The one band Rick Rubin always wanted to work with: “They’re really at a high point in their life”
It’s impossible to get into the business as a music producer and be picky about who you work with. Any gig is a gig starting out, and some of the best producers in the world usually have to cut their teeth playing with artists who aren’t exactly at the top of the food chain. Although almost everyone that Rick Rubin worked with went on to bigger and better things later, he admitted that he always wanted to work his magic with U2 if he had the chance.
Then again, the Irish legends usually already had a specific way of doing things whenever they entered the studio. There’s usually a specific way of approaching every one of their songs, and it usually took Steve Lilywhite, Brian Eno, and Daniel Lanois to get them to where they needed to go on classics like The Joshua Tree and War.
That might have been closer to their iconic sound, but Rubin has never operated that way. He does have his electronic-leaning side when working with hip-hop acts. Still, some of the best rock records he ever made were about breaking a group back down to their core every time they got into the studio, like when he worked with Red Hot Chili Peppers on Blood Sugar Sex Magik or even with Johnny Cash on his later material.
Still, Rubin thought that a group like U2 was at the top of his list of dream collaborations, telling Billboard, “I feel like they’re really at a great place in their career right now in their writing. Their last album [All That You Can’t Leave Behind] may have been their best. And they’re really at a high point in their creative life. Their songwriting is really strong. They’re secure in who they are. They seem to be at a very powerful place creatively, and it would be fun to support and nurture that.”
Granted, it’s not like Rubin’s signature touch isn’t outside of the realm of U2, either. There are bits and pieces of dance textures that are sprinkled throughout albums like Pop, and since that album went over about as well as serving steak at a vegan restaurant, Rubin may be one of the few people who could actually make that approach sound decent.
If you look at where U2 went afterwards, though, most of their best material involved them stripping things back just like Rubin had been used to. There were still a lot of effects on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, but kicking off an album with ‘Vertigo’ was all about taking the basics of rock and roll and making them sound exciting again.
More than anything, there’s also a certain vibe that comes off of U2 that Rubin might fit a lot better with. Bono has spent his entire career making the case that music can help change the world for the better, and since Rubin has worked his own share of miracles throughout his career, bringing him together with one of the biggest acts alive may have been just what he needed.
While Rubin did get his wish by working with them on the Green Day collaboration ‘The Saints are Coming’, there’s a good chance that this team-up hasn’t reached its full potential just yet. Judging by the sounds of a handful of songs, this could be the same kind of unlikely collaboration that struck gold the same way David Bowie did when he teamed up with Nile Rogers on Let’s Dance.
