Rock’n Me 7 - Talking About Western Music - Robert John “Mutt” Lange

Hello, I’m Joshua and I love talking about Western music.
For this 7th article, I’ll be focusing on the producer and songwriter who changed the sound of rock—Robert John “Mutt” Lange (hereafter referred to as “Mutt”).

Mutt is a rare figure in the rock world in that he hails from Africa. He was born in Rhodesia (present-day Zambia) and raised in South Africa. He moved his musical base to the UK, where he produced legendary works such as the Boomtown Rats' debut album (1977) and Foreigner's album 4 (1981).

His most famous works include three albums by AC/DC: Highway to Hell (1979), Back in Black (1980), and For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) (1981).There are also the three albums he produced for Def Leppard: High 'n' Dry (1981), Pyromania (1983), and Hysteria (1987). On top of that, he’s worked with huge names like The Cars, Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Nickelback, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, and Muse. It’s nearly impossible to even estimate the total number of records he’s sold.

Mutt’s production style is defined by his meticulous attention to detail, crafting albums with such precision that they transcend the usual bounds of rock. He once said that with Pyromania, he aimed to create the “Star Wars of rock” (note: at the time, the original Star Wars had just been released and had made a huge impact the world), and that with Hysteria, he was going for the rock equivalent of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. Considering that Pyromania sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. alone, and Hysteria over 12 million, it’s safe to say he came close to hitting those lofty goals.

Mutt is a walking encyclopedia of musical knowledge—he plays instruments, sings, and contributes across the board. In the case of Def Leppard, he was even referred to as the “sixth member” of the band due to his full-scale involvement in everything from songwriting to arrangements. He’s known for his perfectionism and drive to push artists to an even higher level—all while encouraging and praising them. This isn’t something as simple as “using both the carrot and the stick” or being “sadistically demanding.” To accomplish what he does requires deep expertise, insight, and a strong moral character.
In fact, both AC/DC and Def Leppard went through major tragedies. AC/DC lost their vocalist Bon Scott, and Def Leppard’s drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car accident. Despite these devastating events, Mutt played a pivotal role in keeping the bands together and moving forward, which is a testament to his profound influence and leadership.
By the way, Def Leppard’s song “Rock of Ages” begins with a nonsensical phrase that sounds like German—this is actually Mutt’s voice. During recording, he jokingly said it to lighten the mood, and they ended up keeping it in the final mix.

■ Def Leppard “Rock of Ages”

There are quite a few legendary stories about Mutt. One example is when Def Leppard played him a finished song, and he replied, “Yeah, that’s great. Now let’s come up with a second melody to go with it.” Or when Bryan Adams told him, “We’re done!” after dubbing a chorus dozens of times, and then Mutt responded, “Yeah, that was good. That’ll be for the left channel. Now let’s do the same thing for the right.”
This technique of layering vocals in which choruses and shouts like “Hey!” or “Yeah!” dozens of times is a signature of his production style. You can hear it in Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and more recently in Nickelback’s “Burn It To the Ground”. Mutt himself actively took part in these chorus recordings, and in most of his productions, the backing vocals you hear are often his own voice.
His work is often critiqued as sounding like Def Leppard, but that’s no surprise. It’s literally Mutt’s voice on all of them.

■ Def Leppard “Pour Some Sugar On Me”

■ Nickelback “Burn It To the Ground”

It's no exaggeration to say that Mutt transformed the sound of rock. With AC/DC, he masterfully used space in guitar riffs and added crash cymbals on the 2nd and 4th beats of a measure. These are techniques that, despite the simplicity of the ensemble, created a vast and powerful sonic world.
Examples of this can be heard in “Hell’s Bells” from Back in Black and the title track of “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)”. Of course, Mutt didn’t invent these techniques, but he effectively applied and popularized them as powerful tools in rock arrangements.

■ AC/DC “Hell’s Bells”

Mutt also experimented extensively with creating new sounds. On “Pyromania”, he synchronized all of the drums using sampled sounds. This was an innovative approach for its time. For “Hysteria”, he didn’t use any guitar amps at all, aiming instead for the most cutting-edge sound available. He crafted intricate counterpoint in vocal harmonies that played off the main melody, layered electronic drums or white noise with the snare, and made bold use of reverse reverb and pitch shifters to create massive, arena-sized drum sounds.
These meticulously crafted recording techniques were soon imitated by other artists,
eventually becoming industry standards, which is one of Mutt’s major contributions to modern music.

Mutt also has a number of maxims—words with the weight and timelessness of classic proverbs. A few of his most well-known are:

○ “When writing a song, picture yourself rocking out in front of tens of thousands of people.”
○ “When writing a love song, write as if you’re singing directly to the woman in the front row.”
○ “(To an artist who complained they couldn’t hit those high notes live) — Yeah. But we’re not going to compromise this record for that.”

However, even a perfectionist producer like Mutt had one area where he wasn’t perfect—love. He met Shania Twain when he was producing her music, and that connection eventually led to marriage (a so-called “May-December romance” with a 17-year age gap). Unfortunately, their marriage fell apart when Mutt had an affair with none other than Shania’s close friend, someone who was part of the couple’s inner circle.
Up to this point, it sounds like a typical story of a man’s infidelity. But the plot thickened: after divorcing Mutt, Shania remarried; her new husband is the ex-husband of that same close friend.
Even Mutt couldn’t have produced a twist like that.

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