*Many people consider Pharrell Williams one of the finest producers of his time. But who does he, on his part, thinks is the greatest producer of all time?
“Quincy Jones, obviously!” Williams responded when asked the question by a reader of The Guardian. The reader was also interested in knowing if Williams supported Friedrich Nietzsche’s take that life without music would be a mistake. Williams answered that life without music would be like a human being without sense.
“I was always making music as a kid, but never thought I could do something with it,” he added, reflecting on his childhood.
He added: “I always knew I was going to do music, I just never knew what – whether I would end up as a terrible music teacher or an art teacher who was always asking his friends to come over and play on the side. But this was how it was written and I give thanks every day.”
Another reader asked who between Williams and Neptunes partner Chad Hugo introduced the Clavichord/Clavinet sound that became synonymous with their early productions. Williams confessed that he was the one behind the sound.
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“Man, you’ve put me on the spot, but it was me,” he said. “I’ve always liked different sounds – like how Picasso’s eras were defined by his influences. The clavichord was a way to express Middle Eastern note patterns and chord progressions, but to also be raspy like a guitar. You can hit the 50-yard line between Middle Eastern and traditional guitar licks, like in Superthug.”
He also confessed he wouldn’t want to write a film score because he doesn’t have what it takes to compose something that long, thanks to his limited mental endurance.
“There are all kinds of races: relay, marathons, cross-country, sprints,” he explains. “A film is a marathon. Every step has to be pencilled in to take people on a journey. A 15-second jingle would be a sprint. My speciality is the three-to-five-minute race. I don’t have the mental endurance to stay on something as long as a film score. There’s a reason Hans Zimmer has two Oscars.”
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