TheSonomaDude
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Albums that cost a shit ton to make

These are albums that cost a lot to make in studio due to technology or equipment or time or whatever, it's just another pointless list from sonoma because i cant sleep For reference, most albums can be made for like $5,000, even professional albums usually don't cost any more than $60,000. $1 million in studio production money is like a $300 million dollar summer blockbuster.
1Michael Jackson
Invincible

$30 million... like holy fuck, but no surprise MJ holds the record for the most expensive album ever produced.

MJ is said to have recorded 187 songs, all completely finished, and booked three studios at once simply because he didn't know which studio he'd be "feeling" when he'd wake up that morning. All three studios were some of the most expensive places to book in LA, and he had some pretty outrageous demands. He also took recording sessions in NYC, Miami, Philadelphia, and Toronto, across a total of 13 recording studios. On top of that, there was a $25 million budget for marketing, so the full budget came to $55 million. And after all of that, they still managed to get the most boring album cover art ever.
2Guns N' Roses
Chinese Democracy

$13 million

Not a shocker. The album was delayed for nearly a full decade, and over 10 studios were used. The entire album was completely scrapped and rerecorded a total of 3 times, and at one point the band was spending $350,000 a month. This included buying the rights to an MLK speech, which was not cheap. Several songs were scrapped, including numerous electronica tracks that were very costly and time-consuming to create. The final album lineup had like 19 members and Axl had a lot of dumb stuff demanded because he's Axl. Buckethead apparently also demanded a chicken coop be in the studio, with live chickens and all. Good investment.
3Def Leppard
Hysteria

$5 million ($9.9 million inflated)

The band demanded a lot of the most up-to-date equipment, which changed frequently. The album also payed for the drummers arm amputation, which occurred during this album's production. At 65 minutes long, the length was very uncommon for this kind of thing, and new vinyls were designed and distributed for the sole purpose of playing this album in its entirety.
4Queen
A Night at the Opera

Like $1 million in today's monay

The choir effect on "Bohemian Rhapsody" alone is said to have cost a few hundred grand. I cant find too much info about this one, but my best guess is that it was a very experimental recording process, as some songs have 180 layers pasted over each other at once.
5Metallica
Death Magnetic

A shit ton, metalsucks speculated $6 to $7 million, which I'd believe.

This really isn't surprising. You watch footage of the band and they spend a lot of time just sitting around doing nothing. Apparently a full two months went by and the band didn't even record or write a single thing, all while using the studio for relaxing reasons.
6The Darkness
One Way Ticket To Hell And Back

$2 million

Some of the songs have over 200 tracks playing simultaneously, and months were spent recording the t/t alone. Several months delayed, the album almost faced cancellation and the label actually tried suing the band over it, I guess because cancelling the album would mean the label had lost millions of dollars.
7Fleetwood Mac
Tusk

$1.5 million in 1973 dollars

Most of it was on cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, and brand new luxury car for the band members every 6 weeks. According to bassist John McVie, three members basically wrote and recorded their entire solo albums in their entirety and mixed them together, taking the best of the best. The album was also extremely long for the time.
8My Bloody Valentine
Loveless

$1 million (speculated) and honestly i dont believe it cuz it sounds like it could've been made for much cheaper. Kevin Shields claims it was made for a max of $160,000 which sounds about right, considering the circumstances.

The label believed the album could be recorded in a week, which later turned into 6 months and a total of 19 studios. Some entirely mixed and finished tracks were rerecorded from scratch.
9Eagles
Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)

$3 million inflated...how the fuck a compilation costs that much money idk

Idk my guess is marketing or maybe some new technology into remastering old tracks. Maybe a different studio made the compilation and had to buy the rights to all the songs? I'm not sure man.
10Mariah Carey
Glitter

$28 million, but mostly due to contracts and not recording

Carey was given an $80 million contract and decided to produce a movie to go along with her album. I think that speaks for itself.
11Gorillaz
Plastic Beach

$3 million

The label paid extensively for Hewlett's artwork, who hated doing the work and often procrastinated. Like 55 tracks were recorded with some expensive celebrities, (rumors include Michael Jackson, Ozzy Osbourne and Keith Urban, among others) who didn't make the final cut because Damon didn't like the tracks, even after paying them a shit ton to cameo. Lots of shots were fired at each other, and it was a pretty hostile environment. Albarn's nightmarish experience with the production process also led Gorillaz to go on hiatus...well, it was one of the reasons.
12Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

