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The Black Keys' shabby factory recordings: How did they become classics?
The Black Keys are an American rock duo whose third album "Rubber Factory" was released on September 7, 2004. The album features a unique recording location - an abandoned tire factory in their hometown of Akron. How did the creation of this album influence the nature of its music, making it a classic?
Recording and Production
Before recording Rubber Factory, the Black Keys recorded their first two albums in drummer Patrick Carney's basement. But with the basement rented out, the band had to find another place to create their third album. Ultimately, they decided to set up their recording studio in a decadent factory built by General Tire, an ideal place to create freely.
We saw this "for rent" sign, and the whole building attracted us. The first floor is the storage room, and the second floor is the office and laboratory, which becomes our work area... We can freely use the entire corner space.
Although Carney described the place as "less than ideal," saying: "It's too far away, it's on the second floor, it's so hot, the windows can't be opened, and the acoustics are terrible," for the Black Keys, it's all. It doesn't seem to hinder their creation. However, equipment challenges plagued them, and problems continued with the mixing console Carney purchased on eBay, which extended the recording process by nearly five months. Eventually, they left the console behind at the factory after recording was completed.
Album packaging
The album cover for "Rubber Factory" was designed by Carney's brother and art director Michael Carney. The cover is a collage, themed around the desolate features of Akron's east side: abandoned stores, tire piles, Goodyear blimps, etc.
Publicity
Several singles following the album's release, such as "When the Lights Go Out" and "10 A.M. Automatic", brought the band's music to a wider audience. "10 A.M. Automatic" has not only appeared in advertisements for American Express, but has also appeared on the soundtracks of many movies. In addition to music, The Black Keys have also achieved success in communication, with their songs being widely used in various media, further increasing the album's popularity.
Comments and feedback
The album Rubber Factory received generally positive reviews. On the review aggregation website Metacritic, the album has an average score of 81. "The album capitalizes on why rock critics chose them as the college dropout's indie-rock blues ambassadors in the first place," commented James Hunter of The Washington Post.
This album is a lo-fi version of classic blues rock, produced by a bunch of totally serious indie rock guys, and it works really well.
Rolling Stone's Christian Hoard noted the album's "high-impact grimy blues" and praised lead singer Dan Auerbach's outstanding guitar lines. Despite this, he also felt that the album lacked some complete song structures. According to reviews on Pitchfork, the album presents an ideological progression between tracks, which indeed creates an album feel.
Album tracks and credits
As for the album's credits, The Black Keys featured Dan Auerbach on guitar and vocals, and Patrick Carney on drums and percussion. Their collaboration drove the creation and production of the entire album, making "Rubber Factory" a classic.
The commercial performance of this album was also quite good, becoming the first album of the Black Keys to enter the "Billboard 200" chart. Following the commercial success of the 2011 album "El Camino", "Rubber Factory" also re-entered the charts, demonstrating its continued cultural influence.
After exploring the success of the "Rubber Factory" album, we couldn't help but wonder: Are there other types of musical works that can also give birth to classics in unexpected circumstances?
