We constantly hear figures of how many copy a phonograph recording has sold or how much it money it has earned , but very little about how much it actually cost to commemorate the album . This data is more free and open in the picture show industry , and this aid give you a better idea of how profitable a film is . As it turns out , there are a fistful of very famed record album which cost an absolute chance to make . Sometimes this overproduction is cause by chasing beau ideal , but often it just come down to the tumultuous nature of being in a rock and bowl stripe .
10. Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
In 1979 , Fleetwood Mac bring out their 12th record album , Tusk , and it would be one that , at the time , was the most expensive rock record album ever enter . It was reported in the press to have cost $ 1 million , but years later it was revealed to have cost $ 1.4 million . With the success ofRumours , Mick Fleetwood offered to buy a studio apartment to record the album , but the recording label refused . Instead , the band construct their own studio , Studio D , which is where most of the record album ’s lofty price tag come from . One famous story to emerge from the recording is that on the first recording night , the circle decided to celebrate Mick bribe a $ 70,000 sports car with voluminous amount of cocaine . By the clock time the academic term end at 6 ante meridiem , nothing had been recorded , and Mick received a telephone set call which inform him that the uninsured car had been broadsided and demolished while being tow to his house .
9. Steely Dan - Gaucho
Although there is no buck figure available for Steely Dan’sGaucho , it is an album that is illustrious for costing a fate and been harry by trouble . The band spent over a year in the studio and used 42 different musicians , but this was just a minor part of what ran up the toll . Walter Becker ’s increasing drug use was causing detrition with other permanent band member Donald Fagen , but this took a backseat after Becker was score by a elevator car after pushing a woman out the way . With numerous injuries , it took him 6 months to recover and he also suffered from secondary transmission . Tragically , Becker ’s lady friend would choke of a drug overdose shortly after . Her kinsperson set about to sue Becker for introducing her to drug , but the court would rule in his favor . There was also a three - manner legal battle over the right wing and the band was sued for copyright infringement .
8. The Darkness - One Way Ticket to Hell And Back
Labeled by one critic as the “ world ’s most expensive penis joke”,One Way Ticket to Hell … and Back , The Darkness ’s soph effort be around $ 1.8 million dollars ( in 2005 ) . It did not do nearly as well as its forerunner , Permission to Land , which went 5x Pt , but it did achieve platinum position in the UK . Cranking up their LXX glam - rock’n’roll sound , it is said that Song dynasty on the album included 120 to 160 guitar parts each , and in some case 100 guitars were on the final track only for a couple of bit . importune on transcription in analog , producer Roy Thomas Baker ( who has worked with Queen , Journey , Alice Cooper , Motley Crue and more ) cut down 400 reel of tape and intimately 10,000 tracks from 37 Sung dynasty , and condense it to an record album that clock in at 35 min with only 10 song . In plus , the isthmus also had to overcome bassist Frankie Poullain walking out due to melodious differences .
7. Happy Mondays - Yes Please!
Although it is rarified to get figures for how much an record album cost , one clean-cut sign that it was too much is if the label declares failure shortly after a tone ending . This is exactly what happened to Factory Records survey the 1992 release of the Happy Mondays’Yes Please ! , which is widely moot to be their poorest work . In an attempt to stop the ring from take on heroin , the mind of the label , Tony Wilson , send them to record in Eddy Grant ’s home studio in Barbados . It was clear that things would not go according to plan when Shaun Ryder ’s travelling bag smashed at Manchester airport , revealing a four week provision of fixer . In Barbados , the band end up take crack cocaine , which saw Wilson fly out in an attempt to get them back on cart track . As his plane land , he saw them wheel around Grant ’s furniture to trade for drugs .
6. Chris Gaines - Greatest Hits
In 1999 , land pop superstar Garth Brooks experimented with an alter self-importance call Chris Gaines so that he could research rock and whorl . As it turned out , this geographic expedition would be such an enormous flop , that the president of Capitol Records Nashville , Pat Quigley , resign and Brooks apologized to the other artists on the recording label for the amount of attention they paid to his task . The album be $ 5 million to produce and over 50 musicians were used to read it . Capitol then had to inject $ 15 million into promotion , which did little to cause any excitement about Gaines . The record album sold over 2 million copy , but prospect was much high and it was consequently a gigantic commercial-grade nonstarter . The record album was conjecture to be used as a soundtrack to a picture show calledThe Lamb , but this never materialized and the stillborn Gaines undertaking come to an end in 2001 .
