Rubber Factory by The Black Keys

Rubber Factory, the Black Keys' third album, came out on Fat Possum on September 7, 2004, and the title isn't a metaphor: Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney produced it themselves inside an abandoned tire factory in their hometown of Akron, Ohio. No outside producer, no polish, just two friends from childhood, a guitar, a drum kit and a big empty room.

Auerbach's guitar comes out fuzzed and swampy, steeped in the blues of Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside, and he hollers over it like an old bluesman, while Carney pounds the kit as if he's trying to put a hole through the floor. "10 AM Automatic" is the lean, hook-first standout, and "Girl Is On My Mind" and "Just Couldn't Tie Me Down" keep the grime coming. It was the duo's first record to crack the Billboard 200, and the acclaim that followed eventually carried them to a major-label deal.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.