10 Greatest Unsung Heroes In Rock And Roll

There comes a point in every musician's life when they want to push themselves forward. Even if they still love playing music, there might be that one element that makes everything grow a little bit stale whenever they enter the studio. You can try experimenting every now and again, but most of the greatest albums of all time have come with the help of the bearded shaman from on high.

Ever since he started his career out of his NYU dorm room, Rick Rubin has had his fingerprints all over popular music, showing the world the potential of hip hop in the early days with everyone from the Beastie Boys to LL Cool J. At the same time, he was also getting into the thrash metal scene as well, producing works for Slayer and eventually building up one of the most eclectic rap sheets in the industry, working with everyone from Linkin Park to the Strokes to Tom Petty to The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

For all of the great records he's worked on, Rick has never been the producer in the traditional sense. Always operating from a fan's perspective, his focus is more on the song in the middle of every track, and he isn't afraid to tell some of his musical heroes to come back with something different. It takes a lot of guts to pull something like that off, but it always makes for some of the best songs of the group's career. If you've mildly paid attention to the world of popular rock music, you've probably heard at least 5 Rick Rubin productions today.