Steady as She Goes

September 14, 2015 6:50 PM

Steve Albini Shows That Punk Rock Ethics Are Good Business “If you start from the premise of refusing to be an asshole, then a lot of other decisions kind of make themselves.” - posted at Psychology Today, of all places.
posted by davebush (26 comments total)

“All of the salaries here at Electrical Audio are modest. I don’t get paid much. Nobody who works here gets paid much,” he explained. “But we all think that we are participating in an important aspect of culture. And that is a way of being paid — the satisfaction of participating in something that is bigger than you is a kind of remuneration for what you’ve been through."

I hate this sort of exploitative bullshit. And yes, it's exploitative bullshit - if we were talking about teachers, the line would be either be "think of the children" or "it's not a job, it's a calling."
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:58 PM on September 14, 2015 [7 favorites]

I appreciate the idea of “If you start from the premise of refusing to be an asshole, then a lot of other decisions kind of make themselves,” but “asshole” is a pretty subjective term - especially coming from Steve Albini.
posted by Going To Maine at 7:01 PM on September 14, 2015 [14 favorites]

It may be good business, but that doesn't mean John Roderick wasn't right that "Punk Rock is Bullshit".

What started out as teenage piss-taking at baby-boomer onanism quickly morphed into a humorless doctrine characterized by acute self-consciousness and boring conformism. We internalized its laundry list of pseudo-values—anti-establishmentarianism, anti-capitalism, libertarianism, anti-intellectualism, and self-abnegation disguised as humility—until we became merciless captors of our own lightheartedness, prisoners in a Panopticon who no longer needed a fence. After almost four decades of gorging on punk fashion, music, art, and attitude, we still grant it permanent “outsider” status. Its tired tropes and worn-out clichés are still celebrated as edgy and anti-authoritarian, above reproach and beyond criticism. Punk-rock culture is the ultimate slow-acting venom, dulling our expectations by narrowing the aperture of “cool” and neutering our taste by sneering at new flavors until every expression of actual individualism is corralled and expunged in favor of group-think conformity.

posted by SansPoint at 7:02 PM on September 14, 2015 [12 favorites]

In fairness, I don’t really think of Steve Albini as campaigning for any particular positive causes other than awesome music. (And, uh, the right to have a band called “Rapeman”)
posted by Going To Maine at 7:40 PM on September 14, 2015

Isn't "punk rock" all about being an asshole?
posted by Docrailgun at 7:43 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Efficiency is extraordinarily important to us ... So I advocate that. But I understand if some people are too fucking lazy to do that, they’re willing to give up a significant portion of their income to have somebody else take care of that stuff for them. I totally understand that. I’m not casting aspersions on people who have managers or agents or whatever. I’m just highlighting the economic reality of it."

Either he's casting aspersions pretty directly there, or he's just talking out the side of his neck.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 7:55 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

As the sixth or seventh person to respond to the epigram: When has Albini refused to be an asshole?

"I hate this sort of exploitative bullshit. And yes, it's exploitative bullshit - if we were talking about teachers, the line would be either be "think of the children" or "it's not a job, it's a calling.""

If you take the extra two steps of critical thinking, you can get to the conclusion that there are significant differences between teaching and audio engineering as professions, and that "modest pay" can still be fair pay, especially when it comes with ample opportunities to do what you love. Instead, you're the one tacitly endorsing the neoliberal line that a person should strive for making as much as they possibly can and measure their compensation solely in immediate dollars. So while "passion" arguments can undermine fair pay for teachers, that doesn't mean that all "passion" arguments are invalid.
posted by klangklangston at 8:04 PM on September 14, 2015 [16 favorites]

I don't think Steve Albini would want to engage any of the first few posters in this thread in any business venture.
posted by shockingbluamp at 8:17 PM on September 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Because he's accustomed to being surrounded by a chorus of ass-kissers?
posted by thelonius at 8:18 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm curious what makes you think that thelonius.
posted by ericthegardener at 8:35 PM on September 14, 2015

