Sloppy Seconds: Music's Most Disappointing Sophomore Albums
Sloppy Seconds: Music's Most Disappointing Sophomore Albums
Yesterday Brooklyn psych rockers MGMT released Congratulations, a long awaited sequal to their highly acclaimed debut Oracular Spectacular. If an early critical reception is to be believed, Congratulations is a shell of it's predecessor, making the band victims of the tragic sophomore slump phenomenon. And though their debut was named the 18th best of the decade by Rolling Stone, a sharp downward shift in quality places the duo in great company as so many before them have released stellar first albums, only to have their follow-ups end up as mini frisbees and weed plates. Artists from Hootie & The Blowfish to Big Snoop Dogg all went from dropping game-changing debuts to second albums that most fans wish never existed. Some would argue those who endure the slump were cursed with debuts so good that nothing could possibly live up to them, but we know better than that. They just didn't come with it that second time around. MGMT weren't the first, and they certainly won't be the last, of the most notorious victims of the sophomore slump...
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg The Doggfather (1996)
DEBUT HYPE:The ChronicDoggystyle
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:The Doggfather
WORST SONG:
Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand You Could Have It So Much Better (2005)
DEBUT HYPE:
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:You Could Have It So Much Better
WORST SONG:
Puff Daddy
Puff Daddy Forever (1999)
DEBUT HYPE:No Way Out
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:Forever
WORST SONG:
Hootie & The Blowfish
Hootie & The Blowfish Fairweather Johnson (1996)
DEBUT HYPE:Cracked Rear View
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:Fairweather JohnsonCracked Rear View
WORST SONG:
Raekwon
Raekwon Immobilarity (1999)
DEBUT HYPE: Nicknamed the "purple tape" for it's cassette color, 1995's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Weezer
Weezer Pinkerton (1996)
DEBUT HYPE:
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:Pinkerton
WORST SONG:
Black Sheep
Black Sheep Non Fiction (1994)
DEBUT HYPE:A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:Non FictionA Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
WORST SONG:
Terence Trent D
Terence Trent D'Arby Neither Nor Flesh (1989)
DEBUT HYPE:Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:Neither Nor Flesh
WORST SONG:
The Strokes
The Strokes Room On Fire (2003)
DEBUT HYPE:Is This It
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:Room On Fire
WORST SONG:
Mase
Mase Double Up (1999)
DEBUT HYPE:Harlem World
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:Double Up
WORST SONG:
Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf Dead Ringer (1981)
DEBUT HYPE:Bat Out Of Hell
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:Bat Out Of HellDead Ringer
WORST SONG:
Nas
Nas It Was Written (1996)
DEBUT HYPE:Illmatic
SOPHOMORE SLUMP:It Was WrittenNastradamusStreets DiscipleIllmatic
WORST SONG:
