Rick Rubin on why Grateful Dead will always reward every fan: “It becomes personal to you”
Having produced albums for acts as disparate as the Beastie Boys, Lady Gaga, and Johnny Cash, there’s no denying that superproducer and music mogul Rick Rubin has a vested interest in a wide variety of genres and a wealth of knowledge of every strand in the world of music.
Regarded as one of the most important figures in music and production in the latter part of the 20th century and even to this day, the Def Jam Recordings co-founder and American Recordings founder has made more than just a simple stamp on the music industry; he has been one of its most active and influential shapers throughout the time he has been active.
Whether he’s turning his hand to hip-hop, country, metal or pop records, he’s always been able to prove that he knows exactly what a record will benefit from on every album he’s played a part in the creation of and the number of careers he has helped kickstart or elevate to the next level is nothing short of remarkable.
While his roots go back to playing in hardcore punk acts and discovering the world of hip-hop production in the early 1980s, you only need to take one look at him to establish that he’s also a massive fan of the Grateful Dead. Rubin’s presentation is that of the archetypal Deadhead; his bedraggled white beard, laid-back demeanour and somewhat slovenly appearance might make him instantly recognisable in most crowds, but at a Grateful Dead concert, he’d be blending in with a good portion of attendees.
Regarded as one of the most important psychedelic and country rock groups to have ever existed, the Grateful Dead’s legacy is another that shouldn’t be understated, and the sheer volume of work that core members Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann made together over a 30-year span puts the productivity rate of most other bands to shame. While they only made 13 studio albums during that time, the number of live records the band has to their name reaches almost triple figures, and that’s not to mention all of the boxsets and collections of rarities that also exist.
Becoming a true fan of the Grateful Dead is something that requires patience and commitment, and the weightiness of their discography is often what deters people from sinking their teeth into their work. For anyone who is brave enough to subject themselves to the task, the opening question that curious minds often ask is, “Where do I start?” For Rubin, his line of enquiry on an edition of his Tetragrammaton podcast was, “How does anyone get into the Grateful Dead?”
Rubin would later question whether it’s possible for anyone with no prior exposure to the band to truly get hooked on their material. “I don’t know how it’s possible because it’s not set up,” he claimed, declaring that “it’s inaccessible.”
The producer’s guest on this edition of the podcast was blues guitarist John Mayer, who responded to Rubin’s rhetorical question by comparing discovering the Grateful Dead to traversing through a maze that one must conquer. “It rewards the journeyman,” he claimed. “It rewards the investigation process. When you then peel back a layer, you’re the one who found it, and it becomes personal to you.”
However, finding accord with other Deadheads is closer to an impossible task, Mayer asserts. Referencing the sheer volume of their oeuvre, he made the claim that “no-one says ‘I now have three favourite Grateful Dead songs’, and they’re all the three same songs. They never are.”
