10 Legendary Rock Albums That Were Produced Terribly

From the looks of what Rush were up against in the early '00s, there's a good chance that we weren't even going to see an album like Vapor Trails come out. After Neil Peart lost both his wife and child within the span of a few months, years would pass before he would even pick up the drums again. When getting back to work, Rush wanted to let us know they were coming back with a vengeance, and most fans still have the migraine scars to prove it.

Released right around the turn of the century, Vapor Trails was one of the first major victims of the loudness wars, where bands would try to blast your eardrums on every single track that they made. While this album does have some of the greatest later period Rush tracks ever made like One Little Victory, by no means should you put this album up on full blast, as every instrument is maxed out and is practically assaulting your eardrums if you ever were to bring it up to full volume.

With time comes perspective though, and Rush did realize the error of their ways later down the line and remixed the album almost a decade later. Then again, the shoddy production might speak to the quality of these songs even more. You've got something really special on your hands if your fans are willing to deafen themselves to hear them.