10 Greatest Breakup Albums of All Time
2. Marvin Gaye, Here My Dear
Two years after the sensual Let's Get it On was released, Gaye's wife Anna Gordy filed for divorce. Gaye's extravagant lifestyle prevented him from paying alimony, so his attorney proposed that he gave half of the royalties from his next project to Gordy. Gaye considered making a horrible record, but instead wrote Here My Dear, which has been described as "the sound of divorce on record." The lyrics read like tormented scrawls from a diary entry. "If you ever loved me with all of your heart, you'd never take a million dollars to part," he emotes in "When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You." The songs go through all stages of a breakup, from doubts in "Anna's Song," anger issues ("Anger") and agony ("Sparrow").
1. Fleetwood Mac, Rumors
Like Blood on the Tracks, Rumours remains one of the greatest breakup albums of all time. Couple-swapping, loads of coke, and seething jealously bled into the songs. The McVies divorced, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks fought, and drummer Mick Fleetwood also found out that his wife, Jenny Boyd, was cheating on him, All in all, it was bad news. The album chronicles relationships gone sour from all sorts of perspectives, from Nicks' battered optimism in "Dreams" and Buckingham's snide, yet brilliant "Go Your Own Way." Christine McVie tries to brighten spirits with her jaunty "You Make Loving Fun," but the song's placement, between the crushing "The Chain" and "I Don't Want to Know" suggests that everyone knew the soft rock classic would go down with a grain of salt.
See also:
-10 Greatest Love Songs (That Aren't Actually Love Songs)
-10 Greatest TV Themes of All Time
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