The Wonder Years – The Greatest Generation
Review by Trevor Figge
There are albums that make you want to roll down your windows and crank the volume up, then there are albums that take you into their arms and let you know that everything will be all right. There are also albums that allow you to grow, much like the band did when creating it. This album is all of those things and more. The Wonder Years released The Greatest Generation with much anticipation after crashing ALTERNATIVE PRESS’ website earlier this year with their premier of the song “Passing Through a Screen Door.” All of the hype and anticipation was well worth it for Wonder Years fans.
First off I would like to say that there is simply so much that I could say about this album. To start off, The Greatest Generation was the last installment of a three-album concept about growing up. During this final installment Dan “Soupy” Campbell lead fans through an emotional journey of self-discovery. Yet this third and final installment was completely different. The Wonder Years did not stick with their patented double time/half time feel, which they did for the last two albums. In fact, this album has some of the slowest and fastest songs that The Wonder Years have written to date, not to mention it also has some of the most artistically daring songs that I have ever heard by a Pop-Punk band.
The Greatest Generation starts in an apologetic manner during “There, There” as if he was sorry for his past mistakes, but it soon erupts in order to transfer into the next song. “Passing Through A Screen Door” is the first song where you begin to connect with Soupy, as he becomes introspective and questions where he f*&^ed up. Then during “The Bastards, The Vultures, The Wolves” he proclaims “I’m angry like I’m 18 again.” Which leads him to question, “Where you would be without me?” This statement is overlooked at first but after a few play-throughs you realize that it makes Soupy’s problems with depression real. In fact, this honesty is the very thing that makes this album spectacular. It’s songs like “Passing Through A Screen Door,” “The Bastards, The Vultures, The Wolves” and “The Devil In My Bloodstream,” that Wonder Years fans fall in love with – because they are honest and sincere. After “The Devil In My Bloodstream,” the album picks back up and hits you with some of the best songs that The Wonder Years have written to date. Starting with “Teenage Parents” where Soupy talks about his parents, and the struggles that they faced growing up and how that shaped him and his family into the people that they are. The pace stays up through out the rest of the album, with songs like “A Raindance In Traffic” keeping you on the edge of your seat all the way until “I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral,” where we (Wonder Years fans) get exactly what we have asked for. A brutally honest song that reduces even the strongest men to tears as Soupy lets us all know that we are not alone.
In whole this album left me speechless. It is so drastically different from everything that The Wonder Years have put out, yet it is also the best thing they have released. This album is on the top of my list of albums that you must listen to this summer. It will leave you screaming for more, reducing your CD, vinyl or mp3 player to dust with the number of times you will listen to it.
Overall Rating: 5/5
Recommended Tracks: “Passing Through a Screen Door” and “A Raindance In Traffic”
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