There was Brian Eno in the 1970s/1980s. Since then, the guru of rock and other music genres has had the Christ-like beard of Rick Rubin, the cofounder of Def Jam and visionary who has found new paths for such varied artists as Johnny Cash and Jay-Z. So, we’re going to span various styles with these five albums that bear Rick’s stigmata.
Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill (1986)
We’re starting strong with Licensed to Ill, the Beastie Boys’ debut album. A first single, “Cookie Puss/Ratcage”, had begun to introduce the Boys to white punk audiences, their style at the time being that of young, unoriginal delinquents. It was Rick Ruben who, seeing that the Boys only listened to rap, suggested they do a 180 and become the first white rap trio: MCA, Adrock and Mike D.
“When we arrived in the 80s, we were something of a novelty,” Adrock recalls. “People were curious, we were the first white rappers on MTV and rap wasn’t as big as it is now. Now, it’s part of our lives.”
This original sin album has gone down in history. For starters, the cover shows a plane crashing into a mountain, and without too much effort, the viewer can see male genitalia penetrating a forest of hair… The original art was recently sold at auction for 70,000 dollars, the price of vintage hip-hop.
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The censorship of the first track intended for Licensed To Ill is the best thing that ever happened to the Boys, who wanted to call it “Don’t Be a Faggot”, which might not have gone down well with the woke/#MeToo generation. There’s a connection with guitar rock of the past, with multiple samples of Led Zeppelin and other electric glories throughout the album’s compositions, from “She’s on It” to “Brass Monkey” and “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”, a track featuring the guitar of Kerry King (from Slayer), who also makes an appearance in the music video.
Highlight of the album, the hymn “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)”, a joyous college party with a hilarious cream pie food-fight music video. The pies in question were bought for cheap from a local supermarket because they were past their sell-by date, and the protagonists had to endure the disgusting smell of curdled cream that was warmed up by the heat of the spotlights. A great memory for sure, but a bit brutal for over-sensitive noses.
One of the album’s distinctive features is that it doesn’t have the name or a photo of the band on the cover, like a few venerable predecessors, such as Kimono My House by Sparks and Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division.
On the first seven albums released on Def Jam Recordings, there weren’t any photos of the artists. This wasn’t intentional, we didn’t want to hide the artists, that’s just how hip-hop worked at the time. So the Beastie Boys’ first album didn’t have a photo of them, and the hip-hop community loved it. The public was surprised by the fact that they were white, but it wasn’t held against them, it was just unexpected. When LL Cool J first came into my dorm room to meet me because he loved “It’s Yours”, the record I’d produced for T La Rock, the same thing happened: he was shocked that I was white. Nobody in hip-hop was white back then.
Rick Rubin, let’s not forget, is also the man who came up with the idea of adding a final track to Run-DMC’s finished album, Raising Hell. For the track in question, a seventies rock cover, Rick brought in the performers of the original version for an original rap/rock duet. The result? A solid gold hit, “Walk This Way”, the unbeatable combination of Run-DMC and Aerosmith. That’s what you call having good intuition.
Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
Rewind 2, Public Enemy. There was the first album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Dark, with rapid beats, packed with innovation. A solid record, that went from being a revelation to a good first draft with the release in June 1988 of the revolutionary It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, which shares the pole position with Fear of a Black Planet in P.E.’s rich discography.
The second studio album, It Takes a Nation… was an instant classic, a game changer, an album that was made to become part of rap history. The vocal structure: a tribune (Chuck D) as lead rapper, whose grave, impassioned message is energized by the interjections of a rap Joker (Flavor Flav), all set to a noisy, postmodern and formidably effective instrumental explosion by the Bomb Squad, a collective of producers who simultaneously played dozens of tapes to create the hip-hop equivalent of Phil Spector’s pop wall of sound.
The band’s self-confessed goal: to create a hip-hop version of What’s Going On. And that’s what this is, with an edgy tone, since the BPM is considerably quicker on most tracks that on the first album. “Rebel Without a Pause”, with its frenetic beat controlled by Flavor Flav, is a good example of the insanity that permeates the record, on which there’s many timeless tracks. “Bring the Noise” is a political firebrand that quotes Farrakhan, “Don’t Believe the Hype” focuses on the fake news of the time, castigating the media for peddling unfounded rumors, with the works of Noam Chomsky – who, let’s not forget, isn’t Tony Montana’s lieutenant but a philosopher, linguist, political activist and one of the fathers of cognitive science, no less – as it’s main source of inspiration.
