Rick Rubin turns 47 today, and considering that he has spent the last 30 years being one of the most important and influential figures in music, we figured that calls for a little roundup of the production gurus finest achievements.
10. The Less Than Zero soundtrack.
Sure, he produced a good chunk of the artists on the soundtrack for the adaptation of one of the defining novels of the 1980’s, but seriously, Public Enemy, Slayer, Joan Jett, and Roy Orbison (among many others) on one album? Are you kidding? What could be better than that?
9. His role in Krush Groove
8. Danzig
Walk into any hipster bar, put "Mother" on the jukebox, and thank Rubin for producing one of the most classic metal albums ever.
7. Slayer by Regin in Blood
There’s one of the greatest metal albums, and then there is the actual greatest metal album ever made. This is it, and Rubin produced it.
6. Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Make fun of the band all you want now, but there is hardly any room to deny that next to Nevermind, this is the quintessential 90’s rock album. You can thank Rubin’s production for that.
5. "99 Problems" by Jay-Z
Yup, Rubin produced it.
4. The resurrection of Johnny Cash.
Thank Rubin for the fact that everybody and their mother loves Johnny Cash.
3. Licensed to Ill by the Beastie Boys
The fact that "Fight for Your Right" is played at 85% of all bar mitzvahs is one of Rubin’s greatest gifts to his people.
2. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy
Do you remember the last time music was really dangerous? And I’m not talking Marylin Manson’s brand of post-high school theater kid angst, I mean the real deal like this album that Rubin co-produced with The Bomb Squad.
1. Raising Hell by Run-D.M.C.
The reason this is #1? Simply because if there was never a Rubin-produced Raising Hell, would hip hop have gone from an underground movement to the worldwide phenomenon that we know today? I’m guessing no. So while #1 goes to an album, it is actually a testament to Rubin’s importance in bringing hip hop to the masses via one of the greatest albums ever made, and through his vision (along with Russell Simmons) of what could be.