Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock is a Canadian record producer, recording engineer, and musician.
In 1976, Rock joined Little Mountain Sound Studios, starting out as a recording engineer and sound mixer. During his time there, he collaborated with producer Bruce Fairbairn, engineering and mixing several influential rock albums, including Loverboy's Get Lucky, Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, and Aerosmith's Permanent Vacation.
Rock and singer-songwriter Paul Hyde formed the band Payola$ in 1978. Payola$ were best known for the single "Eyes of a Stranger", from their 1982 album No Stranger to Danger, an album that won the band four Juno Awards. The pair also recorded together in 1987 under the name Rock and Hyde. In 1991, Rock released an album with the band Rockhead.
Some of Rock's most notable works as a producer include the rock albums Dr. Feelgood by Mötley Crüe, the Cult's Sonic Temple, and Metallica's 1991 self-titled album, often referred to as the Black Album. Each of these albums is the top-selling record for its respective band, and Metallica and the Cult each went on to collaborate with Rock on four subsequent albums.
Rock has received twenty-seven Juno Award nominations across various categories. In addition to the four Juno Awards he won for his work with Payola$, he won the Recording Engineer of the Year in 1982, and won the Producer of the Year award in 2000, 2005, and 2010. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2007 and won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for his work on Michael Bublé's album To Be Loved at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards held in 2014.
Early life
Rock was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and moved with his family to Victoria, British Columbia, at 12 years of age. He attended Colquitz Junior High School and played in various bands. He regularly attended all-ages performances at such nightclubs as Club Tango, the Purple Onion, and Ninth in the Fifth. In his early days he was fan of British blues-rock bands such as The Yardbirds, Cream, and Led Zeppelin.Rock went to Belmont High School located in Langford, a Victoria suburb, and it was there that he met future Payolas bandmate Paul Hyde. Influenced by musical artists such as David Bowie, Slade, T. Rex, Alex Harvey, and Be-Bop Deluxe, the pair formed the Paul Kane Blues Band and toured Vancouver Island in the mid-1970s.
Production career
In 1976, Rock landed a job as an apprentice recording engineer at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver and became acquainted with Vancouver's punk scene while working on tracks for punk acts, such as the Young Canadians, The Dils, and the Pointed Sticks. In the years that followed, Rock worked with producer Bruce Fairbairn, providing engineering and mixing work on the seminal rock albums Get Lucky by Loverboy, Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, and Aerosmith's Permanent Vacation.After his work on Permanent Vacation, Rock decided he wanted to move away from audio engineering to focus mainly on music production. Rock told Billboard magazine in 1992, "If I didn't take the next step, I realized I'd be engineering the rest of my life. It's a tough gig, engineering, a lot of hours. I had to move on."
The Cult's Billy Duffy asked Rock to produce their 1989 album Sonic Temple, having admired Rock's work with Bon Jovi and Kingdom Come. The album reached the Cult's highest chart position in both the US and the UK. It also marked a longtime relationship with the band, as Rock went on to produce their albums The Cult, Beyond Good and Evil, Choice of Weapon, and Hidden City. The band's frontman, Ian Astbury, told Billboard in 2000, " pretty much the only person qualified to . We're extremely strong-minded people, strong-spirited people. And we both have a very strong vision. And to get between demands a lot of patience and demands a certain amount of strength. The Cult is a very muscular band; there's a lot of power and determination and spirit and a lot of spark. So, from that fire, somebody that can get a hold of that energy and harness it-and put it in the right direction-is the person that's really qualified to be our producer... He believes in us probably more than we believe in ourselves."
Mötley Crüe's manager, Doc McGhee, who also managed Bon Jovi, recommended Rock to Mötley Crüe for their first album since getting sober, Dr. Feelgood. The band stayed in Vancouver for close to a year in order to work with Rock. Dr. Feelgood went on to become Mötley Crüe's best-selling album and is the only one to reach the #1 spot on the Billboard 200. The album was nominated for two Grammys for Best Hard Rock Performance and won the American Music Award for best heavy metal/hard rock album in 1991.
Having been impressed by his work on Metallica's self-titled album, Bon Jovi employed Rock to produce their fifth studio album, Keep the Faith. In 1999 plans were made to have Rock and Fairbairn produce their album Crush, but Fairbairn died later that year and the banded opted to work with Luke Ebbin.
In 1995, Rock relocated to Maui and converted part of his home into his own private music production facility, known as Plantation Studios, three years later. In the 2000s, Rock's production work began to center around his home studio, although he travels to work on larger projects, such as Metallica's St. Anger. Rock told The Honolulu Advertiser in 2003, "Actually, over the next few years I'm probably going to be weaning myself off of what I do a little bit... And I would really love to be able to get involved more with local music."
While Rock is best known for his work with rock and metal artists, Rock has produced such pop artists as Cher, Nelly Furtado, Jann Arden, Sarah McLachlan, and Michael Bublé. His work with Bublé on the album To Be Loved earned him a Grammy Award.
Work with Metallica
were fans of Rock's work on Dr. Feelgood and asked him to produce their fifth studio album, Metallica, commonly referred to as The Black Album.The album marked a departure from the band's earlier thrash metal sound and expanded the band's range, at times featuring a slower, softer and more introspective sound, such as on the ballad "The Unforgiven", or on "Nothing Else Matters", which featured acoustic guitar. These two songs also offered new vocal territory for James Hetfield, whose previous albums mainly showcased harder, more aggressive vocals. Rock told MusicRadar in 2013 "The thing was, James had songs that he actually had to sing... He didn't know how to sing – all he did before was yell. This was the basis of our friendship. I taught him what I knew. We took the time to get the record to what they wanted and what I wanted."
Up until Metallica, the band members were used to recording their parts separately, which were later mixed together. Rock and recording engineer Randy Staub convinced the band to record the lead single "Enter Sandman" while all four performed in the same room. Rock's son provided the voice of the child reciting the "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" bedtime prayer in the song.
Metallica debuted in the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards. In December 2019, it became the fourth album in American history to enter the 550-week milestone on the Billboard 200. In 1999, SPIN magazine ranked it at #52 on their list of "The 90 Greatest Albums of the 90s"; it was ranked at #25 on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" in 2017, as well as #235 on Rolling Stones 2020 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time."
Rock went on to produce the band's albums Load, ReLoad, as well as the new material for the band's cover album, Garage Inc., and their album St. Anger. Rock wrote and played all of the bass guitar parts on St. Anger, following the departure of Jason Newsted in 2001. Rock was also the bassist for the band's few live performances until Robert Trujillo joined the band in February 2003. Rock was featured prominently in the 2004 documentary film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster that dealt with Metallica's internal strife and their struggles with the creative process during the recording of St. Anger.
In 2006, Metallica chose producer Rick Rubin to produce their ninth studio album, Death Magnetic, ending the band's long-time relationship with Rock. Their decision to part ways with Rock was due in part to requests by their fan base, who had posted an online petition with over 1,500 signatories who felt that Rock had too much influence over the band's sound.
At Metallica's 30th Anniversary Concert on December 10, 2011, Rock joined the band on stage, and performed bass alongside Trujillo on the songs "Dirty Window" and "Frantic".
Payolas and Rock and Hyde
After being hired by Little Mountain Sound Studios in 1976, Paul Hyde followed Rock to Vancouver and in 1978 they formed the Payola$. Hyde was the band's vocalist, Rock played guitar. Rock and Hyde were the only mainstays over the band's history, having changed bassists and drummers several times.The band released their first single, "China Boys", in 1979, and attracted the attention of A&M Records. A year later their four track EP Introducing Payola$ was released by A&M. The band released the album In a Place Like This in 1981. The album was produced by Rock, and was a critical success, but didn't do well commercially.
The band attracted the attention of famed British songwriter and producer Mick Ronson, who produced Payolas' 1982 album No Stranger to Danger. The album included the hit single "Eyes of a Stranger", which won the Juno Award for best single. Junos were also given to Rock and Hyde for their songwriting, Rock was awarded Recording Engineer of the Year, and the band as a whole won Most Promising Group.
In 1987, the band again changed their name to Rock and Hyde and had two hit singles in Canada with the song "Dirty Water", which made it to #20 on the RPM Hot 100 chart, and "I Will", which peaked at #40. In 2007, the Payolas became briefly active once more as a touring and recording act, releasing the EP Langford Part One.