Public Enemy’s impact, both on record and on stage, really took off with this album, which helped earn Chuck D (“Messenger of Prophecy”), Flavor Flav (“The Cold Lamper”), Professor Griff (“Minister of Information”) and DJ Terminator X (“Assault Technician”) the nickname “The Rolling Stones of the rap game”, with Chuck D usually adding “I’m not braggin’, my lips bigger than Jagger”. Credited as the album’s “Executive Producer”, Rick is no longer “DJ Double R”, as he called himself in his early days with LL Cool J, but a bridge between the most radical black group in eighties hip-hop and the public.
This public would catch a glimpse of P.E.’s power through the success of singles such as “Bring the Noise”, whose sonic tapestry was assembled using no fewer than eight samples: “It’s My Thing” by Marva Whitney, “Fire and Fury Grass Roots Speech” by Malcolm X (speech), “Funky Drummer” “Get Up, Get into It, Get Involved” at “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose” by James Brown, “Get off Your Ass and Jam” by Funkadelic, “Fantastic Freaks at the Dixie” by DJ Grand Wizard Theodore and the Fantastic Five, “The Assembly Line” by the Commodores and “I Don’t Know What This World Is Coming to” by the Soul Children featuring Jesse Jackson. A funky fruit salad, a hip-hop mille-feuille of unprecedented power.
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Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication (1999)
Rewind 3, and we’re entering a different musical universe with a band in its third collaboration with Rick Ruben, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. After Blood Sugar Sex Magik in 1991 and One Hot Minute in 1995, Rick provided his expertise on Californication for the last time to a band undergoing a complete overhaul, which at first hesitated to re-sign with the bearded guru, as singer and frontman Anthony Kiedis recalls:
We thought it might be time to find a new producer. Every time we record an album, no matter how much we enjoyed working with the producer, and even if we know that we’re going to end up recording the next one with the same guy, there’s always a moment when someone asks “Do we want to work with a new producer?”
Good things come in threes, and the phenomenal success of Californication is the ultimate proof that the band’s decision was the right one (the Chili Peppers’ bank manager approves this message).
The significant change on this 15-track album is, of course, the return of John Frusciante, the guitarist Flea continued to see after he left the band, despite the multiple problems caused by his terrible addiction to cocaine and heroin. His house burned down (with all his guitars in it), he nearly died of an overdose in 1996 and still managed to release two solo albums… to pay for his drugs, as he candidly confessed in an interview.
Like all Americans in search of redemption, Frusciante, determined to leave the dark side behind after multiple warnings from his family and friends, did a full 180° and entered a rehab program at a Pasadena clinic. When he was released, he was a new man. He swapped white lines from yoga, abstinence and veganism. Flea therefore asked him to rejoin the band after Dave Navarro was fired. And so John’s chemical redemption opened the doors to Californication, on which he can be heard playing a 1962 Fender Stratocaster guitar given to him by the other band members as a welcome gift. Six years later, the prodigal son returned.
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While Rick had to put up with excess of all sorts, both sexual and drug-related, from the band during their previous collaborations, this wasn’t the case here: the songs were recorded in five days, and the whole album took three months to make. Because Rubin wanted a “dry and punchy” sound for Kiedis and co’s compositions, he put the musicians in the same room for them to play together, and placed numerous microphones throughout the room.
The result is a record that’s certified 3× Platinum in the USA and 2× Gold in France, with a total of fifteen million sales throughout the world. The band filed a lawsuit against the Showtime television channel, who released the series Californication in 2007 (with David Duchovny), claiming that its eponymous title “constitutes a false designation of origin, and has caused and continues to cause a likelihood of confusion, mistake, and deception as to source, sponsorship, affiliation, and/or connection in the minds of the public”. The lawsuit was settled outside of court in 2011 by an agreement that has remained secret.
Johnny Cash – American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002)
Rewind 4, and it’s the return of the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, the country legend who would enjoy a new musical youth in the twilight of his life with a series of albums produced by… Rick Rubin, of course!
American IV: The Man Comes Around, released in 2002, is Cash’s last original work released during his lifetime. Rick Rubin’s contribution to this essential album has much in common with his work on LL Cool J’s debut album, Radio. The credits on the cover of this eighties hip-hop classic read: “Reduced by Rick Rubin”.
That’s right: reduced, not produced. By stripping away all the funky attributes and sophisticated arrangements to make do with a machinelike beat and a few wild scratches to accompany LL’s rap, Rubin reduced the rapper’s sound and in the process gave it its unique style. Rubin’s approach with Cash was similar: the sound is minimal, as evidenced by the terrific version of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”, which mainly revolves around the acoustic guitar riff provided by John “Red Hot” Frusciante, giving this powerful composition an old-fashioned blues tinge.
