On the 10th March 1963, the phenomenally rad dude Rick Rubin was born, a guy with an incredibly impressive beard and an abundance of musical feats under to his illustrious name.
Rubin made his humble beginnings in the music industry through his first ever project - a New York-based punk band named The Pricks. Don't feel bad if you've never heard of them, they were pretty whack, in fact the only notable story of their short-lived career was when Rubin organised a faux shut-down of their show, when band-members started a fight with some hecklers (their friends in on the plan) and the police (literally just Rubin's dad in an old police uniform) came to shut it down.
Rubin's next band, Hose, were a little better, but the notable story of their three year run was far more impactful on the world at large - notably that their first track was the first ever release on Def Jam Records, a label set up by Rubin and a friend and equally hard-working music man Russell Simmons. Following Hose's 1984 disbandment, Rubin lost interest in punk music, and became heavily invested in both the increasing popularity of hip hop and running of Def Jam.
Rubin's investment most excellently paid off, too. With the help of DJ Jazzy Jay, Rubin was able to learn the fundamentals of hip hop production, which would prove vital in some of the early work he and Simmons did with Def Jam, most notably the signing of Public Enemy, the production of various Run DMC tracks, and most importantly in Rubin's case, the rise to fame of the Beastie Boys. Before working with Rubin, The Beastie Boys were just another punk band from New York, however much like Rubin's own punk endeavours, they didn't offer much that stood them out from the crowd. Under Rubin's guidance however, they made the leap from punk to hip-hop and became a global hit, and despite this work with Rubin being nigh-on essential to their eventual success, there was a falling out of unknown cause around about the same time The 'Boys left Def Jam for EMI Records, around the same time Rubin himself left Def Jam Records after a falling out with the label's then president, leading him to move to Los Angeles and start his new label - Def American Records, later simply just American Records, after Rubin held an actual funeral for the word "Def".
So the guy clearly has a lot of experience producing music, I hear you say, but is he THAT good? Well as well as Run DMC, The Beasite Boys, and Public Enemy, why don't you also ask
Kid Rock, Smashing Pumpkins, ZZ Top, Danzig, or Neil Diamond what they think of his work.
What, that ain't impressive enough for you?
Then try ACDC, Metallica, Slayer, Aerosmith, Weezer, U2, Green Day, Slipknot (actually hold onto that one), or Linkin Park.
What, still don't think the guy has big production cred?
Then try Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wu Tang Clan, System of a Down, Eminem, Black Sabbath, Mick Jagger, Kanye West, Shakira, Adele, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Ray, Justin Timberlake, Eminem, and many, many others I just can't be bothered to list now.
That's right, not only was Rubin the driving force behind some of the biggest hip-hop and metal acts going, the dude has also worked with a number of huge pop artists on their records, and you know what? He's won a bunch of awards for them, most notably and recently Adele's 21 album. Real talk, this crazy bearded dude who made his beginnings as a punk rocker, who would go on to co-found one of the biggest hip-hop labels going, who "made" The Beastie Boys, who produced the likes of Reign in Blood, Mr Hankey's Christmas Classics, and one of Mel C's fuckin' records produced one of the biggest selling albums of the past decade.
But wait, the dude STILL has more impressive feats worth mentioning. Through his previously mentioned American Records label he produced Johnny Cash's final final six or so records, one of which famously included a cover of Nine Inch Nail's Hurt, which Rubin was responsible for introducing Cash to. It is sometimes also claimed Rubin was responsible for the idea of bringing Aerosmith and Run DMC together for Walk This Way, however actual credit for this should go to Rubin's friend Sue Cummings of Spin magazine who suggested it, and Rubin just did the production work. He also produced every RHCP album from '91-'11, which is pretty cool.
As we all know though, for however big you grow you only cast a larger shadow, and in the shadow of Rubin's enormous career is some criticism and naysayers to his work. Critics and listeners alike have been quick to point out Rubin's decision to compress and clip the dynamic range of the music he produces, which makes for far louder tracks but also leads to a fall in quality when re-produced. Rubin has also been called out by big-name musicians such as when Muse took a pop shot at him during a 2010 Music Producers Guild award speech, when Matt Belamy stated Muse would "like to thank Rick Rubin for teaching us how not to produce". Slipknot's Corey Taylor also had negative things to say of Rubin, claiming he was barely present during the production of their 2004 album Vol. 3., claiming him to be "overrated and overpaid".
But hey, making a bunch of albums really fuckin' loud doesn't seem that big of a deal, especially when you consider some of the very loud metal bands Rubin has worked with. And as for Matt Belamy's comments, that's big talk from a band that if personified would be the kind've person who only buys Amazon Prime to watch The Grand Tour and laughs whenever Jeremy Clarkson makes another Greta Thunberg joke. And Corey Taylor? Man, fuck Corey Taylor, I don't really think a man who thinks a song that's essentially "fuck Christmas it's not metal" is a cool idea, or who fires bandmates via e-mail, or thinks his band should have its own theme park and does the whole Danzig thing should have any right to call another man overrated for his contributions to the music industry. Plus given the band's behaviour working on previous records, I can see why Rubin probably wanted to be around the rubber-faced chumps as little as possible.
But seriously, fuck those guys, because all critique aside Rick Rubin is still pretty fuckin' cool, and for that, he gets an honourable mention, on today, his birthday.
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