Bob Rock

Robert Jens Rock, (born 19 April 1954 in Winnipeg, Manitoba), is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer best known for producing bands such as Simple Plan, Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, 311, Metallica, Our Lady Peace, Bryan Adams, and most recently The Offspring. Payola$ and Rock and Hyde edit: Main article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payolas Rock began his music career in Langford, British Columbia (a suburb of Victoria) as a guitarist playing with friends William Alexander and Paul Hyde in the former's household basement. After high school graduation, Rock left Victoria and became the co-founder of the Payola$, who became well known with the success of their 1980s hit, "Eyes of a Stranger", which was used as part of the soundtrack of the movie Valley Girl starring Nicolas Cage. In 1983, the Payola$ won the Juno Award for Single of the Year. Rock also worked as an assistant engineer at Little Mountain Sound in Vancouver. In 1987, the Payola$ (who had by then changed their name to Paul Hyde and the Payolas) again changed their name to Rock and Hyde and had a hit single in Canada with the song "Dirty Water". The song also charted on Billboard's Hot 100. In 2007, the Payola$ once again became active as a touring and recording act, releasing the EP Langford Part One. Production career edit: Rock is perhaps best known as a producer for bands such as Metallica and Mötley Crüe. He has also worked with Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Cher, The Cult, David Lee Roth, Skid Row, Veruca Salt, Nina Gordon, The Offspring, 311, Our Lady Peace, The Tragically Hip, The Tea Party, Lostprophets, American Hi-Fi, Simple Plan and Nelly Furtado. Rock briefly returned to performing, forming the band Rockhead with ex-Payola$ drummer Chris Taylor. The band released one self-titled album and two singles before splitting up. Rock produced the five finalist songs of CBC Sports's Hockey Night in Canada Anthem Challenge in late 2008. He became involved with a controversy having worked with Gerry Mosby, one of the semi-finalists, thus violating CBC rules on the Anthem Challenge. Metallica edit: Main article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallica In 1990, Bob Rock was chosen to produce Metallica's multiplatinum self-titled album, Metallica (commonly referred to as The Black Album). Rock would subsequently produce Load (1996) and ReLoad (1997) as well as the new material for the band's cover album Garage Inc. (1998). After Jason Newsted left Metallica in January 2001, Rock wrote and recorded all of the bass guitar parts on the 2003 album St. Anger. He also played bass during the band's few live performances until Robert Trujillo joined the band in February 2003. Rock was featured prominently in the 2004 documentary film Some Kind of Monster. The film dealt with Metallica's internal strife and their struggles with the creative process during the recording of St. Anger. An online petition was started that some 1,500 fans signed that called for Metallica to end their relationship with Rock, claiming he had too much influence on the band's sound and musical style. Rock claimed the petition was hurtful for his children, saying "sometimes, even with a great coach, a team keeps losing. You have to get new blood in there." In February 2006, Metallica chose producer Rick Rubin to produce their next album, ending the group's long-time relationship with Rock. At Metallica's 30th Anniversary Concert on 12 December 2011, Rock joined Metallica onstage and performed bass alongside Trujillo on the songs "Dirty Window" and "Frantic".

Source: Wikipedia

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