Pete Townshend Says Someone Needs to Slap Rick Rubin (Okay…I’ll Do It)
Rick Rubin is a unique figure in music. He’s worked with a wide variety of artists. Some of the most notable include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Beastie Boys, and Run-DMC. However, he’s also worked with the likes of Adele, Johnny Cash, AC/DC, and Slipknot.
While he has an impressive list of producing credits, he’s not immune to criticism. Slipknot’s Corey Taylor once said of working with the famed producer, “Rick Rubin shows up for 45 minutes a week. Rick Rubin would then lay on a couch and have a mic brought next to his face so he wouldn’t have to move. Then he’d be like, ‘Play it for me.’ And he had shades on the whole time.” (Taylor later took back his comments and said, “He works his way and he always has. I was not used to working that way. I was a young guy, freshly sober.”)
Late AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young famously bashed Rubin in a 2003 interview with Guitar World. Young said Rubin wasn’t “a real rock and roller” and “All he worried about was the snare drum.” He also noted, “We would never go back to him. We thought he was a phony, to be honest!”
This conveniently dovetails into recent comments made by Pete Townshend. The guitar icon recently appeared on the Rockonteurs podcast where he said, “You see a lot of stuff on YouTube and Instagram, people nagging you about the way that you have to be creative. Somebody needs to occasionally slap Rick Rubin, because one minute he’s telling us that we need to do whatever we like, and then on the other hand, he’s telling us that we mustn’t do this, and we mustn’t do that.”
Fortunately for Townshend, I have some news to share: I’ve wanted to slap Rubin for about two years now and would happily step up and fulfill that wish.
The reason why I want to slap Rubin across the face stems from a 2023 interview he gave to Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes. In the interview, there’s one particular exchange that appears on my social media feeds every few months or so that makes my blood boil.
Cooper asks Rubin if he plays any instrument, and he says, “Barely.” He then asks if he knows how to work a soundboard, and Rubin says, “No. I have no technical ability, and I know nothing about music.” When pushed by Cooper on that response, Rubin says, “I know what I like and what I don’t like, and I’m decisive about what I like and what I don’t like.”
With this information, Cooper then asks Rubin what he’s being paid for, and the producer says the following:
“The confidence I have in my taste and my ability to express what I feel has proven helpful for artists.”
I’m far from the first person to say such a thing, especially after this interview went live, but every time I watch this clip, my immediate thought is, “What a smug a–hole!”
Now, I know what some of you are thinking: “Oh, she’s just jealous!” And yeah, I’m big enough to admit there’s a little jealousy and resentment on the surface. However, the main reason this clip sends me through the roof is one some of you will hate hearing:
A woman could NEVER get away with saying such a thing, much less make a career in the same way as Rubin.
For those annoyed that this long walk has led to a discussion about sexism, my apologies that the truth hurts you, but nearly every single legendary female producer has a legit musical background. Linda Perry fronted 4 Non Blondes before making a huge name for herself as a producer and songwriter. Sylvia Robinson had an R&B career before producing early rap classics like “Rapper’s Delight” and “The Message.” Sylvia Massy is an accomplished engineer and producer, who famously co-produced Tool’s 1992 EP Opiate and their 1993 debut studio album Undertow. (Massy even served as engineer on a number of albums Rubin produced, including Johnny Cash’s 1996 album American II: Unchained.)
For the sake of time, I’ll leave my examples to three women, but you get the idea. Rubin is someone who benefitted from being in the right place at the right time, which is just a succinct way of saying he’s lucky he found Russell Simmons in ’80s and has been lucky enough to fake it and make it for so long. Clearly, Rubin brings something to the projects he produces, but according to his own words, that “something” is more or less just “vibes,” as the kids say today.
By no means am I asking for Rubin’s accolades to be stripped away. All I want is for women to have the same chance to be as smug and unqualified for the same job.
And if that’s too much to ask, then I think I should have the chance to slap Rick Rubin, because like Pete Townshend said, someone should.
