference to some pretty bad controversy in the early 2020s, which dwarfs any of his rudeness on social media.

I'll get to that in the next post.

[Dan Druff]

In 1987, at the age of 25, Albini formed a band called "Rapeman".

You read that right. Rapeman.

Now, to be fair, 1987 was a very different time, but even back then, a name like "Rapeman" was offensive and inappropriate. However, Albini at the time was a 25-year-old trying to make a name for himself by being outrageous and controversial, and had no idea that a decade later, he would start a respected recording studio.

In 2020, as the cancel mobs came for everyone, eventually Albini was confronted about the band name "Rapeman". Albini, who by then had become very left wing and very woke, quickly attempted to apologize for the band name. He called the band name a "flippant choice", and that it was "unconscionable and indefensible". This did make the very progressive Alibini look somewhat hypocritical, but his defenders noted that it had been well over 30 years since Rapeman disbanded, and the '80s were a different time. They pointed out that Albini had apologized, and had not engaged in disrespectful behavior since.

However, in October 2020, a Twitter user pointed out that Albini had a much darker history than just the offensive '80s band name:

https://twitter.com/HxCxGeorge1/status/1319794953959165952
https://twitter.com/HxCxGeorge1/status/1548344238915497985


(Copy and paste the above links, as they won't embed here for some reason)

If you go to the links and zoom in on the articles, you'll see some of the really bad stuff.

In short, Albini was good friends with convicted pedophile Peter Sotos in the '80s. Sotos was arrested in 1985 related to his magazine called PURE. In an article written in 1984 by Alibini, regarding the new PURE magazine, Albini wrote, "The cover of PURE 2 is a guy holding open a toddler's puny hole so his spuzz can dribble out. The girl is past crying. She is destroyed. Obviously the guy who puts this out doesn't want to be identified, since printing photographs showing kidfucking and such is definitely a no-no..."

Disgusting, huh?




So what did Albini have to say about this? Read on...

[Dan Druff]

Albini clearly did not want to directly address some of the disgusting stuff he wrote, as the above article was just one of several examples.

Instead, we got this arrogant non-apology from him:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/electricalWSOP/status/1448050175658713092

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/electricalWSOP/status/1448050177802080256

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/electricalWSOP/status/1448050179710488577

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/electricalWSOP/status/1448053433252995074


Instead of addressing the specific nasty stuff he wrote, he went the self-flaggelating route of blaming his own "privilege". This allowed him to absolve himself of the sins, and attack "privilege" itself, rather than his own bad judgment and disgusting thoughts.

He also claimed these were "formative experiences", which is nonsense, because he was in his 20s when all of this occurred. It's not like people were coming after him for saying mean stuff as a teenager.

The most obnoxious excuse was, "For myself and many of my peers, we miscalculated. We thought the major battles over equality and inclusiveness had been won, and society would eventually express that, so we were not harming anything with contrarianism, shock, sarcasm or irony."

First off, what does this have to do with pedophilia, and his writing about "spuzz" in a "toddler's puny hole"?

Second, it's nonsense that he supposedly believed that "major battles over equality and inclusiveness had been won". Bullshit. I didn't know a single 1980s liberal who believed that "equality and inclusiveness" had been achieved, and that they could let their hair down and party. It's nonsense.

The truth appears to be that Steve Albini was a freak and a weird dude, who was friendly with a pedophile, and seemed to not be shy to write about toddlers in a graphic and sexual fashion. Perhaps some of this was for shock value, and it was all part of an act in order to get his then-struggling music career going. But you know... where there's smoke, there's fire, and there's a hell of a lot of smoke here.

[sonatine]

he wasnt dogged by controversy in the slightest.


you see things you need to see to justify your brand, thats all.

[sonatine]

also rapeman were fucking incredible.

[sonatine]

also the name rapeman is from a japanese comic book.

[Dan Druff]

he wasnt dogged by controversy in the slightest.


you see things you need to see to justify your brand, thats all.

Do you think normal, good human beings write articles about “spuzz” in a “toddler’s tiny hole”?

[sonatine]

he wasnt dogged by controversy in the slightest.


you see things you need to see to justify your brand, thats all.

Do you think normal, good human beings write articles about “spuzz” in a “toddler’s tiny hole”?

i dont really worry about it, because i can recognize and respect transgressive art as valid and noteworthy, and steve albini passed every conceivable metric for being a valid and noteworthy artist.



which reminds me what are your credentials? like show me your cv and compare it to steve albinis, because honestly its weird seeing someone whose accomplished absolutely nothing but being a right wing narcissist on a niche site for people who arent ready to post full time at stormfront attempt to take down a guy who took casual morning shits more interesting than your entire life.

[Dan Druff]

Getting very emotional there about a guy who didn’t know you were alive.

There’s nothing “transgressive” about publishing articles praising actual pedos and writing disgusting things about raping toddlers.

His tweets addressing the matter were oozing limousine liberal arrogance and condescension. He blamed the concept of “privilege” rather than himself, and hand-waved away the criticism. He said that he thought this was cool because he believed the world had achieved equality and inclusion. Writing about raping toddlers was just a “miscalculation”, you see.

Notice not one part of my criticism had to do with his music. What he accomplished in that field doesn’t excuse horrible behavior beforehand.

I’m not a fan of cancellation, but these articles were so disgusting that they warranted a sincere discussion and apology. Not a haughty lecture about privilege.

[sah_24]

Steve Albini was a semi-famous record producer. He was the founder, owner, and principal engineer of the Chicago recording studio "Electrical Audio", where he recorded thousands of records, for acts including Nirvana, Pixies, the Breeders, PJ Harvey, the Jesus Lizard and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

He was also an active recreational poker player. He had three good scores at the WSOP, earning two bracelets. In 2013, the first year he qualified to play the WSOP Seniors event, he finished 12th for about $40k. In 2018, he won the 7-Card Stud event for $105k. He then won the $1500 HORSE event in 2022.

He liked poker so much that his Twitter handle was @electricalWSOP, even though he didn't tweet about poker all that often.

In the record industry, he was mostly well regarded.

In the poker community, he was also well liked, especially because he was pleasant at the tables, and various schlub poker pros loved the idea that they had befriended a fairly famous record producer.

He passed away on May 7 at the age of 61, from a heart attack. It was not likely drug related, as Albini had long claimed to have sworn off drugs and alcohol due to witnessing his father's alcoholism.

Albini was not known to be sick nor have existing heart trouble. He did vanish completely from Twitter on December 17, 2023, without warning. However, he did claim in November 2023 that he was "about done" after getting a right wing PragerU ad when searching for the topic of "transgender":

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/electricalWSOP/status/1720294602245038268


As you might guess, Albini was very left wing. My one interaction with him was a political argument. He entered a fairly obscure political thread of mine, where I was mocking a ridiculous article by left wing agitator Noah Berlatsky. I'm not sure how Albini found my thread, because he didn't follow me, nor did that particular thread get wide engagement. Albini came at me in a very condescending fashion, likely assuming he was dealing with an uneducated right wing rube he could easily run over. When I kept my cool and pointed out a lot of ridiculous fallacies in Berlatsky's article, Albini seemed to realize he was in an unwinnable argument, and quit responding. That was my only interaction with him, and I don't believe I ever played with him at WSOP.

I didn't have the warmest feelings for him after that exchange, but I didn't hate him. He wasn't the first left wing poker player to attack me on Twitter, and he wouldn't be the last. I didn't bother to look much up anything about him beyond my existent knowledge of his success in the record industry.


When Albini passed away on May 7, many poker pros were memorializing him on Twitter like he was a saint. I have seen other examples of poker pros who received high acclaim from the community after their death, but these were always pleasant, non-controversial people like Chad Brown and Perry Friedman. I was surprised that, given Albini's outspoken and often condescending behavior on Twitter, there still seemed to be nothing but sweet things said about him on poker Twitter.

However, upon looking at Twitter outside of poker, I found reference to some pretty bad controversy in the early 2020s, which dwarfs any of his rudeness on social media.

I'll get to that in the next post.

another poo jab fatality ...

[Sloppy Joe]

Steve Albini was a semi-famous record producer. He was the founder, owner, and principal engineer of the Chicago recording studio "Electrical Audio", where he recorded thousands of records, for acts including Nirvana, Pixies, the Breeders, PJ Harvey, the Jesus Lizard and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

He was also an active recreational poker player. He had three good scores at the WSOP, earning two bracelets. In 2013, the first year he qualified to play the WSOP Seniors event, he finished 12th for about $40k. In 2018, he won the 7-Card Stud event for $105k. He then won the $1500 HORSE event in 2022.

He liked poker so much that his Twitter handle was @electricalWSOP, even though he didn't tweet about poker all that often.

In the record industry, he was mostly well regarded.

In the poker community, he was also well liked, especially because he was pleasant at the tables, and various schlub poker pros loved the idea that they had befriended a fairly famous record producer.

He passed away on May 7 at the age of 61, from a heart attack. It was not likely drug related, as Albini had long claimed to have sworn off drugs and alcohol due to witnessing his father's alcoholism.

Albini was not known to be sick nor have existing heart trouble. He did vanish completely from Twitter on December 17, 2023, without warning. However, he did claim in November 2023 that he was "about done" after getting a right wing PragerU ad when searching for the topic of "transgender":

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/electricalWSOP/status/1720294602245038268


As you might guess, Albini was very left wing. My one interaction with him was a political argument. He entered a fairly obscure political thread of mine, where I was mocking a ridiculous article by left wing agitator Noah Berlatsky. I'm not sure how Albini found my thread, because he didn't follow me, nor did that particular thread get wide engagement. Albini came at me in a very condescending fashion, likely assuming he was dealing with an uneducated right wing rube he could easily run over. When I kept my cool and pointed out a lot of ridiculous fallacies in Berlatsky's article, Albini seemed to realize he was in an unwinnable argument, and quit responding. That was my only interaction with him, and I don't believe I ever played with him at WSOP.

I didn't have the warmest feelings for him after that exchange, but I didn't hate him. He wasn't the first left wing poker player to attack me on Twitter, and he wouldn't be the last. I didn't bother to look much up anything about him beyond my existent knowledge of his success in the record industry.


When Albini passed away on May 7, many poker pros were memorializing him on Twitter like he was a saint. I have seen other examples of poker pros who received high acclaim from the community after their death, but these were always pleasant, non-controversial people like Chad Brown and Perry Friedman. I was surprised that, given Albini's outspoken and often condescending behavior on Twitter, there still seemed to be nothing but sweet things said about him on poker Twitter.

However, upon looking at Twitter outside of poker, I found reference to some pretty bad controversy in the early 2020s, which dwarfs any of his rudeness on social media.

I'll get to that in the next post.

[herbertstemple]

Nothing of value was lost.

[nunbeater]

lol dogged by controversy? get the fuck outta here, you're delusional. I love how a right winger is more upset about someone left leaning writing a work of fiction that has pedo shit instead of the actual army of pedos y'all have in your party.

[Texter]

Sonatine defending a pedo…what else is new.

[sah_24]

Sonatine defending a pedo…what else is new.

All the libtards ITT defending a pedo ... another PFA hall of fame

[limitles]

Never heard of him. I would have guessed right wing btw.

He has taken this to his grave, whatever

The “dogged by controversy” bit in the thread title does not appear.
Oh I get it, the controversy was a tweet involving Todd.
Relax everyone, it was another Todd mis-read

[Dan Druff]

lol dogged by controversy? get the fuck outta here, you're delusional. I love how a right winger is more upset about someone left leaning writing a work of fiction that has pedo shit instead of the actual army of pedos y'all have in your party.

How was he not dogged by controversy if he actually had to come out on Twitter in 2021 and defend magazine articles he wrote praising imagery of toddlers being raped?

Do you think he tweeted that stuff for fun?

This wasn't "someone left leaning writing a work of fiction". Steve Albini wrote an article praising disgusting, hardcore pedo content in a magazine published by his best friend Peter Sotos, who was convicted the following year for what he published. And by the way, the convictions occurred in Chicago, not in some backwater southern town. Even in the '80s, this was seen as disgusting and harmful, so you can't even blame the times.

And look at how condescending and haughty his "apology" was. Instead of blaming himself, he blamed "privilege". Instead of acknowledging how disgusting it was, he referred to the material as a "formative experience" for him. Instead of admitting that such content might have helped normalized toddler rape for actual pedos in the 1980s, he instead apologized for it contributing to "edgelord culture" (which is usually right wing, by the way) on the internet decades later.

You've gotta be fucking kidding me.

Worst apology I've ever read.

Albini was not a teenager when he did this. He was in his 20s when he hung out with a convicted pedo, defended the guy after his conviction, wrote graphic descriptions of toddler rape in glowing terms, and then founded a band called "Rapeman" to underscore just how entertaining he found the subject of rape and sexual abuse.

That's not the behavior of a normal person. It's also not just edginess or subversiveness. The guy clearly had a fascination with pedophilia and rape. He just felt safer to express it as an unknown punk type in the '80s, whereas he decided to wear a mask of a responsible, moral human being once he found fame in the music industry.

Why are the libs on this forum trying so hard to defend the guy and his behavior? Because he was a good record producer and you agreed with him politically?

[Dan Druff]

Oh, and just in case you think I'm exaggerating that PURE magazine -- the one Albini glowingly wrote about the rape of a toddler being depicted, and published by his best friend -- was harmful, consider this:

In 1985, the year after the magazine was published, the issue with the toddler rape was found in the UK during a police search of a home. Whose home? It belonged to a freak who had committed child kidnappings, child rapes, and child murders.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the guy had Albini's buddy's toddler rape magazine sitting in the house.

But don't worry guys, Albini was a talented musician and parroted the woke political line of the day, so I'm sure he was a great dude.

[limitles]

Oh, and just in case you think I'm exaggerating that PURE magazine -- the one Albini glowingly wrote about the rape of a toddler being depicted, and published by his best friend -- was harmful, consider this:

In 1985, the year after the magazine was published, the issue with the toddler rape was found in the UK during a police search of a home. Whose home? It belonged to a freak who had committed child kidnappings, child rapes, and child murders.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the guy had Albini's buddy's toddler rape magazine sitting in the house.

But don't worry guys, Albini was a talented musician and parroted the woke political line of the day, so I'm sure he was a great dude.

Until you post a verified source, i.e. the original, you are spreading rumour

Todd ler rape is what you are doing right now

Cause rape is ignored by anyone witness to it? Doubly so for toddler rape?
You’re not pointing to anything you have said, nothing to what you may have heard. No links. Nothing. If I was related to this person I would have a lawyer on you a.s.a.p.
You’re insane and a fool

[Dan Druff]

Oh, and just in case you think I'm exaggerating that PURE magazine -- the one Albini glowingly wrote about the rape of a toddler being depicted, and published by his best friend -- was harmful, consider this:

In 1985, the year after the magazine was published, the issue with the toddler rape was found in the UK during a police search of a home. Whose home? It belonged to a freak who had committed child kidnappings, child rapes, and child murders.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that the guy had Albini's buddy's toddler rape magazine sitting in the house.

But don't worry guys, Albini was a talented musician and parroted the woke political line of the day, so I'm sure he was a great dude.

Until you post a verified source, i.e. the original you are spreading rumour

Todd ler rape is what you are doing right now

A verified source?

Look at the picture of the article in the second post in this thread. That was written by Albini. He admitted 3 years ago on Twitter that he wrote this stuff.

It's not like these were questionable allegations he denied.