Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubinis an American record producer and former co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin is the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings. With the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and Run–D.M.C., Rubin helped popularize hip hop music...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusic Producer
Date of Birth10 March 1963
CityLong Beach, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I've always loved his songwriting and I feel like he's one of the great American songwriters, ... I liked the fact that he never really fit into any category. He didn't fit anywhere -- he was rock 'n' roll and not rock 'n' roll. He was a force unto himself.
In Neil's mind, what separated him from all of his Brill Building songwriter counterparts was he wrote songs on the guitar and everyone else wrote on the piano, ... Guitar is equated with rock in a way piano has never been, so Neil has an unusual mix of guitar-based (rock) songwriting mixed with Brill Building melodic (piano) approach.
I was the only punk rocker at my high school. And there were at least a handful of black kids who liked hip-hop. Both were kind of the new music of the day, and it was lonely being the only punk.
At 15, I started listening to hard rock and heavy metal, but I would say it was more hard rock because I liked Kiss, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, and eventually AC/DC.
He's never been part of any style, and he's crossed different boundaries of pop and rock and different kinds of music at different times.
In between 15 and 20 - probably at around 17 - my interests switched from hard rock to punk rock. And then by 20 they were circling out of punk rock back into Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the stuff that I didnt get to when I was younger.
Well I listened to mostly rock music, and I felt like hip hop was like an extension of rock music when it was done well. So energetically, again I felt like it was in line with punk rock and maybe hard rock, more than it was in line with R&B, which I never really liked.
It's stripped-down Neil. I think it's different from anything you've heard from him before.
It's really starting to stick. If nothing else, it's a major distraction for management.
Early in his career, he was looked at more as a singer/songwriter, ... As time went on, he was viewed more as a cabaret artist. I missed that image of the singer/songwriter.
These songs are Johnny's final statement. They are the truest reflection of the music that was central to his life at the time. This is the music that Johnny wanted us to hear.
The songs are classic Neil Diamond songs. Nobody else could have possibly written them. The sound of the album is very personal, intimate and honest.
It's a tentative feel with him playing guitar, and the songs feel like they are coming from a true and honest
They're both grown-ups, and there aren't many great albums by grown-ups. There's no reason why great artists shouldn't make their best records when they're 50, 60, 70. In other disciplines, it would be expected.