He has also produced hit records for acts from a variety of other genres, such as pop (Kesha, Adele, Lady Gaga), heavy metal (Danzig, Metallica, Slayer), alternative rock (The Cult, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beabadoobee, Rage Against the Machine, the Strokes, Weezer), hard rock (Audioslave, AC/DC, Aerosmith), nu metal (Linkin Park, System of a Down, Slipknot), and country (Johnny Cash, The Avett Brothers, the Chicks).

[1] In 2007, Rubin was called "the most important producer of the last 20 years" by MTV[2] and was named on Time's list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World".

Their biggest claim to fame was being thrown off the stage at CBGB after performing two songs due to brawling with hecklers, which had actually been instigated by friends of the band who had been instructed to do so to get the show shut down and create a buzz.

[7] Although he had no authority in New York City, his father traveled to Manhattan wearing his Long Beach auxiliary police uniform as he attempted to "shut down" the show.

In 1982, a Hose track became Def Jam's first release, a 45 rpm 7" vinyl single in a brown paper bag, and no label.

[9] The band played in and around the NYC punk scene, toured the Midwest and California, and played with seminal hardcore bands like Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü, Circle Jerks, Butthole Surfers, and Minor Threat, becoming friends with Fugazi frontman and Dischord Records owner Ian MacKaye.

[9] Having befriended Zulu Nation's DJ Jazzy Jay, Rubin began to learn about hip hop production.

Rubin was instrumental in pointing the members of the Beastie Boys away from their punk roots and into rap, resulting in Kate Schellenbach's departure from the group.

[10] The Beastie Boys' 1985 "Rock Hard"/"Party's Gettin' Rough"/"Beastie Groove" EP came out on the success of Rubin's production work with breakthrough act Run-DMC, of which previous recordings were produced by Simmons and Orange Krush's musician Larry Smith.

Rubin tapped Adam Dubin and Ric Menello to co-direct the videos for the Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)"

This 1986 production is often credited with both introducing rap hard rock to mainstream ears and revitalizing Aerosmith's career.

[13] In 1986, he worked with Aerosmith again on demos for their forthcoming album, but their collaboration ended early and resulted in only rough studio jams.

In the same year, Rubin began his long musical partnership with Slayer, producing Reign in Blood, considered a classic of the heavy metal genre.

Rubin portrayed a character based on himself in the 1985 hip-hop motion picture Krush Groove, which was inspired by the early days of Simmons's career as an artist manager and music producer.

In Los Angeles, Rubin signed a number of rock and heavy metal acts, including Danzig, Masters of Reality, the Four Horsemen, and Wolfsbane, as well as alternative rock group the Jesus and Mary Chain and stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay.

Arguably his biggest success as a producer came from working with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom Rubin produced six studio albums from 1991 to 2011, starting with the band's fifth release, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, which launched the band to mainstream success thanks to the hit singles "Give It Away" and "Under the Bridge".

The six albums with the Chili Peppers also spawned 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart, a record the band as of 2015 still holds, and various awards, including 16 Grammy nominations (with six wins), and a Producer of the Year Grammy award for 2006's Stadium Arcadium, which was also nominated for Album of the Year.

In 2007, Rubin won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for his work with the Chicks, Michael Kranz, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Green Day, and Johnny Cash released in 2006.

[24] Rubin won the award again in 2009, for production work for Metallica, Neil Diamond, Ours, Jakob Dylan, and Weezer in 2008.

[28] Rubin's debut book, published on January 17, 2023, by Penguin Press, is The Creative Act: A Way of Being.

But by the 2000s, Rubin's style[32] included such elements, as noted in The Washington Post: "As the track reaches a crescendo and [Neil] Diamond's portentous baritone soars over a swelling string arrangement, Rubin leans back, as though floored by the emotional power of the song.

"[33] Natalie Maines of the Chicks has praised his production methods, saying, "He has the ability and the patience to let music be discovered, not manufactured.

[35] Despite having never worked with Rubin,[36] British band Muse praised him for his "hands off" approach to production and credited him as an influence on its first self-produced album, The Resistance.

"[37] The statement was initially interpreted as a criticism of Rubin,[38] but Bellamy later clarified it was meant as a self-deprecating comment on the band's similarly "hands-off" attitude to production.

[36] In 2014, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor said that he met Rubin only four times during the entire recording process of Vol.

[56] He is a fan of professional wrestling and held season tickets to WWE events at Madison Square Garden throughout the 1970s and 1980s.