5. Korn - Untouchables
In 2002 , Korn releasedUntouchables , which went on to betray over 5 million copy worldwide . However , it also cost around $ 4 million over a two year period . The band allow the logical thinking , and that is that they impress around from Phoenix to L.A to Canada , and in each place they would all rent passing lavish attribute for a few months . The actual transcription “ only ” cost $ 750,000 , but Korn also had a 15 person crew on retainer for the two years that the album took to make out . AlthoughUntouchablessold well and give act 2 in the chart ( behind Eminem’sThe Eminem Show ) , it ultimately did not do as well as their old albums and consequently was a commercial fizzle . harmonize to lead vocalist Jonathan Davis , the reason for this drop in sales was due to the record album leak on file sharing web site a whole two month before its June waiver .
4. The Beach Boys - Smile
The most legendary album to never be released , there is an aura of mystique around The Beach Boys’Smile , which would eventually be substituted for 1967’sSmiley Smile . The album was finally reinterpreted asBrian Wilson Presents Smilein 2004 . The original sessions took situation between 1966 and 1967 , but it was finally shelved due to Brian Wilson ’s intensify substance insult and mental wellness problems , but also a few effectual battles and technological difficulties . For the transcription , Wilson demanded an Arabian - mode collapsible shelter be built in his dwelling house for consume sandwich , LSD and dope ; he also demand his grand piano be placed in a sandbox with eight tons of beach sand . It was also widely reported that the recording of “ Good Vibrations ” alone cost a humongous $ 75,000 ( $ 555,000 today ) . In the eighties , bootlegged tracks circulated and people began to get together their own variation of the phonograph recording .
3. Def Leppard - Hysteria
Although Def Leppard’sHysteriasold over 25 million copies , it also be a portion to make largely due to delays . The record took over 3 age to record and be around $ 4.5 million . The most obvious reason for the delay was drummer Rick Allen ’s notable car accident on New Year ’s Eve 1984 , which resulted in him losing his left arm . The banding stuck by Allen , but it get hold of him a long metre to figure out how to play with one arm . to boot , producer Mutt Lange shed out due to exhaustion and then wanted everything make over on his paying back , plus singer Joe Elliot suffer from the mumps . It was articulate thatHysteriawould need to sell 5 million just to break even after the calamitous and unfortunate transcription , but luckily for the ring , it would go on to become one of the best selling tilt album ever .
2. Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
In a pursuance for perfection , Guns N ’ Roses took their sweet time with their sixth studio album , Chinese Democracy , which took an unbelievable 14 year to register . Starting in 1994 , thing got off to a sorry commencement for the fabled rock bit when isthmus phallus Slash , Duff McKagan , Matt Sorum and Gilby Clarke were all either fired or had left the band tout ensemble by the mid 90s . After recording the record album with a sweet lineup , it was completely re - register in 2000 . More members come and plump , but more wait in the spillage follow due to these never-ending changes , legal matters and Axl Rose ’s pursuance for beau ideal . After using multiple studio , a number of different producers , expensive staff , rented appurtenance which was not even used and plenty more , output cost forChinese Democracyexceeded $ 13 million by its 2008 expiration , which pee it the most expensive rock album ever produced .
1. Michael Jackson - Invincible
The last studio apartment album released by The King of Pop Michael Jackson is describe to be the most expensive record album ever made . Sony are think to have vanquish out a staggering $ 30 million on the 2001 album , and these expense come down to using a fistful of producer and atomic number 27 - writers to immortalize between 50 and 87 Song dynasty over 5 years . This was finally slashed to just 16 tracks for its release . During this time , it is said that three studios would have to be reserve simultaneously , as Michael Jackson did not know which one he would feel like recording at each morning . Sony then pass $ 25 million on promotingInvincible , but this failed due to Jackson refusing to tour and having a immense fallout with Sony . Jackson claimed that then Sony chair Tommy Mottola was racist , which resulted in them decline to regenerate Jackson ’s contract .
