Review Summary: You're just trying to read...my review
“The Greatest Generation” is The Wonder Years 4th album and the follow up to 2011’s “Suburbia I’ve Give You All and Now I’m Nothing.” The band released the album on May 14, 2014, to both critical and commercial success. “The Greatest Generation” debuted at 20 on the Billboard 200 and netted a 96/100 rating on metacritic. The Wonder Years manage to craft an honesty and heartfelt effort that will resonate with and beyond their pop punk fan base.
‘The Greatest Generation’ was a term created by journalist Tom Brokaw and is a term used to describe the generation of U.S. citizens who grew up during The Great Depression and then went on to fight in World War II or provide on the home front. The Wonder Years use this ‘Greatest Generation’ term to describe their generation and the struggles of growing up and finding one’s self in today’s society. Prior to the album’s release the band released a promotional video in which vocalist Dan “Soupy” Campbell said, “See people say the greatest generation has come and gone but they’re wrong, they haven’t seen what we’re capable of.”
“The Greatest Generation” is an album about growing up. While many pop punk bands are lyrically obsessed with high school romance and leaving home, The Wonder Years break these genre stereotypes. The songs found on this record are about becoming an adult and finding one’s post-adolescence self. The lyrics found here by Dan Campbell are brutally honest and sincere. These lyrics are one of the album’s strongest points, giving listeners a variety of relatable topics. From the first song to the last, Campbell’s vocal and lyrical performance is genuine and energetic.
Aside from the masterful lyrics, The Wonder Years have pushed their musicianship to new levels on this latest offering. While there are the fast, energetic, power chord driven songs pop punk fans are accustomed too, the band also knows when to slow things down with a great sense of dynamics. Songs like “An American Religion (FSF)” and “The Bastards, The Vultures, The Wolves” are driven and fast from start to finish, while songs like “The Devil In My Bloodstream” and “Madelyn” slow things down and utilize piano and acoustic guitar to add new flavor to their sonic pallet. But the band doesn’t limit themselves to these two extremes, most songs use a combination of these dynamics to create a strong sense of melody and energy.
Pushing themselves to their absolute limit, The Wonder Years break genre stereotypes and deliver an album that is musically mature and lyrically masterful. ‘The Greatest Generation’ may have come and gone but The Wonder Years are here and here to stay.
