Steve Albini, legendary Chicago punk rocker and audio engineer, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, of a heart attack. Albini is a legend in alternative music circles. As a recording engineer, he worked with bands like Nirvana, The Pixies, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, Bush, The Jesus Lizard, Veruca Salt, Cheap Trick, McLusky, and Superchunk, just to name a few. He was also a two time
Maybe some context would help. Punk rock in the 1980’s was actual outsider art and there was considerable overlap between transgressive art and actual transgression. Punk has been commodified like any cultural movement and pedophiles like Iggy Pop are now given hero status. Not knowing Albini personally, I always had the sense his idealism and idol-smashing was performative. He benefited from the alternative rock boom in the ‘90’s as much as anyone. And now people of a certain age get nostalgic and turn scum like Albini into humanitarians. Based on everything I’m learning he was a sociopath that learned how to turn knobs in a music studio. I’ll be interested in knowing what other skeletons are in the closet. Thanks for your article.
We go into that a little bit in the livestream podcast we did on this, including a reference to Iggy although in regards to his communism. We have another article on rockstar predators we'll likely post as a follow up to this; if you have a source that confirms Iggy and the Ashton girl we'll include but as far as I know it's just a rumor.
I’m in no way associated with the music business so I’m not a primary source. I just get my information from message boards & articles like this. Part of me wonders why I even care about Iggy Pop or Steve Albinis personal lives, but here I am. And I will definitely listen to your podcast now.
Glad to have you. Gotta be careful with the message boards; we had a little bad info in this article as a result of one, now fixed. Our coverage is "crime, culture, and media" so we don't go into artists personal lives much, although we did do an article about the suspicious death of Elliott Smith. We interviewed a woman who wrote a book about his death; we had wanted to bring her on Murder Talk Radio but scheduling conflicts didn't allow it. Hopefully we can get her on at some point in the future.
Reset Era seems to be the only place that can be found, and they got it wrong. Discogs is an exhaustive website, and they list the label as AWB. If Sub Pop put this out, it would be noted by more than one (and now two) sources.
Digging into this now to figure out if they maybe did distro and that's where the Reset Era info came from, thanks for the correction! Will correct in our article and the live.
Thank you for the correction. I’m very familiar with the Sub Pop, catalog, and there’s no way this title is related to them in any way. I’ve done some searches to make sure I know what I’m talking about, and I’m very confident they didn’t “distribute” this as well. Again, I appreciate the timely correction.
It should be fixed now, with a link to both the correct info on Discogs and the incorrect info on Reset Era where we noted a previous version of the article contained a mistake due to a bad source.
Thank you! We agree that facts matter, and that details are important to get right. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention.
Edited to add: Fixed on the livestream as well, noted our error in the pinned comment.
You posted a scientific review that is disputed by experts as a fact in opposition to something Albini said. It is at best sloppy and unnuanced. Trans folks in need of healthcare certainly consider speech like this anti-trans.
And it's so unrelated to the content of the rest of the article as to be ridiculous.
Dr Hilary Cass is an expert, literally the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and we ban people for spreading misinformation in the comments on our platform. Do it again and you're out with the rest of the trash.
They aren't echoing anything. I'm really sorry you are taking this emotionally but don't let anything distract you from the fact Albini was a vile human and today more children are safe from his sick ass.
You can't destroy the credibility of the article, there is documented proof Albini was a vile person. The message isn't even anti anything. It states actual facts backed up by rigorous study and research.
Thank you... Literally conducted by the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and our quote is FROM the report itself, which we link.
The Cass Report has been widely criticized by other professionals. The Substack article linked above is actually a good, VERY thorough rundown of the issues, and itself was written by an epidemiologist.
Merely taking Dr. Cass's word for it or accepting her word based on her credentials isn't very scientific, to say the least.
Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz is an epidemiologist and PhD student with a Masters degree in Public Health, a focus on chronic diabetes, and no psychiatric or pharmacological expertise.
Dr Hilary Cass is a world renowned pediatrician and medical doctor with a lifetime of specialization in children's medicine who is qualified to recommend medications and to weigh their risk/benefit. She performed an exhaustive Meta study - that is, a study of existing studies.
You should try reading things instead of parroting things you've heard other people say. Gideons linked review of the Cass meta study includes facile critiques such as "use incredibly low-quality research to support the idea that detransition is more common than we might imagine, and almost entirely avoid the data which shows that most transgender people - including children - persist in their identities and do not regret their transition."
To claim she used low quality data is to agree with her conclusions that most studies on this subject are low quality, and the claim she "largely" ignored positive high quality data is a lie not supported by her methodology. Gideon further claims that "Basically, the Cass review argues that most kids used to grow out of gender dysphoria," but this isn't what Cass argues.
