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Sophomore Slump

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By: Kendall | in: Music |

Fall Out Boy

“Are we growing up or just going down?” is the first line in Fall out Boy’s song “Sophomore Slump Or Comeback Of The Year” off of 2005’s From Under the Cork Tree.  That’s an interesting title for a band who was at that time releasing their first major label debut, and their 2nd album.  Last Tuesday they released their 2nd major label release entitled Infinity on High. It’s amazing the rabidity a band can cause in fans and the level of despise that same band can in the rest of humanity.  The critics have been generous this second time around.

Killers

The Killers weren’t so lucky on their 2nd go-round.  They were virtually torn apart for Brandon Flowers’ obvious Bruce Springsteen fetish. Their first album was hailed by critics and fans as a refreshing addition to the new rock scene and took in huge commercial success.  Critics loved them too.  Its attitude and synthetic beauty were hard to deny. On their 2nd album they came out and fell face first into a sea of disapproval.  This led to, by today’s standards, a commercial and critical flop.  It certainly took a few listens for me to go from New Order to New Order meets Bruce Springsteen with a pinch of Meatloaf. 

nevermind

Today’s audiences are both critical and short of attention.  They will move on quickly.  People want bands to expand as artists, but they don’t want them to expand too much.  If you become too familiar, you aren’t talented enough to gain respect, and if you change too much, people don’t recognize you anymore.  Most people are afraid of what they don’t know.  This is where the sophomore slump comes into play.  If a band can’t find that happy medium, the very disappointing reviews come in.  Few bands make it back after that.  This doesn’t typically happen when a band has a nice small following to begin with and gains its respect slowly.  If a band comes out of the gate as the new id boys, watch out.  Microscope time.  If a band goes from indie to major (without being shelved), they will often go to huge success the first time around while the hip fans will still be present.  Once they realize you have more money to produce a slicker album, it can often mean impending doom. Can they repeat their amazingness again or did they get lazy with fame and sell out to cash in the prize pig?

poison

It seems time can often be a major factor in a sophomore slump.  If a band can manage to put out a new album within 18-24 months of their first release, listeners don’t get too anticipatory.  If a band decides they need to create their “masterpiece” and it takes four years, the bar is automatically raised 3 notches for expectations and the effects can be disastrous.  Music can go through a lot of changes in a more than two years.  Poison was sure not ready for the upstart of grunge after they released their Flesh and Blood album.  Once they came off tour and started to work on new material and eventually put out the album, the fans had changed and they were left in the dark (though I realize that this is not a sophomore attempt).  
Too much of a good thing, is always bad. If your first album comes out too strong, you are probably going to get too much radio play and be soon forgotten.  If support from the hipster scene, and from the critics is gained, a band better be careful.  This can lead to expectations.  Expectations lead again to the microscope.  The microscope can sometimes lead to listeners judging you too quickly.  The albums that sometimes turn out to be the best albums are the albums that people can’t get into on the first listen.  Weezer’s masterpiece Pinkerton, was voted one of the worst albums of 1996.  Now it is regarded as the precursor to Emo, and Weezer’s most brilliant work to date.  They were one of the few lucky bands to come back after a slump (barely). It’s those amazing first listen songs that get boring (cough, cough… Ima Robot). 
It’s a finicky world out there and so many bands fall prey to the Slump.  Whether it’s laziness, lack of talent, no label push, or just people judging too quickly, the slump happens.  Let’s let our favorite bands do what they do, and hope for the best.  Don’t forget to give that that one extra listen through.
On a side note, Rollling Stone staff and readers have a list of their all time favorite 2nd albums here.


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Posted on February 18, 2007

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