10 Songs The Artists HATED Recording
Musical sparring sessions.
Most artists could spend their entire lives in the studio. Whereas some bands make their living off of performing live for fans, there's something special about going into a studio with nothing more than your creative mind and pumping out some of the best music you know how to write. Then again, making a great song doesn't mean that you necessarily have to like it.
Throughout the years, bands have spent hours working on songs that they ended up hating after they were finished. Sometimes their vitriol comes from the song itself, but most of the time it comes down to the fact that the song isn't working out in a studio environment.
Even if the song may be great, the idea of seeing it through to the end has been more than your average musician can muster, leading many bands to break up or get into sparring sessions in between the takes.
For as much mudslinging as these artists took out on themselves, it all seemed to pay off in the end, with some of these tracks being some of the best material they have ever made. It may have been a chore to get down on tape, but we're all certainly grateful that they captured the magic once.
10. Don't Give Up - Peter Gabriel
After years of being in the prog underground, Peter Gabriel became a bonafied solo star with the release of So. Even though his work with Genesis is unrivaled by most bands, Gabriel's talents with legendary producer Daniel Lanois produced modern classics like "Sledgehammer" and "In Your Eyes." There's a bit of life in every one of these tracks, but the album's most soulful cut took its toll on the crew.
It was trouble enough getting the guest vocalist, with Kate Bush being brought in after Gabriel's initial choice of Dolly Parton rejected his offer. While Bush's verse turned out to be amazing, Lanois kept pestering Gabriel to write his part of the verse, which he continued to put off for hours. Resorting to drastic measures, the producer took away Gabriels's phone and locked him in the studio by hammering the door shut with a nail.
By the time Gabriel had had enough, he broke down the door as the rest of the band were out to lunch and, in a very mild mannered way, asked for a word with Lanois outside. Walking into the countryside, the two men engaged in a heated argument that was on the verge of violence before returning to the studio as if nothing had happened.
There's a certain tenderness to "Don't Give Up," but the atmosphere in the studio was a lot more tense than you might think.