Cass says:
"Previous literature has indicated that if gender incongruence continues into puberty, desistance is unlikely. However, it should be noted that these older studies were not based on the current changed case-mix or the different sociocultural climate of recent years, which may have led to different outcomes. Having an open discussion about these questions is essential if a shared understanding of how to provide appropriate assessment and treatment is to be reached. "
Gideon also says "...puberty blockers (which I will be getting to in a piece soon)..." and doesn't discuss at all what I quoted from Cass to rebut Albini's performative pandering.
It is insane to me that you'd come here and parrot summaries of material you haven't even read written by someone who isn't a subject matter expert to argue that I was wrong about something that I was absolutely not wrong about .
I'll tell you what I told your friend above. We do not allow misinformation here. This is your only warning. The next person who recommends Gideon's misinformation based critique as a meaningful scientific response to a thorough and even handed meta study is getting an auto ban. I may decide to ban you just for quoting material you haven't read. I'll have to think about it.
Can you articulate the difference between your brain and a cup of Jello?
"What's the difference between journalism and actual child pornography?" is the most brain dead question I've ever been asked by anyone in my entire life.
Goldberg wrote the linked medium article; the medium blog has been associated with him since before he got out of prison, and circumstantial evidence suggests that he's the person attaching his own name to this story, although the nature of random internet comments make this impossible to verify without extensive legal efforts.
No known connection, except as an after the fact also ran attached to the story. He's done what you describe, though, has a long documented history of it, including during GamerGate. Fortunately, we basically never print information that can't be corroborated by multiple or original/official sources.
His eternal and undying support of Sotos (and to a lesser degree, Hall) is particularly strange when you look at it in the context of his comments on Nugent and others that he felt deserved his judgment and condemnation.
Maybe some context would help. Punk rock in the 1980’s was actual outsider art and there was considerable overlap between transgressive art and actual transgression. Punk has been commodified like any cultural movement and pedophiles like Iggy Pop are now given hero status. Not knowing Albini personally, I always had the sense his idealism and idol-smashing was performative. He benefited from the alternative rock boom in the ‘90’s as much as anyone. And now people of a certain age get nostalgic and turn scum like Albini into humanitarians. Based on everything I’m learning he was a sociopath that learned how to turn knobs in a music studio. I’ll be interested in knowing what other skeletons are in the closet. Thanks for your article.
We go into that a little bit in the livestream podcast we did on this, including a reference to Iggy although in regards to his communism. We have another article on rockstar predators we'll likely post as a follow up to this; if you have a source that confirms Iggy and the Ashton girl we'll include but as far as I know it's just a rumor.
I’m in no way associated with the music business so I’m not a primary source. I just get my information from message boards & articles like this. Part of me wonders why I even care about Iggy Pop or Steve Albinis personal lives, but here I am. And I will definitely listen to your podcast now.
Glad to have you. Gotta be careful with the message boards; we had a little bad info in this article as a result of one, now fixed. Our coverage is "crime, culture, and media" so we don't go into artists personal lives much, although we did do an article about the suspicious death of Elliott Smith. We interviewed a woman who wrote a book about his death; we had wanted to bring her on Murder Talk Radio but scheduling conflicts didn't allow it. Hopefully we can get her on at some point in the future.
Buyer’s Market was not released by Sub Pop. When detailing horrifying details like this, you have to get the details correct.
It was according to Reset Era. If you have other information share it and if it can be verified we'll be glad to post a correction.
https://www.discogs.com/release/510612-Peter-Sotos-Buyers-Market
Reset Era seems to be the only place that can be found, and they got it wrong. Discogs is an exhaustive website, and they list the label as AWB. If Sub Pop put this out, it would be noted by more than one (and now two) sources.
Digging into this now to figure out if they maybe did distro and that's where the Reset Era info came from, thanks for the correction! Will correct in our article and the live.
Thank you for the correction. I’m very familiar with the Sub Pop, catalog, and there’s no way this title is related to them in any way. I’ve done some searches to make sure I know what I’m talking about, and I’m very confident they didn’t “distribute” this as well. Again, I appreciate the timely correction.
It should be fixed now, with a link to both the correct info on Discogs and the incorrect info on Reset Era where we noted a previous version of the article contained a mistake due to a bad source.
Thank you! We agree that facts matter, and that details are important to get right. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention.
Edited to add: Fixed on the livestream as well, noted our error in the pinned comment.
Lotta smoke no fire
Way to destroy any credibility of the article by ending it with an anti-trans message.
There's nothing "anti trans" about what I wrote.
You posted a scientific review that is disputed by experts as a fact in opposition to something Albini said. It is at best sloppy and unnuanced. Trans folks in need of healthcare certainly consider speech like this anti-trans.
