Todd Rundgren is mostly known for two things: his blue-eyed soul Top 40 hit “Hello It’s Me” and being Liv Tyler’s surrogate father for the first nine or so years of her life. But probably the most important part of his career was as a mega-producer in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Having self-produced his own beautiful power-pop albums (notably Something/Anything?, something of a breakthrough in home studio production), Rundgren soon made a career of engineering albums like The Band’s Stage Fright and later became one of the most sought after producers in the biz. Unfortunately, this part of his career has been either overlooked or criticized for the control he often wielded in the studio. For a while, Rundgren was known as something of a studio whiz, able to conjure great sounds and work incredibly fast. He became the go to guy for artists who a) needed a breakout hit or b) artists who’d lost their mojo and needed some rejuvenation c) had to make an album quickly. But it didn’t always come easy, and Rundgren was never afraid to steal the reins from a Mark Farner or an Andy Partridge and direct a band in whatever direction he saw fit, regardless of how many toes he stepped on in the process. Rundgren wasn’t there to build relationships; he was there to make amazing records—honing a band’s sounds and ideas into a cohesive album. And good on him, cause honestly, who else could produce the New York Dolls debut album and then produce Hall & Oates “She’s Gone” within a couple of years time, and make them both incredibly listenable?

Meatloaf – “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)”

In 1977 Meatloaf Aday teamed up with songwriter Jim Steinman to create Bat out of Hell, an array of ridiculously theatrical hard rock tunes, not far removed from those featured in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a film in which Aday starred. The songs were a bad producer away from sounding like hard rock’s answer to Hair. But somehow, Rundgren recognized Steinman’s melding of show tunes, oldies, and hard rock as more Springsteen than Sondheim. He gives Meatloaf a huge, kitchen sink production, but no more bombastic than Jon Landau’s production of Born to Run, and it rocks just as hard (if not more so). The Loaf doesn’t get better than this.

XTC – “Season Cycle”

Despite naming him “Emperor Toddulus the First” and complaining about his “monster ego,” even XTC frontman Andy Partridge had to admit that Rundgren was a great producer and musician. Nowhere is this clearer than on this ode to the Beach Boys, one of the best songs from the band’s post-psychedelic, heavily melodic Skylarking album. Beginning with a church organ and perfect background harmonies from the (cleverly named) Beech Avenue Boys, it captures the Brian Wilson studio sound without sounding too antiquated. At the time, Partridge complained that Rundgren’s studio was “stuck in the ‘70s” but this probably helped achieve a classic sound in an era where any other heavyweight producer would’ve added heavy synths and excessively compressed drums.

Grand Funk – “Walk Like a Man (You Can Call Me Your Man)”

As cheesy as it sounds, Rundgren could be credited with putting the “funk” back in Grand Funk. After a couple of lackluster albums, Rundgren was brought in to take the band back to hard rock greatness and ended up with the band’s best album, We’re An American Band. As always, Rundgren wasn’t there just to record the instruments; he made some major changes in the band’s sound. He was instrumental in adding a keyboardist, effectively fleshing out the group’s sound and adding major sonic force to an already muscular rock band. But Rundgren’s smartest move was giving drummer Don Brewer as much mic time as lead singer Mark Farner. The move delivered: Brewer wrote and sang both the insanely popular title track and the chunky, stomping “Walk Like a Man,” a macho tale of well…being macho and chasing skirt.

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