You may not have noticed, but a lot of artists and groups are releasing their sophomore (or in lay terms, their second) album this fall. The sophomore album can be a tricky proposition for many bands. It can make the difference between having a long and fruitful career and heading back to play in local dives for the rest of a band’s days.

So far this fall, the major sophomore album release is from Justin Timberlake. It looks like it is avoiding the dreaded “sophomore slump” by selling just over a million copies in its first ten days of release. But there are plenty of other sophomore releases on their way later this fall. Big releases from the Killers and Jet are due out this week, and later this month brings a new album from My Chemical Romance. All of these albums have the potential to fall into the sophomore slump category. I call an album a “sophomore slump” when it sells a third of what the first album sold. Most bands second album sells around 50 percent of their first record, which dodges the SS bullet. There are some bands however that just tank on their second record. This could cause them to do things more horrible than the supposed Dustin Diamond sex tape circulating around the Internet.

Even though the previously mentioned groups could avoid the sophomore slumps, they should take a look at these groups that weren’t able to avoid the slump as a warning of what their future may hold:

• Crazy Town - “Darkhorse”. Remember how you couldn’t get “Butterfly” out of your head for like six months? Remember how you wanted to kick your own ass over halfway liking that song? Don’t worry, the songs off “Darkhorse” made sure you didn’t make that mistake twice. Outside of the somber but semi-catchy “Drowning”, nothing even came close to helping “Darkhorse” sell what there first album did. Crazy Town could be flipping burgers now in California somewhere, but we really don’t care enough to find out.
• Coal Chamber - “Chamber Music”. Supposedly, their second record was chocked full with hard rock hits. It even had a cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Shock The Monkey” with Ozzy Osbourne. You would think that they would reach the ranks of Korn and Limp Bizkit in 1999 upon its release. Well, people hated the polished sound, and the band made one more album before calling it a day. Lead singer Dez Fafara has tried to forge ahead with his new band, Devildriver.
• Silverchair - “Freak Show”: Back in 1997, a lot of people thought that the 16 year old Australian wonders were gonna be the next Pearl Jam. But, to quote ESPN’s Lee Corso, Not So Fast! “Freak Show” sounded like a less potent rehash of their debut record, and the curse of the sophomore slump was as lethal as some stingrays.
• House of Pain - “Same as It Ever Was”: Everybody was jumping around in ’92 to “Jump Around”, but was everybody ready to get “On Point” in ’94? Even though “Same as It Ever Was” was a surprisingly decent follow up, the album’s overall failure led Everlast to drink and drug his way to a heart attack, and forced DJ Lethal to put up with Fred Durst’s crap all day.
• Sponge - “Wax Ecstatic”: You couldn’t listen to Detroit radio for 10 minutes in 1994 and 1995, without hearing “Molly” and “Plowed”. But when “Wax Ecstatic” came out, the only people ecstatic for the album’s release was Sony Music, who quickly released the band to save them money and further problems. Sponge went from playing the State Theatres of the world, to playing your local kegger in the Detroit area.
• Candlebox - “Lucy”. This is the textbook example of “sophomore slump”. Their self-titled debut sold 5 million copies. The follow up: 500,000 copies sold. That’s 90 percent of their initial fanbase that figured that buying Euro-trash dance pop was a better idea than to hear “Simple Lessons” and “Understanding” ever again. By the way, if you’re interested, Amazon is selling used copies of “Lucy” starting at one penny. Somehow, I think that’s too much…

These are just a few of the thousands of bands who met their end after their second releases. There are bands and groups who rebound after their second album fails, however. Papa Roach and Nelly Furtado are two names that come to mind in the past few years that survived their second albums to see their careers saved.

But keep an eye out for the Killers, Jet and My Chemical Romance as the month of October sees their new albums released. One minute, they’re all over MTV and playing 6,000 seat venues. The next minute, they could be Sponge, playing the Ritz on 8 Mile for 50 drunks. Hopefully, they all avoid that mess…