![]() The Houdini Mansion has since been used as the studio for a range of records including such gems as Jay Z’s 99 Problems and The Mars Volta’s De–Loused In The Comatorium. A month locked in a car with several albums and a Gram obsessive bleeting in my ear was sure to do the trick. I planned to apply precisely this logic to item number one on my ‘to do’ list for the trip – learn to love the music of Gram Parsons. So when the summer holiday came, I decided I would listen to one album and one album only, so that by the start of the school year I’d have a new favourite band. Yet their tattooed, beachside ne–er do-well appeal prompted me to do something I had never done before. When I first heard it I found it awkward and terribly long. From the mono AM radio-style opening of The Power Of Equality, through the world–dominating Under The Bridge, all the way to the Charleston skip of They’re Red Hot it’s a record of impeccable musicianship, ingenious production and truly awful lyrics. No matter what the hip sneery journos might say, Blood Sugar is a masterpiece. The subsequent record, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, beat the sales and acclaim of anything the band or Rubin had produced before. You see, Rick’s vision for them involved recording at his new gaff in LA. Which is where the Houdini Mansion comes in. So, having done rap and metal (oh, and having completed an Aerosmith revival by producing the brilliant Permanent Vacation album – so that’s rock ticked off as well), he turned to the fusion of genres being peddled by sock–sporting funk–rock chancers the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Impossibly loud, devastatingly thrashing, and staggeringly technically accomplished their masterwork, their first album with Rubin, is called Reign In Blood. Or for that matter Slayer, a band noted for their recurrent themes of death, deviance, warfare, suicide, religion, necrophilia, satanism and nazism. Rock music was in good health at this point Metallica, Anthrax, Maiden, Guns ‘N’ Roses were all having considerable success, so the genre wasn’t crying out for a new dimension. Which is where he decided to reinvent heavy metal. Having pretty much brought hip–hop to the mainstream – not a shabby first day in the office – he fell out of love with Def Jam, moved to LA and founded Def American Recordings. Hell, he’s even responsible for The Bangles’ version of Hazy Shade Of Winter, one of the greatest cover versions of all time. Walk This Way? Yep – that was Rick’s idea. With Rubin handling much of the production work, as well as the A&R (‘artist and repetoire’ in record company speak – ‘person who says “don’t record that song it’s crap, do record that song it’s good” in normal speak), Def Jam signed LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and Beastie Boys. In 1984 he met an entrepreneur called Russell Simmons and Def Jam evolved into the most exciting and dynamic record label on the planet. Whilst serving in high school band The Pricks he founded a record label and gave it the rather magnificent name of Def Jam Recordings. On the other, he is such an enigma, and his work so mysterious, that an introduction is precisely what he needs.įrederick Jay ‘Rick’ Rubin, was born on March 10th, 1963 in New York and started growing a beard on March 11th. On the one hand, Rubin’s achievements in music are so extraordinary that he, more than anyone else in the field, is deserving of the prefix ‘a man who needs no introduction’. The Houdini Mansion is now owned by Rick Rubin, a man who has shaped my – and, chances are, your – music collection. (But presumably there’s a hidden key somewhere nearby so that you can pick the locks without anyone in the audience knowing.) There’s a lot of security around it, and it looks tricky to get into to. Well, a mansion really, built in 1918 and owned at one time by Harry Houdini. But the magical musical spot for me in this part of Los Angeles is somewhat smaller. Laurel Canyon, to be precise – the location for today’s film shoot with Terra. The music that moves Chris fills a canyon. Chris is getting excited about Joni Mitchell and CSNY, while my reference points are a little more contemporary … A companion piece to the Our House blog posted a few days ago, this one’s by Joe.
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