“I once had a flirtation with heavy metal, and I regretted it very much. It didn’t seem to have any sense”: The British hellraisers who put legendary Beatles producer George Martin off working with hard rock bands

A composite photograph of George Martin in the studio and UFO performing onstage.

George Martin is one of the all-time great producers. His groundbreaking work with The Beatles shaped modern music, and he went on to produce albums and singles by everyone from Elton John, Jeff Beck and Mahavishnu Orchestra to Kenny Rogers, Jimmy Webb and Tommy Steele.

But there was one type of music that bamboozled Martin: hard rock. Across his illustrious career, he worked with just two bands from the harder and heavier end of the spectrum. One was Cheap Trick, whose 1980 album All Shook Up was produced by Martin. The other were British rock linchpins and noted party animals UFO.