Agnew's Mind He's got a long journey ahead of him.

The Sophomore Success

    by Matt

Anyone who listens to music knows about it. It's the elephant in the room -- The Sophomore Slump. If you are a music talent (and I use that word lightly today given the current state of American Idol-forced-factory-produced "music") and are luckily enough to break out and be signed AND be lucky enough to score a hit single AND EVEN more lucky enough put out a brilliant game-changer debut album AND even luckier to have critical acclaim to back it up AND EVEN LUCKIER to have mainstream success with sales to go with it, you're still not in the clear yet. Gone is that hunger and originality you once had while trying to break into the business. Now, the artist has had a taste of fame, success, a new entourage, a bunch of "Yes Men" following them around, and of course money. Eventually, the record company will pressure that same artist to head back into the studio and start recording the follow-up to their debut album. Most of the time that artist will say, "Now what?" Enter: The Sophomore Jinx, Slump, Jinx, whatever you want to call it.

Trust me, it's happened many times and it's going to keep happening. Whether we want to admit it or not, everybody gets older. Everything is declining slowly.  Sure, some people peak physically, professionally, musically, mentally later or longer than others, but in the end we all end up the same. Sports and Music careers are the ultimate microcosms of our lives. You have the Brett Favres of the world and then you have the Mike Mamulas.  You are now closer to the end of your life reading this sentence than you were reading the last one. Sorry to sound morbid or depressing, but it's a fact. Deal with it. That being said, the typical artist's life-span is similar on a smaller scale. This even holds true with the once-in-a-lifetime game-changing artist. Insert whoever you want here. Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elvis, Kenny G. Whatever, whoever. They may re-invent themselves a bunch of times to enjoy a long career filled with many transitions, but ultimately they decline too. They are the "Brett Favres" of music.

Now, here's the twist. Here's where I throw you off. I think artists' sophomore albums are their best. Snoop Dogg is an outlier.  You probably didn't see that one coming, did you? Let me explain. Keep in mind there are TONS of variables as I'll explain later. Some artists "blow up" with third, fourth, even fifth albums. I get that. You can argue many points against this theory of mine. Usually, these are anomalies. Yes, Snoop Dogg, I know. Assuming that the artist records the second album within 2-3 years of their debut,  they still posses a good amount of that rawness and hunger that was needed to break through in the first place. My favorite part of the equation is that they have been in the record business for a few years at this point so their work sounds polished but not TOO polished. Basically, it's the originality that made them famous with some touch-ups. A studio-big-budget-produced sound that still has that original fire that got the artist there in the first place. By the 3rd album, this has diminished and mostly all you get is a big-budget-studio sound. The artist has been collecting royalty checks, touring, famous for 5-10 years, and comfortable. Yes, Snoop Dogg, I know, I get it. Are some 3rd albums better than 2nd albums? Of course. Again, there are always exceptions. I personally feel, depending on the circumstances, that an artist may peak around the time of their 3rd album. That time of the 2nd album is special. They are still appreciative of their fame. They had success and money but want more. They still aren't that far removed from the days of passing out demos to club owners in an alleyway in North Jersey. Yeah, yeah, SNOOP DOGG.

Some examples:

Eminem (my personal favorite)

(Major Label) Debut album: The Slim Shady LP (1999) - Sold over 6 million worldwide

Follow-Up: The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) - Sold over 19 million worldwide.

From a creative standpoint, SSLP may be better. Only 3 tracks were added to that album after Eminem signed a record deal with Aftermath. The rest came from his independent effort The Slim Shady EP. On the MMLP, he sounded so polished yet still showed glimpses of the underground hunger and viciousness that helped him make it. Oh, and more Dr. Dre never hurt either. Not just one of the best rap albums of all time, but one of the best, period.

This is the template for every other artist you want to insert into this debate. Snoop Dogg, you ask? Fine.

Snoop Dogg

(Major Label) Debut album: Doggystyle (1993) - Sold over 7 million worldwide

Follow-Up: Tha Doggfather (1996) - Sold over 2 million worldwide.

Obviously, you lose Dr. Dre and have Daz and DJ Pooh instead and you are going to lose some quality. What people FORGET is that Snoop was featured heavily on Murder Was The Case soundtrack (1994) and Tha Dogg Pound's controversial debut, Dogg Food (1995) Still working with Dr. Dre, Snoop DID enjoy that very small window of "Sophomore Success" as I call it. His content during that period was classic g-funk material for its time. If he was not involved in his murder trial, Dr. Dre would still be with the label, AND he put out his album during 1994-1995, we would never hear how Snoop's second album failed horribly. Snoop would never have been linked to all that "never be able to top Doggystyle" talk. Would he have topped it? Probably not. He would have been real close, though.

I'm not going to pretend that I know every genre of music by heart. I do know that Lady Gaga is currently enjoying this small window of time and success before she becomes more and more manufactured and polished. Slowly, over the years (and she will enjoy a long career) she'll move further away from the creativity that makes her unique. Remember we all die. Think of your favorite band, artist, rapper, even dare I say American Idol. Think of their first 3 albums. Think about which one is the best. Think about which one sounds the most polished. Think about which one sounds the most creative. Now, think about the album that has all of that combined. Your answer is probably their second album -- The Sophomore Success.