History TroubledProduction / MusicAlbumsArtistsNToR

** ''Music/AMomentaryLapseOfReason'', the first album recorded after Waters left the band in 1985, saw Gilmour having problems with writer's block and bringing in numerous musicians to help, while Mason and Wright (the latter of whom was still not an official member) themselves didn't do much due to what Gilmour described as self-confidence issues in Mason's case (Gilmour said that Waters had a talent for "making others feel worthless") and Wright having been brought aboard too late in the album's production (largely at the insistence of his wife Franka) to do much besides add some extra keyboards and backing vocals. Finally, at the same time the album was produced, Waters filed a lawsuit against Gilmour and Mason over ownership of the Pink Floyd name. Eventually, both Gilmour and Waters agreed to a settlement; both Gilmour and Mason retained the rights to the Pink Floyd name, while Waters would receive the rights to ''The Wall'' and the Pink Floyd Pig, and he was also released from his contract with Pink Floyd manager Steve O'Rourke.

** The recording of Music/JoyDivision's first two albums were fraught enough, thanks to their producer Martin Hannett, but this paled in comparison to New Order's debut, ''Music/{{Movement}}''. Following the suicide of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, the band, now re-christened New Order, struggled to write new songs without their singer and de facto musical director. Unwilling to outright replace Curtis, the surviving band members took turns singing (to varying degrees of success), before eventually settling on guitarist Bernard Sumner, and recruiting drummer Stephen Morris' girlfriend, Gillian Gilbert, to assist with keyboards/guitar. These struggles were exasperated in the studio by Hannett's heavy alcohol/drug abuse, his deteriorating relations with their label, Creator/FactoryRecords, and his belief that the musicians were "talentless wankers" without their former singer. The resulting album was a critical and commercial disaster on its release but has now somewhat been VindicatedByHistory. In the wake of its failure, New Order ditched Hannett and struck out on their own, resulting in their SignatureSong "Blue Monday".

** ''Music/BridgesToBabylon'' only saw problems emerge when it was time to record in LA, as Keith Richards did not like Mick Jagger's plan to invite outside producers such as Music/TheDustBrothers, whose work on Music/{{Beck}}'s ''Odelay'' had impressed Jagger, and looping expert Danny Saber. Richards hated electronic music and refused to work with either of them. He even threw Saber out of the studio when he found out he was overdubbing guitars. As for The Dust Brothers, they ultimately only worked on three tracks. Most of the album was instead produced by Don Was, who had produced ''Voodoo Lounge''. Midway through production, Was had to keep Jagger and Richards in separate rooms and studios. Richards and his engineer friend had to steal tapes to make sure a track was finished. Charlie Watts only got through the conflict by bonding with famous session percussionist and former [[Music/JohnLennon Plastic Ono Band]] member Jim Keltner, with whom he would make a solo record later. Watts ultimately flew out of Los Angeles as soon as he was not needed anymore. By the end of the sessions, none of the Stones were speaking to one another. It was their last album for eight years.

** The recording of Music/JoyDivision's first two albums were fraught enough, thanks to their producer Martin Hannett, but this paled in comparison to New Order's debut, ''Music/{{Movement}}''. Following the suicide of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, the band, now re-christened New Order, struggled to write new songs without their singer and de facto musical director. Unwilling to outright replace Curtis, the surviving band members took turns singing (to varying degrees of success), before eventually settling on guitarist Bernard Sumner, and recruiting drummer Stephen Morris' girlfriend, Gillian Gilbert, to assist with keyboards/guitar. These struggles were exasperated in the studio by Hannett's heavy alcohol/drug abuse, his deteriorating relations with their label, Creator/FactoryRecords, and his belief that the musicians were 'talentless wankers' without their former singer. The resulting album was a critical and commercial disaster on its release but has now somewhat been VindicatedByHistory. In the wake of its failure, New Order ditched Hannett and struck out on their own, resulting in their SignatureSong "Blue Monday".

