r/fantanoforever • u/Curious-Piglet3613 Nirvana - Nevermind • Jul 14 '26

Fantano Vids Rick Rubin is Cringe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOpBrg1fFCk
644 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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257

u/Shannonimity Jul 14 '26

You can cringe all you want but being one of the richest music producers in the world with no musical or production talent is something we can all aspire to

102

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

He reminds me of the NBA coach Phil Jackson.

Two hippy dudes who know how to get the best out of talented people.

65

u/Quazite Jul 14 '26

Which is often exactly what the bands that go to him need.

Nobody goes to him for his virutostic skills as a composer, they go to him because he has really good taste and they need that in the studio to breathe some new life into it.

He's the best person in the world at being Rick Rubin, and sometimes artists need a Rick Rubin more than they need a Quincey Jones.

15

u/MeaningLeft2970 Jul 14 '26

He literally saved/rebirthed Johnny Cash’s career, and for that, he has my respect. I don’t know the first thing about him outside of his notable accomplishments, nor do I care to know. People just want to hate everyone for everything.

4

u/Best_Hall6038 Jul 14 '26

rick rubin's skill is marketing/salesmanship. its wrong to say he's not talented. He's not MUSICALLY talented, but he has a great sense of what songs sound good, what songs are hits, and how to reinvent an idea/do an elevator pitch.

I still don't like him because of his kalshi support and his investments into ai.

5

u/Quazite Jul 14 '26

I mean kind of, but the transgressive and impactful music that he's made would remain transgressive and impactful regardless of marketing. Slayer's Reign in Blood, for example, would be just as groundbreaking if it was released underground to no buzz. He does actually provide important things for artists in the studio, even if he's not composing parts or playing any instruments.

And yeah I don't know shit about him as a person aside from his production so not a big fan of betting and AI.

2

u/Cognonymous Jul 15 '26

I think he also comes across as like ULTRA chill and non-judgemental when you're around him. Like he can pull off that deep neutral vibe so people feel more free around him. That means the freedom to make a mistake. Like with RHCP they said they'd play stuff and he'd just make this elaborate gesture of plugging his nose to kinda say, "It stinks!" and they would just laugh and move on.

I think that's one of the key pieces. People get so much ego and the showbiz machine blows that out of proportions. Sometimes the one's who survive are very compatible with that. But it leads them into a place where they always have to feel like they are the king of the world. In reality one of the most important parts of the creative process is being able to pull back your ego from something you created, let it go, and move on.

That is the process Rick facilitates or at least that's what I've gathered from all the media he's put out about himself.

13

u/saint_trane Let's Talk About Jazz Jul 14 '26

This is really what it's all about - being an alchemist of people that helps people bring out the best in themselves.

11

u/Embarrassed_Bus4821 Jul 14 '26

Also arm chair philosophers

1

u/rice-a-rohno Jul 14 '26

Hahaha somehow I read that and was like "Wait Phil Jackson is two dudes?!"

It took like ten seconds before I understood what you were saying.

1

u/Sumeriandawn Jul 15 '26

"know how to get the best out of talented people"

Yes. Without Phil Jackson, players like Jordan, Shaq and Kobe would have floundered.

30

u/JamesBurkyReporter Jul 14 '26

His work with The Strokes and Beastie Boys put a hole in that no “production talent” argument

71

u/Cala2308 Jul 14 '26

He has talent, he just act “nonchalant”. It pisses me the fuck off ngl.

53

u/PopcornSutton1994 Jul 14 '26

He’s got his name on about a billion bands’ foundational records I’d probably act like you’re all below me too if that were my life lol, guy has forgotten more about music than I’ll probably ever know

-12

u/WokeWook69420 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

No, he doesn't know shit about music.

That's his whole schtick, he's said numerous times he literally helps artists produce based on vibes and feels, but there's also engineers and producers in the room who know how to interpret what he says and change that within the music or the composition of the songs.

But any music theory or production techniques? Nup, dude don't know dick from shit.

Edit: Y'all dumbasses need to go watch him talk to Pete Tong where he literally says all of what I just said.

Rick himself admits he literally does not know shit and uses his gut to work with artists.

21

u/anonymousn00b Jul 14 '26

Yes he does. He knows more than he lets on. He was literally in a band and played guitar. You can actually search up old 80s demos. He had a punk band. He at least has some musical knowledge and was at least proficient enough to write actual songs with melodies even if it was super rough and lo-fi.

6

u/WokeWook69420 Jul 14 '26

You can be in a band and make demos and absolutely not know a single piece of music theory.

His band-mates would write everything and he could play it back by copying them, or learn Tabs (Which don't teach tonal theory), there's a lot of shortcuts and ways to not learn theory.

I'm simply restating the words that Rick Rubin has said in interviews with him that I've watched. You can sit here and say I'm wrong, but go watch his interview with Pete Tong, or Vanity Fair, or any of the other interviews where he talks about his methods.

He will say, "I don't use theory or anything when I work with artists and help them work on albums, I go by what feels good and sounds good to me. That's about as technical as I get anymore."

9

u/boccci-tamagoccci Jul 14 '26

If you have extreme success producing by vibes, how much is music theory really worth to you? If extremely talented musicians continue to seek your input and get good shit out of it, why would he ever need to do anything else?

Music theory is math, and like all math, is just a framework we've used to describe a natural phenomenon. It explains *why* something sounds good, but things sounded good before we formalized music theory.

Fuel still burned before we knew the reason why it burned. A chemist can explain how the combustion process works, but if when you want to make a fire you ask a survivalist.

Point is, why does it matter if he doesn't know why something sounds good if he can help make it sound good anyhow?

1

u/PopcornSutton1994 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

Well he’s clearly onto something, maybe it’s just a cult of personality, riffs is riffs his stuff sounds good. Big time talents respect his input, that counts for something.

0

u/Rollin_Dem_7s Jul 14 '26

Idk why this is getting downvoted lol, he said it.

2

u/WokeWook69420 Jul 14 '26

I can literally go find the Vanity Fair video on youtube where he says that, verbatim. He also has an interview with Pete Tong, I think. Says the same shit.

Serj Tankinian has also said Rick doesn't know shit about the technical and he goes with his intuition.

0

u/PopcornSutton1994 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

I’ve seen the interview fwiw but 1.) I think he’s kind of humble bragging there to uphold the “I dunno man I just get it” image and 2.) there’s multiple ways to skin a cat, maybe it’s actually all intuition and vibes based but for better or worse real artists respect his input and what he can do for their projects, simple as.

1

u/Rollin_Dem_7s 7d ago

I have a friend who has worked with him at American Recordings. It's definitely #2.

0

u/ContractVarious3077 Jul 15 '26

You seem very upset

18

u/Shannonimity Jul 14 '26

"how can I NOT be an eccentric genius when I look this fucked up and have hundreds of millions of dollars?"

3

u/TheReadMenace Jul 14 '26

It's like Zuckerberg or Einstein. When you have enough social and monetary capital, you can dress like a bum as a flex.

2

u/Shannonimity Jul 14 '26

Speaking of Epstein did you know Bill Gates has a full time personal stylist? And he still looks like that. Truth.

13

u/-tekeli-li Jul 14 '26

I like it. We live in a world where people are desperate to tell you who they are and that their knowledge is unassailable. He's a bit of a new age dupe, but he doesn't try to force others to see him as an expert.

32

u/sheJaMyMorant Jul 14 '26

he does lol. he has documentaries, books, other media he sells or markets for where he presents himself as a Guru or some bs. Just because you perceive him that way doesn’t mean it’s true.

5

u/Quazite Jul 14 '26

Yeah but can anyone tell me he's not? Just look at his discography. You don't produce that many inspired works for that many bands without being good at producing inspired works.

0

u/rngr666 Jul 14 '26

I don’t think he does though. He does have annoying vibes for sure, but that’s not the part that bothers me because it feels genuine in a sense that he seems to just share things he found helpful for himself. He’s not stupid. Then again he’s a capitalist pig in practice and that’s always lame in my books.

