10 Best Rock And Roll Breakup Albums
4. Blue - Joni Mitchell
Part of the appeal behind most of Joni Mitchell's material is just how different it sounded from every other folk singer out there. Joni was always a woman who knew what she was doing whenever she strapped on her guitar, and she was never afraid to share the more complex sides of her musical background, bringing in people like Jaco Pastorius from the jazz world to play on some of her more acclaimed records. She also knew a thing or two about the complex sides of herself as well, and Blue is when she really started to feel lost.
Leading up to this project, Joni had separated from her boyfriend and felt like she had been thrown away, which made for songs that are a little more downtrodden than usual. After writing about the bright sunshine on songs like California or Big Yellow Taxi, Joni has a lot more miles on her soul on this album, with the title track being a tearjerker about the fallout of everything and not letting up on songs like My Old Man.
Even when there were more pop leaning tracks in the mix like River, the core message behind this song isn't care free, as Joni wishes to have a river where you can skate away from all of the troubles in your life. For an artist that was a ray of sunshine whenever she came on the radio, this is what happens when that beam of light suddenly runs cold.