3rd time sucky?

The phrase 'difficult third album' should be familiar to anyone who has ever been in a band that has actually got anywhere with their music. It can be a real 'make or break' time for established artists, with this being their big chance to break into the mainstream (or at least the upper leagues of their selected genre) or falling flat on their smug faces, disappearing into obscurity and leaving their few remaining fans who didn't hate the abortion passing as a third album to moan about it to their mates, who couldn't give a shit either way.

The process of making a name for yourself as a group begins on the toilet circuit. You will have to play a lot of tiny, empty, foul smelling dives until word gets round that you've got talent. If this happens, (you actually need talent for this, it's not like going on the X Factor) people will start turning up to your gigs, and probably look like they're enjoying it. You gain a bit more profile, perhaps record a demo on the cheap in your mate's living room, then head down back to London again in the hope of getting signed. Word travels far when it comes to music, and when you stagger off stage at the end of your set with the crowd still screaming your name, drenched in sweat, some grinning fat cat from a mega huge, mega rich, mega important record company turns up and offers you a record deal. How cool is that?

Your first album is the dogs bollocks. All your knew found fans can't get enough of you, tours to decent sized clubs are booked (you have an agent for chrissakes!), you jet all over the world, playing to thousands of fans, endulge in some debauched behaviour with some groupies and are more or less on your way to becoming a big star. Repeat again for album Number 2, only times it by 10 and you're somewhere there. It's amazing, you can't believe how awesome this is. You're on the front cover of Kerrang!, may'be even NME! How could things go wrong?

Here we come to the 'difficult third album.' By this stage you're burnt out from touring the world for the past three years, you've realised that it wasn't just the smell of the drummer you hated, it's everything about him, and the pressure's really on to keep on top of the pile. So you begin work on your third album, and there are three main things that can happen.

1. Your album is a complete success in every way possible. It's the greatest thing you've ever heard, it blows the fans, the critics and the doubters away, future stardom is assured, you're on cloud nine, everything goes into overdrive and your're made for life. You didn't sacrifice any artistic integrity for this album, yet it connected with the mainstream. What a brilliant result! (See: Metallica - 'Master of Puppets')

2. Your third effort is a terribly over-produced, trend following, poorly written, half-arsed, abomination. The executives wearing Armani suits at the meeting you went to in the really plush office told you to make your music more accessible "So it'll get on Radio 1". You've become so convinced of your awesomeness, so you follow their 'advice' without question. It comes out with plenty of fanfare, borderline hysteria, critics rush to come and praise you as gods, listen to the album... and say; "This is absolutely fucking awful! What happened?" You're shellshocked at this proclamation. You slam the critics, you tour your arses off, but you cry every night when you go to sleep in your seperate tour buses because the boos are still ringing in your ears. (See: Trivium - 'The Crusade')

3. After building a reputation as one of the biggest and best bands in the world, with your first two albums being heralded as pinnacles of excellence, you're thinking; "How can I better this? May'be I can do something different?" So you record an album equally as awesome as anything you've ever imagined. This album is heralded as the tenth wonder of the world by your scene, but the mainstream press reject it. And the thing is, you don't care, because the last thing you ever wanted to be was a rock star. You wanted to make music for yourself, not for the radio, so you recorded a big 'Fuck You' to the mainstream, stuck to your guns and became heroes in your own right. Integrity is you. (See: Pantera - 'Far Beyond Driven)