Rock and metal lost one of its most important architects Monday night when producer Jack Douglas died at age 80 after battling lymphoma *‡. The Bronx-born studio wizard racked up 40 gold and platinum records during a career that shaped the sound of classic rock — from engineering John Lennon’s *Imagine* in 1971 to producing the albums that made Aerosmith legends *†. Douglas started at New York’s Record Plant as a janitor before working his way up to engineer, cutting his teeth on sessions for Miles Davis, Alice Cooper, and the James Gang, and even providing board assistance on The Who’s *Lifehouse* project that became *Who’s Next* †§.
But it was his work with Aerosmith in the mid-’70s that cemented Douglas as a rock production titan *†. He produced four consecutive albums — *Get Your Wings* (1974), *Toys in the Attic* (1975), *Rocks* (1976), and *Draw the Line* (1977) — all of which went multi-platinum and two of which (*Toys* and *Rocks*) landed on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums list *‡. The band called him their sixth member, and Douglas even co-wrote their 1978 hit “Kings and Queens” *§. He famously inspired the title “Walk This Way” by recreating a bit from Mel Brooks’ *Young Frankenstein* during sessions ‡. After the band replaced him for 1979’s *Night in the Ruts*, Douglas returned for 1982’s *Rock in a Hard Place* and reunited with them decades later for 2004’s blues covers album *Honkin’ on Bobo* and their most recent studio effort, 2012’s *Music From Another Dimension!* *†.
Douglas’s fingerprints are all over the classic rock era beyond Aerosmith — he produced Cheap Trick’s self-titled 1977 debut and served as mixing supervisor on the explosive *Live at Budokan* †§, worked with Blue Öyster Cult, the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, and Starz *‡, and co-produced John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1980 comeback *Double Fantasy*, winning a Grammy for Album of the Year (though he later battled Ono in court over royalties) †§. He kept working until the end, producing albums for Slash’s Snakepit, Clutch, Local H, and the New York Dolls’ 2006 reunion record †§. Douglas died peacefully surrounded by his wife Sarah, four children, and five grandchildren *‡.