Artists Whose Best Album was their Debut

[StPaulHusker]

Slipknot

 

[strigori]

Slipknot

I think they have gotten better with time. I prefer All Hope is Gone and Vol 3 over the self titled and Iowa.

 

[StPaulHusker]

Slipknot

I think they have gotten better with time. I prefer All Hope is Gone and Vol 3 over the self titled and Iowa.

Yeah. I guess it's a difference of opinion. I thought their first album was so great that I still listen to it constantly. Not so much of the other ones. I just preferred the grittiness of the first one compared to some of the "melodic" songs on their other albums. They have definitely had better commercial success after the first one.

 

[darkhorse85]

Skid Row's self titled debut was pretty good.

 

[walksalone]

Slipknot

I think they have gotten better with time. I prefer All Hope is Gone and Vol 3 over the self titled and Iowa.

To me Slipknot is like Korn, their debut albums were amazing, and their sophmore efforts were almost as good, but by the 3rd record, they'd lost something. I'm not sure if it was their edge, or they'd gotten sucked into the rock star deal.

Skid Row's self titled debut was pretty good.

The second album was light years better than the first. The debut record wasn't them, and done because it's what Jon Bon Douchey was looking for. Slave to the Grind is a bad assed album that kicks your a$$...

 

[StPaulHusker]

Slipknot

I think they have gotten better with time. I prefer All Hope is Gone and Vol 3 over the self titled and Iowa.

To me Slipknot is like Korn, their debut albums were amazing, and their sophmore efforts were almost as good, but by the 3rd record, they'd lost something. I'm not sure if it was their edge, or they'd gotten sucked into the rock star deal.

Skid Row's self titled debut was pretty good.

The second album was light years better than the first. The debut record wasn't them, and done because it's what Jon Bon Douchey was looking for. Slave to the Grind is a bad assed album that kicks your a$$...

I agree with everything Walks says here. Although I do like the songs on Korn's "Follow the Leader" that were commercial hits. The album itself as a whole was meh.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Is it really that much of a surprise when a band's/artist's first album is their "best" album. The song writer has had years of angst, experiences, and other items to pull from when writing songs for their first album. Then, if that album is a success, the record label starts pressuring the band to produce a follow-up album within a year or two. Then if the band is also touring, it's not a shocker that band's 2nd and 3rd albums are considered a "weaker product".

Look at Pearl Jam (my favorite band of all time) for instance. Ten was released in August 1991, but wasn't a smash hit until early 1992. That album had a number of singles (Evenflow, Alive, Jeremy) that were boosted by MTV, when they still showed music videos. Two of my favorite PJ songs (State of Love and Trust; Breath) are on The Singles soundtrack, and have never been on a Pearl Jam album. The Seattle grunge era was at its full boom at that time. Pearl Jam's next 2 albums were released in October 1993 (Vs.) and December 1994 (Vitalogy). That's 2 more albums in just over a year from each other. While, those albums have some great songs, they don't have the overall "depth" that Ten did.

After Vitalogy, PJ got in it's fude with Ticketmaster and their record album. They didn't put too much effort in their work, and their albums suffered. I lost interest in PJ, and I didn't even buy No Code, Yield, Binaural, and Riot Act. I was still able to hear the best songs from those albums on their greatest hits album released in 2004. However, in 2006, Pearl Jam was finally away from the contract with their former record label, they were able to spend time and effort in producing their own album. Their self-titled album released in 2006 is a very good album. I also think their 2 most recent releases (Backspacer in 2009 and Lightning Bolt in 2013) have also been pretty good. The most recent albums from PJ are a testament to the band staying together for 20 years, and developing as song-writers. Most bands will release one good/great album, put out a couple more follow-up albums that aren't as good, and then they break-up.

 

[walksalone]

Not sure if I can completely agree with that. They've had hit or miss periods throughout their career, although their first two albums were the strongest efforts. You can tell me i'm out of my mind, but I thought "Yield" was as strong as their first two offerings.

 

[walksalone]

agree with everything Walks says here. Although I do like the songs on Korn's "Follow the Leader" that were commercial hits. The album itself as a whole was meh.

Yeah, there were two songs that were ok on "Follow"...

The more I thought about it, the same thing happened to System of a Down. First album was amazing, 2nd album was just as good if not better, then they completely fell off the wagon and made Nu metal sound like bad hip hop songs...

 

[strigori]

I can't get behind the logic for why first albums might be better, because I think we would have a much, much, longer list of bands where the second, or later, album was better than their first. There really is no rhyme or reason to how a band makes their best work.

For a similar era as Pearl Jam for comparison, Stone Temple Pilots' second album was easily their best. Core was a good disc, but Purple was amazing.

 

[walksalone]

I can't get behind the logic for why first albums might be better, because I think we would have a much, much, longer list of bands where the second, or later, album was better than their first. There really is no rhyme or reason to how a band makes their best work.

For a similar era as Pearl Jam for comparison, Stone Temple Pilots' second album was easily their best. Core was a good disc, but Purple was amazing.

STP might not be the best example, because I think Core is a better album than "Purple".

Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer are prime examples of what you're saying. Each bands first two albums,are solid, but it's not until the 3rd or 4th records did they really start to shine....

 

[tschu]

A lot comes with experience and with success comes increased money resources and production value. Not very often does a band have the resources to put out a polished, knock-em-dead finished product straight out of the gate.

 

[StPaulHusker]

agree with everything Walks says here. Although I do like the songs on Korn's "Follow the Leader" that were commercial hits. The album itself as a whole was meh.

Yeah, there were two songs that were ok on "Follow"...

The more I thought about it, the same thing happened to System of a Down. First album was amazing, 2nd album was just as good if not better, then they completely fell off the wagon and made Nu metal sound like bad hip hop songs...

SOAD had good music. But in my humble opinion, Serj can't sing worth a damn.

 

[walksalone]

A lot comes with experience and with success comes increased money resources and production value. Not very often does a band have the resources to put out a polished, knock-em-dead finished product straight out of the gate.

While this is true more often than naught, there are the occasional groups who just are able to knock it out of the park, without the slick production (which might actual hurt the recording, and take away from the rawness) and resources.

 

[walksalone]

agree with everything Walks says here. Although I do like the songs on Korn's "Follow the Leader" that were commercial hits. The album itself as a whole was meh.

Yeah, there were two songs that were ok on "Follow"...

The more I thought about it, the same thing happened to System of a Down. First album was amazing, 2nd album was just as good if not better, then they completely fell off the wagon and made Nu metal sound like bad hip hop songs...

SOAD had good music. But in my humble opinion, Serj can't sing worth a damn.

after Toxicity, they completely spit the bit...

"Steal this album" was nothing short of sh*t...