The Difficult Birth of a Masterpiece

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Here is a rock archetype I enjoy: The impossibly huge record that was to be the artist’s ultimate statement on music, life and the cosmos, the creation of which almost killed the artist and bankrupted the record company. You always picture the crazed auteur dripping sweat on the studio board, screaming at the engineer to rewind the tape as he remains unsatisfied with the mix, as the record company executive looks on nervously and silently calculates how many studio days remain before he is forced to pull the plug.

The template for failure is Smile, the template for success is Loveless. What are some other examples of this archetype, and do they work for you?

― Mark, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I thought of this listening to Born to Run on the way to work this morning. I remembered how Springsteen almost went crazy recording it, and at the last minute he wanted to trash all the tapes and start over, before Landau helped him come to his senses.

― Mark, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

LAGWAFIS and Let It Come Down by Spiritualized. I have a feeling most people here would say the latter was a failure.

I actually think of Eminem in this way also. Though I'm unsure if that's too accurate, but I get the impression that he tries incredibly hard.

― Ronan, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

at the last minute he wanted to trash all the tapes and start over

What a beautiful dream.

Surely Dre is the one sweating, if he is. Eminem I just imagine snorting blow.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ned you're not suggesting I forgot about dre are you?

― Ronan, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hm. Remind me to strangle you later.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The impossibly huge record that was to be the artist’s ultimate statement on music, life and the cosmos, the creation of which almost killed the artist and bankrupted the record company.

...has to be Mariah Carey's "Glitter".

― Dave225, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Neutral Milk Hotel's _In the Aeroplane Over the Sea_ is interesting in this way, mostly because it happened backwards: not especially hard or taxing to make, but the obsessive reaction it got (along with the slow-burn way it revealed itself to be sooooo good) effectively shut down the whole band.

― Andy, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How about Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers? How many hours did it take for them to come up with the bouncing basketball idea?

― hstencil, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

this is the theme of every album feature in mojo magazine ever.

― fritz, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sign O' The Times of course. But was that a success or failure?

― chippy, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

this is the theme of every album feature in mojo magazine ever. .

Yes! I probably cribbed the thread title from Mojo, actually. How about NiN's The Fragile? I haven't heard it, but it seems to fit the bill.

― Mark, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

on a slightly smaller scale, how about television's 'marquee moon'? it was probably recorded in an afternoon but sounds amazingly good even twenty five years later. maybe it was the smack but they dropped off the planet for ages after that one.

rob

― fields of salmon, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How about the easy birth of a crap record? I often wonder if people realize if they are making a crap record....

― helenfordsdale, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How about the easy birth of a crap record? I often wonder if people realize if they are making a crap record....

Again, Mariah Carey's "Glitter".

― Dave225, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dude, you know that album will be considered the AOR in a few years!

― helenfordsdale, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

OK Computer?

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Huzzabuzza Band on the Run? If you read the liner notes (to the special edition CD) it sounds like they went through hell to make that record. Now, you can debate whether or not it was a great record - but it still stands up as one of McCartney's best efforts.

― Dave225, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I hesitate to mention it because I always bring them up and I just bitched about all the VU threads, but The Ramones' "End of The Century", their Phil Spector-produced record, is a pretty legendary bad scene recording session. Johnny Ramone forced to play just the opening chord from Rock N Roll High School for days on end, Dee Dee held at gunpoint, shady armed bodyguards, coerced Cognac binges with the ultra-paranoid tycoon of teen. Funny how their masterpieces, the first 3 records, seem relatively painless experiences - more or less live to tape performances.

― fritz, Friday, 25 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

fifteen years pass...

LAGWAFIS and Let It Come Down by Spiritualized. I have a feeling most people here would say the latter was a failure.

I wouldn't!

― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 5 August 2017 13:34 (eight years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.