Flame wars are nothing new in rock music. Hell, some of the best songs and stories come from flame wars between bands and artists over pretty much anything there is to argue about. Well, recently one of the biggest artists to battle over just about everything, Pete Townshend is at it again, and this time its with the historic producer Rick Rubin.
Townshend made an appearance on the Rockonteurs podcast, and talked about the creative process, and how he felt about Rick Rubin's words about it.
“You see a lot of stuff on YouTube and Instagram, people nagging you about the way that you have to be creative,” Townshend explained. “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. I’ve dabbled with all of those methods. I’ve carried complete big, recording studios on the road with me sometimes, and then sometimes I’ve used little cassette machines. I’ve recorded in all kinds of different ways. And if I fancy going into a studio with a huge orchestra, I’ve done that too, but what’s most interesting is the paper. The paper, the photograph, the writing., not just about rock stars, pop stars, singers, musicians, artists, or whatever. It’s about everybody.”
Now to be fair, Townshend is one of the greatest songwriters in rock history, but Rubin is no slouch to greatness himself. We're talking about a man who helped reshape music in the 80's after producing 3 of the greatest generational albums of the decade, with Run DMC's Rasing Hell, The Beastie Boys License To Ill, and Slayer's Raining Blood all being produced by Rubin at the same time. Rubin, however is no stranger to criticism, as Geezer Butler called his tactics "ridiculous," and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer said Rubin was "way more a hindrance than a help" in the studio.
Despite the disagreement, Townshend did agree with Rubin on one point,
“As Rick Rubin so rightly says, and many other pundits about creativity, it has to be fun. It has to be enjoyable. It has to be something that you love to do, and it also has to be something that you like what you do. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that anybody else will like it.”