Rob Cavallo produced Green Day (the 14-million-selling album Dookie and the four-million-selling Insomnia), Goo Goo Dolls, L7, the Dance Hall Crashers, Alanis Morissette ("Uninvited" from the City of Angels soundtrack) ,Jawbreaker, and the Muffs.
Born in Washington, D.C., Cavallo's father Rob Cavallo owned the Cellar Door and became a manager whose client lists included Little Feat, Weather Report, and Prince. At age ten, Rob Cavallo and his family relocated to Los Angeles. Cavallo remembers going to the recording studio with his dad and learned guitar licks from blues great Lowell Fulson. Enthusiastic about music,Cavallo spent many hours playing guitar and listening to records in his room. His father bought him a Teac A3340 four-track tape recorder and Cavallo began to experiment with multi-track recording.
In his teens, Cavallo was playing in numerous bands playing the hit tunes of the day. After high school, he went to work for top engineer George Massenburg, building electronic equipment and being second engineer on sessions by Fleetwood Mac and Linda Ronstadt. He also attended the Dick Grove School of Music.
His father introduced him to Lenny Waronker of Warner Bros./Reprise Records, who after an interview offered Cavallo a position in the label's A&R department working closely with A&R head Michael Ostin and other music business luminaries like Ted Templeman, Tommy LiPuma, and Russ Titelman.
Around 1992, fellow A&R employee David Katznelson approached Cavallo about producing his bi-gender band, the Muffs. San Francisco band Green Day sought to work with Cavallo based on his work on the LP The Muffs. Cavallo accepted, seeking to mold the band's recordings into a sound similar to albums by Cheap Trick (Black and White) and Black Sabbath (Paranoid).
Rob Cavallo was made senior VP of Reprise Records. His skills can be heard on Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton, the movie soundtracks to The Runaway Bride, City of Angels, Varsity Blues, Detroit Rock City, Godzilla, Clueless, Angus, Tommy Boy, Private Parts, Jerky Boys, National Lampoon's Senior Trip, 1999 Grammy Nominees Mainstream, Speak of the Devil by Chris Isaak, Boy Named Goo by Goo Goo Dolls, Nimrod and Insomniac by Green Day, Jump Start by Simon Says, Totally Crushed Out! by that dog, Trailer by Ash, and Fourth World by Kara's Flowers.