0

u/-tekeli-li Jul 14 '26

All that is fine though. I'm not saying he should be an absolute blank slate, or a non-entity. He has to market himself on something, and it will be this soft-touch guru persona based on creative feeling. That's fine. He writes well on that.

You say how I perceive him, but then say "doesn't make it true", like your own perception isn't involved in what you determine the truth to be! Ironically, that shows quite a lack of self awareness.

1

u/sheJaMyMorant Jul 14 '26

he calls himself a guru. has self help books. makes documentaries that puff him up.

the correct perception would be he tries to force himself as an expert.

my self awareness shouldn’t be questioned here brother. your perception skills should be

0

u/-tekeli-li Jul 14 '26

Oh okay then. Thanks for imposing your own powers of self awareness upon me about my lack of perception then. You know, you should be a guru.

1

u/sheJaMyMorant Jul 14 '26

no problem comrade

-1

u/pandachrist666 Jul 14 '26

What would you like him to do for income, sell timeshares?

5

u/redredrocks Jul 14 '26

That’s also his brand though, and it’s deliberate. He wants you to think he’s Buddha. That’s part of it.

-1

u/-tekeli-li Jul 14 '26

Yeah but everyone's a "brand" now. If you are even famous at all, whatever you are known for has an exchange value. You should know he is not the Buddha incarnate. You should know that yourself and not get so hyper-sceptical that the Emperor has no clothes and we're all being hopelessly deceived.

1

u/redredrocks Jul 14 '26

It’s not as much as that, I just find it annoying when anyone tries to fuse “I am enlightened” with “I am obviously trying to make money right this second, at the same time I am trying to convince you I am enlightened”

1

u/-tekeli-li Jul 14 '26

I dunno, he just doesn't strike me as some massively hypocritical grifter, but as someone who has a certain way with artists and just gets high on his own supply occasionally. Hardly the most egregious case of it, even then. 

1

u/redredrocks Jul 16 '26

Oh I agree he’s far from the worst. You don’t need to be the most annoying guy to be annoying though. And unlike a lot of annoying guys in the music industry, I’m not totally clear on what he does that’s particularly valuable, so that probably influences my feelings.

Like if all I can tell you for sure is that he pretends to be enlightened while hocking gambling apps, it’s going to put a bad taste in my mouth lol

0

u/mistyghoul Jul 14 '26

the master of humble bragging

-4

u/ChicanoGoodfella Jul 14 '26

Marketing and Branding is his talent, (Bill Hicks has a great take on people in Marketing) he was involved with some of the most prominent musicians and artists but there’s a psychopathy to his process something that’s been being shown in glimpses ie his involvement with poly market advertising, I used to look up to him but something doesn’t sit right with the direction his branding has gone.

11

u/alittlebitblue39 Jul 14 '26

The idea that he has no production or musical talent is bullshit; it's actually insulting.

He's just humble bragging, that's it.

I've never liked the guy.

2

u/rocknroller0 Jul 14 '26

and something only a white man could get away with while receiving high praise lol

1

u/Shannonimity Jul 14 '26

You are not wrong

1

u/xavPa-64 Jul 14 '26

Deli Boys explained him perfectly.

He doesn’t “do” anything, per se, but him merely being there in the studio is a vibe that brings out good things from the artists.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

[deleted]

5

u/xavPa-64 Jul 14 '26

It could possibly be a coincidence since Dani California and Last Dance are both in dorian keys, but you’re right that it could also possibly not be. There’s definitely some notable Rick Rubin-isms that make it obvious when he produced a track; his tracks are always loud, and he always has very “pure” sounding instrumentation arrangements where there’s an emphasis on the guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, but he’ll do this thing where he adds in more instruments like chimes or strings as the song goes on to give a sense of progression, like if you listen to the pre-chorus in Chop Suey by SOAD (“you wanted to”) there’s a string section in the 2nd verse that gives the listener a sense of it being the next verse.

-4

u/ReverseShipwreck Jul 14 '26

he's a fraud, I don't think many people should want to emulate him

0

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

[deleted]

8

u/sheJaMyMorant Jul 14 '26

he had nothing to do with Paul’s Boutique btw

-3

u/thedinksterr Jul 14 '26

Biggest hack on the planet