Lastly, the "White Album" deserves to be mentioned ahead of other Beatles records because of how it was created amid so much turmoil within the band. As explained by Louder, when all four Beatles reconvened at Abbey Road Studios in May 1968 to make the double album, things weren't how they used to be. Instead of four men working as a team to create the best possible songs, as was the case with the Beatles' previous releases, John, Paul, George, and Ringo were mostly doing their own thing. And that led to some serious infighting within the band.
During the "White Album" sessions, John Lennon's escalating heroin use resulted in disagreements with his bandmates; this allegedly made him even more temperamental behind the scenes. He and Paul McCartney, in particular, were beefing over musical direction, with Lennon so insistent on the inclusion of the cacophonous, eight-minute-long "Revolution 9" and McCartney balancing the weirdness out with what John called "granny music s***." George Harrison felt frustrated and patronized over his songs playing second fiddle to the Lennon-McCartney compositions. And the normally easy-going Ringo Starr walked out of the sessions, feeling "unloved" and unhappy with his playing, as he later recalled — he eventually returned, but during his absence, it was Macca taking over on drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R" and "Dear Prudence," per Ultimate Classic Rock.
Most other bands probably would have abandoned the whole project and/or disbanded soon after, but the Fab Four toughed it out, and ended up with something many people, to this day, still consider a masterpiece.