* Music/{{Rush}} have had a few brushes with troubled productions over the years:

** Wilson had also met and become friends and collaborative partnets with {{Music/Opeth}}'s Mikael Akerfeldt, and after listening to their 1999 opus ''Music/StillLife'' (which he loved) and agreeing to produce 2001's ''Blackwater Park'', he was inspired by the effortless blend of 1970s progressive rock with extreme metal influences and felt more inspired to go in a heavier, more metal-influenced direction. This direction sat well with everyone except for former drummer Chris Maitland; he actively hated heavy metal and during an awkward rehearsal session prior to the album's recording, his frustration reached a boiling point and he unprovokedly attacked Wilson by shoving him against a wall. (not helping was the stress of the previous two albums and the previous tour). [[RoleEndingMisdemeanour This led to his sacking from the band]], but the two made up a few years later and Maitland would agree to play drums on the first Blackfield album (Wilson's art-rock side project with Aviv Geffen).

** Even post-production wasn't trouble-free. Wilson, notoriously an advocate for more dynamic production and actively hating the LoudnessWar, found that a number of tracks had to be mastered in a way that would be overly loud. Additionally, a number of songs were left off the final product due to this issue; as revealed by Wilson himself in the 2020 documentary on the album, fan favourite track "Drown With Me" was left off the album because he was unsatisfied with the bass sound on the track and how dominant it was, so it became a B-side, along with tracks such as "Orchidia" and "Chloroform". He has since [[CreatorBacklash admitted regret for this, and even called out "Prodigal" for the song that he'd have swapped for "Drown With Me" in hindsight.

*** After facing (not entirely unfounded) accusations of ItsTheSameNowItSucks over ''Be Here Now'', Noel wanted to make its follow-up a NewSoundAlbum, taking influence from PsychedelicRock. He'd also kicked a nasty drug habit during the band's hiatus, and wanted to curb some of the band’s more excessive traits during the recording sessions in France. (The fact that Noel was seemingly oblivious to the problems that, amongst others, The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd and Duran Duran had endured whilst recording in that country suggests a certain amount of CriticalResearchFailure on his part.)

* Music/TheRollingStones:

*** The album was originally envisioned as ''Spare Bricks'', a companion piece to ''Music/TheWall'' that would consist of original recordings made for the 1982 film adaptation plus a handful of original songs meant to expand the album's narrative. However, the onset of UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar resulted in Waters -- [[IAmTheBand then in complete control of the band]] -- scrapping the original concept and creating a new album specifically to say "fuck you" to UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, who he felt had acted out of jingoism and betrayed the ideals left behind in the wake of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which his father died fighting). This drew the irritation of David Gilmour, who was growing tired of Waters' policing of the band and felt unimpressed by the politics behind the album. Additionally, guitarist David Gilmour was vexed by Waters' decision to include five outtakes from ''The Wall'' intended for ''Spare Bricks''[[note]]"Your Possible Pasts", "One of the Few", "The Final Cut", "The Fletcher Memorial Home", and "The Hero's Return"[[/note]] and wanted the band to compose more original material instead -- which Waters shot down, citing how little his bandmates had actually been contributing in the way of songwriting lately (itself the product of said bandmates wrestling with a wide array of personal issues at the time).

* Music/PinkFloyd became a magnet for these between the late [=70s=] and the entirety of the [=80s=], some of it thanks to Music/RogerWaters' growing ControlFreak tendencies.

*** The album was originally envisioned as ''Spare Bricks'', a companion piece to ''Music/TheWall'' that would consist of original recordings made for the 1982 film adaptation plus a handful of original songs meant to expand the album's narrative. However, the onset of UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar resulted in Waters -- [[IAmTheBand then in complete control of the band]] -- scrapping the original concept and creating a new album specifically to say "fuck you" to UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, who he felt had acted out of jingoism and betrayed the ideals left behind in the wake of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which his father died fighting). This drew the irritation of David Gilmour, who was growing tired of Waters' policing of the band and felt unimpressed by the politics behind the album. Additionally, Gilmour was vexed by Waters' decision to include five outtakes from ''The Wall'' intended for ''Spare Bricks''[[note]]"Your Possible Pasts", "One of the Few", "The Final Cut", "The Fletcher Memorial Home", and "The Hero's Return"[[/note]] and wanted the band to compose more original material instead-- which Waters shot down, citing how little his bandmates had actually been contributing in the way of songwriting lately (itself the product of said bandmates wrestling with a wide array of personal issues at the time).

