Rick Rubin Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American
record producer and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin is the founder of Def Jam Records and also established American
Recordings.
With the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and Run–D.M.C., Rubin helped popularize
hip hop music.
Rubin has worked with Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Run–D.M.C., Tom Petty and
the Heartbreakers, Black Sabbath, Slipknot, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay-Z, Danzig,
Dixie Chicks, Metallica, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Weezer, Linkin Park, The Cult, Neil Diamond,
Mick Jagger, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Melanie C, Audioslave, Sheryl
Crow, ZZ Top, Adele, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, and Eminem.
In the 1990s and 2000s, he produced the "American Recordings" albums with Johnny Cash.
In 2007, MTV called him "the most important producer of the last 20 years".
Rubin appeared on Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World list.
Life and career Rubin was born in Long Beach, New York and
grew up in Lido Beach, New York, in a Jewish family.
His father was a shoe wholesaler and his mother a housewife.
While a student at Long Beach High School he befriended the school's audiovisual department
director Steve Freeman who gave him a few lessons in guitar playing and songwriting
and helped him create a punk band called The Pricks.
Their biggest claim to fame was being thrown off the stage at CBGB after two songs for
brawling with the heckling audience.
These hecklers were friends of the band instructed to instigate a confrontation so as to get
the show shut down and create a buzz.
Although he had no authority in New York City, Rubin's father traveled from Nassau County,
New York to Manhattan wearing his Lido Beach auxiliary police uniform as he attempted to
"shut down" the show.
On the February 28, 2014 producer Rick Rubin received David Lynch Foundation's "Lifetime
of Harmony" award in L.A. for a Lifetime of Meditation and Music
Def Jam years At school, Rubin was unpopular among the other
musicians due to his complete lack of musical ability beyond a few rudimentary guitar chords.
During his senior year, Rubin founded Def Jam Records using the school's four track
recorder.
He moved on to form Hose, influenced by San Francisco's Flipper.
In 1982, Hose became Def Jam release #1, a 45 rpm 7" vinyl single in a brown paper bag,
and no label.
The band played in and around the NYC punk scene, toured the Midwest and California,
and played with seminal hardcore bands like the Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü, the Circle
Jerks, Butthole Surfers and Minor Threat, becoming friends with frontman and Dischord
Records owner Ian MacKaye.
The band broke up in 1986 as Rubin's passion moved towards the NYC Hip Hop scene.
Having befriended Zulu Nation's DJ Jazzy Jay, Rubin began to learn about hip hop production.
By 1983, the two men produced "It's Yours" for rapper T La Rock, and released it on their
independent label, Def Jam Records.
Producer Arthur Baker helped to distribute the record worldwide on Baker's Streetwise
Records in 1984.
Jazzy Jay introduced Rubin to concert promoter/artist manager Russell Simmons in a club, and Rubin
explained he needed help getting Def Jam off the ground.
Simmons and Rubin edged out Jazzy Jay and the official Def Jam record label was founded
while Rubin was attending New York University in 1984.
Their first record released was LL Cool J's "I Need a Beat".
Rubin went on to find more hip-hop acts outside The Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem including rappers
from Queens, Staten Island and Long Island, which eventually led to Def Jam's signing
of Public Enemy.
Rubin was instrumental in pointing the members of the Beastie Boys away from their punk roots
and into rap, resulting in the exit of Kate Schellenbach from the group.
"Rock Hard"/"Party's Gettin' Rough"/"Beastie Groove" EP by the Beastie Boys came out on
the success of Rubin's production work with breakthrough act Run–D.M.C.
His productions were characterized by occasionally fusing rap with heavy rock.
Rubin tapped Adam Dubin and Ric Menello to co-direct the music videos for the Beastie
Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" and "No Sleep till Brooklyn", effectively
launching the band's mainstream hip hop careers.
It was the idea of Rick Rubin's friend Sue Cummings, an editor at Spin magazine, to have
Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith collaborate on a cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way".
This 1986 production is often credited with both introducing rap-hard rock to mainstream
ears and revitalizing Aerosmith.
In 1986, he worked with Aerosmith again on demos for their forthcoming album, but their
collaboration ended early and resulted in only rough studio jams.
In the same year, Rubin began his long musical partnership with Slayer, producing Reign in
Blood, considered a classic of the heavy metal genre.
This was his first work with a metal band.
