The band Rick Rubin called rock and roll “perfection”
I have a very clear memory of a record that felt perfect to me.
As I worked my way through a five-hour drive, down the East Coast of Australia, basking in the sunshine and enjoying the slow calmness of my solitude, I decided to put on Dope Lemon’s second record Smooth Big Cat. Every song was pretty much written around a two-chord structure, while the percussion softly shook and the guitar lines lazily hung over the top, it was the ultimate album of laidback serenity. As the sun set to my right-hand side and the weightlessness of no responsibilities floated around me, that record on that day felt completely perfect.
It’s largely why the album means so much to me now; even in the damp misery of Britain, those feelings can still rumble deep beneath the surface. But, while I would be keen to argue the album’s case and describe it as universally perfect, I am acutely aware that the reason for my feelings is situational. It’s not an objectively perfect record that exists in the pantheon of cultural greats for being so, like an Abbey Road or a Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
And while my own anecdote, along with the general idea that art forms are subjective means we are somewhat hesitant to label records or bands as objectively “perfect”, I am here to tell you that they do exist. The Beatles, for example, are perfect because of their flaws, in the sense that they have invented and encompassed so much that even their duds feel uniquely positioned to contribute to their wider story.
Legendary producer Rick Rubin agrees with that sentiment, but is keen to put one more band into the discourse of perfection for a very simple reason. Speaking of rock icons AC/DC, Rubin said, “They’re a perfect band, they don’t have the breadth and depth of songwriting that The Beatles have. But for straight-up rock, AC/DC is perfection.”
The very fact that an AC/DC riff begins ringing in my ears at the mere utterance of his statement probably tells you everything you need to know about them and their status as a perfect band. Those riffs, however, were probably ringing in Rubin’s ear with intimidation when he got the nod to share studio space with the band as a producer, as he explained, “It was another dream-come-true scenario that, I will say, was a difficult process”.
His fandom for the band almost got in the way of the recording, and like the band he loved, Rubin painfully sought perfection, resulting in ten weeks and over 50 hours of recordings that to this day remain unheard. The whole thing was somewhat of a mess, given the fact that the producer guru had to share his schedule with Red Hot Chili Peppers, and so, ended up giving only half of himself to AC/DC in the studio.
While the process undoubtedly chipped at the gloss of a band he had considered perfect from afar, for a short period of time, ultimately, their riffs are powerful enough to wipe away bad memories.
