Producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange has guided some of the biggest artists in history through their greatest albums. On three occasions, he changed the course of music history. First, he worked with emerging rock legends to overcome tragedy and come out the other side with masterpieces. Then, Lange widened country music’s lens and created a path for future stars like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.

Highway To Hell was the first AC/DC album produced by Lange and singer Bon Scott’s last before he died in 1980. The breakthrough album became a classic, followed by tragedy barely seven months later. But AC/DC and Lange picked up the pieces, welcomed a new singer named Brian Johnson, and made a masterpiece. The title track and “You Shook Me All Night Long” are colossal standards as the band replaced one legendary frontman with another. Lange’s productions are famous for hairsplitting perfection, but AC/DC are a well-oiled, yet raw, rock and roll band on Back In Black.

Lange guided AC/DC’s best work, then he did the same with Def Leppard. Following the success of Pyromania, Def Leppard weren’t content with being a successful rock band. Instead, they aimed for the pop heights of Michael Jackson and Prince. But similar to AC/DC, they too overcame tragedy after a near-death car crash left drummer Rick Allen without his left arm. The accident led to Allen relearning the drums, and the unique electronic kit he uses remains a sonic hallmark of Def Leppard. The band perfected pop metal on Hysteria and its astonishing seven hit singles. All of it, buoyed by Lange’s signature sky-high vocal production.

So, after Lange had changed the trajectory of rock music twice, he aimed to tackle Nashville. On Shania Twain’s second album, Lange created a new blueprint for country music by fusing its twang with rock and pop styles. However, Twain’s record label grew anxious about her collaboration with Lange, fearing the album wouldn’t sound “country” enough. In one sense, the label was right. The Woman In Me didn’t sound like contemporary country music. It was the future, and since then, you can hear Lange’s influence all over modern country albums. Twain’s album topped the country charts and reached no. 5 on the Billboard 200 as she became the leading country-pop crossover artist of the 90s. Two years later, Twain and Lange returned with the blockbuster Come On Over.

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