I'm curious too about the source of all this animosity towards Steve Albini. Yes I'll go to my grave believing he deliberately sabotaged the Wedding Present's Seamonsters -still one of the greatest albums of the 1990s- and sure maybe he can be a bit of a jerk, but he's obviously also extremely diligent, conscientious and brilliant at what he does (perhaps i.e. how you get to be as successful as Steve Albini despite adhering to a punk ethos, ditto Ian McKaye) as well as being an opinionated though thankfully also intelligent person with never less than interesting things to say.
posted by Flashman at 8:53 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

This isn't exploitation. Exploitation is when the CEO makes 700x what everyone else makes and gets a nice golden parachute if things don't work out. These are just people who aren't in it for the money. Hard to believe maybe. But check Electrical Audio's web site and see what they charge to record your album. Anyone's album.
posted by fungible at 9:00 PM on September 14, 2015 [15 favorites]

Albini: The remuneration is very equitable. Everybody gets paid the same. I make the same amount of money in a month as the newest employee that we have.

How is this "exploitative bullshit?"
posted by ferdydurke at 9:39 PM on September 14, 2015 [9 favorites]

Albini: So if somebody comes to you and offers to help or comes to you and wants to participate, that you let them participate. If somebody offers you work, and it’s work that you can do with a clear conscience, then you do it. I’m not very selective as an engineer regarding the projects that I take. I’ve never played favorites with respect to who could pay me more. I’ve never discriminated with respect to one style of music or another.

How is this "sneering at new flavors until every expression of actual individualism is corralled and expunged in favor of group-think conformity?"

Lots of straw men are being absolutely eviscerated here.
posted by ferdydurke at 10:03 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm curious too about the source of all this animosity towards Steve Albini.

I think mostly because he’s got a history of being outspoken and assholish in his writing? He’s an abrasive figure, and for all that he seems to play nice in this piece it comes across as something of a pose given the many other things he’s said and done.

How is this "sneering at new flavors until every expression of actual individualism is corralled and expunged in favor of group-think conformity?"

Well, not in his recording, no. I think that his classic reference to artists who want to sell records as “pandering sluts”, however, might qualify. It’s one thing to record anything, it’s another to support the methods that people found people to record their art. (Also, I will be eternally vexed at him for hating Exile In Guyville, for all the good he did for Joanna Newsom.)
posted by Going To Maine at 10:25 PM on September 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

😎 nh electrical
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:47 AM on September 15, 2015

Popping in to note that Andrew Mason worked at Electrical Audio for a time before founding The Point/Groupon and said that Albini was inspirational to him in his career.

I don't think AM necessarily meant for Groupon to steer the way that it went, but I think it's an interesting example of extreme drift, and one that exemplifies both sorts of business people he's talking about (and hits close to home).
posted by macrowave at 7:03 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

He’s an abrasive figure, and for all that he seems to play nice in this piece it comes across as something of a pose given the many other things he’s said and done.
Going To Maine

Can you give some examples? Sorry if this is common knowledge, I'm also very curious about the hostility displayed in this thread.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:01 AM on September 15, 2015

As I understand it, the linked letter to the Chicago Reader is pretty indicative of the vibe he gave off during the heyday of his career, and having a band called Rapeman got some serious vitriol directed at him at one point; his defense of the choice could I think be fairly characterized as “mansplaining”. I can’t quote chapter and verse, but Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life does a good job of painting him as the uncompromising punk that he is. Being “uncompromising” is often correlated with being an “asshole” because it’s very hard to always get what you want while also making everybody feel good.

Also, it’s hard to see that a sentence like “But I understand if some people are too fucking lazy to do that, they’re willing to give up a significant portion of their income to have somebody else take care of that stuff for them.” isn’t anything but dickish.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:11 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

