the difficult second Lp

Some view Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, which he wrote second, as inferior to Piano Concerto No. 2, which he wrote first.

Big Country made a really unique, powerful LP in "the Crossing" that the time put them ahead of the likes of U2,the Alarm,etc...unfortunately "Steeltown" was a flop in the states... However they did retain their UK audience until their demise. The Alarm went all out with the grossly slick "Eye of the hurricane". Their association with U2 at that point was a liability, as months earlier the Joshua Tree went massive in sales.

Phasecorrect,
I agree with you on The Darkness,

Permission to Land......very promising.

One way ticket to Hell....."don't come" back :-)

However and IMHO, Use your Illusion I/II produced enough hits to pass by as a somewhat stand out effort. After that........nothing other than the ballad "Patience"!

Although I tend to disagree..."Regatta de blanc" is widely considered one of the Police's weaker efforts...It does contain contributions other than Sting that always seemed to weigh their records down...case in point..
Synchronicity

In my age bracket there was Nevermind, Siamese Dream and Dirt.