In 1987 The Cult released their pivotal third album Electric.
Produced by Rubin, the album remains one of The Cult's trademark and classic works.
Rubin would later work with The Cult again for the single "The Witch".
Rubin is credited as Music Supervisor in the movie Less Than Zero and is the producer of
its soundtrack.
Rubin portrayed a character based upon himself in the 1985 hip-hop motion picture Krush Groove,
which was inspired by the early days of Russell Simmons' career as a music producer.
He then directed and co-wrote (with Ric Menello) a second Run-D.M.C.
film, Tougher Than Leather in 1988.
In 1988, Rubin and Simmons went their different ways after Rubin had a falling out with the
then Def Jam president Lyor Cohen.
It was then that Rubin left for Los Angeles, California to start Def American Records,
while Simmons remained at Def Jam in NY.
In Los Angeles, Rubin signed a number of rock and heavy metal acts, including Danzig, Masters
of Reality, The Four Horsemen,and Wolfsbane, as well as alternative rock group The Jesus
and Mary Chain and stand up comedian Andrew Dice Clay.
Rubin also produced though he retained a close association with rap, signing the Geto Boys
and continuing to work with Public Enemy, LL Cool J and Run–D.M.C.
among others.
American Recordings years Rubin originally had given his label the name
"Def Jam".
The word "def" in urban culture is slang for a song or musical composition that is well
liked for its attractive rhythm and dance appeal.
Nine years later, Rubin found that the word "def" had been accepted into the standardized
dictionary; in 1993, Rubin held an actual funeral, complete with a casket and a grave,
for the word "def".
Def American became American Recordings.
In regard to this he stated: "When advertisers and the fashion world co-opted the image of
hippies, a group of the original hippies in San Francisco literally buried the image of
the hippie.
When 'def' went from street lingo to mainstream, it defeated its purpose."
The first major project on the renamed label was Johnny Cash's American Recordings (1994),
a record including six cover songs and new material written by others for Cash at Rubin's
request.
The album was a critical and commercial success, and helped revive Cash's career following
a fallow period.
The formula was repeated for five more Cash albums: Unchained, Solitary Man, The Man Comes
Around (the last album released before Cash's death), A Hundred Highways, and Ain't No Grave.
The Man Comes Around earned a 2003 Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance ("Give
My Love to Rose") and a nomination for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals ("Bridge
Over Troubled Water" with Fiona Apple).
Rubin introduced Cash to Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", and the resulting cover version of
it on The Man Comes Around would become a defining song of Cash's later years.
Rick Rubin also produced the Jay-Z track "99 Problems", and was featured in the song's
music video.
Rubin produced a number of records with other older artists, which were released on labels
other than American.
These included Mick Jagger's 1993 Wandering Spirit album, Lords of Acid's 1994 Voodoo-U
album, Tom Petty's 1994 Wildflowers, AC/DC's 1995 Ballbreaker, Donovan's 1996 Sutras, and
Metallica's 2008 Death Magnetic.
According to bassist Robert Trujillo, Rubin will be the producer for the next Metallica
album.
In 2005, Rick Rubin executive-produced Shakira's two-album project Fijacion Oral Vol. 1 and
Oral Fixation Vol. 2.
He was to appear on the Talib Kweli's album Eardrum, Clipse's album Til the Casket Drops
and Lil Jon's album Crunk Rock.
Rubin recently finished producing Black Sabbath's 2013 album 13.
Columbia years In May 2007, Rubin was named co-head of Columbia
Records.
Rubin co-produced Linkin Park's 2007 album, Minutes to Midnight, with Mike Shinoda.
Rubin and Shinoda have since co-produced the band's 2010 album, A Thousand Suns, and their
June 2012 release, Living Things.
In 2007, Rubin won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for his work with
the Dixie Chicks, Michael Kranz, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Green Day, and Johnny Cash released
in 2006.
Rubin won the award again in 2009, for production work for Metallica, Neil Diamond, Ours, Jakob
Dylan and Weezer in 2008.
In 2012 Rubin won the Grammy for Album of the Year for his role as a producer on Adele's
album 21.
Post Columbia Rubin left Columbia in 2012, and revived the
American Recordings imprint through a deal with Republic Records.
The first albums released under this new deal are ZZ Top's La Futura and The Avett Brothers'
The Carpenter.