What started out as teenage piss-taking at baby-boomer onanism

Rob Tyner 1945
Knox 1945
Patti Smith 1946
Lenny Kaye 1946
Lux Interior       1946
Iggy Pop 1947
Dave Alexander 1947
Wayne Kramer 1948
Dennis Thompson 1948
Ron Asheton 1948
Ivan Kral 1948
Johnny Ramone 1948
Fred Sonic Smith 1949
Scott Asheton 1949
Klaus Flouride 1949
Stiv Bators 1949
Richard Hell 1949
Tom Verlaine 1949
Wendy O Williams 1949
David Johansen 1950
Lee Ving 1950
Sylvain Sylvain 1951
Kid Strange 1951
Joey Ramone 1951
Dee Dee Ramone 1951
Richard Lloyd 1951
Derf Scratch 1951
Johnny Thunders 1952
Jay Dee Daugherty 1952
Jim Shaw 1952
Tommy Ramone 1952
Joe Strummer 1952
Peter Laughner 1952
John Ellis 1952
Richard Sohl 1953
David Thomas 1953
Poison Ivy         1953
Handsome Dick Manitoba 1954
Ross Friedman 1954
Scott Kempner 1954
Mike Kelley 1954
Greg Ginn 1954
John Doe 1954
Captain Sensible 1954
Andy Shernoff 1955
Steve Jones 1955
Mick Jones 1955
Cheetah Chrome 1955
Pete Shelley 1955
Steve Diggle 1955
Steven Severin 1955
Brian James 1955
Rat Scabies 1955
Glenn Danzig 1955
Keith Morris 1955
Palmolive 1955
Viv Albertine 1955
Jak Airport 1955
Jon King 1955
Dave Allen 1955
Gibby Haynes 1955
Niagara 1956
Johnny Rotten 1956
Glen Matlock 1956
Paul Cook 1956
Exene Cervenka 1956
Dave Vanian 1956
Ricky Williams 1956
Andy Gill 1956
Hugo Burnham 1956
Sid Vicious 1957
Keith Levene 1957
Siouxsie Sioux 1957
Polly Styrene 1957
Paul Leary 1957
Jah Wobble 1958
Jello Biafra 1958
East Bay Ray 1958
Darby Crash 1958
Alice Bag 1958
Jerry Only 1959
Pat Smear 1959
Tessa Pollitt 1959
Henry Rollins 1961
Greg Hetson 1961
Pat Bag 1962
Ari Up 1962
posted by Herodios at 9:47 AM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

While the Baby Boom’s end date is debatable, 1955 is a pretty good indicator; some of those punks are definitely post-boom. That said, the “baby boom” is surely also reasonably characterized as a particular set of values, but “teenage” seems inapt; many of these folks were were probably in their twenties by the time their bands formed. (29, for Patti Smith) Although, really, if the music of the Ramones can’t be characterized as “teenage” I’m not sure what you’re going to do.

That said, even if Roderick’s basically wrong, I kind of assumed that he was using “teenaged piss-taking at Baby Boomer Onanism” in a loving way, contra what punk became. (Although that’s also kind of debatable, given that the Sonic Youth were big fans of Madonna.)
posted by Going To Maine at 10:01 AM on September 15, 2015

I hate this sort of exploitative bullshit. And yes, it's exploitative bullshit - if we were talking about teachers, the line would be either be "think of the children" or "it's not a job, it's a calling."

A bunch of people have already addressed this but one thing you seem to be missing is that much of his ethic is about trying to give a fair deal to musicians because he knows very well that they are almost invariably exploited.

Steve Albini is fairly well known to be "an asshole" in some ways - or at least he used to be - but I don't think this is one of them.
posted by atoxyl at 11:07 AM on September 15, 2015

Huh. My understanding of punk was do-it-yourself. All the rest was fashion and bullshit. What could be wrong with that?
posted by dashDashDot at 4:44 PM on September 15, 2015

Huh. My understanding of punk was do-it-yourself. All the rest was fashion and bullshit. What could be wrong with that?

Punk hasn't not been fashion since Malcolm McLaren.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:47 PM on September 15, 2015

Punk hasn't not been fashion since Malcolm McLaren.

So, to pick a few random favorites off the top of my head, The Replacements and Hüsker Dü were all about the fashions?
posted by dashDashDot at 4:53 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

So, to pick a few random favorites off the top of my head, The Replacements and Hüsker Dü were all about the fashions?

A fair point. I’ll scale that back to “Punk has been inextricably intertwined with fashion since Malcolm McLaren”
posted by Going To Maine at 6:15 PM on September 15, 2015