Strangest Musician-Producer Pairings

The Germs + Jack Nitzsche

The Age of Chance and the Bomb Squad

always thought Spector and Leonard Cohen were an odd match, altho the results are great

Happy Mondays and John Cale.

Daryl Hall and Robert Fripp
Lesley Gore and Gamble & Huff

The Age of Chance and the Bomb Squad

wasn't a real pairing really.
twas just a remix, and not that good a one at that
i think the band were hoping for a full on bomb squad aural assault type of mix, and instead they got a stripped back beat and little else.

the damned and nick mason

Happy Mondays and Franz and Weymouth

John Mellencamp and Junior Vasquez

Bad Brains and Ric Ocasek

X and michael wagener

Human League with Jam/Lewis
Debbie Harry with Rodgers/Edwards
Liza Minnelli with Pet Shop Boys

Whodini and Thomas Dolby

Oh, and Minneapolis band The Wallets, who started out as Contortions-like funk/punk, but had their debut LP produced in New Orleans by Allen Toussaint.

Liza Minnelli and PSBs didn't feel that weird ... high-camp duo with love of showtunes meet high-camp singer of showtunes.

Damned and Nick Mason is OTM.

And we forget it now, but Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash was WTF at the time.

Black Sabbath-Ernie C

Janis Ian and Shadow Morton

i think it was just mixing, but Arthur Baker + Bob Dylan on Empire Burlesque is a weird one.

well by then baker had already been remixing (and improving) bruce springsteen, so that one makes sense.

ross robinson and the cure would have been a strange one to envisage, say, 10 years before it happened.

conny plank/a flock of seagulls

Eno, from a certain point in tome, but hey, we got used to it.

ann-margret & lee hazlewood

Anyone and Lee Hazlewood.

jesus lizard and john cale

Conny Plank and Whodini

alex chilton and the cramps probably looked strange back then

was going to say the obligatory ramones - spector, but that doesn't seem that unlikely.

Steve Albini and Bush.

alex chilton and the cramps probably looked strange back then

yeah must've seemed really random at the time, but in retrospect it's not so odd

Polyrock and Philip Glass

DJ Premier + Christina Aguilera struck me as pretty random at the time.

Divine Comedy and Nigel Godrich

Human League with Jam/Lewis <-- good one

John Mellencamp and Junior Vasquez

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, September 9, 2010 12:02 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

this is the only one that seems really out there to me. i can see the logic of all these! even liz phair/the matrix.

David Gates and Don van Vliet.

Starsailor and Phil Spector

i can see the logic of all these! even liz phair/the matrix.

I can see the logic of a fair amount of these but... the Germs and Jack Nitzsche? what is the connection there

rock music

Phil Spector : Ramones as Jack Nitzsche : Germs
?
Probably not

I think those Cruising sessions w Nitzsche predated the Spector/Ramones album...? not sure about that

Judas Priest and Stock Aitken Waterman

Jarvis Cocker and Steve Albini looked pretty odd on paper, but I loved the result

Chris Cornell and Timbaland turned out about as awful as anyone would've expected

George Martin and the Beatles. He had only made comedy/novelty records and some mainstream pop vocal sides.

George Martin and Ultravox.

When Pole (the German minimal dub/techno producer) made an album with rapping by Fat Jon (from Cincinnati, Ohio) on it, that seemed like an odd combination. Can't say the result was very good. And Pole wasn't even the only minimal guy to do this - Readymade and Bus released albums with guest rappers around the same time.

i think ppl get weird ideas about albini, but he basically just produces like records that sound like records with live instruments, like the band could be nina nastasia or bush or neurosis

Squeeze and John Cale

Steve Albini & Page/Plant
Trevor Horn & Yes (I know he had been in Yes prior to 90125 but by the time he came in to produce them he was better known as a hit maker)

i think ppl get weird ideas about albini, but he basically just produces like records that sound like records with live instruments, like the band could be nina nastasia or bush or neurosis

That's true, but the thing with Bush in 1995-96 is they were trying to ride Nirvana's coattails and grab the producer from In Utero, just a really transparent attempt at street cred. Albini's basically said that he did it for the $$$ and could give a fuck less about the band (he's pretty vocal about stuff like that).

Motorhead and Bill Laswell

Booker T. and Willie Nelson.

White Zombie and Bill Laswell too (Make Them Die Slowly)

Maybe Gavin Rossdale and Bush are nice.

iirc albino and gavin rossdale actually became pretty good friends as a result; i believe one of the copies of "the futurist" even went to mr. rossdale

Judas Priest and Stock Aitken Waterman

Just been reading up on this and one of the songs they did was a cover of the Stylistics' 'You Are Everything'. So sad that it'll never see the light of day :(

xpost well, there you go.

i think ppl get weird ideas about albini, but he basically just produces like records that sound like records with live instruments, like the band could be nina nastasia or bush or neurosis

That's true, but the thing with Bush in 1995-96 is they were trying to ride Nirvana's coattails and grab the producer from In Utero, just a really transparent attempt at street cred. Albini's basically said that he did it for the $$$ and could give a fuck less about the band (he's pretty vocal about stuff like that).

― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Friday, September 10, 2010 2:56 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

in an interview he basically said he thinks being an engineer is a job and that if any band has the money and unless they seem like totally awful people he will work to record them and try to make it sound the best he can no matter if he thinks it's a good band or not.

this doesn't strike me as a "schtick" so much as just an old-school view of engineer as profession...like o.g. 50s and 60s dudes...

he also said he really liked the dudes in bush as people..

Which, basically, is why it's NOT surprising he'd work with Jarvis Cocker, who has shitloads of indie credentials

in albini old guy midwest post punk tuff guy circles no one has more credibility than pulp....i honestly wouldn't be surprised if he likes bush more than pulp.