And it's so unrelated to the content of the rest of the article as to be ridiculous.
Dr Hilary Cass is an expert, literally the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and we ban people for spreading misinformation in the comments on our platform. Do it again and you're out with the rest of the trash.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-68863594
Albini's comments are evidence of his performative political abuse of others as we've said multiple times now.
I mean, you are echoing Singal et al's rhetoric around the Cass report, which is a) disingenuous at best, and b) not even what's in the report! (https://gidmk.substack.com/p/the-cass-review-into-gender-identity-132). It's 100% fair to be suspicious based on that.
We quoted and linked the actual report lmao
Spreading false information got you banned from our publication. Go defend people who enjoy child sexual abuse material somewhere else.
No, a direct quote from the actual report. It's literally off of the reports webpage, linked in the article.
They aren't echoing anything. I'm really sorry you are taking this emotionally but don't let anything distract you from the fact Albini was a vile human and today more children are safe from his sick ass.
Man, what a miserable way to be. Hope you're able to find some respite from whatever is causing you to exhibit this misanthropy
You should look in the mirror.
I'm not the one calling a person that I've never met a "vile human"
You can't destroy the credibility of the article, there is documented proof Albini was a vile person. The message isn't even anti anything. It states actual facts backed up by rigorous study and research.
Thank you... Literally conducted by the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and our quote is FROM the report itself, which we link.
Albini was scum and deserves no defense.
The Cass Report has been widely criticized by other professionals. The Substack article linked above is actually a good, VERY thorough rundown of the issues, and itself was written by an epidemiologist.
Merely taking Dr. Cass's word for it or accepting her word based on her credentials isn't very scientific, to say the least.
Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz is an epidemiologist and PhD student with a Masters degree in Public Health, a focus on chronic diabetes, and no psychiatric or pharmacological expertise.
Dr Hilary Cass is a world renowned pediatrician and medical doctor with a lifetime of specialization in children's medicine who is qualified to recommend medications and to weigh their risk/benefit. She performed an exhaustive Meta study - that is, a study of existing studies.
You should try reading things instead of parroting things you've heard other people say. Gideons linked review of the Cass meta study includes facile critiques such as "use incredibly low-quality research to support the idea that detransition is more common than we might imagine, and almost entirely avoid the data which shows that most transgender people - including children - persist in their identities and do not regret their transition."
To claim she used low quality data is to agree with her conclusions that most studies on this subject are low quality, and the claim she "largely" ignored positive high quality data is a lie not supported by her methodology. Gideon further claims that "Basically, the Cass review argues that most kids used to grow out of gender dysphoria," but this isn't what Cass argues.
Cass says:
"Previous literature has indicated that if gender incongruence continues into puberty, desistance is unlikely. However, it should be noted that these older studies were not based on the current changed case-mix or the different sociocultural climate of recent years, which may have led to different outcomes. Having an open discussion about these questions is essential if a shared understanding of how to provide appropriate assessment and treatment is to be reached. "
Gideon also says "...puberty blockers (which I will be getting to in a piece soon)..." and doesn't discuss at all what I quoted from Cass to rebut Albini's performative pandering.
It is insane to me that you'd come here and parrot summaries of material you haven't even read written by someone who isn't a subject matter expert to argue that I was wrong about something that I was absolutely not wrong about .
I'll tell you what I told your friend above. We do not allow misinformation here. This is your only warning. The next person who recommends Gideon's misinformation based critique as a meaningful scientific response to a thorough and even handed meta study is getting an auto ban. I may decide to ban you just for quoting material you haven't read. I'll have to think about it.
You don't get to make abusive accusatory comments without consequence. This isn't your mom's house.
Can you articulate the difference between your brain and a cup of Jello?
"What's the difference between journalism and actual child pornography?" is the most brain dead question I've ever been asked by anyone in my entire life.
You mean like this guy?
https://www.murderpm.com/p/attempts-to-undermine-the-albini
Goldberg wrote the linked medium article; the medium blog has been associated with him since before he got out of prison, and circumstantial evidence suggests that he's the person attaching his own name to this story, although the nature of random internet comments make this impossible to verify without extensive legal efforts.
He made his first post in 2019 and several of them are about who he is. It's his blog.
None of this information was a state secret; the Big Black and Forced Exposure material have been floating around the internet for years.
No known connection, except as an after the fact also ran attached to the story. He's done what you describe, though, has a long documented history of it, including during GamerGate. Fortunately, we basically never print information that can't be corroborated by multiple or original/official sources.
His eternal and undying support of Sotos (and to a lesser degree, Hall) is particularly strange when you look at it in the context of his comments on Nugent and others that he felt deserved his judgment and condemnation.
Hi Melissa!