Los Angeles’ legendary Record Plant studio is going to be closing after 55 celebrated years of operation. The studio opened in 1969, and was one of the first recording studios that offered a more relaxed, living room-like environment for bands instead of the pristine, more intimidating conditions of most studios at the time. Two of the biggest-selling albums of all-time were both recorded at the Record Plant, Eagles’ 26x-platinum 1976 classic, Hotel California, and Fleetwood Mac’s 21x-platinum Grammy-winning 1977 album, Rumours. Guns N’ Roses worked on their potent debut album, Appetite for Destruction, there, with other famous Record Plant clients including Black Sabbath, Kiss, Billy Joel, Deep Purple, Queen, Judas Priest, Whitesnake, and Nine Inch Nails.

“There is no money in the recording music business,” says longtime studio engineer Gary Myerberg. “I don’t think there’s much hope for the recording industry in L.A. If you want to go to the studio and spend $2,000 a day, just take that and buy a laptop and a sample library.” (Ultimate Classic Rock)