Steven Frank Albini was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981β1987), Rapeman (1987β1989), and Shellac (1992β2024), and engineered acclaimed albums such as the Pixies' Surfer Rosa (1988), PJ Harvey's Rid of Me, Nirvana's In Utero, and Manic Street Preachers' Journal for Plague Lovers (2009).