40 years ago today. October 7, 1986. Def Jam Records. yeah, THAT Def Jam. Rick Rubin dropped T La Rock and the Beastie Boys, then he walked into Hit City West and produced the heaviest record of the decade like he’d been waiting on it. no reverb. no blur. just a pulse. Kerry King said you could finally hear that they weren’t just playing fast, the notes were on time. Rubin’s whole thing was simple: if the music’s that fast and the sounds are that big, it turns into mush. he wanted impact. he got it. 28 minutes and 55 seconds. 10 songs. the whole album fits on one side of a cassette. flip it, run it back. Rick asked them if they realized how short it was. they looked at each other and said “so what?” the runtime is the genius. nothing wasted. Angel of Death (the opening scream on Angel of Death is Tom’s first take. he did more. they kept the first one.) into Piece by Piece into Necrophobic and it never lets you up until Raining Blood caves the roof in. engineered by Andy Wallace (who later mixed Nevermind) Columbia wouldn’t touch it because of Angel of Death. Geffen distributed it and kept their name off the sleeve. no radio, no MTV, and it still hit the Billboard 200. changed how I heard heavy music. before this, heavy had room to breathe. after this, heavy was supposed to feel like a threat. still the standard. happy 40th to the one that ended the argument.