Rick Rubin Quotations

It's a big theme in my life, learning about myself and being a better person. I'm a work in progress; I have revelations every day.

I've gotten to work with amazing people. I would say usually we get to a point before we get into the studio where there isn't that sense of anxiety or nervousness of who they are because I don't think it would be as productive in the studio if that was the case. But maybe meeting someone like Neil Young for the first time made me anxious.

I don't even know what a traditional producer is or does. I feel like the job is like being a coach, building good work habits and building trust. You want to get to a point where you can say anything and talk about anything. There needs to be a real connection.

Everything happens kind of the way it's supposed to happen, and we just watch it unfold. And you can't control it. Looking back, you can't say, 'I should've... ' You didn't, and had you, the outcome would have been different.

Everything I do, whether it's producing or signing an artist, always starts with the songs. When I'm listening, I'm looking for a balance that you could see in anything. Whether it's a great painting or a building or a sunset.

In between 15 and 20 - probably at around 17 - my interests switched from hard rock to punk rock. And then by 20 they were circling out of punk rock back into Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the stuff that I didnt get to when I was younger.

I'm just trying to make my favorite music. That's how I work; I just do things based on the way they feel to me. I want to be touched by the music I'm making. Luckily, other people have shared that response to my work over the years.

I never decide if an idea is good or bad until I try it. So much of what gets in the way of things being good is thinking that we know. And the more that we can remove any baggage we're carrying with us, and just be in the moment, use our ears, and pay attention to what's happening, and just listen to the inner voice that directs us, the better.

I guess edgy things tend to get my attention.

I never really think so much about commercial success; I usually just think about records that move me, and 'Baby Got Back' was one that moved me.

I always feel like there's something magic in recording studios. There's a reason good music continues to be made in them. It's just some mojo element.

I don't know what makes someone hip. The goal is artist achievement and the best work we can do with no limitation.

My taste changes radically all the time, and I listen to whatever feels good. Another thing is that I'm in the studio so much of the time, and I listen to so much loud, aggressive music for work, that for pleasure, I'll listen to something else.

For me the Beatles are proof of the existence of God.

There's just a natural human element to a great song that feels immediately satisfying. I like the song to create a mood.

Usually when I start a new project there's a fear of the unknown; maybe it's a band I've never been in the studio with before. People are so different. It's almost like you need to go through the process, discover and unlock what it is that makes that band that band. And a lot of times they don't know it.

I played more of an advisory role with Public Enemy. I really trusted them to make the music that they wanted to make, and the way The Bomb Squad worked with the... they created their whole own world of music.

I've always been an outsider. When I did magic, I was the only kid. When I worked with Johnny Cash, I was completely out of place in Nashville. And when I started Def Jam, I was the only white guy in the hip-hop world.

I like things that are unique and extreme.

When you're vegan, you spend your time chasing protein, and you're eating food that's way too high in carbs. I could never catch up on protein.

I never made beats to make beats; I only made them when there was a record to make them for. That's one of the things that has changed in hip-hop that's made me like it less. It feels much more like it's a producer-driven medium, where there are all these tracks that are completely interchangeable.

At 15, I started listening to hard rock and heavy metal, but I would say it was more hard rock because I liked Kiss, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, and eventually AC/DC.

From the time I was 9 years old, I loved magic. I was an only child, and I think that had a big impact on me. I always had grown-up friends even though I was a little kid. I would take the train from Lido Beach into Manhattan, and I'd hang out in magic shops.

I really loved crunk. I loved the extreme nature of it, how repetitious it was, and how these basic, angry chants would just be repeated over and over again.

I was the only punk rocker at my high school. And there were at least a handful of black kids who liked hip-hop. Both were kind of the new music of the day, and it was lonely being the only punk.

I think with certain artists you want to hear their album... and then there are other artists who I like where maybe it's more about the single. I don't think there is going to be one way that everything works.

We felt Johnny's presence during the whole process through to the end. It felt like he was directing the proceedings, and I know that the musicians all felt that as well... More than once, Fergie and I would look at each other and say 'Johnny would love this,' because it was so good and so different from anything we'd done before, we knew he would be excited by what was happening.

