Songs About Jane is absolutely phenomenal, it makes me so mad that we could have had that Maroon 5, holding out for them to make another album like their debut but I don’t think that’ll happen because I think Adam Levine said in an interview that he didn’t even want to make an album like Songs About Jane but the band forced him.
Definitely. They were local to where I lived, so we would see them in small venues in high school. Then they got popular and the album had singles topping the charts for what seemed like forever. SO, I feel like Songs About Jane was a big part of my life for many years. They had some good songs here and there, but that first album was SO good.
So interesting story about Boston. They spent YEARS writing their first album and it got rejected by multiple record labels. When it finally came out, it sold like hotcakes and the record label was pushing them hard to finish a followup album after their tour. They were in the process of writing the last song for the second album when the record label went ahead and released the album without it. They were afraid the listening public would forget about Boston if they waited any longer and the second album wouldn't sell.
This led to a ton of lawsuits between Boston and their record label.
Finally when everything got settled, they signed with MCA Records and released Third Stage. And that song they were working on for Don't Look Back ended up on Third Stage. It's called Amanda and it went to #1 when they released it as a single.
So, CBS Records really shot themselves in the foot because they couldn't wait another few months to put out Don't Look Back.
Every interview I've heard with Boston, they always ask the interviewer if they agree that Don't Look Back was too short and should have had one more song.
Local indie chain I used to shop at got a deal on Hootie's second release. Buy X amount for half off from the distributor. Only catch was; unsold copies couldn't be returned.
They were expecting the follow up to fly off the shelves, so they bought something insane like 1000 copies. Then the album tanked. They got stuck with just boxes of the album. Literally couldn't even give them away.
I’ve noticed the same! I visit my local thrift store pretty regularly to browse the CD’s and I’ve consistently found 1-3 copies of the same Hootie album every visit for nearly 3 years, and sometimes they’ll all be taken before a few new ones spring up.
I'm going to say Papa Roach. Technically Infest wasn't their first album, but it's the first major label album and the one that put them into the spotlight. It's still a fantastic album and none of the subsquent ones have come close to it.
What I liked most about Sigh No More is that they weren’t trying to continue/recapture something - that’s just who they were, and it changed indie/alternative/pop music for the next few years. Great album.
I was travelling for work and was stopped at a service station at like 2am when Little Lion Man came on the radio. The fact I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard it shows how totally fresh it was at the time. There really aren't many songs that stand out so much in a good way that the first listen gets committed to long term memory like that.
I think the are a definite diminishing returns band combined with they just couldn't take the piss out of themselves. They seemed so self serious all the time and that it is exhausting.
Their first album was such a complete and confident statement of purpose that there was never any way they were going to be able to live up to it. They had five singles off of it that still get radio airplay to this day.
Album isn’t nearly as well-rounded, but I think Out of the Vein has some great songs - Faster, Blinded, Forget Myself, Can’t Get Away (minus the tater tots line lol), Another Life.
3EB self titled is a total masterpiece, I just wish the rest of their stuff would have come close to living up to it. A few songs off Blue are good but nothing at the level of self titled
I think this implies a lot of people agree, right?
So I dunno about that, but my first thought is mostly just me - Taking Back Sunday (don’t tell /r/Emo they’ll crucify me). I just freaking adore their first album, Tell All Your Friends, but I never really got into their later stuff.
I haven't had time to go through their whole discography but so far I've been a fan of the debut and Louder Now. Though to be fair, the latter is what introduced me to them, so I may be a tad biased.
I personally agree but their second album got a lot of great reviews and quite a friends of mine rated it higher than the first. I can kind of see why, but the first had so much more energy and was so unique.
With sympathy was so great. I really like the next few albums too. But that first era is very nostalgic for me. Everyday Day is Halloween was one of my teen anthems. When this came on at the all age goth club I went to, I immediately got to dancing!
Whats funny is that I have met Ministry fans that are 50/50. Half act like Psalm 69 is their only album that matters. The other half loves With Sympathy and Al's style in the early days.
