10 Insane Stories Behind Classic Albums

Dark Tale of Rock and Roll Downtime.

By Tim Coffman /

The idea of making a good rock and roll album should be the easiest thing in the world on paper. With nothing but yourself as the audience, all you have to do is comb through your own artistic self to create the best songs that you know how to. However, getting to that creative point is a whole different story.

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As opposed to just laying down what sounded right at the time, a lot of these artists had to be put real blood sweat and tears into making these masterpieces. Hell, some of them didn't even move the people like they used to, instead sounding like the group trying to do their best to hold themselves together.

Then again, some extracurriculars might have a hand in that. From hangers on staying a bit too long at the studio to some narcotic assistance to get the takes done, a lot of these artists were fried by the time these records had finished initial production.

Every so often though, that kind of pain can turn into some of the most essential pieces of your catalog going forward.

These songs may still hold up as something special these days, but you might not want to revisit the moments between the takes.

10. The Doors - The Doors

Most of the draw of the mystic power of the Doors comes from seeing the band live. Although each record distills the power of Jim Morrison into sonic form, the real dark magic came when he would improv onstage and whip the audience into as much mayhem as he possibly could. When it came to record though, Morrison's more experimental side got the better of him after leaving for the day.

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Going home after a day of recording, Jim had taken a few tabs of LSD before eventually climbing over the fences of the studio to go inside. Once inside, Morrison mistook the lone red light shining in the studio for a flame, which forced him to get a fire extinguisher and cover the entire studio floor with debris. Quickly realizing the horrible mistake he made, Morrison promptly ran back out to his car before driving away.

Though he probably could have gotten away with it, Morrison was revealed to be the one behind everything when one of his boots was found stuck between the fence links the next day. Up until that point, the rest of the Doors already knew that Morrison could get a bit nutty. After this little episode though, they were officially on their guard to be ready for anything whenever they got together.

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