He is playing guitar because he wrote the songs on the guitar, and the essence of the song is contained in that performance. As far as the new album goes, there was no attempt to recapture anything.

He is one of the few people who can get on a stage in an arena in front of any audience anywhere in the world and and play original songs for hours (that) everyone would be familiar with and sing along to. The list of people whose music has this power could be counted on one hand, tops.

I think that American V may be my favorite of all of the albums in the American series. It's different from the others, it has a much different character. I think that this is as strong an album as Johnny ever made.

I think he can always have a career making music. People will always be interested in what he does, ... Regardless of any other things going on in their lives, people are always interested by the great acts, and there's no questions he's one of the greats. Regardless of anything else going on, he's still Michael Jackson.

Johnny said that recording was his main reason for being alive. And I think it was the only thing that kept him going, the only thing he had to look forward to.

When Neil would play and sing, it changed his relationship to the song. One feels more of a sense of authorship. By playing guitar, Neil controls the rhythm and feel of the songs. It also changes the way he sings them, and it becomes a more pure musical act.

Unfortunately for Wal-Mart, we're still not seeing the trading up effect.

Early in his career, he was looked at more as a singer/songwriter, ... As time went on, he was viewed more as a cabaret artist. I missed that image of the singer/songwriter.

These songs are Johnny's final statement. They are the truest reflection of the music that was central to his life at the time. This is the music that Johnny wanted us to hear.

The songs are classic Neil Diamond songs. Nobody else could have possibly written them. The sound of the album is very personal, intimate and honest.

I've always loved his songwriting and I feel like he's one of the great American songwriters, ... I liked the fact that he never really fit into any category. He didn't fit anywhere -- he was rock 'n' roll and not rock 'n' roll. He was a force unto himself.

They're both grown-ups, and there aren't many great albums by grown-ups. There's no reason why great artists shouldn't make their best records when they're 50, 60, 70. In other disciplines, it would be expected.

It's a tentative feel with him playing guitar, and the songs feel like they are coming from a true and honest

It's stripped-down Neil. I think it's different from anything you've heard from him before.

It's really starting to stick. If nothing else, it's a major distraction for management.

I noticed that when he played guitar, he was a lot different singer than the guy I saw on the big stage. It was less of this big performance. There was more feeling. It's probably as simple as you can't think about how you phrase the vocal if you are also concentrating on guitar.

In Neil's mind, what separated him from all of his Brill Building songwriter counterparts was he wrote songs on the guitar and everyone else wrote on the piano, ... Guitar is equated with rock in a way piano has never been, so Neil has an unusual mix of guitar-based (rock) songwriting mixed with Brill Building melodic (piano) approach.

He sang differently when he was playing the guitar, ... There was a purity to the vocal that was more natural and less of a performance. He was less able to think about what he was singing and it sounded better.

He's never been part of any style, and he's crossed different boundaries of pop and rock and different kinds of music at different times.

He brought the chops right from the beginning, ... What I pushed for was for him to go beyond, in terms of continuing way beyond where he normally would.

The inflationary environment we're seeing is still having a disproportionate effect on their consumers for now.

Well I listened to mostly rock music, and I felt like hip hop was like an extension of rock music when it was done well. So energetically, again I felt like it was in line with punk rock and maybe hard rock, more than it was in line with R&B, which I never really liked.

I was very lucky. My neck hurt and I went to my doctor, who was kind of hip, and he said it was stress-caused and that I needed to learn how to meditate. So I learned how to do Transcendental Meditation.

The technology is getting better. There will be a day when you'll be able to hear any music you want, anywhere you are, on demand, in a quality that is as good as when it was made. Things are moving in that direction.

I really like the challenge of working with different kinds of music. I feel like my role is really like a coach, so I feel like I can do my job for different kinds of music that may not necessarily be what I listen to.

People are willing to get short-term gains at the risk of long-term choices...

I never had the feeling I ever had to make a dime doing anything.

There’s a tremendous power in using the least amount of information to get a point across.

The power of nature is what all art strives to be. The more we can get in tune with the harmony of the planet, the more our art can benefit from that relationship.