He began the article with an image: “I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying [excrement]. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end, holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed.”

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In an October 2023 interview on Conan O’Brien’s podcast to mark three decades since In Utero, Albini said he refused to take a percentage of the proceeds from the album by one of the era’s most popular bands.

“The way that record producers and recording people are compensated at that time in particular was a trick of accounting that shifted the costs away from the label and toward the band, made the band ultimately responsible for whatever the producer got paid. And it didn’t come out of the general proceeds of the record the way it would in an independent labels contract, for example. It came specifically out of the money that would otherwise have gone to the band,” he told O’Brien. “I think that’s ethically untenable.”

He added: “I think less of people who opt to do things that way.”

Tributes came in immediately online, especially from his beloved Chicago.

Damon Locks, head of the Chicago-based Black Monument Ensemble – a multigenerational, multimedia music collective aimed at honouring the city’s Black music – wrote of Albini on Instagram: “He was a human (and a punk icon) who did the work, evolved, and was in service to a larger idea … I admire that he continued to evaluate and change over time. He had an ethos. He stood for something. He was a good guy. This is so shocking.”

The city’s indie music venue Metro posted that it had changed its sign out front to honour Albini. “We’re deeply saddened to hear of Steve Albini’s passing and keep his family in our hearts. Thank you for all that you contributed to punk rock in our town and the reverberations of creativity you brought forth, felt the world over.”

Albini had another passion that led to success outside of music. He was a serious poker player, winning two bracelets in World Series of Poker competitions. He started playing poker in 1969 when he was taught how to play by his great-grandmother, according to his WSOP online profile.