Sloppy Seconds: Music's Most Disappointing Sophomore Albums

Yesterday Brooklyn psych rockers MGMT released Congratulations, a long awaited sequal to their highly acclaimed debut Oracular Spectacular. If an early critical reception is to be believed, Congratulations is a shell of it's predecessor, making the band victims of the tragic sophomore slump phenomenon. And though their debut was named the 18th best of the decade by Rolling Stone, a sharp downward shift in quality places the duo in great company as so many before them have released stellar first albums, only to have their follow-ups end up as mini frisbees and weed plates. Artists from Hootie & The Blowfish to Big Snoop Dogg all went from dropping game-changing debuts to second albums that most fans wish never existed. Some would argue those who endure the slump were cursed with debuts so good that nothing could possibly live up to them, but we know better than that. They just didn't come with it that second time around. MGMT weren't the first, and they certainly won't be the last, of the most notorious victims of the sophomore slump...

Raekwon Immobilarity (1999)

DEBUT HYPE: Nicknamed the "purple tape" for it's cassette color, 1995's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx