Submitted by dragonoid296 t3_11br0tj in Music
The circumstances through which a record were created adds to the intrigue of the album itself. Would love to hear about some albums with some interesting backstories.
I'll start off with J Dilla's critically acclaimed 'Donuts'. 29 of the 31 tracks were recorded while Dilla was at the hospital undergoing complications due to thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and lupus. He died three days after the release of the album.
[deleted]
Fleetwood Macs' "Rumours".
As far as I know, there were several broken (or breaking?) relationships in the band around that time, and that turmoil went into a few of the songs. Like "Go your own way", written by Lindsey Buckingham over his broken relationship with Stevie Nicks. Or "Don't stop" written by Christine McVie, concerning her separation from her former husband John McVie. At least that is how I remember it.
I See a Darkness" by Bonnie "Prince" Billy - This album was recorded during a time when Will Oldham (the artist behind Bonnie "Prince" Billy) was struggling with depression and contemplating suicide. The lyrics of the songs reflect these dark themes, and the album has been praised for its raw honesty and emotional depth.
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Where to start?
Former vocalist committed suicide with a shotgun through his mouth.
Guitarist was stabbed to death by another member.
Most of these guys and other bands were involved in church burnings throughout Norway.
There is a great magazine article from about 15 years ago that detailed the recording sessions. The band would arrive to the studio in the evening. There would be a huge spread of food. They would eat a little then drink and snort cocaine until they were so messed up they couldn’t speak. Then they’d start recording.
The Rolling Stones album Exile on Main Street was famously recorded (mostly) in a villa in the South of France that guitarist Keith Richards rented. The Stones were exiled from England over taxes and Keith had problems going abroad due to drug charges. So they went to France. Long story short the Stones recorded their famous album in a mansion’s basement. It was very difficult (the instruments would go out of tune due to he humidity) and you can hear it on the album.
Also, it was one long non-stop party of epic and infamous proportions. Keith bought a huge supply of morphine from Marseille (then the heroin Capitol of the world). Gangsters, playboys, celebrities. It was legendary. Photos are online.
Edit: after months of recording the Stones received a tip that the cops were coming to bust them so they fled just in time.
Steve Earle’s J.T. was a tribute to his late son, Justin Townes, who died of a drug overdose. Steve himself struggled with addiction and overcame it. To see your son go down the same path and not make it has got to be heartbreaking.
Sounds crazy, but typical for a band of this area. I would love to read that article.
One mustn't forget "Made in heaven" by Queen. Freddy Mercurys health had deteriorated already with the former album "The show must go on", but with Heaven he was rather close to death. I guess one could say that he worked like a maniac and gave his last breath for his fans. That he still was able to give us so many great songs is both breathtaking and heartbreaking.
If I remember correctly, it took the rest of the band one or two years until they were able to work on the album and release it, due to the loss of their lifelong friend.
Edit: There are some incorrect infos on my part, so be sure to check the following message. My bad, sorry.
Skip Spence's Oar was recorded directly after he had spent six months in a mental hospital.
That sounds a bit like one of the Albums by Black Sabbath I read about where they had their own dealer to bring them all kinds of drugs each day. Plus more groopies than they could handle, apparently. :-D
Due to some accident the police went by one day, and they panicked and flushed all the stuff down the toilet, only to notice that the police hadn't come for them. One bandmember said that they flushed away drugs worth several thousand dollars in a few minutes.
[deleted]
It’s even more insane and salacious than that. Christine wrote “You make loving fun” about the affair she was having with the band’s lighting director. Her husband, Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie, recorded it thinking it was about their dogs.
After Stevie Nicks and Buckingham broke up, and Nicks was dating Don Henley (who’s it’s rumored she was seeing before her divorce from Lindsey), she cheated on Henley with Mick Fleetwood. Keeping in mind, her angry and hurt ex husband is still part of the band she and her new affair partner are in. Oh, and while she’s banging Mick, he’s in the middle of trying to fix things with his ex wife Jenny Boyd, who’d had an affair with the former lead guitar player Bob Weston, who Fleetwood fired. Buckingham wrote “go your own way” as a fuck you to Nicks.
I sincerely doubt there’s another band out there with as much utterly insane soap opera internal drama.
Kismet: as I was typing this comment, “The Chain” started playing on the radio
That whole album is brutal. Beautiful, but brutal. Justin was like the antithesis of a nepo kid. I mean I’m sure it helped having the dad he did. But he had so much natural fucking talent. Really sad.
Nathaniel Rateliff’s “And it's Still Alright” was written about he and his wife’s divorce. It’s one of those records where the meaning behind the songs just bleeds out in them, both lyrically and performance wise. It’s one of my favorite albums of the last few years, but man, it’s got some real pain in it.
Fastball- The Way
>Fastball frontman Tony Scalzo came up with the idea for the song after reading articles that described the June 1997 disappearance of an elderly married couple, Lela and Raymond Howard from Salado, Texas,[5] who left home to attend the Pioneer Day festival at nearby Temple, Texas, despite Lela's Alzheimer's and Raymond recently recovering from brain surgery. They were discovered two weeks later, dead, at the bottom of a ravine near Hot Springs, Arkansas, hundreds of miles off their intended route.
I'm currently caring for an elderly parent in the early stages of mental decline. When I was younger, I thought this song was cool. It still is but now I can't listen to it.
‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ by Scottish band Frightened Rabbit (awful name, great band) deals openly, honestly and extensively with the themes of anxiety and depression.
A song ‘Floating in the Forth’ sees the narrator eschew suicidal thoughts of jumping from a bridge into the River Forth to go on living.
However, the band’s main songwriter and singer later committed suicide in the way described in that song, aged 36.
Thanks for the clarification. Very interesting. I didn't know that many details about it. I really should check if there is some kind of official biography available. Though I guess many of these juicy details would be left out intentionally. :-)
Edit: "The Chain" is one of the many songs from them I really like.
Not entirely accurate. The previous album, Innuendo (which is the album you meant when you referred to The Show Must Go On) was the last album he fully worked on before death, and while he did record a bunch of stuff leading up to his death, only three songs made it onto Made In Heaven. Most of the album is comprised of older recordings/his solo work rearranged by the band.
David Bowie's Blackstar. I Remember listening to it the day it came out, and when he ended up dying two days after the release, a lot of the themes throughout the album became clear.
Not a whole album but the song June by IDLES. Joe wrote it about his still born daughter
Antichrist Superstar by Marilyn Manson was written and recording over a several month period where all of the members were CONSTANTLY doing a buttload of cocaine, hydrocodone, drinking themselves stupid every night, self harm, and physically fighting eachother. The founding guitarist, Daisy Berkowitz, was fired from the band halfway through recording sessions.
Another good one is Iowa by Slipknot. Same shit as Antichrist Superstar, all of the members were sick of eachother, all were doing a shitload of drugs constantly, and Corey Taylor was in a deep spiraling alcoholic depression. Listen to the last song, the namesake “Iowa”. It’s 15 minutes long, but super dark and disturbing. When Corey went in to record vocals, he was black out drunk, puking on himself, and cutting himself in the booth - the result is that song. Shit is dark af
Neil Young - Tonight's The Night
Is a kind of tribute album for two of Neil Young's friends that died from drug related issues. It is a very sad album and Neil Young basically seems to be singing drunk the whole album
Pink Floyd, wish you were here
Mastodon: Emporer of Sand. The band had a tough time with family when making this album. I think a lot of people don't like this album, but it's one of my favorites from them.
>Three out of the four members of Mastodon were directly affected by the disease [cancer] while making Emperor of Sand. Dailor's mom has been undergoing chemotherapy for a while, guitarist Bill Kelliher's mom died of a brain tumor while the band was making the record and bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders had to miss early writing sessions while his wife received treatment for breast cancer (she seems to be recovering well).
I have my own story to relate to this album. I had just put my dog of 15 years to sleep when I stumbled across the making of this album on YouTube. I wasn't much into Mastodon aside from Leviathan. But the video hit me and I liked the songs. Then learning the backstory of them making the album helped me cope with the loss of my furry best friend as I listened to this album over and over. There's even one song that almost makes me cry nearly 5 years later because it just hits a certain emotion and memory for some reason.
More info from Brann, the drummer, in this Revolver article from where I pulled the quote.
Faces by mac miller is eerie to listen to after his death. So many hints that he knew it was coming, Grande Finale was originally meant to be his final song ever
Crack the Skye by Mastodon. Not only is it a great concept but the album is indirectly about the drummers sister named Skye who committed suicide as a young teen.
Oh, of course! Thanks for the correction! I mixed up the title with one of the songs, as "The Show must go on" was so prominent back then. I also didn't know exactly which songs on "made in heaven" were "new" and which were older stuff, though I assumed that they chose "I was born to love you" for example was chosen because he could not sing enough songs.
Purple Mountains by Purple Mountains . . . Just give yourself the first 45 seconds and you'll start to follow along. A brilliant last gift from David Berman.
I mention the album a lot, but "Woods 5" by Woods Of Ypres. The album deals a lot with depression, but with a very strong message that you should appreciate people while they're still alive, not wait until they're dead to say how great they are and how much you appreciate them.
The band at the time were pretty unknown, they were actually booked to play a gig in my hometown at a 150 capacity venue and weren't even headlining. This album got a ton of great reviews and even won a Juno award (Canadian equivalent of a Grammy). But the main songwriter died a month before the album was released and he never got to see any of the praise and accolades for his work.
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes. Written about her rape.
SeaJay1187 t1_j9zb8of wrote
DeLoused in the Comatorium by the Mars Volta. Wish you were here by Pink Floyd (specifically shone on you crazy diamonds). All of Mastodons best albums are based off personal trauma each member has been through. Most recently was their manager dying of cancer with the albums ‘hushed and grimm’ and ‘emperor of sand.’