Underrated Follow Up Albums
 

You ever love an album that was in the unenviable position of being released directly after a critically acclaimed, influential landmark album? Have you ever felt like those albums are overlooked because of what came before? This thread is about those albums. Pinkerton by Weezer and Nirvana's In Utero are my favorite follow up albums, but I don't think they're particularly underrated because I feel like they actually get the respect they deserve nowadays. Instead, I'll be talking about Insomniac by Green Day, the follow up to the generation defining megasmash, Dookie. Here are a few reasons I feel like this album deserves more credit than it gets.

1. It's Green Day's last purely pop punk album. They began to "mature" starting with Nimrod, and by the time of American Idiot's release, they were a different beast altogether.

2. The album is often criticized for being too similar to Dookie, but I think that's really unfair. The album is rawer and heavier than Dookie, and it's lyrically more bitter and paranoid. It's essentially Green Day's In Utero or Pinkerton.

3. Dookie has higher highs. Songs like When I Come Around, Basket Case, and She are among Green Day's best. However, Insomniac is more consistently quality, with less filler.

So what are some of your favorite underappreciated follow ups?