10 Biggest Sophomore Slumps In Music History

9. The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle - Bruce Springsteen

It took a while for the general public to really warm up to Bruce Springsteen. As much as Born to Run lit the world on fire when it came out, the only people talking about his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park were music journalists, comparing him to a new incarnation of Bob Dylan. Like most followers of Mr. Zimmerman though, Springsteen had a weird side, which came out in full force on his second outing.

While The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle is far from being a bad record, it's pretty much tailor made to be ignored by the general public. First of all, Springsteen's rambly tone of voice is still far away from real melodies, sounding more like he's reciting poetry when he sings instead of fronting the band. He has also seemed to pick up his hero's knack for writing overly long songs, with these teenage dramas eclipsing 7 minutes in some spots .

Even though The Boss would refine this kind of songwriting on tracks like Jungleland later, the ones on here aim for classic territory and end up sounding just a touch long winded as a result. While things would get better just one album later, this is the result of having a lot of writing talent but no real idea of when to bring it home.

 
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