Even more surprising is the cover of “Hurt”, originally penned by the extreme rock version of the emperor of dirt, Trent Reznor. The orchestration consists of two acoustic guitars (those of Mike Campbell and Smokey Hormel) plus Benmont Tench’s keyboards. The leader of Nine Inch Nails, flattered as he was to learn that the Man in Black was going to cover one of his compositions, was nonetheless frightened: what if this version was a dud, a simple gimmick to look young?
Reznor was reassured upon seeing the music video, which moved him so much that he forgot all about his misgivings, going so far as to say “that song isn’t mine anymore”. Other highly recommended covers include Paul Simon’s “Bridge over Troubled Water” and the superb ballad “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, as emotionally powerful as Roberta Flack’s superb version. Old cowboy Hank Williams is represented by “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, Sting by “I Hung My Head” and the Beatles by “In My Life”.
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Another great track from this ultimate album, “The Man Comes Around”, which gives the record its title and opens with a brief biblical monolog from Johnny before delivering three minutes of darkness and lightness, the ultimate country oxymoron for this Cash composition, enhanced by Benmont Tench’s piano. The song holds a special place in the Man in Black’s discography:
I spent more time on this composition than any other I’ve written. It’s loosely based on the Book of Revelation and a few other biblical references. I must have written about thirty pages of lyrics for this song, then painfully whittled it down to the version that’s on the album.
The (discreet) backing vocal guests on the fourth volume of Cash’s last American adventure are prestigious, and include Nick Cave, Fiona Apple and Don Henley. Rick had one last problem before releasing this record, which would earn the artist a platinum certification (his first for a studio album in thirty years): convince Johnny to allow the American label’s slogan, an upside down U.S. flag with black stripes instead of blue, on the record. In an interview with Society magazine, Rubin states:
Johnny told me, “I don’t know if this logo can be on my album”, because it was seen as anti-American. But he remembered a story: his father was very patriotic and always had the American flag flying in front of his house. Then, he got older, and became blind. One day, Johnny came home and realized that his father had hung the flag upside down. And it was this memory that led him to agree to put the logo on the album.
Gossip – Music for Men (2009)
Our last Rewind, and the first to feature female artists: Gossip, the trio comprised of Beth Ditto, Hannah Blilie and Brace Paine, embraces pop influences on their fourth studio album, whose first single set the tone with the luminous “Heavy Cross”, the trio’s first international hit. This was no easy feat, if we are to believe Beth, who told me her doubts about the track, despite it being an obvious choice: “I’m a disaster when it comes to choosing a single. I didn’t want to put ‘Heavy Cross’ on the album, so you get the picture. But when you’re writing songs, there’s a magical moment when you feel that what you’ve come up with is special. And we’re proud of it.”
We don’t think in terms of singles. We never know what’s going to work, and the first single is always very important because it’s the one that gives the album its identity. I always think “Ah, good song” rather than “It’s going to be a hit”.
confirms Hannah Blilie.
Rick’s pop-culture inspired work on this record surprised Gossip, as Brace confirms: “Rick Rubin? He does a lot of mediation and listens to Erik Satie, that’s his thing. His approach to recording is really mysterious, he’s more the type to say “Do what you want!” He’s surprising. Hannah adds: “With him, you don’t do a hundred takes to achieve perfection, he just wants to capture the energy of the song”.
And she explains the origin of the track “Men in Love”, intended as a response to Katie Perry’s banger “I Kissed a Girl”: “It’s not really a response, I think Katie and we have a mutual hatred, but ‘Men In Love’ is our openly gay song about gay guys, celebrating gay love. Given that this is our first record on a major label, it’s important to be as queer as possible to maintain our identity.”
One thing is certain, it’s no coincidence that Rick was behind the wheel on Music for Men, as Beth explained to me at the album’s release:
I really admire two of Rick Rubin’s achievements: the album he produced for Johnny Cash and the founding of the Def Jam label. With Cash, he brought an artist from another generation back into the spotlight. And Johnny’s from Arkansas, just like me! In this Gossip album, all you hear is what happened in the studio: Rick wanted it to be like that, clean. When I’d ask him to put a reverb or delay on a vocal, he’d always say “No, clean, just the way it is”. And he was there every day with us in the studio, which is rare. He wanted to be sure that everything was as it should be, that we were reaching our full potential. He had a vision for us, and I think you can hear it.
Beth has a theory about Music for Men‘s eighties influences: “I was born in 1981. When I was 4, my mom was 24, she was obsessed with MTV. And then MTV was banned in our town because of a Catholic high school, so the last things I saw on there were Boy George, “Billie Jean”, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, all the eighties icons. My mother used to vacuum while listening to “I Want Your Sex” – I was 8! I knew the lyrics by heart, and I didn’t know until later that the sex George wanted was with a guy”.
