10 Hard Rock Albums That Were A Nightmare To Make

Any band would kill for the kind of adulation Def Leppard got on the strength of 1983's Pyromania. The band had successfully bridged the gap between rock and pop with a record that was catchy as it was hard-edged. Once they got back to the studio, they had their work cut out for them to make something even bigger.

For a start, the band had to sell a couple million records just to break even from the tour expenditures. Adding insult to injury, the band's superproducer Mutt Lange was unable to produce the next album, which led to the band floundering in the studio. After a brief stint with Meat Loaf songwriter Jim Steinman, the band's dissatisfaction with his mix led to them throwing everything away and starting again from scratch.

When Lange finally reentered the fold after a few months, drummer Rick Allen was involved in the car crash that would ultimately claim one of his arms. Though these are some of the worst curses that could positively afflict a band, they came back with one of the greatest albums of the 80's, which went on to not only match Pyromania's success, but surpass it by a large margin.

It may have cost millions of dollars, three years, and a drummer's arm, but the songs that eventually came out were unlike anything the hair metal scene had ever heard.