2: The Dreaded Second Album: What Goes Wrong?

[NOTE: This the second part from 1: The Dreaded Second Album: What Goes Wrong? If you missed it, you can read it here.]

“I wanna be ignored” – The Stone Roses’ Sequel

Stone Roses’s “Second Coming” is an example of the band following suit of the tradition and bearing the weight of the debut album curse in full. This album was the most anticipated follow-up after The Stone Roses’ self-titled debut int 1989. The album evidently resulted in disappointment worldwide from fans and critics who saw it as a filler and a flop of an album – and even resulted in the initial break-up of the band itself.

**Now, that’s a bad second album.**

But hang on, isn’t it all about changing their style?

Having completed that arc of their writing as a band, many artists feel that a change is necessary to not only fulfil themselves musically, but to also flesh out a new mature side for the band and to eventually develop an audience growth.

It’s interesting to note this as many fans do not like it when their favoured artist change. The audience to the music grows, converts and changes all the time. Why is it not acceptable for the artist to do the same?

After all, it is certainly far-fetched to expect for an artist to pump out the same music each album. The music content would get as stale as them trying to play it live each year.

So, what’s to take from this?

Above all else, music is subjective and is personal to every one of us who listens in. One popular agreement could be another unpopular disagreement, and that is totally fine.

In most cases, the Second Album Syndrome exists because the populous agrees with another about a particular album or release. But, you’ll always be able to find an audience that loves the second album just as much as the first.

I, for one, have applauded and lavished over the prosperity of bands recovering from such a curse and delivering amazing second albums that not only intrigues their fans more so but earns them a bigger following from it, too.

Whether it’s a change in style from the band, or a debut album that simply cannot be topped, the second album is something that will always have cries of scepticism as soon as it is released, especially surrounding the dreaded curse of the debut. But of course, it can be seen as nothing but here-say … there are some second albums that are so great, that go above and beyond their first.