Eddie Kramer
Any producer should normally be the silent coach behind every great rock and roll. It’s hard enough for someone to try and write a song that captures the spirit of the times, but the key difference between the classic bands and the lacklustre ones is being able to find someone who can do them justice once they’re stuck behind the glass. The Beatles had George Martin, AC/DC had Mutt Lange, but Eddie Kramer had a front-row seat to see musical magicians at work every time he walked into the studio.
That shouldn’t discount his approach to rock and roll. His work with bands like Kiss helped give them their first big boost when Alive! came out, but throughout the late 1960s, Kramer had received an education watching people like John Lennon come up with the basic arrangement for songs like ‘Baby You’re A Rich Man’. So when he worked alongside Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix, he was like a fish in water.
Both guitarists knew exactly what they wanted, but their dreams were made a reality by Kramer, whether it be by accident or by design. From the layers of backwards guitar he would throw on songs to the strange echoing effect that he birthed when making ‘Whole Lotta Love’, Kramer was the kind of engineer who could take the basics of what legends had in their head and arranging them the same way a composer would arrange an orchestral piece, and anyone who has ever wanted their records to sound massive are copying from his playbook.
Peter Grant
Led Zeppelin had all the elements of being a superband before they even started work on their debut album. Every member of the group was a virtuoso in their own right, and with Jimmy Page guiding them along, there was no real limit to where they could go when they had the right songs in their arsenal. If they were trying to be one of the biggest bands rock had ever seen, they would need someone in the background to cover their tracks and fight as ruthlessly as they did live.
While Peter Grant did have that ‘papa bear’ charm among those closest to him, his calling card always centred around being one of the most intimidating men in the music industry. Not everything he did fit into everyone’s standard code of ethics, but he protected Zeppelin like it was his firstborn child, always keeping them going on the road and refusing interviews to keep up the mystique of their music when they got onstage.
Grant also did the same for Bad Company once they got the ball rolling, but it was only fitting that he started to get out of the business after John Bonham’s death. Most managers only see rock and roll as a business, but for Grant, it was all about creating a family, and the minute that someone lost their way on the road and bottomed out, he knew it was time to get out of the business.