3 Legendary Albums Born From Chaos, Doubt, and Deadlock

Not even the most seasoned of bands are infallible or constantly confident in their abilities. The music industry is a fickle place, and staying consistent can be hard. The three bands below all fell into that trap on some of their most memorable records. These albums—some iconic and some infamous—all were created with a certain amount of chaos, doubt, and deadlock. These records were hard to make, but they luckily made it through for all of us to hear. Revisit these legendary rock albums.

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‘Hot Space’ – Queen

Queen took a risk with Hot Space, leaning on electronic music rather than their usual rock instrumentation. This made for a hard sell for both the band (minus Freddie Mercury) and their fans.

The rest of Queen—Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor—didn’t adjust to Mercury’s fearless adoption of electronic music making. It made for a muddled, oft-try-hard album that produced some hits, but didn’t yield as many memorable songs as their other works. But that kind of bravery is what made Queen so legendary in the first place, so we can’t fault any missteps.

[RELATED: Brian May Rules Out US Tour Over Safety Concerns: “It’s Very Sad Because I Feel Like Queen Grew up in America and We Love It, but It’s Not What It Was”]

‘Let It Be’ – The Beatles

The Beatles’ Let It Be was a struggle to get released. The initial recording process pushed the band to the breaking point and didn’t even yield a viable project by the end of the session. Low points of Let It Be included George Harrison leaving the band and the songs being cannibalized for future projects rather than being the statements they were meant to be.

In the end, the album was released, not to every member’s liking. Paul McCartney specifically hated the final mixes of this song to the point that he threatened legal action. All in all, it wasn’t The Beatles’ most effortless project in creation or release.

‘Somewhere In England’ – George Harrison

Harrison had a hard time garnering support with his solo record Somewhere In England. Although eventually released in 1981, the former Beatle struggled to get his label to finalize the project.

He was forced to go back and try again, something that someone with as much prestige as Harrison naturally wouldn’t take kindly to doing. His anger at the situation colored the recording process, casting a layer of doubt over Somewhere In England, twofold.

(Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage)