If you ask Rick Rubin, he’ll tell you, he has no idea what he’s doing. Well, perhaps more clearly, he doesn’t rely on music theory or anything like that when he’s working with an artist—and he’s worked with the best of the best over the past 40 years. Instead, it’s all about instinct.
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That’s what he brought to the table when working with groups like Run-DMC and solo acts like Jay Z. But Rubin has done more than work here and there with some big names. In fact, he’s helped produce some of the biggest albums in the history of modern music.
He has even won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year for his work with singers like Adele and The Chicks. Below are five more iconic albums— handful of records that you likely didn’t know Rick Rubin produced.
1. Licensed to Ill, Beastie Boys (1986)
Until Eminem’s career took off like a rocket in the ’90s and 2000s, this was the best-selling rap record of all time. Two New York City entities got together for this—the Beasties and the former NYU student Rick Rubin—to create a rock-rap hybrid with rubbery rhymes and buzzy guitars. Even Slayer’s Kerry King appeared on the album because the genre-bending Rubin was working with him at the same time.
2. Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Red Hot Chili Peppers (1991)
This marked a big shift and a big break for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Produced by Rubin, the album went less for heavy metal and more for melody and rap-rock. Taking what he learned on the East coast, Rubin went to the West to work with this L.A.-born band. Hits include “Under the Bridge” and “Suck My Kiss.”
3. Wandering Spirit, Mick Jagger (1993)
The only solo record release from Jagger in the ’90s, Wandering Spirit was co-produced by Rolling Stones frontman and by Rick Rubin. Jagger went to L.A. to work with Rubin for this album just as ‘Stones lead guitarist Keith Richards was working on his own studio record, Main Offender.
4. American Recordings, Johnny Cash (1994)
The album that made Johnny Cash an A-list musician again, American Recordings, and the subsequent series show Cash singing American traditional songs as well as mainstream hits. Rubin is the sole producer on the album, which includes Cash’s take on seminal songs like “Delia’s Gone” and “Bird on the Wire.”
5. Give Up the Ghost, Brandi Carlile (2009)
Give Up the Ghost features a lot of big names, including Rubin as a producer, musical guests like Elton John, Amy Ray, and RHCP drummer Chad Smith. The record earned Carlile a GLAAD media award for Outstanding Music Artist and it helped set up Carlile’s career with further success, including in 2018 with her album, By the Way, I Forgive You, which garnered her multiple Grammys.
Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Spotify
