Rick Rubin: In the Studio

267 Pages·2009·1.42 MB·English

by  Jake Brown

RickRubin_COVER:RickRubin_COVER 10/06/09 4:42 PM Page 1
“THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PRODUCER OF ANY GENRE.” — Rolling Stone
“He knows how to extrapolate the best and most relaxed natural J
A
RICK
performance of a band without changing them.” K
E
— Anthony Kiedis, Red Hot Chili Peppers

B
R
“We kind of realized, ‘Oh my God, this guy, he’s got the touch of gold.’”
O
— Tom Araya, Slayer W
N RUBI N
“Rick made me have faith in myself again. He made me believe
in myself and my music, which I thought was gone forever.”
— Johnny Cash
R
I
20
MTV has called Rick Rubin “the most important producer of the last C
years.” Rolling Stoneventured even further, deeming him the most successful K
IN THE STUDIO
“of any genre.” Rubin has taken greater risks than any producer in the record
R
industry over the past quarter century. Pushing his artists into new territory
U
earned Rubin seven Grammys, including two Producer of the Year awards,
B
making him the most in-demand record producer working today.
I
N
RICK RUBIN IN THE STUDIO offers the behind-the-scenes stories of how
I
N
Rubin created hit albums with legends like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny
Cash, Audioslave, Tom Petty, Metallica, Danzig, Slayer, The Cult, Weezer, T
H
the Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, System of a Down, and Neil Diamond. E

S
Chronicling his meteoric rise, from his early days as DJ Double R in the early T
U
80
’ s, founding and running Def Jam Records alongside Russell Simmons, D
and discovering and producing the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, through his IO
90
transition in the early ’ s into an independent record executive, to his role
today as a genre-defying producer, RICK RUBININ THE STUDIOcollects a
diverse range of voices to describe the method behind his achievements. A
must-have for any music fan, these are the stories behind the greatest hits by
the most legendary producer of our time, Rick Rubin.
978-1-55022-875-5
JAKE BROWN
51795
ECW Press • $19.95 CDN, $17.95 US
ecwpress.com 9 781550 228755 ECW
TRIM SIZE: 6 X 9” SPINE SIZE: 0.617”
RickRubin_COVER:RickRubin_COVER 10/06/09 4:42 PM Page 1
“THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PRODUCER OF ANY GENRE.” — Rolling Stone
“He knows how to extrapolate the best and most relaxed natural J
A
RICK
performance of a band without changing them.” K
E
— Anthony Kiedis, Red Hot Chili Peppers

B
R
“We kind of realized, ‘Oh my God, this guy, he’s got the touch of gold.’”
O
— Tom Araya, Slayer W
N RUBI N
“Rick made me have faith in myself again. He made me believe
in myself and my music, which I thought was gone forever.”
— Johnny Cash
R
I
20
MTV has called Rick Rubin “the most important producer of the last C
years.” Rolling Stoneventured even further, deeming him the most successful K
IN THE STUDIO
“of any genre.” Rubin has taken greater risks than any producer in the record
R
industry over the past quarter century. Pushing his artists into new territory
U
earned Rubin seven Grammys, including two Producer of the Year awards,
B
making him the most in-demand record producer working today.
I
N
RICK RUBIN IN THE STUDIO offers the behind-the-scenes stories of how
I
N
Rubin created hit albums with legends like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny
Cash, Audioslave, Tom Petty, Metallica, Danzig, Slayer, The Cult, Weezer, T
H
the Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, System of a Down, and Neil Diamond. E

S
Chronicling his meteoric rise, from his early days as DJ Double R in the early T
U
80
’ s, founding and running Def Jam Records alongside Russell Simmons, D
and discovering and producing the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, through his IO
90
transition in the early ’ s into an independent record executive, to his role
today as a genre-defying producer, RICK RUBININ THE STUDIOcollects a
diverse range of voices to describe the method behind his achievements. A
must-have for any music fan, these are the stories behind the greatest hits by
the most legendary producer of our time, Rick Rubin.
978-1-55022-875-5
JAKE BROWN
51795
ECW Press • $19.95 CDN, $17.95 US
ecwpress.com 9 781550 228755 ECW
TRIM SIZE: 6 X 9” SPINE SIZE: 0.617”
RICK
RUBIN

RICK
RUBIN
IN THE STUDIO
JAKE BROWN
Copyright © Jake Brown, 2009
Published by ECWPress
2120Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada m4e 1e2
416-694-3348/ [email protected]
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written
permission of the copyright owners and ECWPress.
All album covers are copyright their respective copyright holders.
library and archives canada cataloguing in publication
Brown, Jake
Rick Rubin : in the studio / Jake Brown.
isbn-10: 1-55022-875-7 / isbn-13: 978-1-55022-875-5
1. Rubin, Rick —Biography. 2. Sound recording executives and producers —
United States —Biography. I. Title.
ml429.r896b87 2009 781.66'092 c2008-907563-3
Editor for the press: Crissy Boylan
Cover and text design: Tania Craan
Typesetting: Gail Nina
Front cover photo: Kevin Estrada
Printing: Transcontinental 1 2 3 4 5
printed and bound in canada
This book is dedicated to my childhood friends — like Alex
Schuchard (Danzig, Less Than Zero), Tim Woolsey (Beasties,
Run-DMC), and Britton Clapp — who grew up with me
on Rick Rubin records!

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ix
Part I
In the Beginning
CHAPTER 1 Production by Reduction:
Rubin’s Approach in the Studio 3
CHAPTER 2 Growing Up in Long Island 17
Part II
The 1980s
CHAPTER 3 DJDouble R and the Birth of Def Jam 23
CHAPTER 4 Run-DMC: Raising Helland Making History 33
CHAPTER 5 Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill 38
CHAPTER 6 Public Enemy Brings the Noise 49
CHAPTER 7 Rick Rubin Goes to Hollywood 53
CHAPTER 8 The Cult: Electric 60
CHAPTER 9 From Rock to Metal: Slayer and Danzig 65
Part III
The Early 1990s
CHAPTER 10 Building Def American 79
CHAPTER 11 Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magik 85
CHAPTER 12 A Tug-of-War Album: Mick Jagger’s Wandering Spirit 99
Part IV
The Mid-to-Late ’90s
CHAPTER 13 The Man in Black: American Recordings 105
CHAPTER 14 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Wildflowers 115
CHAPTER 15 Ballbreakerand One Hot Minute 118
CHAPTER 16 Three Legends: Tom Petty, Donovan, and
Johnny Cash 127
CHAPTER 17 Slayer and System of a Down 133
CHAPTER 18 Dream of Californication 137
CHAPTER 19 “We’ll Meet Again”: American III: Solitary Manand
American IV: The Man Comes Around
146
Part V
The 2000s
CHAPTER 20 The Rise of the Supergroup: Audioslave 155
CHAPTER 21 Red Hot Chili Peppers: By the Way 163
CHAPTER 22 Rick’s a Believer: Weezer and Neil Diamond 173
CHAPTER 23 Out of Exileand Mezmerize/Hypnotize 179
CHAPTER 24 “The Best Album We’ve Done”: Stadium
Arcadium
187
CHAPTER 25 Dixie Chicks: Taking the Long Way 198
CHAPTER 26 Linkin Park: Minutes to Midnight 202
CHAPTER 27 Metallica: Death Magnetic 211
CHAPTER 28 Rick Rubin, Record Executive 221
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY 226
SELECTED SOURCES 235
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 252