One word which commonly crops up in the various tributes to late producer – or ‘recording engineer’ as he preferred – Steve Albini is “uncompromising”. It’s the kind of eulogy-speak you’ll often find – “he pulled no punches”, “she was never afraid to shoot from the hip” – given that it’s generally frowned upon to say that the deceased could be a bit of a dick.

As he acknowledged later in life, Albini could be a bit of a dick. He once fronted a band named Run N****r Run who had a single called ‘Pray I Don’t Kill You, Faggot’, frequently acted in the persona of a child being raped while performing his song ‘Jordan, Minnesota’ and said of Illinois rock band Poster Children “they had a really fruity drummer for a while, but I think he died of the syph”.

Then there was his infamous letter to the Chicago Reader entitled ‘Three Pandering Sluts and their Music Press Stooge’, in which he excoriated critic Bill Wyman for his yearly top 10 and memorably signed off “Shame on your lazy head. Clip your year-end column and put it away for ten years. See if you don’t feel like an idiot when you reread it. F*** you.”

Albini described pop music as “for children and idiots”, Courtney Love as “a psycho hose beast” and of electronic music he said “I detest club culture as deeply as I detest anything on earth”. So yeah, he could be a bit of a dick.

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This is not to rake over old ground in an attempt at some posthumous cancellation – it was something to which he readily admitted in later years. In a 2021 Twitter thread he copped to the fact “I’m overdue for a conversation about my role in inspiring ‘edgelord shit’” and in a full-on mea culpa said “a lot of things I said and did from an ignorant position of comfort and privilege are clearly awful and I regret them”. Had he gone woke? Albini said: “however you define ‘woke’, anti-woke means being a c*** who wants to indulge bigots”.

Albini was, in the truest sense of the word, a punk. He credited his entire career to having heard the first Ramones album as a teenager, and achieved underground success with bands of his own including Big Black and, er, Rapeman (he would later liken this name to getting a bad tattoo). He also took the punk ethos into his better known work as a producer, preferring to receive no credit on album sleeves or notes, charging a flat rate for his work and taking no royalties as he considered it “unethical” to make money from a band or artist in perpetuity.

As has been noted since his death, he worked on some of the best and most influential music of the late 80s and early 90s, notably Surfer Rosa, the 1988 debut studio album by Pixies. Recorded over 10 days, Albini found the acoustics in Q Division problematic and famously recorded Kim Deal’s vocals on hit single ‘Where Is My Mind?’ in the studio bathroom to create a more “roomy echo”.

The album was released to critical acclaim and frequently features on all-time best lists, though in a 1994 interview with Forced Exposure its producer dismissed it as “patchwork pinch-loaf from a band who at their top dollar best are blandly entertaining college rock”. He later apologised, saying he was “ashamed” of the comments.

Albini would go on to produce critically acclaimed albums for the likes of PJ Harvey and The Jesus Lizard, but is probably most widely remembered for his work on In Utero, Nirvana’s third and final studio album.

Kurt Cobain had cited Surfer Rosa as the basis for his band’s sound, making him a logical choice to produce the follow-up to the multi-platinum Nevermind – in the band’s eyes at least.

 Cobain was looking for a more abrasive sound on In Utero, which famously opens with the line: “teenage angst has paid off well, now I’m bored and old”. The sessions took just 13 days, with Albini producing a final mix in a further five.

The Herald: Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, his Chicago studio (Jim Newberry/Alamy/PA)

When the masters were sent to the label, however, the feedback was not good. Geffen had not wanted the band to work with Albini and In Utero was dismissed as “unlistenable”.

After a very public back-and-forth during which Albini refused to re-mix the record and told the Chicago Tribune he thought it would never be released, In Utero was subject to some remastering and unleashed on the world.

Contemporary reaction was mixed. NME called it “neither totally a self-destructive squall of hardcore nihilism as originally rumoured, nor the ‘Nevermind II’ of more recent whispers”, Rolling Stone called it “brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful” and Plugged In dismissed it as “noxious noise with no value”.

Albini and Nirvana had the last laugh, with In Utero frequently cited as one of the best rock albums ever made.

Though he complained that the wrangle over its release led to him being dismissed by labels in the aftermath of the album, Albini brought his signature style to work by Mogwai, Joanna Newsom, the Stooges and Cheap Trick. When the Manic Street Preachers wanted to bring the late Richey Edwards’ left-behind lyrics to life on Journal for Plague Lovers it was Albini to whom they turned.

His own band, Shellac, released a string of albums between 1993 and 2019, with the latest To All Trains completed shortly before Albini’s death.

While that will be read by some as his last will and testament, perhaps more appropriate would be his final musing on social media: “The Rolling Stones lips but it’s a butthole. Do they still sue people? I have an idea…”