Hidden Stories Behind the Greatest Rock Albums of All Time

The Dark Side of the Moon: A Masterpiece Born from Midlife Crisis

Pink Floyd's masterpiece started with an embarrassing moment at Abbey Road Studios. Session singer Clare Torry arrived to record vocals for "The Great Gig in the Sky," having no idea what she was walking into.

She improvised a wordless melody to accompany Wright's piano solo in just a few takes on a Sunday night, then left the studio thinking her vocals would never make the final cut. Only when she bought the album at a local record store and saw her name in the credits did she realize she had been included.

For this legendary contribution, she was paid just £30 - equivalent to about £500 today. The story gets even better: in 2004, Torry sued EMI and Pink Floyd for 50% of the songwriting royalties, arguing that her contribution was substantial enough to be considered co-authorship.

Sometimes the most haunting moments in music history happen by accident. Roger Waters knew they had created something special when his wife Judy burst into tears after hearing the completed album - which he took as "a very good sign."

Led Zeppelin IV: The Album That Had No Name but Changed Everything

After Led Zeppelin III received lukewarm reviews from critics, Jimmy Page decided their fourth album would officially be untitled and represented instead by four symbols without featuring the band's name or any other details on the cover. Page did this to retaliate against writers, including several in Rolling Stone, who'd snubbed the band's music: "After all we had accomplished, the press was still calling us a hype.

So that is why the fourth album was untitled." He also refused to give any interviews for a period of 18 months. The gatefold album design had no photos or band information, which was "professional suicide," one industry expert warned Page, but it only added to the album's enduring air of mystery.

They recorded at Headley Grange, a country house in Hampshire, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio with engineer Andy Johns, who had just worked on engineering Sticky Fingers and recommended the mobile studio. Sometimes rebellion creates legends.

Metallica's Black Album: When the Producer Said "Never Again"

"It wasn't a fun, easy record to make," says producer Bob Rock, speaking of Metallica's self-titled fifth studio LP, popularly known as the 'Black Album.' "Sure, we had some laughs, but things were difficult. I told the guys when we were done that I'd never work with them again.

They felt the same way about me." With the Black album, Metallica stepped out of their comfort zone and went with a new producer named Bob Rock. While Rock certainly raised eyebrows among Metallica fans, having previously engineered commercial hard rock fare like Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, he would prove to be the best "outside the box" choice the band could have made.

Rock also came along at a time when Metallica needed a change. Rock told MusicRadar in 2013 "The thing was, James had songs that he actually had to sing...

He didn't know how to sing – all he did before was yell. This was the basis of our friendship.

I taught him what I knew." The tension created something extraordinary that sold over 16 million copies.

Nevermind: The Revolution That Started with a Boombox

A couple days later, a cassette showed up in the mail, with a handwritten letter, and Butch Vig put it on and heard Kurt going, 'Hey Butch, it's Kurt, we're excited to come and rock out with you. We're going to play a couple of new songs, and we've got Dave Grohl, and he's the greatest drummer in the world.' And then he heard the guitar intro to Teen Spirit, and when Dave hit the drums, it just completely destroyed everything.

Vig thought, "Wow these songs are great," even though the recording quality on that cassette was horrible. The magic was always in the songs, whether captured on a boom box or the studio gear of Geffen records.

Kurt Cobain originally refused to double-track his vocals and guitars but Vig reportedly got him to comply by saying "John Lennon double-tracked". On some Nirvana songs like "Breed" and "Territorial Pissings," they didn't even use amplifiers - they plugged direct into a preamp and turned the gain up to get a crazy scratchy sound.

Sometimes the simplest solutions create the biggest breakthroughs.

Abbey Road: The Beatles' Last Stand While Walking Away

Abbey Road is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, by Apple Records. It is the last album the group recorded, although Let It Be (1970) was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970.

It is the only original UK Beatles album sleeve to show neither the artist name nor the album title on its front cover. EMI believed that the record would not sell without this information, but Kosh said that "we didn't need to write the band's name on the cover [...] They were the most famous band in the world".

