Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'Blood Sugar S e x Magik' - This hugely successful album has some of the band's greatest hits, including 'Under the Bridge' and 'Give it Away.' The album was recorded at The Mansion, a house where allegedly illusionist Harry Houdini's widow lived. Other famous acts recorded at the mansion, including Jay-Z, Maroon 5, and Marilyn Manson.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'Blood Sugar S e x Magik' -

The band's drummer, Chad Smith, refused to sleep in the house, as he believed it was haunted by a woman who was murdered there in the 1930s. Members of the metal band Slipknot, who also recorded at The Mansion, also reported a number of paranormal events.

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Nine Inch Nails - 'The Downward Spiral' -

The album that catapulted the industrial rockers to stardom was recorded at 10050 Cielo Drive in California, US. This is where the Manson Family, a cult led by serial killer Charles Manson, committed the Tate murders in 1969.

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Nine Inch Nails - 'The Downward Spiral' - Band leader Trent Reznor reported that he would come home to find bouquets of dead roses and lit candles at the house's gate. He confessed that it was all very eerie because he was not sure if these were left for Sharon Tate (who was murdered) or Manson.

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Black Sabbath - 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' - Sabbath's fifth album was recorded at Clearwell Castle, a Gothic mansion in the Forest of Dean, England. The band used to rehearse in the castle's dungeon!

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Black Sabbath - 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' -

Guitarist Tony Iommi reported a paranormal experience where the band saw a cloaked figure walking into a room. They followed it to see who it was, but found nobody in the room.

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Chris Hadfield - 'Space Sessions: Songs From A Tin Can' - Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first (and only) album in space. The album was recorded at the International Space Station.

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Chris Hadfield - 'Space Sessions: Songs From A Tin Can' - Hadfield released a zero-gravity music video of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity.' The video quickly went viral.

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The Black Keys - 'Rubber Factory' - The American rockers recorded their third album in an abandoned tire factory.

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The Black Keys - 'Rubber Factory' -

The acoustics were a problem, so was the dust. The abandoned General Tire Factory was demolished in 2010.

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Paul McCartney and Wings - 'Band on the Run' and 'London Town' - Paul McCartney's band recorded two albums in two unusual places. 'Band on the Run' was recorded in Lagos, Nigeria, and 'London Town' aboard a yacht in the Virgin Islands.

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Paul McCartney and Wings - 'Band on the Run' and 'London Town' - Reportedly, several band members were mugged while recording 'Band on the Run' in Lagos. Despite being uneventful, the yacht recording sessions might have inspired Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, as years later he used a houseboat to record music.

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Radiohead - 'OK Computer' - 'OK Computer' is one of the British band's most critically acclaimed albums and includes hits such as 'Karma Police' and 'Paranoid Android.' The album was recorded in a 15th-century Tudor mansion in England. Interestingly, this is where King Henry VIII kept his illegitimate daughter.

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Radiohead - 'OK Computer' - The former monastery, now owned by ex-Bond girl Jane Seymour, is reportedly haunted. Radiohead's front man Thom Yorke said that ghosts would speak to him in his sleep, and that once he got up one morning after hearing voices and decided to cut his hair.

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Johnny Cash - 'At Folsom Prison' - The Man in Black recorded his famous live album at Folsom State Prison in California. This was the first album ever recorded in a maximum-security prison.

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Johnny Cash - 'At Folsom Prison' -

The concept was such a hit, that he went on to record live albums at San Quentin State Prison, Tennessee Prison, and even at Österåker Prison in Sweden.

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Sigur Rós - '()' -

Icelandic band Sigur Rós recorded their third album in a recording studio called Sundlaugin. The studio was actually set up in an abandoned 1930s swimming pool.

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Sigur Rós - '()' - Apparently the band originally intended to record the album at an abandoned NATO base in Iceland. The swimming pool and surrounding properties were eventually bought by the band.

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Katie Melua - 'Concert Under The Sea' - Although not an album, British-Georgian singer-songwriter Melua recorded a live performance at the bottom of a drilling platform in the North Sea.

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Katie Melua - 'Concert Under The Sea' - The performance got her an entry in the Guinness World Records in 2006 for 'the deepest underwater concert contained.'

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The Libertines - 'Anthems for Doomed Youth' -

The British indie rockers headed to Thailand to record their third studio album. What they did not expect was that the studio was built on a snake pit! The site was a shrine for the snake god Nāga.

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The Libertines - 'Anthems for Doomed Youth' - One of the band's front men, Carl Barat, asked a local man if they had any snake antivenom, to which he replied "no." The man added that if you get bitten, you die, and that's it.

