24. The Cult “Love Removal Machine” (1987)

Album: Electric
Label: Beggars Banquet
Producer: Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin's effect on the bands he worked with was not always universally lauded. The Beastie Boys were a respected local punk band with some hip-hop leanings—and a female member, to boot—before Rubin remade them into a full-on, track-suit-wearing, all-male rap trio with frat-boy appeal. Some people felt that Rick Rubin dumbed the Beasties down. That statement alone is a facile one—the Beasties would likely be known by no one if not for Licensed To Ill, which in reality only pretendsto be dumb. But it is also true that the Beasties became more sophisticated and complex after they broke free of Rubin; and made a pretty good career for themselves at that.

Just as controversial was Rubin's sonic intervention with the British punk band, The Cult. In producing their third album, Electric, Rubin remade them as a straight-forward metal band. For some folks, it worked. “Hands down one of the best hard rock songs ever,” said Evan Forster, who worked at Immortal/Buzztone (home of Cypress Hill et al.) in the 1990s. For others, it was a travesty. “Please don't forget how he destroyed The Cult on Electric,” says Brian Coleman, author of “Check The Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies.” “That was shameful. I loved the Cult, until he fucked with them.”

For myself, I am partial to Rubin's re-remake of The Cult as a proto-techno group in “The Witch,” the track recorded at Hollywood Sound in L.A. while I looked on, for the soundtrack of the animated movie “Cool World.”