It's not very often that an artist or band can plan its final album. Most of the time, the band unexpectedly splits, or someone unexpectedly passes away, turning its most recent album into its last, even if it wasn't meant to be. However, these six albums were actually recorded with the intention of being the artist's last. Whether or not the artist actually kept this promise, though, is another story.
1. The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
I find myself writing about the Beatles (and particularly Abbey Road and Let It Be) very often, because it lends itself to many different topics. After years of internal tensions and the highly unpleasant experience of recording Let It Be in early 1969, the Beatles gathered with producer George Martin one last time to record Abbey Road, and with the album's penultimate track being titled "The End," it's quite obvious in retrospect that it was meant to be the band's last together. However, Abbey Road wasn't actually the last Beatles LP to be released: that would be the temporarily shelved Let It Be, released eight months later.
2. PJ Harvey - Rid of Me (1993)
Though Rid of Me was only PJ Harvey's second album, and the one that cemented her legacy in alt-rock history, Harvey herself never thought she would make more than two albums. In Spin's oral history of the album, Harvey recalls, "After making Dry (her debut album), I thought, "I'll make one more record." Then I thought people will probably get bored of me." Luckily for her fans, Harvey has released six more albums since 1993. However, Rid of Me was the last album she recorded with her eponymous trio.
3. Jay-Z - The Black Album (2003)
Although Jay-Z's The Black Album was announced as his final album, it's definitely debatable whether or not he actually intended to stop making music. He's an excellent businessman, and promoting The Black Album as his last definitely didn't hurt sales. After taking a three-year break, Jay-Z came out of retirement in 2006 with Kingdom Come.
4. Ramones - ¡Adiós Amigos! (1995)
After gradually declining in critical favor throughout the '80s and early '90s, the Ramones decided to call it quits in 1995, but only if its next album ended up being as commercially unsuccessful as its previous albums. The Ramones released its aptly titled fourteenth album ¡Adiós Amigos!, and when it sold poorly, the band embarked on a farewell tour, never releasing another album.
5. Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand (1994)
After toiling in obscurity for ten years, Guided By Voices was on the brink of disbanding in the early '90s. With the intention of releasing just one more album, the band compiled its 1994 classic Bee Thousand out of old demos and unused songs, but when the album caught the attention of Matador Records, the members of Guided By Voices were able to quit their day jobs and devote themselves to music full time.
6. R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now (2011)
Though R.E.M. broke up in 2011, the band had discussed breaking up for nearly ten years. However, when its 2004 album Around the Sun was critically panned, the band realized that it couldn't go out on such a low note. After releasing two more acclaimed albums, 2008's Accelerate and 2011's Collapse Into Now, R.E.M. felt confident enough to announce that it was "calling it a day as a band."
What other albums were intended to be the artist's last? Let us know in the comments section!
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