Steve Albini dies at 61: What were the most important albums he produced? Nirvana, Pixies...

Legendary musician, engineer and producer Steve Albini has passed away from a heart attack at his home in Chicago at the age of 61.

Nobody was more instrumental in bringing some of the most influential punk and grunge albums to our collections than Albini. Known as an uncompromising figure in the US indie rock scene in the 1980s and 90s, Albini worked with acts such as Nirvana, The Pixies, and PJ Harvey.

After recording the seminal Pixies album LP Surfer, Albini was recruited by Kurt Cobain to record Nirvana’s album In Utero. Originally feeling sorry for Nirvana, Albini agreed to work with the band in order to protect them from their label, Geffen. In Utero sold five million copies and Albini said that he “liked it far more than I thought I was going to.”

Albini refused to take royalties, charging a flat fee instead, feeling that it was unethical to make money indefinitely from an artist’s work.

Artists that Albini worked with include Nirvana, Pixies, the Breeders, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, the Jesus Lizard, Don Caballero, PJ Harvey, the Wedding Present, Joanna Newsom, Superchunk, Low, Dirty Three, Jawbreaker, Neurosis, Cloud Nothings, Bush, Chevelle, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (as Page and Plant), Helmet, Fred Schneider, the Stooges, Owls, Manic Street Preachers, Jarvis Cocker, the Cribs, the Fleshtones, Nina Nastasia, the Frames, the Membranes, Cheap Trick, Motorpsycho, Slint, mclusky, Labradford, Veruca Salt, Zao, the Auteurs, Spare Snare, and Foxy Shazam.