The Record Plant — John Lennon's Final Sessions, New York

The Record Plant in New York City was the studio where John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded Double Fantasy (1980) — the album Lennon completed just weeks before his murder on December 8, 1980. He had been returning from the Record Plant to the Dakota when Mark David Chapman shot him. The studio was also where Jimi Hendrix recorded much of Electric Ladyland (1968) before opening his own Electric Lady Studios, and where Bruce Springsteen recorded Born to Run (1975) with producer Jon Landau and engineer Jimmy Iovine.

The Record Plant was founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone in 1968, originally in New York before expanding to Los Angeles and Sausalito. The New York studio moved locations several times but maintained its reputation as one of the city's premier facilities. Aerosmith, the Eagles, Cheap Trick, and dozens of other major artists recorded there. The studio's association with some of the most significant albums in rock history — Born to Run, Double Fantasy, Electric Ladyland — gives it an extraordinary pedigree across just three records.

The Record Plant's various New York locations have since closed, and the building at 321 West 44th Street (one of its later locations) no longer operates as a recording studio. The Record Plant Los Angeles at 8456 West Third Street also closed. The brand name has been revived for new ventures, but the original studios that produced these landmark recordings no longer exist.