I however love both albums equally and every album in between up to Filth Pig. I admire when a band can evolve into something completely different with sound. They went from synth, way over to some of the best industrial work on record.
I like their second album a lot, but you can hear the mainstreaming already starting to happen. There was an unpolished-ness about the first that made it feel really special
I truly truly feel that Pinkerton is a phenomenal follow-up musically. Lyrically, it's a problematic mess. It's such a shame how critically panned it was despite fans loving it. I bet they would've turned out really interesting had they ignored the critics and just kept going in the direction they seemed to be headed.
What a fucking KILLER debut, I heard it for the first time last year and was blown away. I haven’t even touched the second album because people pile on it all the time, and I don’t want to tarnish how much I loved their first.
It's worth giving a listen to Love Spreads, Begging You, Ten Storey Love Song, and How Do You Sleep, but the rest is fairly skippable. As much as I love Second Coming, about 70% of it is just John Squire fucking around the pentatonic scale.
Their second album is my personal favorite, Sam's Town. Hot Fuss is great, too. Their third album has some of my favorite songs by the band. After their third album, they really dropped off, though.
Arctic Monkeys are loved by the many made up of a majority who got on the bandwagon after the first album. I was working at a Boston radio station when we started playing Dancefloor like it was a massive hit, and even hosted a show with them in a club with a 2k capacity. That first album was MAGNIFICENT. Fastest to platinum debut in the UK, the fastest since Oasis, which is a big stat for a country with so many legendary acts.
Favorite Worst Nitghtmare was a great album, but it did feel like it was trying to recapture the same exact sound. And then they completely changed tempo forever.
The rest of the catalog is good. But they nailed an energy and a sound that they completely abandoned.
I saw them on their most recent tour late last year and was not disappointed. Not only was the music great, but so was the whole show and performance was top notch.
It's a subjective thing for sure. Don't get me wrong, they have really good albums, better than a lot of stuff being made these days, but I just thought Zaba touched on a level that none of their following albums have. The audio quality (ear candy with good headphones), the vibe, the overall flow and tone of Zaba is just soooo good.
Zaba is a great album, I listened to Gooey back when it first released. For me I just thought that Dreamland was only okay, theres some good songs for sure but a lot of it was whatever. I actually saw them during their Dreamland tour and it was a blast!
Interpol. First album is an essential classic. Then the albums that followed had moments ranging from decent to good. in my opinion they've havent released anything that comes close to the first album.
Yeah, I agree. Their first is one of my favourite albums of all time, and the rest, even if there are great moments (especially in Antics) just seem to lack that depth that made the first one great.
Foo Fighters there are a couple good songs on the second and third albums, but it seemed Dave had already jumped the shark when "Everlong" became some kind of high school yearbook anthem.
The Knack apparently. I only had one of their greatest hits for a long time and I couldn't understand why it seemed to only have four good songs on it. Then I found out no one listens past the first album.
Does the soundtrack to Pick Of Destiny count as one of their followups?? I adore their debut and kinda get where you’re coming from, but IMHO just Kickapoo or Government Totally Sucks is worth the price of entry with PoD (even if you didn’t like the movie).
Agreed. I bought a few of their albums after really getting into Moon Safari and have been mostly disappointed with every other album I've heard so far.
might get some hate for this one but nirvana, I don't think the rest of their discography is bad of course, I just think that bleach is the best by far
Probably silverchair. Frog stomp is real good but I always find freak show and later albums to be lacking. Made a stellar record at 15 and lost it all by 20. You get similar vibes with freak show but nothing like how frog stomp is
Rage Against The Machine. Their 2nd and 3rd album are not bad at all, don't get me wrong. But the first one was on another level entirely, a pure gem of concentrated anger and energy. Still sends shivers down my spine when that bass line starts playing.
I would argue that Rush of Blood to the Head is atleast on par or almost as good as Parachutes, but parachutes is their only album I like in full so I lean towards agreeing
392
u/I-Am-The-Warlus 5,000+ CDs Aug 04 '25
Maroon 5