Billy Joel, Public Enemy, Joan Jett, more stars who recorded albums at Long Island studios

The Record Plant in Los Angeles gave us Fleetwood Mac’s "Rumours." Electric Lady in Manhattan produced Patti Smith’s "Horses." And we all know where The Beatles’ "Abbey Road" came from.

So what records came out of Long Island?

You might be surprised. Among them are a famous rock anthem, a forgotten psychedelic oddity, a hip-hop landmark and two well-known titles from a certain piano-playing rocker. Here’s our list of eight discs recorded at Long Island studios.

"The Beat Goes On," Vanilla Fudge (1968)

Remember "Revolution 9," the notorious sound-collage by The Beatles? Long Island rockers Vanilla Fudge beat them to it — by several months — with an entire album of musical snippets, news broadcasts and random covers of Elvis Presley, Beethoven and Sonny & Cher. Credit or blame for the project usually goes to Hicksville-raised producer Shadow Morton, who put it together at Ultra-Sonic Studios in Hempstead. Listeners called radio stations demanding it be taken off the air, drummer Carmine Appice later told Limelight magazine, yet the album still reached No. 17 on the Billboard chart.

"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," Iron Butterfly (1968)

Bumped from Manhattan’s Atlantic Records studio due to a scheduling conflict, the members of San Diego’s Iron Butterfly walked into Ultra-Sonic Studios on May 27, 1968, according to Westbury engineer Don Casale in a 2020 interview with The Rochester Voice. When the band began rehearsing, Casale — a new hire at the time — began to record. The result was a 17-minute epic that served as the album’s title track, reached No. 30 (in an edited, three-minute version) and became a cornerstone of heavy metal.

"Turnstiles," Billy Joel (1976)

The Piano Man began recording his fourth disc in Colorado, then moved to New York and resumed working at both Manhattan’s Columbia Recording Studios and Ultra-Sonic. There’s little information available on what was recorded where, but "Turnstiles" would redefine Joel as a die-hard New Yorker thanks to such future anthems as "New York State of Mind" and "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)."

"I Love Rock 'n Roll," Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (1981)

The Los Angeles-based guitarist met Long Beach-based music producer Kenny Laguna in May 1979, according to her official fan club site Bad Reputation Nation, and soon moved in with the Laguna family. She and her new band recorded their debut album (Jett’s second as a solo artist) at Kingdom Sound in Syosset. The title track, a cover of an Arrows song from 1975, shot to No. 1 in 1982 and still stands as one of the decade’s great rock anthems.

"Subterranean Jungle," The Ramones (1983)

The cover shows the band loitering in a graffiti-plastered subway car in midtown Manhattan, but the songs were recorded at Kingdom Sound. It was a turbulent time for the Ramones: Singer Joey had fallen out with guitarist Johnny over a woman, drummer Marky would eventually be fired for his drinking and bassist Dee Dee was continuing to use heroin. Marky wouldn't make another album with The Ramones until 1989’s "Brain Drain."

"Zebra," Zebra (1983)

The New Orleans hard rock band played a gig at a Long Island club on Jan. 31, 1976, frontman Randy Jackson told Newsday recently, then moved to the area permanently and became regulars at Speaks in Island Park, The Mad Hatter in Stony Brook and Hammerheads in both Levittown and West Islip. The band recorded its eponymous debut album partly at Kingdom Sound and returned there for the 1984 follow-up, "No Tellin’ Lies." Both albums went gold.

"Yo! Bum Rush the Show," Public Enemy (1987)

The Roosevelt rap group grew out of a mobile DJ collective called Spectrum City, whose headquarters were at 510 Franklin St. in Hempstead. That’s where Public Enemy recorded their debut album — and took the cover photo, too. (The back photo, according to frontman Chuck D in a 2017 interview with Okayplayer, was taken outside a now-vanished McDonald’s in Hempstead.) Released on Def Jam, the legendary label founded by Long Islander Rick Rubin, the album is today regarded as a hip-hop classic.

"River of Dreams," Billy Joel (1993)

The Long Island icon’s final rock album, intended as a back-to-basics affair, was initially recorded on Shelter Island at The Boathouse — a "lobster shed with rafters," as Joel described it in the 1993 documentary "Shades of Grey." Producer-guitarist Danny Kortchmar, however, disliked the results and started over at Manhattan’s Hit Factory, keeping only one song, "Shades of Grey," from the Shelter Island sessions. Production also took place at Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove, according to the album credits.