Five years ago this week, Ozzy Osbourne released his Ordinary Man album, produced by a young guy named Andrew Watt. Watt may have been new to rock fans, although his work had been all over the pop charts for years on tracks by Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, Hailee Steinfeld, and Cardi B, among others. How did this kid – born in 1990! – end up producing Ozzy? Not to mention the Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, Elton John, and Iggy Pop?
By all accounts, Watt has an encyclopedic knowledge of these artists. And like Rick Rubin, he has a way of reconnecting legends to what we loved about them in the first place, inspiring great records from artists with already iconic discographies.
Unlike Rubin, Watt is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He planned on being a solo artist, but things changed when he had the opportunity to make a good paycheck for playing in the touring band for Australian pop singer Cody Simpson. As he told The New York Times, he didn’t want to play for a pop star, but, “Then they told me I would get $1,500 a week, and I was like, ‘I’m there.’”
Simpson was opening for Justin Bieber, and Watt and Bieber (himself a multi-instrumentalist) started jamming and working on songs together. Soon, Watt was working with a score of pop artists, including one who also toured as Bieber’s opening act: rapper Post Malone, who was also a guitar player and singer. Watt worked with Post Malone on a few songs over the years, leading up to “Take What You Want” from Malone’s 2019 album, Hollywood’s Bleeding. That song featured a cameo by Ozzy Osbourne. And that was the song that kicked off his string of projects with rock legends.
Ozzy Osbourne - ‘Ordinary Man’ (2020)
After “Take What You Want,” Ozzy invited Watt to produce Ordinary Man, Ozzy’s first solo album in a decade. Watt took him out of his comfort zone, bringing in new musicians to back him. Watt himself played most of the guitars, as well as keyboards. Duff McKagan from Guns N’ Roses played most of the bass, while Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (who would become a frequent Watt collaborator) was the drummer. Watt brought in a few guests, including guitar gods Slash and Tom Morello. Pop artist Charlie Puth played keyboards on four tracks. The title track featured piano and vocals from Elton John, but it wasn’t just stunt casting. While Ozzy and Elton’s careers are very different, their trajectories have more than a little in common, and it’s clear that Elton really felt the song.
Elton John - ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ (2021)
The Lockdown Sessions was a product of the pandemic: Elton worked on collaborations with a number of different artists, mostly remotely. Watt produced about half of the album, including the should-have-been-a-hit duet with Stevie Wonder, “Finish Line,” the duet with Brandi Carlile, “Simple Things” and this very Who-sounding rocker “E-Ticket” with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. The song was co-written by Elton, Eddie and Watt.
Eddie Vedder - ‘Earthling’ (2022)
Vedder clearly enjoyed the process of working with Watt; he recruited him to produce Earthling, his first solo album in over a decade. Earthling featured Vedder, with Watt and former Red Hot Chili Pepper Josh Klinghoffer playing most of the guitar, bass and keyboards. Again, Chad Smith was the main drummer. All three musicians made up the core of Vedder’s touring band, the Earthlings.
Ozzy Osbourne - ‘Patient Number 9’ (2022)
Ozzy summoned Watt to return for the follow-up to Ordinary Man; this time, Watt involved Ozzy’s right-hand man, guitarist Zakk Wylde. But there were a lot of other legendary six-stringers on the record: Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Eric Clapton, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, and the late Jeff Beck. Watt played a lot on the album as well, but called in a few other bass legends: Duff McKagan, Ozzy’s former bassist Robert Trujillo of Metallica, and Chris Chaney, formerly of Jane’s Addiction. Chad Smith and the late Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters handled the drums. More notable than the guest list, though, was the fact that Watt coaxed some great performances out of Ozzy that belong on any subsequent greatest hits album.
Iggy Pop - ‘Every Loser’ (2023)
Watt signed Iggy to his Gold Tooth Records label and produced this straight-ahead punk album for him. Working mostly with Josh Klinghoffer and Chad Smith, the album is a fun blast of rock and roll energy that recalls the Stooges; it was actually better than the Stooges reunion albums of the millennium without getting close to the greatness of the band’s first three albums. But really, how could it? Watt also put together a band to back Iggy on a few shows: himself on guitar, Duff McKagan (who also plays on the album) on bass, and Chad Smith on drums.
The Rolling Stones - ‘Hackney Diamonds’ (2023)
The Rolling Stones were stuck: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had been making music together since 1963. (Their debut single was a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Come On.”) In the ‘90s, the hot producer of the moment, Don Was, helped pull them out of their funk. He produced them for about two decades after that, including the albums Voodoo Lounge (1994), Bridges To Babylon (1997), A Bigger Bang (2005), and their blues covers album, Blue & Lonesome (2016). But by the 2020s, they needed another change and Watt was the right guy with the right energy. As Jagger told The New York Times, “He’s very enthusiastic… to the point of being too enthusiastic, sometimes. I said, ‘Look, I can deal with this, but when you meet Ronnie and Keith, you have to dial it down a little bit.’”
Apparently, Watt wore a different Rolling Stones t-shirt to the studio every day. While that may have been weird, the end result is great. Hackney Diamonds is a blast. Again, Watt’s musicianship helped him out: he played most of the bass on the album (he also co-wrote three of the songs with Jagger and Richards, including the single, “Angry”). He also pulled a few guests in, including Paul McCartney, who played bass on “Bite My Head Off.” And now, Watt is producing Paul’s next album.
Pearl Jam - ‘Dark Matter’ (2024)
Bringing the producer from a solo album to a group project can be a dicey proposition, but Watt won over Vedder’s Pearl Jam bandmates before they even finished making Earthling. As Watt told Yahoo, Vedder invited the guys to the studio while he was working on his solo album. “Right in the middle of Earthling, the band came down and we started what would become Dark Matter. A few of the songs were made in my basement studio. Everyone was face to face right there. Four or five of the songs were made in those first eight or nine days.” Vedder and Watt have worked together since then: Watt produced Vedder’s cover of the English Beat’s “Save It For Later” from The Bear and his cover of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ “Room At The Top” for Bad Monkey.
Elton John and Brandi Carlile - ‘Who Believes In Angels?’ (2025)
After working with the duo on “Simple Things” from Elton’s Lockdown Sessions, they took on an entire project together. They did “Never Too Late” from the Elton doc of the same name, as well as the entire Who Believes In Angels? album.
