10 Albums Which Almost Destroyed Their Creators

No such list could be complete without including Guns N' Roses albatross of a record. Geffen Records initially scheduled Chinese Democracy for release in 1999. With costs spiralling and no sign of a finished product, the label pulled their funding in 2005, three years before the album finally hit the shops. The project was beset by problems from the off, with multiple producers considered and then discarded.

According to reports, Guns N' Roses creative leader Axl Rose was not in a good place during this time, suffering existential doubts as to the musical direction the band should pursue. Nevertheless, during 2000, reports trickled in that the group had an abundance of songs in progress. In reality, they were no nearer to a finished record. Brian May of Queen was drafted in and recorded extensive guitar parts, only for Rose to abandon these altogether.

Fluctuations continued. Rose took a lengthy break in order for the newly assembled group (by this point, Rose was the sole original member) to re-record Guns N' Roses' debut album, Appetite For Destruction (1987). Back to Chinese Democracy, multiple studios, writes, re-writes, mixes, remixes and more remixes, countless hours of studio time and costs in the millions, the album finally emerged into the light. Metacritic currently rates the album with an aggregate score of 64/100. The public vote, however, is significantly higher.