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Bands that had really good first albums that couldn't outdo themselves?
- Thread starter f'nar f'nar
- Start date
40oz to Freedom. Robbin the Hood was good but lacked a lot of substance. Sublime (self-title) was very refined but lacked a lot of the energy of 40oz
"she was living in a room with 3 other individuals....."
"she was living in a room with 3 other individuals....."
No, Mental Jewelry was. And a pretty decent debut IMO. I forget his name, but their bass player is pretty underrated, especially for his work on this first album.
There are quite a few bands that fall into this category. In fact, I think it used to happen a lot more often in decades past where bands really had to develop their material/stage show before getting signed. They'd generally have some very well honed songs for an album (maybe even two) and then falter a bit.
The Doors is a band I'd put in that category. No terrible albums, but I think their debut was better than anything that followed.
Probably won't find a lot of fans here, but "August and Everything After" by the Counting Crows is much better than anything that followed IMO.
Jeff Buckley, for obvious reasons, though I really would have liked to see what he could have done.
DJ Shadow's Entroducing was an incredible album. His other stuff has been good, but not on the same level.
Frizzle Fry is my favorite Primus album (not counting Suck on This) though this one can easily be argued.
Suede - second album was pants, but they redeemed themselves later
The Clash - their 2nd album was poor but the best was yet to come
Stone Roses
Elastica
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Oasis - arguably their 1st album was the best
The Clash - their 2nd album was poor but the best was yet to come
Stone Roses
Elastica
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Oasis - arguably their 1st album was the best
Most bands really.... Or at least that's the way it seems. I'm sure there can be arguments made for both ways, but the sad fact is that the industry goes for the single first, and THEN the longevity of the artist, or their career. Yet another example of people as cogs in a machine, used as hard as they can be, and when they break, replaced without any remorse or a second thought. The only bands I really have respect for are bands that follow their collective muse without regard to what is popular or making money at the time. I/E Morphine, Drums and Tuba, The Blues Brothers, and Dashboard Prophets.
The only reason that things appear this way to you is that you are only looking at bands which choose to participate in the major label music industry.
This is like only eating out at fast food joints and then noting that most food is poorly prepared and greasy.
In looking through my record collection I have had trouble finding a single example of this phenomenon, almost any band worth your time will grow and progress over the course of a career.
They had one called Mental Jewelry before that. Good, but not as good as Throwing Copper. I agree it has been by far their best effort.
His name is Patrick Dalheimer.
Two bands where the live performance is usually better than the studio stuff(with The Doors, though, it could be disaster).
I do agree, both of their debuts were strong...I do think The Doors were more experimental with their, what, 6 'original' studio albums (w/ Morrison).
I'm wondering if the BSSM effect is going on with this one. Nevermind was not their first album. Bleach was.
Bleach is a better album, IMO, and I listened and listened to my crappy cassette dub of it back in the day-----but Nevermind was hardly a disappointment to many, and was the first album of theirs that I heard.
Their first is good, but imho In Color is better and Heaven Tonight is the best. At any rate, it's good to see early Cheap Trick getting props, before they went all poppy in the 80's!
I thought "Next" was better. a great follow up.
Some great examples here, not many bands can match their 1st. yet some bands get better & better.
I didn't closely read the entire thread, so I apologize if I should repeat, but I'm putting the Velvet Underground on this list. To my ears, their output achieved very little of value after the debut, which has one memorable song (and experimentation) after another.
Anyone remember the name of the band who wanted to call their second album "Mediocre Follow-up", but their label wouldn't let them? I think it was an 80s group, British or Aussie.
