In my mind, Albini holds a plain speaking American slot besides Hunter
S. Thompson, for the similarity of these remarks:
"I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe
sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit." - Steve Albini
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long
plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die
like dogs. There's also a negative side.". - Hunter S Thompson
When you're good, and you know it, not because people tell you or
shower you with praise, but because it comes from love, from the
heart, then you know there's nobody whose ass you have to kiss.
Steve Albini was an exceptionally competent and emotionally generous
person who spoke about the industry as the wide-eyed boy saw the
Emperor's "New Clothes". Not bitter or superior or excoriating, just
casually pointing out the truth; that it's a stinking corrupt pile of
shit that deserves to die. Wish there were more Steve Albinis in the
tech world, confident going their own way and not sucking up to
big-tech pedlars of digital dross.
> Wish there were more Steve Albinis in the tech world, confident going their own way and not sucking up to big-tech pedlars of digital dross.
Thanks for colliding those two worlds into each other for me in a way that never occurred to me. I think the tech world needs it even more than the music world does. eg the way free software and open source's wins have been diluted and sidelined by big tech and big cloud.
Steve Albini was an exceptionally competent and emotionally generous person who spoke about the industry as the wide-eyed boy saw the Emperor's "New Clothes". Not bitter or superior or excoriating, just casually pointing out the truth; that it's a stinking corrupt pile of shit that deserves to die. Wish there were more Steve Albinis in the tech world, confident going their own way and not sucking up to big-tech pedlars of digital dross.
Time for some Pixies...
Sad loss. RIP.