10 Albums Which Almost Destroyed Their Creators

Recorded in a six by nine metre room inside a large, windowless building at Record Plant studios in Sausalito, California, Rumours remains the most infamous and successful album of Fleetwood Mac's career. With an open-ended budget and unlimited supplies of drugs, particularly cocaine, the ensuing sessions were long and chaotic, not helped by the disintegrating personal lives of several of the group members. Band-mates and partners John and Christine McVie divorced, Mick Fleetwood discovered his wife had been unfaithful, and Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were embroiled in a hot-tempered, on-off relationship of their own.

Outside of the studio, the various musicians kept well away from each other. Inside, bitter arguments and petty bickering regularly broke out. Record Plant co-owner, Chris Stone described the situation: "The band would come in at 7 at night, have a big feast, party till 1 or 2 in the morning, and then when they were so whacked-out they couldn't do anything, they'd start recording".

Surprisingly, out of all this chaos, Rumours emerged to become a sensational hit, both commercially and critically, regularly featuring in 'greatest ever' album round-ups.