Although record producer Martin Rushent was firmly identified with the punk and post-punk eras, the biggest records he had worked on before then were those of Shirley Bassey. His production of The Human League’s epoch-defining Dare changed that.
Rushent was a freelance producer and studio engineer – mainly working with artists signed to the United Artists label. It was his enthusiasm that got The Stranglers signed to UA. Before that, he had worked with anyone from prog-rockers Curved Air to pop fodder like David Essex. He’d engineered the T-Rex album Electric Warrior as well.
But it was the coming of punk that that brought his name to the forefront, even though he’d worked in studios from the Sixties. An accomplished keyboard player, Rushent even made a couple of solo singles in 1979.
He was one of the few British producers – like Martin Hannett – that was at home with punk and what would become post punk. And, like Hannett, he also worked with Joy Division who he recorded for his Genetic Records imprint on 4 March 1979. Those tracks weren’t issued and Joy Division would go with Factory Records and Hannett to subsequently make Unknown Pleasures, but Rushent was open in the same way as Hannett. The synergy between the two Martins wasn’t limited to Joy Division. Buzzcocks' first release (the Spiral Scratch EP) was produced by Hannett. The band then moved to United Artists, where they were produced by Rushent until their final three single for the label, all of which were made with Hannett. After Buzzcocks split, band member Pete Shelley returned to working with Rushent.
The Human League’s globally massive album Dare would be taken as Rushent's defining statement, their synthesisers given a context that was poppily accessible (no traditionalist, Rushent had already worked with synth-pop act Visage). Love and Dancing, his remixed version of Dare, was almost as huge a hit. Rushent brought remixing into the mainstream.
He had problems with clinical depression and largely bowed out of production after the mid-Eighties. What follows are a few reminders of some of his most wonderful moments.
Martin Rushent: 3 January, 1948 – 4 June, 2011
Watch The Stranglers' video for “Grip”, their debut single
Watch Buzzcocks' video for “What Do I Get?”
Watch 999’s video for “Homicide”
Watch The Human League’s video for “Love Action”
