10 Sophomore Slump Albums By Amazing Bands
2. Second Coming - Stone Roses
Pretty much every single band that hopped on the Britpop hype train in the mid ‘90s had the Stone Roses to thank for getting them there. Despite the Gallagher Brothers really bringing the genre to the forefront of people’s minds on Oasis albums, they would even tell you that they were copying what was going on on the Roses’ first album, having a healthy dose of melody and bits of psychedelia sprinkled into the mix as well. They may have hit the ground running, but what really sunk Second Coming for the Stone Roses was time.
As the years went by and the band struggled to get an album together, that time in the studio was going down a rabbithole of experimentation that none of them really recovered from. Across this entire record, songs tend to go on for way longer than they should, making potentially great songs into 9 minute exercises, with John Squire layering on one guitar after another until it just becomes a barrage of noise whenever you listen to it on headphones.
The band's dysfunction certainly wasn’t helping either, with the band clashing in the studio and drummer Reni leaving the band before the record had hit stores. While songs like Love Spreads still sound amazing in the context of the record, Second Coming may have been the real result of the Stone Roses finally believing their own hype.