$3 million

It's Kanye. Moving on.
13Brian Wilson
Smile

$1 million total

Brian Wilson is really hard to work with and spent half a million in 1966 money and a further shit ton on the album's resurrection. Originally completed in 1966 under The Beach Boys, Smile cost $500,000 UNINFLATED (3.6 million today) due to errors in recording, legal battles, and the perfectionist nature of Brian Wilson. Wilson later became super duper paranoid and thought someone within the band had been leaking tapes, and he also thought the album was terrible, which caused him to singlehandedly cancel the most expensive album of its time. In 2004, he started working on it again and rerecorded it a total of 5 times with several ghost musicians, thus bringing another $500,000 to the table.
14Steely Dan
Gaucho

$3 to $5 million

The album took 2 years longer than estimated and the studio hated the new direction Dan wanted to try out. The Dan's basically recorded two albums; one being the album he wanted, and the other being the album the studio wanted.
15Metallica
St. Anger

$3 million

Although it sounds like shit, delays and incompetence made this more expensive than it sounds. Jason quit bass early into production, and the band just sat around and did nothing for a long time. At one point, the band had booked 4 studios at once, some of which were never used, and entire months passed where the band literally just sat around and did nothing. Already a year overdue, James took a surprise two month hunting trip to Russia mid studio date, and Lars and Kirk took up college classes, all of which delayed recording. They created a studio from scratch out of old bunkers, which meant $$$. The label also paid for James's alcohol rehab, which further delayed recording for an additional 8 months. 45 tracks were recorded, most of them being weird psychedelic, barely metal stuff, and their manager wanted the album to be heavier. This resulted in several songs being completely erased and rewritten to be HEAVIER. The album came out 3 years after they entered the studio.
16Garth Brooks
In the Life of Chris Gaines

$19 million

I cant really find much info on this one...well I can, but not enough to support $19 million. Garth Brooks partook the fictional persona of Chris Gaines for a movie he wanted to write, direct, and star in, and he'd be doing Guns N Roses-style hard rock instead of country, which the label was livid about and refused to do. Over 50 tracks were recorded in top notch facilities, and the only ones that made the album were the ones that sounded the most country, much to the dismay of Brooks, who thought the studio was completely missing the point of the character. There was a total lineup that nearly eclipses that of Chinese Democracy. The movie was never made because of the financial troubles and creative clashes with this album.
17Korn
Untouchables

$4 million

Apparently the band used a lot of brand new experimental equipment that cost fortunes to acquire. The band also paid for all 15 people of their crew to be housed and fed for a two year period. The main riff to "Here To Stay" has a total of 50 tracks layered over it, which probably cost a hefty few. 6 studios were involved. The band, however, insists that the album only cost $750,000 to make, which is still a shit ton.
18Metallica
Metallica

$1.4 million

Surprisingly enough, I cant find a whole lot for this. The documentary shows the band just dicking around, and the band stayed in studio for a long ass time, so these two things probably contributed heavily.
19Tears for Fears
The Seeds of Love

$1.6 million unadjusted

The entire album had been recorded, mastered, and finished, but the producers and band members weren't happy with the result and scrapped the entire album, starting from square one. Due to massive frustrations brought on by the recording process, the album had a massive rotating lineup and the band stayed in studio for nearly 4 years.
20Green Day
American Idiot

After combining the original album that got stolen and the "Jesus Of Suburbia" reissue together, this cost a shit ton to make. Their original album had been completely recorded and was in the final mixing processes when it was reported as stolen, meaning the band had to start all over again. On top of this, the album was a double album, meaning double the work was gone. They basically lived in studio due to the frustration of their album being lost and recorded an estimated total of 200 songs, some only 30 seconds long, and finalized the mixes of about 40 of these tracks.
21Staind
Break the Cycle

$850,000

Fred Durst, being Fred Durst and all, spent a lot of the album money on cars and wigger shit, and the band also fought against the "Loudness war" plague that hit this album as well. Nearly 50 tracks were recorded and finalized, half of which being soft acoustic ballads. The band also rerecorded the entire album as an acoustic rendition and planned to make it a 2 disc companion piece, one disc heavy and one disc acoustic. For unknown reasons, the studio didn't follow through with this idea. Only one of these original acoustic songs made the album, being "Epiphany", and a few of these songs were saved for later and recycled on their next albums "14 Shades Of Grey", "Chapter V", and "The Illusion Of Progress" which is partially why those albums abandoned their nu metal sound for a more post grunge, hard rock flavor.
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