* Music/PinkFloyd became a magnet for these between the late [=70s=] and early [=80s=], some of it thanks to Music/RogerWaters' growing ControlFreak tendencies.

** ''Music/TheWall'': The band had to leave the UK for tax reasons[[note]]Their managers had sunk their money into a Ponzi scheme and left them bankrupt.[[/note]], and so recorded the album in studios in France and the USA. Aside from the ensuing homesickness, Waters became more and more controlling of the recording process, and argued with producer Bob Ezrin. The album ultimately went behind schedule, and keyboardist Richard Wright was fired because he didn't want to cut his vacation short, but was ultimately brought back as a session musician. Finally, the promotional tour was so extravagant that it lost profits--but Wright got off easy, [[{{Irony}} because he was paid as a touring member]].

* Music/{{Nirvana}}'s final album ''Music/InUtero'' had a couple issues in getting finished. While the recording sessions went by smoothly and with little trouble, the post-production process was a difficult time. The executives at Creator/GeffenRecords didn't like the initial mixes and felt that it wouldn't sell, deeply dispiriting Music/KurtCobain who soon came to have a similar opinion. The band tried employing Bob Ludwig to remix the recordings, but despite Krist Novoselic's approval, Cobain still wasn't satisfied. They then went to producer Scott Litt for additional mixing help, but initial producer Music/SteveAlbini wouldn't give the masters to him until Novoselic had to convince him to do so.

* Music/NoDoubt's fourth album ''Return of Saturn'' was a result of this since it took at least two years to be made and here's why:

* Music/PinkFloyd became a magnet for these between the late Seventies and early Eighties, some of it thanks to Music/RogerWaters's growing ControlFreak tendencies.
** ''Music/TheWall'': The band had to leave the UK for tax reasons[[note]]Their managers had sunk their money into a Ponzi scheme and left them bankrupt[[/note]], and so recorded the album in studios in France and the USA. Aside from the ensuing homesickness, Roger Waters became more and more controlling of the recording process, and argued with producer Bob Ezrin. The album ultimately went behind schedule, and keyboardist Richard Wright was fired because he didn't want to cut his vacation short, but was ultimately brought back as a session musician. Finally, the promotional tour was so extravagant that it lost profits--but Wright got off easy, [[{{Irony}} because he was paid as a touring member]].
*** Trouble for the band from the album continued well after it was released due to the use of the schoolchildren singing the second verse of "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2", the album's runaway hit single, and again on the song's video. The children's teacher had had to sneak them out of the school without telling the head teacher since he hadn't asked for permission to do so, believing (probably rightly) that he wouldn't get it. The class's compensation was being allowed to record one of their own compositions at the band's Britannia Row studio. Unfortunately, the British press found out when the single became a huge hit and had great sport over not only that but that the children hadn't even gotten free copies of the album, which Waters arranged for them to get afterwards. That ''still'' didn't stop a few of them from suing the band in the 2000s, arguing they still should have gotten actual money.

*** The album was originally envisioned as ''Spare Bricks'', a companion piece to ''Music/TheWall'' that would consist of original recordings made for the 1982 film adaptation plus a handful of original songs meant to expand the album's narrative. However, the onset of UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar resulted in Roger Waters-- [[IAmTheBand then in complete control of the band]]-- scrapping the original concept and creating a new album specifically to say "fuck you" to UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, who he felt had acted out of jingoism and betrayed the ideals left behind in the wake of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which his father died fighting). This drew the irritation of David Gilmour, who was growing tired of Waters' policing of the band and felt unimpressed by the politics behind the album. Additionally, Gilmour was vexed by Waters' decision to include five outtakes from ''The Wall'' intended for ''Spare Bricks''[[note]]"Your Possible Pasts", "One of the Few", "The Final Cut", "The Fletcher Memorial Home", and "The Hero's Return"[[/note]] and wanted the band to compose more original material instead-- which Waters shot down, citing how little his bandmates had actually been contributing in the way of songwriting lately (itself the product of said bandmates wrestling with a wide array of personal issues at the time).

