The notion is that if you’re not actively doing something to oppress somebody, then you’re not part of the problem.

That’s the way a lot of straight white guys think of the world - they think that it requires an active hatred on your part to be prejudiced, bigoted or to be a participant in white supremacy. So for us, we felt like those problems had been solved. Of course women had an equal place, an equal role to play in our circles. Within our circles, within the music scene, within the musical underground, a lot of cultural problems were deemed already solved - meaning, you didn’t care if your friends were queer.

I admit that I was deaf to a lot of women’s issues at the time, and that’s on me. In the MEL interview, Albini shared these reflections on naming his band Rapeman after pornographic Japanese manga comics: We thought the major battles over equality and inclusiveness had been won, and society would eventually express that, so we were not harming anything with contrarianism, shock, sarcasm or irony.” I expect no grace, and honestly feel like I and others of my generation have not been held to task enough for words and behavior that ultimately contributed to a coarsening society.” He continued, “For myself and many of my peers, we miscalculated. It’s nobody’s obligation to overlook that, and I do feel an obligation to redeem myself… A project I’ve undertaken piecemeal as I’ve matured, evolved and learned over time.

“A lot of things I said and did from an ignorant position of comfort and privilege are clearly awful and I regret them. “I certainly have some ‘splainin to do, and am not shy about any of it,” Albini wrote in the initial thread.

Today MEL Magazine published an interview with Albini expanding on the subject. About a month ago, the acclaimed Chicago recording engineer and Big Black/Shellac member Steve Albini posted a Twitter thread reckoning with his history of transgressive “edgelord” behavior, including (but not limited to) playing in bands called Rapeman and Run N***** Run in the ’80s, touting his friend’s child pornography magazine in the zine Forced Exposure in 1978, and using a racial slur in a post on the Odd Future message board about the time he shared a shuttle with Tyler, The Creator in 2011.

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