Pencil Storm’s fearless leader Colin Gawel wrote something recently in which he mentioned a few bands that he thought could be defined by one single record. The premise was that you could hand one record to a person who had never before heard the band and that would be all they would need in order to know what that band was all about. No greatest hits compilation necessary. One such record that he mentioned was the self-titled debut record by The Cars. I agree with Colin on the argument he makes. But I also have a thought about that, and some other incredible debuts. The Cars is one of the best records in history for me. So how can a band possibly follow up something like that and then not be accused of suffering a so-called sophomore slump? Well, here are my thoughts on how The Cars and a few others managed to follow a stellar debut. We will start with…..
The Cars – Candy-O
As I have said, I think the The Cars is a masterpiece in rock n roll history. The second record was bound to be at least mildly disappointing. For me, it was not. Not at all. It’s not as good as the debut, but it’s different enough, and excellent enough to hold up in my opinion. “Candy-O,” “Let’s Go,” “Got a Lot On My Head,” “It’s All I Can Do” and “Dangerous Type” are all amongst my favorite songs by The Cars. There are no bad songs on the record, just like the debut you can play it through without any temptation to skip a song. Somehow, The Cars lived up to expectations, mine at least, on record number two. I can’t say that about too many of their records after that, but Candy-O gets an ‘A’ rating from me.
The Clash – Give ‘Em Enough Rope
Well, I know I’m going to take some extreme heat on this one. The Clash by The Clash is easily one of the best records in rock n roll history. It is one of, if not the, defining punk rock record without question. How do you follow that? Most people would say that they didn’t do it very well. I vehemently disagree. Many of my favorite Clash songs are on the second record. “Stay Free” may be my absolute favorite Clash song. Again, I know I’m on a bit of an island with this opinion, but for me, Give ‘Em Enough Rope is a very good follow up to the debut and it is definitely a great transition to London Calling. The greatness of those three records in succession is hard to believe. “English Civil War,” “Guns on the Roof,” “Tommy Gun,” “All the Young Punks,” “Safe European Home” and the aforementioned “Stay Free” are all outstanding Clash songs. No let down on this one, not for me.
The B-52’s – Wild Planet
The B-52’s self-titled debut was exciting. It was highly innovative, a little quirky and pretty great. “Rock Lobster,” “52 Girls” and “Planet Claire” are all really cool songs. So, what can you expect from the second record by a band that seemed so different from everyone else at the time? To me, Wild Planet was a little less quirky and a little more rock ‘n roll, but not in any selling out kind of way. “My Own Private Idaho” is a great song. “Devil In My Car” and several other tracks hold up too. Wild Planet is certainly not the caliber of Candy-O or Give ‘Em Enough Rope, but the debut wasn’t nearly the caliber of The Cars or The Clash either. I just think this is a good example of a band setting the bar pretty high and then successfully at least getting close to the bar.
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts – I Love Rock ‘n Roll
The Bad Reputation record is another true classic. The title track, along with “Do You Wanna Touch Me” and “Doin’ Alright with the Boys” are just highlights on a record with no clunkers. But it’s hard to argue that I Love Rock ‘n Roll isn’t a great follow-up. It certainly was a commercial success. Personally, I like Bad Reputation much better, and actually a few of the subsequent records as well, but I Love Rock ‘n Roll was a winner.
That’s four that just came to mind. There are plenty more I’m sure. Of course, for every band that did a good job on record number two after hitting a home run on the debut, there are a hundred more who failed, some miserably. How about Vacation by The Go-Go’s? Thud. Van Halen II is fine, but not even close to the debut. The Sex Pistols couldn’t even muster up a second record, unless you want to count The Great Rock n Roll Swindle, and that stunk for the most part. And Don’t even get me started on Guns ‘n Roses.
I would love to hear some thoughts from others on this subject.
JCE, or John to his friends, is 62 years old and lives happily in rural VA about an hour and half outside of D.C. His wife of 34 years says he’ll never grow up, and she’s exactly right. He attributes that to his lifelong love affair with all things rock n roll. Starting with 45 rpm Monkees records at a very early age to his present massive collection of vinyl, cd’s and a digital library of God knows how many songs, he’s a rock n roll lifer.