Steve Albini offered Nirvana his production services for free ahead of the recording of their album ‘In Utero’ in 1993 – if the band could beat him at a game of pool first.
Albini did indeed end up producing the legendary band’s third and final studio album, which came out in September 1993.
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Ahead of recording at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota in February 1993, Albini offered to work on ‘In Utero’ for free if any member of Nirvana could successfully beat him at a game of pool.
If Albini won, however, his production fee would be doubled. “I did that with every band I worked with, and no-one ever took me up on the offer,” the producer has now told Kerrang! in a new interview.
“It’s not like I’m a particularly good pool player, but I have an equal chance of winning in a fair game,” he continued. “Ultimately, it wasn’t going to make that much difference to my life if I got double the money for the session or worked for free. But I guess Nirvana were a little more risk-averse than I was.”
Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl has previously spoken about Albini’s offer, explaining why he and his bandmates ultimately didn’t take the producer on in a potentially expensive game of pool.
“We were paying him $100,000,” Grohl recalled. “Anyone who’s got the stones to gamble something that large must be amazing [at pool], so everyone said no.
“Plus he had his own stick. We didn’t want to fuck around with that.”
It was announced earlier this month that Nirvana’s 1989 debut album ‘Bleach’ is being reissued on a limited edition red cassette for this year’s Valentine’s Day.
