Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / AC/DC and Rick Rubin: What Went Wrong? [Highlight From Episode 347]

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AC/DC and Rick Rubin: What Went Wrong? [Highlight From Episode 347] · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Here's a highlight from a recent episode of Booked on Rock.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: D X Ferris has returned. You've got an even bigger
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  Speaker 1: and batter version of your book, Slayer sixty six and
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  Speaker 1: two thirds the Rick Rubin Watch for those who don't
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  Speaker 1: know what that is. Talk about that and any new
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  Speaker 1: info in this version in the new version.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this one, I really expand my my profile of
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  Speaker 2: Rick Rubin. This is my second Slayer book. The first
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  Speaker 2: one is part of the thirty three and a third series.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of a big deal if you follow music writing.
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  Speaker 2: It's all about Rain and Blood, which was Rick Rubin's
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  Speaker 2: first real rock record that he produced. So at that point,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he was barely known for the Beastie Boys
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  Speaker 2: that record. Yeah, I mean it was just sort of out,
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  Speaker 2: you know. It certainly was not the all time great album,
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  Speaker 2: wasn't recognized as such, But at that point, Rick Rubin
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  Speaker 2: was very much known as some New York dude in
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  Speaker 2: a leather jacket and long hair produced rap. And now
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  Speaker 2: all these years later he's worked with something like ten
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  Speaker 2: percent of the inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall
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  Speaker 2: of Fame. You know, the last time I did the Math,
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  Speaker 2: Phil Spector was like maybe half that, and Slayer was
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  Speaker 2: his first step into a rock and roll production career,
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  Speaker 2: working with bands like Metallica, Black Sabbath, Johnny Cash, Red Hot,
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  Speaker 2: Chili Peppers, so many greats. So the Rick Rubin watch
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  Speaker 2: is something that I added in this version of the book.
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  Speaker 2: It charts a lot of the pivotal moments where Ruben
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  Speaker 2: and the band had meaningful interactions, where he really shaped
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  Speaker 2: things or maybe where they parted ways, you know, as
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  Speaker 2: a rock and roll dan, as a rock and roll writer.
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  Speaker 2: I think I have my PhD in Donnie Iris history.
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  Speaker 2: We still got to talk about Donnie Iris and the Cruisers,
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  Speaker 2: but I wrote a book about them, Like that's what
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  Speaker 2: I consider my doctor roal level project. Slayers sort of
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  Speaker 2: my masters. I maybe I could if there's a degree
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  Speaker 2: in Slayer writing. I've written essentially three books about them
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  Speaker 2: at this point because this new version is so new.
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  Speaker 2: But I think my undergraduate focus, like my primary interview
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  Speaker 2: or my primary interest, you know, and somebody that liked
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  Speaker 2: his music when I was a civilian, and somebody that
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  Speaker 2: still likes his music as a professional. My primary undergraduate degree,
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  Speaker 2: if you will, is in what I call Rick rubinology,
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  Speaker 2: Rubenology the study of Rick Rubin. You know, I'm big
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  Speaker 2: on h I've written a couple motivational books and how
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  Speaker 2: two books, and I'm always interested in success. You know,
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  Speaker 2: how do people become successful, how do they become big?
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  Speaker 2: How do they become iconic? How do they do how
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  Speaker 2: do they do things that buck conventional wisdom and just
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  Speaker 2: learn to operate themselves? You know, how can you be
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  Speaker 2: somebody like Ruben who on one hand is so unconventional,
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  Speaker 2: one on the other hand, is so successful. You know,
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  Speaker 2: he's a guy that started off producing Aerosmith and run
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  Speaker 2: dmc Beastie Boys Slayer, and he would rise up to
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  Speaker 2: become the co head of Columbia Records. He didn't really
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  Speaker 2: have a title with them. He just he's a zen
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  Speaker 2: kind of guy who's chill and doesn't need to say
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  Speaker 2: like I'm the president. So we chart the band's long
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  Speaker 2: relationship with him, and it's you know, by the time
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  Speaker 2: that Rubin really hit the stratosphere. By that point, Slayer
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  Speaker 2: had long been his longest client, his longest creative partner,
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  Speaker 2: and eventually that ended. And that's a great story too,
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  Speaker 2: kind of sad, but you know, things have a lifespan.
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  Speaker 1: Eric, Yeah, those stories are interesting to me. I'd love
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  Speaker 1: to read more about. There's a couple projects that he
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  Speaker 1: was involved with that I would love to read more
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  Speaker 1: about find out more about. One is there was a
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  Speaker 1: U two project that he was part of, and that
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  Speaker 1: album ever happened, although I think a lot of the
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  Speaker 1: songs ended up surfacing in various versions if I'm remember correctly.
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  Speaker 1: But the other one that's interesting is ACDC and he
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  Speaker 1: worked with them on the ball Breaker album. I think,
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  Speaker 1: right right, that's the one. And what I find interesting
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  Speaker 1: there is Malcolm and Angus. They didn't have anything anything
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  Speaker 1: bad to say about him, but they just said it
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  Speaker 1: didn't click.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. As I say in the book, interpersonal chemistry is
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  Speaker 2: a weird thing. You know. Slayer is one of those
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  Speaker 2: bands that the first time they played together, it just
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  Speaker 2: instantly gelled for them, like this is us, this is
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  Speaker 2: what we do, Like the four of us are exponentially
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  Speaker 2: larger than just the four of us alone. And Rick
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  Speaker 2: Rubin and Slayer jelled on Rick Rubin and so many
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  Speaker 2: artists ageled and have. Natchell Rubens has been very forthright
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  Speaker 2: and saying at that point he was just a young
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  Speaker 2: dude and he was leading the charge going.
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  Speaker 1: Come on, come on, go go, go, go go.
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  Speaker 2: This is what we young dudes do. I am young,
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  Speaker 2: and I have all the energy.
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  Speaker 1: In the world.
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  Speaker 2: Let's do this. And ac DC at that point were
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  Speaker 2: a little bit older and they prefer to just relax
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  Speaker 2: and you know, get two good takes in an afternoon.
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  Speaker 2: And Ruben wanted him to do like seventeen different work habits.
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  Speaker 1: So that album's solid. He's got some great songs on there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, you know he's done some great work. You know,
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  Speaker 2: he very much applied the you know, famously he applied
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  Speaker 2: the ac DC sound and template to the Cult and
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  Speaker 2: to Danzig to change those bands and really affect how
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  Speaker 2: they sound.