A Celebration Of The Sophomore Album
It’s hard to surpass a strong debut album and break the pressure of the sophomore slump. But many bands have proved that a second offering can transcend their previous work.
Bands and artists have a lifetime to come up with their debut album, but only a short window to follow it up. This challenge has become a common stress on artists who are either trying to live up to the hype of their debut, trying to write new material in a condensed period of time, or still trying to make the impact the set out to from the get go. There are all sorts of pressures that fall on creating the infamous second album.
It’s common that producers and studio engineers don’t always understand a band’s virgin visit to the control room, and finding the right gears and vibes is often an audible growing pain of making a first album. Once the first one is over with there is more experience and a better understanding of the process which often helps acts become more effluence at writing and production the second time around.
When a debut album is massively successful, it can be perplexing to try to “re-create the magic” in order to secure fame, money, and success. In many cases artists implode by the weight of having to further refine what their debut blueprint stood for, or write another hit-song to follow-up some huge-charting single.
In other cases artists have a clawing urge to break free from the constraints of their old sound and start experimenting with new territory. Depending on how they approach their work, there are all sorts of results we see on second releases.
Several albums strongly prove sophomore efforts can provide the perfect setting for a band to catapult into genius terrain. The desire to want to evolve combined with the confidence of a having a fan base can do wonders for morale and inspiration. It is in this zone the fires are lit and the fuel is pouring in. Imagine how it would feel to be Radiohead following up the allurement of creep, or Pearl Jam trying to out-do Ten’s majesty. We can use pressure in our lives to explode into diamonds or crumble under its weight.
There are a handful of albums that build on debuts to create a stronger sense of what the band was looking to accomplish. While there are thousands of albums to choose from, today we celebrate a few of the most cherished sophomore albums of all time.