MGMT + Sonic Boom.

Scott Weiland + Daniel Lanois
Luscious Jackson + Daniel Lanois

Pulp + Scott Walker

Nile Rodgers + Laurie Anderson

But Nile Rodgers worked with a bunch of those early eighties NYC bohos (the Material axis, for ex).

MGMT + Sonic Boom

was thinking of this one earlier

Maybe Gavin Rossdale and Bush are nice.
yeah they probably are! i feel like i read albini saying that he enjoyed bush as people more than most of the underground bands he produces. and then i think he went on to say that bush sucks, but ...

Pulp + Scott Walker

This is, like, the most predictable pairing of all time.

The surprise thing there is that Scott Walker actually produced someone else.

See also:

The Turtles & Ray Davies
Grand Funk & Frank Zappa

Yeah, Grand Funk/FZ was mentioned upthread. I figure there's a story there somewhere that hasn't been widely told yet. Grand Funk just doesn't seem like the kind of band FZ would even notice, much less produce.

I have a Zappaphile friend, and he told me that someone from GFR met Zappa at a concert and jokingly asked him if he'd do an album for them. Zappa said yes and they did the album.

Wiki sez this tho:

The band had actually broken up, but after Frank Zappa expressed interest in producing an album for them, they managed to reassemble for one more attempt to regain a high chart position, which had become elusive as pop music became increasingly dominated by disco.

These failed crossover/attempts at commercial relevance are sad and totally fascinating.

It all makes perfect sense now given the results, but at the time? The pairing of Brian Eno and U2 was pretty baffling.

And, of course, Simon Le Bon and Unrest. Ha!

Vanilla Fudge & Shadow Morton

Oh wow (re: GFR & FZ):

Although the pairing of pop stars Grand Funk and the esoteric Zappa seemed bizarre, Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer said, "His whole viewpoint on what rock and roll is all about is basically the same as ours.... Keep it as simple as possible and really bring the balls out of this thing."[1] Zappa said, "All I did was in a documentary way make a record which tells you exactly what they really sound like. For the first time on record you can hear Grand Funk Railroad ... and they're fantastic, fan-tastic with an F three times taller than you!"[1] In spite of all this, or maybe because of it, Grand Funk decided on the first day of overdubs to split up again, although Zappa stayed up until 4 AM trying to talk them out of it.[1]

Justin Timberlake + Timbo = Duran Duran

I figure FZ was just hanging around the band to snatch up Don Brewer, but then Terry Bozzio showed up and he was all "oh never mind then." I have no evidence except my own imagination for this btw.

Hell, Chris Cornell and Timbo.

morrissey/jerry finn

Don't get this at all. Albini's schtick (if you can really call it that) is all about *credibility*. He won't reunite Big Black in spite of Lord knows what kind of $$$ offers.

He did reunite Big Black briefly for the Touch and Go 25th anniversary show.

would big black really get huge $$$ offers? i'm sure they'd get decent offers, but nothing compared to pavement or something.

He did reunite Big Black briefly for the Touch and Go 25th anniversary show.

He mentioned it was out of respect for T&G, and that he wouldn't have done it otherwise. Plus, I think they played 4 songs/15 minutes or something like that... hardly a reunion, just a show of solidarity with a close friend's label.

Big Black were hugely influential, though. I mean without them, there would've been no Rapeman or Shellac.

lol

double lol at implication that Big Black would be a big moneymaker

I mean we're not talking $1M reunion offers or anything, but it'd pull a solid indie crowd.

(Also, considering the Albini-ATP symbiotic relationship over the years, I wouldn't necessarily put a Big Black reunion out of the question at some point. But I think it'd be a one-off ATP show, not a full tour.)

oh sure, big black could make decent money, but probably about the same as shellac, right? it'd all be the same people going to see them, anyway.

Bad Religion & Todd Rundgren

Several Steve Albini references, but it still makes me shake my head when I realize he produced Chevelle and that wasn't mentioned, I don't think...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3DHAQpggfCU/Sjbbu3olHDI/AAAAAAAAACQ/cP-qmBRy-6k/s1600/ChevellePointNo1.jpg

Andrew WK producing for Lee Scratch Perry.

albini has made it clear in jillions of interviews that he will work with pretty much anybody

Hanson + The Dust Brothers

And we forget it now, but Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash was WTF at the time

yeah, I feel like Rubin + anyone who isn't the '86 beastie boys or red hot chili peppers is kind of wtf, yet his records always sound good and are super successful

Like even though it was for only one song:
Rick Rubin + Jay-Z

Blur & William Orbit
Squeeze & Laurie Latham

Crowded House and Youth also seemed WTF at the time, but actually worked out great.

Like even though it was for only one song:
Rick Rubin + Jay-Z

Yeah, so weird that a pioneering hip-hop producer would produce a really famous rap artist.

it's almost like Rick was crazy for that one

Paul Simon and Eno.
David Byrne and Arto Lindsay (the latter produced the former, which I guess makes some loose sense, but still).
The Coral and Geoff Barrow.

it's almost like Rick was crazy for that one

smdh...

Pardon me for quoting myself...

Squeeze and John Cale

― Hideous Lump, Friday, 10 September 2010 01:05 (6 months ago)

Cale tried to convince the band to name their first album "Gay Guys"

Rick Rubin + Jay-Z

Yeah, so weird that a pioneering hip-hop producer would produce a really famous rap artist
ly famous rap artist.

Jay-Z producing Rick Rubin would be pretty weird

Robin Trower/Bryan Ferry

Judas Priest and Stock Aitken Waterman

This happened?!

Hanson + The Dust Brothers

I couldn't believe when Hanson's first ever single came out that the Dust Brothers had produced it - surely they would have been put off by Hanson's widely-known international reputation