Rubin also attempted to record a cover album with Crosby, Stills and Nash in 2012, but
the sessions were short-lived and ultimately unsuccessful.
Production style Rubin's biggest trademark as a producer has
been a "stripped-down" sound, which involves eliminating production elements such as string
sections, backup vocals, and reverb, and instead having naked vocals and bare instrumentation.
However, by the 2000s, Rubin's style had been known to include such elements, as noted in
the Washington Post: "As the track reaches a crescendo and Diamond's portentous baritone
soars over a swelling string arrangement, Rubin leans back, as though floored by the
emotional power of the song."
Producer Dr. Dre once stated that Rick was, "hands down, the dopest producer ever that
anyone would ever want to be, ever."
On the subject of his production methods, Dan Charnas, a music journalist who worked
as vice president of A&R and marketing at Rubin's American Recordings label in the 1990s,
said, "He's fantastic with sound and arrangements, and he's tremendous with artists.
They love him.
He shows them how to make it better, and he gets more honest and exciting performances
out of people than anyone."
Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks has praised his production methods, saying, "He has the
ability and the patience to let music be discovered, not manufactured.
Come to think of it, maybe he is a guru."
On 2010 at the Music Producers Guild (MPG) awards, Muse aimed a potshot at Rick Rubin
as the band accepted the award for UK single of the year.
Arriving onstage, Matt Bellamy thanked a number of people for teaching them how to produce,
finishing off with: "And we'd like to thank Rick Rubin for teaching us how not to produce."
The audience roared, as Bellamy smiled, concluding: "I thought you'd like that one."
One trademark of Rubin's production is that he encourages artists to genre-bend: rap stars
Run-D.M.C.
covered hard rock band Aerosmith's "Walk This Way", country music star Johnny Cash covered
"Hurt" by industrial band Nine Inch Nails and "Personal Jesus" by synthpop band Depeche
Mode, and Southern rock band ZZ Top covered "25 Lighters" by DJ DMD.
In taking from various styles and different genres, Rubin allowed himself a greater appeal,
both in artistic intake and public outtake.
His styles, derived from rock, funk, and rap, later emphasized the exceeding and growing
cultural Americana of sound and style.
Furthermore, in mixing and emphasizing the differences of genre in music and culture,
he did much to display the racial and cultural divides and similarities of pop content and
presentation.
Criticisms by artists and listeners Not all artists who have worked with Rubin
have enjoyed his production style.
Although he and his band mates had some positive things to say about Rubin, Slipknot's lead
singer Corey Taylor said that he only met Rubin four times during the entire recording
process of Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) and that Rubin barely ever even showed up
to the studio: "...we were being charged horrendous amounts of money.
And for me, if you're going to produce something, you're fucking there.
I don't care who you are.".
He also added: "The Rick Rubin of today is a thin, thin, thin shadow of the Rick Rubin
that he was.
He is overrated, he is overpaid, and I will never work with him again as long as I fucking
live."
American Head Charge's front man Martin Cock made similar complaints, saying that Rubin
gave no direction or constructive criticism, and took excessive amounts of time to listen
to the recordings sent to him.
"Loudness war" Since at least 1999, Rubin has been criticized
by listeners for contributing to a phenomenon in music known as the loudness war, in which
the dynamic range of recorded music is compressed and sometimes clipped in order to increase
the general loudness.
Albums produced by Rubin that have been criticized for such treatment include:
Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999) - Tim Anderson of The Guardian criticized
its "excessive compression and distortion", and Stylus Magazine said it suffered from
so much digital clipping that "even non-audiophile consumers complained about it".
Death Magnetic by Metallica (2008).
Some fans have preferred the Guitar Hero version of Death Magnetic, even though it was released
for gameplay and not listening, because it was not subject to the same compression.
13 by Black Sabbath (2013) - Ben Ratliff of The New York Times said "The new Black Sabbath
album was produced by Rick Rubin, who some believe to be a prime offender in the recent
history of highly compressed and loudly mastered music — a major cause of ear fatigue...13
is mastered loudly, too...
Your ears aren't given room to breathe".
Jon Hadusek of Consequence of Sound wrote, "Rubin...deserves disparagement for the way
he mixed the audio levels, which are crushed by distortion and compression.
Otherwise well-recorded songs are blemished, an affliction all too pervasive in the modern
music industry".
Filmography