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Killing Joke - 'Pandemonium' -

The English rockers recorded some of the vocal tracks of their 1994 album in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

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Killing Joke - 'Pandemonium' - The band reported some paranormal experiences during the recording sessions. One of the episodes included batteries that were supposed to last for 10 hours, being drained after 10 minutes.

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Prince Harvey - 'PHATA––' - American rapper and producer Prince Harvey managed to record his entire album in an Apple Store in New York City. Every weekday, for four months, he used a display laptop in the shop to produce his music.

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Prince Harvey - 'PHATA––' - The store managers were reluctant at first but eventually bought into the idea, as demoing the equipment would potentially drive sales.

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Cowboy Junkies - 'The Trinity Session' - The Canadian band recorded their album inside Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity, reportedly using just one microphone.

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Cowboy Junkies - 'The Trinity Session' - Fearing their band name would be a problem when trying to book the church, they rented it under the name 'The Timmins Family Singers.'

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The Modern Lovers - 'Rock 'n' Roll With The Modern Lovers' - Not happy with the sound they were getting at CBS Studios in San Francisco, the band headed to the men's room looking for something different.

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The Modern Lovers - 'Rock 'n' Roll With The Modern Lovers' -

The band confessed that the male urinals definitely had an impact on the way the album sounds.

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Getty Images

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Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'Blood Sugar S e x Magik' -

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Nine Inch Nails - 'The Downward Spiral' -

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Black Sabbath - 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' - Sabbath's fifth album was recorded at Clearwell Castle, a Gothic mansion in the Forest of Dean, England. The band used to rehearse in the castle's dungeon!

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Black Sabbath - 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' -

Guitarist Tony Iommi reported a paranormal experience where the band saw a cloaked figure walking into a room. They followed it to see who it was, but found nobody in the room.

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Chris Hadfield - 'Space Sessions: Songs From A Tin Can' - Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first (and only) album in space. The album was recorded at the International Space Station.

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Chris Hadfield - 'Space Sessions: Songs From A Tin Can' - Hadfield released a zero-gravity music video of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity.' The video quickly went viral.

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The Black Keys - 'Rubber Factory' - The American rockers recorded their third album in an abandoned tire factory.

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The Black Keys - 'Rubber Factory' -

The acoustics were a problem, so was the dust. The abandoned General Tire Factory was demolished in 2010.

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Johnny Cash - 'At Folsom Prison' - The Man in Black recorded his famous live album at Folsom State Prison in California. This was the first album ever recorded in a maximum-security prison.

15 / 31 Fotos

Johnny Cash - 'At Folsom Prison' -

The concept was such a hit, that he went on to record live albums at San Quentin State Prison, Tennessee Prison, and even at Österåker Prison in Sweden.

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Sigur Rós - '()' -

Icelandic band Sigur Rós recorded their third album in a recording studio called Sundlaugin. The studio was actually set up in an abandoned 1930s swimming pool.

Getty Images

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Sigur Rós - '()' - Apparently the band originally intended to record the album at an abandoned NATO base in Iceland. The swimming pool and surrounding properties were eventually bought by the band.

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Katie Melua - 'Concert Under The Sea' - Although not an album, British-Georgian singer-songwriter Melua recorded a live performance at the bottom of a drilling platform in the North Sea.

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Katie Melua - 'Concert Under The Sea' - The performance got her an entry in the Guinness World Records in 2006 for 'the deepest underwater concert contained.'

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The Libertines - 'Anthems for Doomed Youth' -

The British indie rockers headed to Thailand to record their third studio album. What they did not expect was that the studio was built on a snake pit! The site was a shrine for the snake god Nāga.

21 / 31 Fotos

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Killing Joke - 'Pandemonium' -

The English rockers recorded some of the vocal tracks of their 1994 album in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

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Prince Harvey - 'PHATA––' - The store managers were reluctant at first but eventually bought into the idea, as demoing the equipment would potentially drive sales.

26 / 31 Fotos

Cowboy Junkies - 'The Trinity Session' - The Canadian band recorded their album inside Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity, reportedly using just one microphone.

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Cowboy Junkies - 'The Trinity Session' - Fearing their band name would be a problem when trying to book the church, they rented it under the name 'The Timmins Family Singers.'

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The Modern Lovers - 'Rock 'n' Roll With The Modern Lovers' -

The band confessed that the male urinals definitely had an impact on the way the album sounds.

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Albums recorded in bizarre locations

From an abandoned swimming pool to a prison

22/11/24 | StarsInsider

MUSIC Artists

Not all albums are created equal. Every artist is unique, and while some choose the recording studio to produce their albums, others look for something completely different. Some artists draw inspiration from a certain environment or simply like the acoustics of a particular place. As a result, some albums were recorded in unusual locations.

From snake pits to swimming pools, click through the gallery to find out where other unusual recording sessions took place.