* Music/{{Radiohead}} are usually known for going into the studio and getting things done smoothly and professionally. For their fourth album, ''Music/KidA'', however, things didn't go as smoothly as Thom Yorke and company had hoped. Fresh off the heels of their smash success album ''Music/OKComputer'', the band felt pressured to top it and were exhausted from all the touring and interviews. The fame had seriously drained them all. Yorke had grown tired of 16-bar guitar riffs and wanted to try something different. Having felt inspired by the music of Music/AphexTwin, Yorke wanted the band to tackle electronic music. This proved to be a tough sell, as the band just wanted to do what they had been doing for years. This led to a minor feud between Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood for the first time in the band's history. The rest of the band were also not happy with the idea of not being able to play on some of the album's tracks, with guitarist Ed O'Brien, in particular, struggling to figure out how to contribute musically as a guitar player to the band's more electronic-focused material. To make matters worse, Yorke suffered from writer's block and struggled to get lyrics down on paper. He also wanted to change his vocal style since so many other bands were mimicking him. He ended up using his voice more as an instrument and took focus away from lyrics, confusing his fellow bandmates. Production got extended again and again, and even though the label had no problem with this, it still stressed out the band. By the time production was completed, they had enough material for two albums, and executives at Creator/CapitolRecords urged them to not release the music, fearing commercial suicide. ''Kid A'' was released to mixed to '''highly''' positive reviews and helped change the face of rock music as more and more rock bands started adopting a more electronic sound. Thom Yorke, in a fit of stress and rage, got his hands on a copy of the album and destroyed it.

* The boys from Canadian band Music/{{Rush}} have had a few brushes with troubled productions over the years:
** Their fifth album, ''Hemispheres'', endured a fraught recording process as Neil Peart explains [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOqB4rmmlXc this interview.]] The album would eventually go to Platinum status in the US.
** The making of ''Grace Under Pressure'' also counts; the band had made the decision to change to a new producer for the first time, jettisoning Terry Brown amicably. They hired Steve Lillywhite to produce them, but Lillywhite unexpectedly bailed out on them at the last minute; the band hired Peter Henderson (who worked on Music/{{Supertramp}}'s ''Breakfast In America'') as producer, had gotten along well with him, but gradually realized Henderson was mainly a recording engineer credited as a producer, and wasn't well-suited or well equipped to take on the traditional decision-making role provided by a producer. This had meant the band, unwillingly, felt the need to shoulder most of the production work and creative decision-making for what was already a complex album to put together. Geddy Lee [[WordOfGod mentioned]] in the official band biography ''Contents Under Pressure'' that as a result, GUP is a difficult album for him to listen to or remember nostalgically, due to memories of how hard it was making the album.

* Music/{{Ride}}'s last two albums, ''Carnival of Light'' and ''Tarantula'' were both caught in the wake of the collapse of {{Shoegazing}}. Pressure to create Britpop songs left the band playing in a style they were mostly unfamiliar and not very good with. The stress caused the members to argue with each other and even hate the songs they were playing. They referred to ''Carnival of Light'' as ''Carnival of Shite'' after production had finished. The band quarrels got so bad on ''Tarantula'' that they broke up a week after the album was released. ''Carnival'' is looked at as SoOkayItsAverage while ''Tarantula'' seems to have become an old shame for everyone involved.

*** The initial Dave Batchelor-produced sessions from late 1993 were a disaster. Creation Records - still reeling from Music/MyBloodyValentine’s ''Loveless'' going insanely over-budget - were forking out at £800 a day for use of Monnow Valley Studios and it had resulted in just one useable recording - ‘Slide Away’ is the only track on the final album from those sessions. Noel ultimately got rid of Batchelor, and having tried one last time to salvage the music already recorded, decided there was no choice but to take another crack at recording the album.
*** In January 1994, the band decamped to Sawmills studios in Cornwall with Noel and Mark Coyle producing and Anjali Dutt, a veteran of the TroubledProduction of ''Loveless'', handling engineering duties. Despite Noel taking a far more active role in things, the sessions still went nowhere and Liam still hadn’t recorded any vocals yet. It was left to Owen Morris, whose services had been offered to the band prior to starting recording only to be turned down, to salvage the situation. Firstly he impressed everyone by getting some first-rate vocal takes from Liam, and then was able to take the existing recordings and turn it into the album most people know and love. ''Definitely Maybe'' went on to become one of the most acclaimed debut albums ever made by a British group.

