There are only a handful of producers in musical history that have become household names through production alone, rising to prominence without writing and recording their own music. And among that rare few, there is only one that claims he has no technical ability, knows nothing about music, and doesn’t even know how to use a mixing desk: Rick Rubin.
Whether Rubin’s puzzling statements are true or not - a question we’ll return to in due course - they’re an illustrative example of the producer’s inscrutable allure, the guru-like mystique that has had artists of the highest calibre knocking at his studio door for decades. Rubin’s worked with them all: everyone from Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash and Neil Young to Ed Sheeran, Jay-Z and Adele has made use of his talents, and his Wikipedia production discography stretches even longer than his shaggy white beard. But how did he get here?
