Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin was featured in Time Magazine last week. He produced a bunch of huge records this past year. He ended up winning producer of the Year at the Grammys. Rick Rubin is the producer that is at the top of everyone’s wish list. Here is my Rick Rubin story.

I moved to New York City in 1979 to go to NYU. I lived in the Weinstein dorm on University Place. A year or two later, Rick moved in to start his scholastic career. During my years at NYU I gained a bit of notoriety as the nob who insisted on playing his guitar on the front steps of the dorm. I was mocked mercilessly, especially by Mr. Rick (Menello) the grad student who worked the front desk and lorded over us with his encyclopedic knowledge of film history.

The music scene in New York at the time was a mish mash of many things. There was No Wave and Power Pop and a burgeoning hard core punk scene. I was already recruited to play guitar in Even Worse (with Thurston Moore on rhythm guitar) when Rick came up to me and asked if I would play with his band too. Rick’s band was Hose. I always remembered them as sort of a Flipper tribute band. I didn’t join Hose but there was that memorable night in Garden City New Jersey when Even Worse and Hose opened for Millions of Dead Cops. We got a speeding ticket on the way to the gig. The sprinkler system went off during Hose’s set.

The legend of the Beastie Boys in the dorm were true too. Their first demo tapes were recorded in the dorm by David Hoffert, son of Paul Hoffert of Lighthouse fame. Rick’s dorm room was a mess with music all over the place. For the record, AC/DC was huge for us back then. I don’t know if Rick ever did go to class.

Jump ahead a few years and Rick has started Def Jam with Russell Simmons. The Beastie’s breakthrough, “Fight For Your Right To Party,” was an NYU special with a whole bunch of characters from the dorm showing up including a cameo from the aforementioned Mr. Rick (he plays the landlord towards the end of the video) who directed the video (as well as “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and the infinitely cool “Goin Back To Cali”).

I next ran in to Rick years later after he had started American Recordings which were then distributed by Warner. We spent some time catching up at one of Warner’s national sales conventions. He was pretty proud that he had kept on some of his friends from our university days.

The last time I spoke to Rick was about eight years ago. I was in LA on a business trip and stopped up at American for a meeting with their international department. I wanted to say “hi” to Rick but he wasn’t in so I left a message with my hotel information. At three in the morning the phone rang in my room. I picked it up and heard Rick on the other end of the line. He said that he was in New York shopping for antiques. It was six am in New York! We talked about work. We talked about family. We talked about music.

Rick’s a good guy. It’s a blast to see him do well. Kind of makes you proud.