Steve Albini came from a politically conscious Chicago punk scene that shunned the mainstream as vapid and shallow and the music industry as essentially exploitative. Photograph: Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Imagesthat was treated like a sacred text by many bands in the 1990s .
The reason that Nirvana wanted him in the first place was because in the world of Chicago punk, hard-core and indie music he was already a towering figure. He was the songwriter, guitarist and singer with a series of uncompromising punk bands: Big Black, the offensively named Rapeman and finally Shellac, the band he was about to go on tour with before his fatal heart attack.
After the big success of Nevermind, Nirvana were struggling with the realities of fame. It made sense that they’d want to work with someone like Albini to ground them. Albini’s letter to the band outlining his methods is another piece of samizdat from the punk underground. It’s included in the second volume of.