*** The original intention to record to the iconic Abbey Road Studios was derailed by press intrusion (not helped by Liam getting busted by the police for drug possession) leading to changes of venue. The album is somewhat infamous for being compromised by the amount of drug use, with Creation boss Alan [=McGee=] being appalled at how off the rails the whole thing was. Morris for his part disputes this and argues that Noel’s indifferent songwriting and IAmTheBand tendencies coupled to poor relations within the band generally were as much to blame.

*** The album was by most objective standards a success, selling nine million copies and there has been a certain backlash against the backlash in the years since - both Liam and Oasis manager Marcus Russell have defended the album, and producer Owen Morris believes the album is MisBlamed as the GenreKiller for Britpop. Noel for his part regards it as an OldShame, if not outright CanonDiscontinuity (only "Stand by Me" stayed in the band’s live setlist in later years and the retrospective compilation album ''Stop the Clocks'' ignored it entirely).

*** After facing (not entirely unfounded) accusations of ItsTheSameNowItSucks over ''Be Here Now'', Noel wanted to make its follow-up a NewSoundAlbum. He'd also kicked a nasty drug habit during the band's hiatus, and wanted to curb some of the band’s more excessive traits during the recording sessions in France. (The fact that Noel was seemingly oblivious to the problems that, amongst others, The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd and Duran Duran had endured whilst recording in that country suggests a certain amount of CriticalResearchFailure on his part.)

** Things got relatively easier for the band in terms of recording material after that - it helped that Liam, plus new members Gem Archer and Andy Bell started contributing more on the songwriting front and thus reducing the need for Noel to come up with an entire album's worth of material by himself every two years. However, the critical and commercial response was much diminished from their GloryDays. The band split amid yet more acrimony after 2009's ''Dig Out Your Soul''.

** ''Music/TheWall'': The band had to leave the UK for tax reasons[[note]]Their managers had sunk their money into a Ponzi scheme and left them bankrupt[[/note]], and so recorded the album in studios in France and the USA. Aside from the ensuing homesickness, Roger Waters became more and more controlling of the recording process, and argued with producer Bob Ezrin. The album ultimately went behind schedule, and keyboardist Richard Wright was fired because he didn't want to cut his vacation short, but stayed as a session musician. Finally, the promotional tour was so extravagant that it lost profits--but Wright got off easy, [[{{Irony}} because he was paid as a touring member]].

*** By the time recording finished, Gilmour was so fed up with Waters' dictatorial leadership and complete control over the record that he asked to be removed from the album's credits (though was still payed royalties), Waters nearly had the album released as a solo record (only backing down due to Pink Floyd's contractual obligations with Creator/{{EMI}}), and the album ultimately released with the infamous credit of "by Roger Waters, '''performed by''' Pink Floyd," now a microcosm of just how tight of a grip Waters had on his bandmates at that point. The album underperformed, was critically maligned, and went on to become Pink Floyd's most divisive record since ''Music/{{Ummagumma}}''. Ultimately, Waters was so disillusioned by the whole affair that he quit Pink Floyd two years later, then unsuccessfully tried to sue the band when they kept going without him. To this day, the sheer acrimony of the sessions for ''The Final Cut'' remain as a large, dark stain on Pink Floyd's history and Waters' reputation.

* Music/{{Radiohead}} are usually known for going into the studio and getting things done smoothly and professionally. For their fourth album, ''Music/KidA'', however, things didn't go as smoothly as Thom Yorke and company had hoped. Fresh off the heels of their smash success album ''Music/OKComputer'', the band felt pressured to top it and were exhausted from all the touring and interviews. The fame had seriously drained them all. Yorke had grown tired of 16-bar guitar riffs and wanted to try something different. Having felt inspired by the music of Music/AphexTwin, Yorke wanted the band to tackle electronic music. This proved to be a tough sell, as the band just wanted to do what they had been doing for years. This led to a minor feud between Yorke and guitarist Johnny Greenwood for the first time in the band's history. The rest of the band were also not happy with the idea of not being able to play on some of the album's tracks. To make matters worse, Yorke suffered from writer's block and struggled to get lyrics down on paper. He also wanted to change his vocal style since so many other bands were mimicking him. He ended up using his voice more as an instrument and took focus away from lyrics, confusing his fellow bandmates. Production got extended again and again, and even though the label had no problem with this, it still stressed out the band. By the time production was completed, they had enough material for two albums, and their producer urged them to not release the music, fearing commercial suicide. ''Kid A'' was released to mixed to '''highly''' positive reviews and helped change the face of rock music as more and more rock bands started adopting a more electronic sound. Thom Yorke, in a fit of stress and rage, got his hands on a copy of the album and destroyed it.