The front cover image of the Beatles on the Abbey Road crossing has become one of the most famous and imitated in recording history. The crossing is a popular destination for Beatles fans, and a webcam has operated there since 2011.

In December 2010, the crossing was given grade II listed status for its "cultural and historical importance". They knew they were ending, but they created something eternal.

The album was displaced by Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin II after spending 17 weeks at number one.

What's Going On: The Album Berry Gordy Refused to Release

Consistently ranked as one of the greatest and most influential albums ever made, What's Going On? is as (or maybe even more) resonant today as when it was recorded.

The entire album and concept were initially rejected by Motown founder Berry Gordy (who had no place for anything topical or political). When he heard the first cut of the title single, Gordy told Gaye point-blank that he wouldn't release the song.

This wasn't just artistic disagreement - it was a fundamental clash between commercial safety and artistic vision. Marvin Gaye had to essentially go on strike, refusing to record anything else until Motown agreed to release his masterpiece.

When it finally came out, it proved that music could be both deeply political and commercially successful, opening doors for countless artists who followed.

Steely Dan's Aja: Perfection Through Obsession

Steely Dan have earned their reputation as studio perfectionists, and Aja might just be their finest (and is certainly their best-selling) work. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen met when Fagen overheard Becker practicing his guitar, and they soon formed a band (sometimes featuring comedian Chevy Chase on drums!).

After moving to Los Angeles they become songwriters for ABC Records' Gary Katz, who with Roger Nichols would go on to engineer their albums and earn 6 Grammy awards in the process. After 3 successful studio albums blending jazz, rock, funk, and everything in-between, they entered the studio to create Aja.

"We're all perfectionists" Roger Nichols said. "It wasn't a drag for me to do things over and over until it was perfect." He added: "It would have driven a lot of other engineers up the wall.

In my own way, I'm just as crazy as they are." When obsession meets talent, masterpieces are born.

The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers: Andy Warhol's Working Zipper

Recorded over two years in three locations (Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, frontman Mick Jagger's own country home and Olympic Studios in London), Sticky Fingers was the first LP by The Rolling Stones to be released on their own Rolling Stones Records. The album is also the first to feature Mick Taylor, who replaced guitarist Brian Jones in 1969.

Amongst the handful of guest musicians to appear on the record, The Who's Pete Townshend is perhaps the most notable, believed to have contributed backing vocals to Sway. As well as being revered as one of The Rolling Stones' best, Sticky Fingers boasts one of the most classic album covers in rock.

The artwork – concepted by renowned artist Andy Warhol – was photographed by Billy Name and features a fully-working zip on most original pressings. The zipper actually worked, and underneath was a second image that most people never saw.

Appetite for Destruction: Guns N' Roses Raw and Dangerous

Appetite for Destruction turned Guns N' Roses from raw recruits into seasoned superstars. Slash recalls the making of the groundbreaking 1987 hard rock albums.

The album was actually recorded in relative obscurity at multiple studios around Los Angeles, with the band living in near-poverty conditions while creating one of the most explosive debuts in rock history. What many don't know is that the infamous cover art featuring a robotic rapist was actually banned by most retailers, forcing the band to use an alternative cover with the classic cross design and skulls of the five band members.

Duff McKagan was heavily influenced by Prince's bass playing, incorporating that high-end sound into Appetite for Destruction. Sometimes the most dangerous music comes from the most desperate circumstances.

Pet Sounds: Brian Wilson's Bedroom Revolution

"Pet Sounds was something that was absolutely different. Something I personally felt.

That one album that was really more me than Mike Love and the surf records and all that, and 'Kokomo'." Brian Wilson essentially locked himself away and created a sonic laboratory in his bedroom, using everything from Coca-Cola bottles to dogs barking to create the textures that would influence everyone from The Beatles to countless indie bands decades later. The album was initially a commercial disappointment in America but found its audience in Britain, where it was properly recognized as the revolutionary work it was.

Wilson's use of unconventional instruments and recording techniques set the template for modern studio experimentation that continues today. Did you expect these legendary albums to have such chaotic, accidental, and deeply human stories behind their creation?