Pete Townshend: “Somebody needs to occasionally slap Rick Rubin”

nme.com:

The Who‘s Pete Townshend thinks “somebody needs to occasionally slap” producer Rick Rubin over his polarising ideas about creativity.Rubin, who has previously worked with the likes of Adele, The Strokes and Red Hot Chili Peppers, published a best-selling book detailing his ideas about creativity called The Creative Act: A Way Of Being last year.

Notably, he suggested that art is only ‘pure’ if made for the artist themself and not for an audience.In an appearance on Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt’s Rockonteurs podcast, a discussion about creativity led Townshend to criticise Rubin’s philosophy, or more specifically the idea of having any sort of doctrine around the process of making art.“You see a lot of stuff on YouTube and Instagram, people nagging you about the way that you have to be creative,” Townshend began. “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.”“The book of rules for me is… 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.