Why Pete Townshend thought Rick Rubin needed to be slapped: “I had to be enjoyable”
There was never any question as to who the leader of The Who was during their glory days. Pete Townshend was always the visionary who took their music to new heights, and it wasn’t that hard for him to come up with new concepts for how their music must change from record to record. But even for someone looking at the big picture, there’s always bound to be someone to help guide them even through the toughest patches of their career. Then again, that doesn’t mean that Townshend was always willing to listen.
Throughout The Who’s inception, Townshend already knew that music could mean much more than the three-minute pop single. ‘My Generation’ may have been a step in the right direction, but as soon as he started working on tracks like ‘A Quick One While He’s Away’, it was no longer about pure rock and roll. It was about making musical movements, and Kit Lambert was always the one by his side, encouraging him throughout the process.
Although most people would baulk at the idea of making an entire album intended to be a rock opera, Lambert was always the cheerleader during Townshend’s greatest projects. He might not have been there to hold Townshend’s hand through everything, but it was important for the guitarist to have someone who told him that something wasn’t good enough or that he should build on an idea.
However, the worst thing that any producer could do is give people mixed messages, and no one fits into that mould better than Rick Rubin. Townshend was by no means a frequent collaborator with Rubin, but judging by his mystical guru mentality, he knew that there was no point in working with someone who was telling people two completely different things whenever he walked into the studio.
Pete Townshend questions Rick Rubin’s creative approach
Because while someone like Rubin could be productive, the worst thing that any artist could do is lose their sense of direction, as Townshend saw in the producer, saying, “You see a lot of stuff on YouTube and Instagram, people nagging you about the way that you have to be creative. Somebody needs to occasionally slap Rick Rubin, because one minute he’s telling us that we need to do whatever we like, and then on the other hand, he’s telling us that we mustn’t do this, and we mustn’t do that.”
Then again, that’s not always a bad thing. The best part of Rubin’s work is knowing how to strike that balance of when to take his foot off the gas and when to put the pressure on. There are always going to be moments when things don’t work, and he has to lay down the law, but it’s much better for Rubin to take the nurture approach rather than drill a guitar part into someone’s head until it’s perfect.
For instance, look at the way he works with Red Hot Chili Peppers compared to someone like, say, Johnny Cash. Rubin knew the Peppers intimately and could usually tell when a tune needed to be simple like ‘Give It Away’, but for someone who knows country music like the back of his hand, it was easy for Rubin to slightly nudge Cash in the right direction so he could work his magic.
So while Townshend was far more critical of what Rubin was all about, it probably has much to do with his own outlook on recording. The Who needed a bit more elbow grease to get things done, but Rubin knew that any band could be a completely different story whenever he walked into the studio.
