“The magic, consistency, and mystique of Rick Rubin really started to fall off”: music critic Anthony Fantano thinks producer Rick Rubin is ‘cringe’Rick Rubin’s approach to production is… controversial, let’s say. The producer’s self-confessed lack of technical ability and musical knowledge has resulted in a divisive, ‘vibes’-based instinct. Even within a single band, Rubin can be a very marmite character; while Kesha has cited Rubin as her most admired creative mind,  the Cult’s Billy Duffy thinks Rubin entirely lacks musicality.
Despite Rubin even penning a book in 2023 on his strange process, The Creative Act, countless musicians and journalists are beginning to question how strong his approach truly is. In fact, music critic Anthony Fantano is the latest to brand Rubin as ‘cringe’, arguing that Rubin is a producer he has grown “increasingly sceptical of” in recent years.

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While most people tend to critique Rubin’s lack of musical knowledge, Fantano instead argues that the quality of Rubin’s work has diminished as his fame has risen. As he puts it, Rubin seems to be coasting on the clout of his own name nowadays rather than consistently producing excellent records.
Fantano begins by noting his personal respect of Rubin’s work, calling him “one of the most significant big brains in the music industry ever” that has notably had a “direct hand in some of the most massive and significant success stories in popular music for the last 50 years”. However, Fantano argues that the 2010s marked the beginning of Rubin’s downfall. “Around this time period, I would argue the magic, consistency, and mystique of Rick Rubin really started to fall off,” he says.

There’s no denying that Rubin has been involved in some marvellous records – notably revitalising Johnny Cash’s career with 1994’s American Recordings, as well as producing System Of A Down’s 2001 release Toxicity and Beastie Boys’ 1986 album Licensed to Ill. However, Fantano insists that the subsequent “weak output” of work from 2010 onwards has flagged up “glaring issues and flaws” with Rubin’s production.
As Fantano says, it seems as if Rubin is focusing more on his rebrand as a “philosophical guru” than churning out quality records. Rather than accepting his role as a standard producer, Fantano critiques Rubin’s newfound hobby of “[hopping] on social media to post quotes of himself against white backgrounds” in an effort to “make the various things he says seem more important than they really are”.
Another qualm is Rubin’s love of AI. While a majority of the music industry has been at war with AI, Rubin has embraced it, even realising an interactive online AI book The Way Of Code: The Timeless Art Of Vibe Coding.

Last year, Rubin branded AI as “punk rock”, explaining on The Ben & Marc Show podcast that: “[With punk rock music], you didn’t need the expertise or skill set, other than your idea and your ability to convey it. And vibe coding is the same thing – it’s the punk rock of coding.”
It’s a stance that weirdly aligns with Rubin’s insistence that he has no musical knowledge, something he controversially wore as a badge of honour during a 2023 interview with 60 Minutes. “I’ve no technical ability,” he admitted. “And I know nothing about music. I know what I like and what I don’t like. I’m decisive about what I like and what I don’t like.”
Again, the interview and the AI-loving seems to add fuel to Fantano’s argument. As it stands, Rubin is embracing technology that is allows him to be even more hands-off in the studio, hanging the reins over to a computer. While none of this takes away from Rubin’s influence on music, it is certainly strange that Rubin is embracing his lack of knowledge and actively seeking ways to avoid learning about music to improve his craft.

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