The Led Zeppelin song Rick Rubin can listen to “all day”
Rick Rubin is one of the most singular figures in popular music. The New York hardcore punk kid who made his name as the most in-demand producer in the early days of rap music, defining the sound of East Coast hip-hop for decades to come. He also defined the sound of thrash metal not just at the same time but on the same label, achieving his most enduring success in the 1990s and changing the face of folk and country music by teaming up with Johnny Cash.
There is a decent chance that we’ll never see someone else match his behind-the-scenes success in as many different genres. It goes without saying that the music industry is a very different beast today than it was in the 1980s. One that’s arguably more gatekept, insular and solipsistic today than it was back then. Ironically enough, at a time when the idea of genres is retro to the point of passé, those same industries creating those genres of music guard their turf like bloodhounds.
It’s telling that the artists and producers called genre-hopping today, the likes of Jack Antonoff, Drake and Bruno Mars, don’t so much immerse themselves in those styles of music. Instead, they often take the tropes associated with them and see how they fit with their signature style. They’re tourists at best and culture vultures at worst. It’s only really Beyoncé with her current trilogy of genre experiments beginning with 2022’s masterpiece Renaissance that’s truly engaging with genre music the way Rubin did from behind the desk four decades ago.
It’s a rare company to keep, but who inspired Rubin to do all this? As previously mentioned, Rubin grew up a punk, but even before that, there was one band that captured his imagination before all that. One band that he didn’t just like the music of but also showed him how music of different cultural origins could come together into something incredible. That band was Led Zeppelin.
Which makes sense. Of course, the man whose work would redefine just how heavy metal could be would jam out to some Zep. However, the way he talks about that band is less about their riffs and solos and more about an underrated part of their music. Just how forward-thinking and creative they could be with their songcraft. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Rubin talked about this by discussing one of his favourite Led Zeppelin tracks, ‘The Rain Song’.
In the interview, Rubin said, “I don’t even know what kind of music this is. It defies classification. There’s such tasteful, beautiful detail in the guitar and a triumphant feel when the drums come in—it’s sad and moody and strong, all at the same time. I could listen to this song all day. That would be a good day.” While the reputation of Led Zep as bone-headed blues copyists persists to this day, it isn’t entirely untrue; Rubin understood where they went next and seemingly let it influence his work in music.
After all, our goal should be to take the best of our heroes and iron out the kinks. In Led Zeppelin, Rick Rubin saw a band that could take the best Delta and Mississippi blues and combine them with psychedelic rock to create something entirely new. When the time came to make his mark, though, he made sure that the Black artists who informed him of his work actually got credit and royalties for their work. A place it took a lot longer for Page and Plant to get to.
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