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Welcome to the behind the Song Podcast, taking you deeper into classic rock's most timeless tunes. Here's your host, Janda.

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I'm Janda. And in this bonus episode of the behind the Song podcast, let's shine a light on the producers who've been such a huge part of making the songs and albums that we know and love in classic rock. The super producers who may as well have been a part of the band, and those who steered the ship toward Valhalla for the artists they worked with when it came to recording the music. Where else to start on this little producer glow up than with Sir George Martin, the fifth Beatle? He was so crucial to the Beatles because his expertise helped make their innovative ideas a reality in the studio. Nobody did what the Beatles did in the recording studio at the time, and he didn't back down from the task, no matter how daunting the task at hand might have been, considering the studio equipment of the 60s was not at all what's available. He wasn't just a person behind a studio console, he played instruments too. And his training allowed him to create the string arrangements and the orchestral parts for some of the Beatles most marvelous works. The crescendo in A Day in the Life, the strings in Yesterday, and more. When Paul McCartney told him he wanted the piano part in their song In My Life to sound baroque, he played the piano with the tape running at half speed, so in playback it was twice as fast and an octave higher, sounding more like a harpsichord. Problem solved, innovation after innovation. His deep knowledge of music helped him bridge the gap between what was coming out of the Fab Four's heads and what could be done to make it happen. In reality, he was great on the business end too. His partnership with the Beatles led to their first record label signing with Parlophone through his work there, which led to their first hit single. He was older and wiser than the Band, their trusted friend and father figure. His involvement in every one of the Beatles releases was so significant, McCartney said, that if anyone earned the title of fifth Beatle, it was him. He was the most generous, intelligent and musical person I've ever had the pleasure to know. End quote. Another producer who's been crucial in creating some of the best albums in classic rock, Jimmy Iovine. Relentless is the word many have used to describe him, a red hot laser beam fixed on success. His path really began with Bruce Springsteen, when he was at the time working as an engineer during the recording of the Born To Run album. Take after take after take until they got it right. With Springsteen giving him a sort of musical hazing and initiation that he not only survived but ultimately throw thrived in. Springsteen's dedication to his music is something that Iovine credits with teaching him the importance of perseverance which has served him throughout his career. A talker, a connector, Iovine convinced Springsteen to give the song because the Night to Patti Smith, which she had her first hit with. And all that led to Tom Petty a major peak in both their careers. With Iovine co producing the Damn the Torpedoes alb, Iovine could take Petty's raw ideas and work them into what he called an unstoppable radio sound that created big hits like Refugee and changed the game for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He would go on to produce or co produce the Hard Promises, Long After Dark and Southern Accents albums. And he produced Stevie Nicks debut solo album Belladonna, the number one album of 1981, which of course includes the Knicks Petty duet Steve Stop Dragging My Heart Around Everything connected with Iovine. Tom Petty said that Iovine had a keen sense of what he was working with, so confident that when they started collaborating together it would make them, quote, unquote, millionaires again, mission accomplished. And Springsteen said that Iovine was a visionary executive who, quote, unquote, never took off his fan shoes. Oh, and then Iovine founded Interscope Records and Beats Electronics and really a mover and a shaker across the entire music industry. When you think of the success of AC DC and Def Leppard and to Foreigner with some of the biggest albums of the 80s, that's producer Mutt Lang behind the curtain. His production style, which was super precise and geared toward a polished wall of sound technique, broadened the appeal of each of those bands and led to massive commercial success. ACDC's highway to Hell album and then their monstrous Back in Black album not only helped them break into the mainstream, but in the case of Back in Black, it rewarded the band with one of the best selling hard rock albums of all time with a brand new singer in Brian Johnson, recorded months after the death of Bon Scott. All emotions aside, all about the business to be done. Mutt Lang's direction and guidance and hard work with the likewise hardworking Def Leppard turned them into global superst by coming up with a unique blend of pop, glam and heavy metal which took the world by storm with the release of the Pyromania album in 1983. He worked with the band on the follow up album hysteria, released in 1987 after the car accident that took drummer Rick Allen's arm. The determination of the band matched the producer to keep going, and if someone wasn't working hard enough, in this case guitarist Steve Clark, they were fired. He produced four albums for Def Leppard, including High and Dry, their second before Pyromania and Adrenalize in the 90s. He gave foreigners music the muttlang pop polish too, especially on their album 4, released in 1981. His production gave the songs a sort of ear candy sensibility, and he made the band and Thomas Dolby, who they were working with at the time, retake and retake repeat notes over and over and over again, as he was known to do with Def Leppard. 2 Mick Jones of Foreigner said that working with Lange was tough but rewarding. He said that Lange insisted on hearing every single scrap of musical material that Jones had, even stuff he was embarrassed to share, which led to the riff in their hit song Urgent. And ultimately the 4 album ended up being one of Foreigner's finest moments as a band. It takes a special kind of person, a mix of confidence, musical ability and relationship building to shepherd a vision into reality in the recording studio. The hours are long, the work is unglamorous, disagreements happen and egos get bruised. But the best producers lift up the talents of the musicians they work with, spur them on, take their ideas and shape them into something that can last forever, can bring a song to life, to impart its magic on the heart of every person who listens to it from the moment it's released into the world. The producer is the captain, the coach, the guru, the key element for so many bands successes Rick Rubin with Slayer and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Rock with Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, Butch Vig with Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage and Ted Templeman with the Doobie Brothers and the first six Van Halen albums, plus the for Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album super producers who were really connected with the musical talent and oversaw the production of colossal albums that made their mark in rock history behind the scenes, behind the band, but in front of the sound. Hats off to the super producers, the unique individuals who can handle and manage this really specific difficult role, building the songs note by note. That gives us fans the soundtrack of our lives. And of course there are others. Let me know who you think of when you think of a great rock album producer if they aren't mentioned in this episode. And as always, thanks for listening and sharing the love of the music with me. If you like this episode, give it a like and hit. Subscribe on the way. Much more classic rock and roll.