** The beloved double album ''Music/ExileOnMainSt'' did not come easy. Setting a trend that was ill-advisedly followed by many bands in the 1970s, the Stones left the UK in 1971 for tax reasons and settled in France. Most of the backing tracks were recorded in the basement of Keith Richards' villa at Nellcôte, a poorly-ventilated environment where the heat would cause the guitars to go out of tune. Recording took place all night but none of the Stones ever showed up all at the same time - Bill Wyman sat out most of the sessions, Mick Jagger was frequently AWOL and Richards was just getting started on his infamous substance abuse. He was joined in said substance abuse by Mick Taylor, producer Music/JimmyMiller, session musician Bobby Keys and engineer Andy Johns - Wyman claimed in his autobiography that he, Charlie Watts, and Jagger were the only people in the villa who abstained to some degree. The band then took the piecemeal recordings and backing tracks to UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, added all the overdubs and assembled them into ''Exile''.

** The making of ''Grace Under Pressure'' also counts; the band had made the decision to change to a new producer for the first time, jettisoning Terry Brown amicably. They hired Steve Lillywhite to produce them, but Lillywhite unexpectedly bailed out on them at the last minute; the band hired Peter Henderson (who worked on Music/{{Supertramp}}'s ''Breakfast In America'') as producer, had gotten along well with him, but gradually realized Henderson was mainly a recording engineer credited as a producer, and wasn't well-suited or well equipped to take on the traditional decision-making role provided by a producer. This had meant the band, unwillingly, felt the need to shoulder most of the production work and creative decision-making for what was already a complex album to put together. Geddy Lee [[WordOfGod mentioned]] in the official band biography ''Contents Under Pressure'' that as a result, GUP is a difficult album for him to listen to or remember too nostalgically, due to memories of how hard it was making the album.

* Music/{{Nirvana}}'s final album ''Music/InUtero'' had a couple issues in getting finished. While the recording sessions went by smoothly and with little trouble, the post-production process was a difficult time. The executives at Geffen Records didn't like the initial mixes and felt that it wouldn't sell, deeply dispiriting Music/KurtCobain who soon came to have a similar opinion. The band tried employing Bob Ludwig to remix the recordings, but despite Krist Novoselic's approval, Cobain still wasn't satisfied. They then went to producer Scott Litt for additional mixing help, but initial producer Steve Albini wouldn't give the masters to him until Novoselic had to convince him to do so.
* Nitty Gritty Dirt Band had a minor example with their 1999 album ''Bang Bang Bang''. It was originally to be released in early 1998 through Rising Tide Records, and the title track was making headway on the charts. But Rising Tide closed up just before the album's release, so the band was quickly moved to Decca Records. Not long after, Decca closed up its Nashville branch as well. Finally, the album was released in 1999 through Creator/DreamWorksRecords, which also reissued the title track. Humorously, the re-release charted lower than the first time around on Rising Tide.

** The recording of Music/JoyDivision's first two albums were fraught enough, thanks to their producer Martin Hannett, but this paled in comparison to New Order's debut, ''Music/{{Movement}}''. Following the suicide of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, the band, now re-christened New Order, struggled to write new songs without their singer and de facto musical director. Unwilling to outright replace Curtis, the surviving band members took turns singing (to varying degrees of success), before eventually settling on guitarist Bernard Sumner, and recruiting drummer Stephen Morris' girlfriend, Gillian Gilbert, to assist with keyboards/guitar. These struggles were exasperated in the studio by Hannett's heavy alcohol/drug abuse, his deteriorating relations with their label, Factory Records, and his belief that the musicians were 'talentless wankers' without their former singer. The resulting album was a critical and commercial disaster on its release but has now somewhat been VindicatedByHistory. In the wake of its failure, New Order ditched Hannett and struck out on their own, resulting in their SignatureSong "Blue Monday".