Farewell to an irreplaceable music icon.

I was on a voluncation at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in the canyons of southern Utah, which included a social media blackout. That didn’t stop friends from texting me the news that Steve Albini died from a sudden heart attack. The news was a real sucker punch, and pretty much every given hour for the rest of the week he was in my thoughts. Albini was a constant presence throughout my musical journey since I was fourteen. There’s not much I can add to the dozens of obituaries and tributes I’ve read the past several days, so I’ll just share some key moments when he impacted my musical life.

The only really cool shop in the tri-state area of the Mississippi Valley was Dubuque’s record store/head shop combo called Astroid (no e cuz they were too high to bother including it). Along with Creem, Circus and Trouser Press magazines, they started carrying a little zine out of Chicago called Matter in 1983. It was the first time I’d read about Hüsker Dü from Saint Paul, who would eventually become one of my favorite bands. The writer was a dude named Steve Albini. The band mentioned Rifle Sport a few times, who’s drummer was Todd Trainer.