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Review Summary: The Wonder Years are the voice of our generation. I know I'm late to reviewing this, but honestly, I just needed time. The Wonder Years have meant everything to me, and I needed a few months to truly process The Greatest Generation. Believe me, it didn't disappoint.
It's the end of the trilogy. We had immaturity, growing up, and the beginnings of existential angst with The Upsides. We had depression and the beginnings of acceptance with Suburbia. Now, with the Greatest Generation, we have a fighting spirit, invoking the memories of our forefathers who fought during World War II.
This album is just absolutely perfect, start to finish. Even without knowing the backstory of the previous albums, the musical quality of the album is superb. The lyrics are great throughout, from soft-spoken "There, There" to angry and upbeat "The Bastards, the Vultures, The Wolves."
But this album is hard to review without considering what came before it. The entire Wonder Years story is one elongated tale, and it's a tale that we can all relate to. That's what separates the Wonder Years from any other band. Any pop punk band can sing about lost love and depression and get some appreciation, but the Wonder Years have told a life story over three albums that has perfectly correlated with the lives of many young twenty-somethings fighting feelings of existential angst every day.
The devil is a common theme on The Greatest Generation that deserves some recognition. Dan "Soupy" Campbell mentions the "devil's got a rifle on my front porch / with me in his sights / he knows I came here looking for a fight" in The Bastards, The Vultures, The Wolves, and "The Devil in My Bloodstream" personifies the devil as depression coursing through his veins. Anyone who has struggled with depression can immediately identify with the sentiment of "the devil" constantly looming. Campbell has always had a knack for capturing complex feelings in song.
But the song that completes this album, both literally and figuratively, is the finale, "I Just Want to Sell Out My Funeral." Following the same format as their previous album's finale "And Now I'm Nothing," the closer references songs and themes from throughout the album and ties the whole thing together. This is possibly the best song The Wonder Years have ever written, and I honestly believe it is as close to perfect as you can get. "I'm scared ***less of failure, and I'm staring at it where I wanna be." It's funny how accurate that line is. My grandfather fought in World War II and he is probably the strongest man I've ever met. This modern generation of ours yearns to be as great as our forefathers, and I was convinced we could never meet their successes. They were willing to sacrifice their lives for something greater than themselves, and we're sitting around listening to emo and pop punk just trying to struggle through our 9-5 lives. Campbell and The Wonder Years struggle with this reality through the album, and they somehow convince the listener that our generation has the potential to be just as great as the Greatest Generation. How? I'm honestly not sure. That's why this album is so captivating. It leaves you feeling convinced that we have the potential to be the best the human race has to offer, and it refuses to let you think otherwise. That is why I think it is perfect. The Wonder Years are the greatest band of our time, and they are the future. I am honestly convinced that there has not been a better album produced in the last 10 years. It is a classic through and through, not just for its musical merits, but for the emotion it conveys. It lifts you up and refuses to let you down. To me, that is why The Wonder Years are the voice of our generation, and I can't wait for what's next.
| other reviews of this album |
Atari EMERITUS (5)
The greatest generation indeed....
NordicMindset (4.5)
The voice of an emotionally battered generation....
Project (4.5)
The kind of album where "I know how it feels to be at war with the world that never loved ...
Mutantsnowstorm (4.5)
Another great release for The Wonder Years that excels lyrically and musically....
Brandon Taylor (4)
It's a testament to The Wonder Years' abilities that The Greatest Generation can be so gre...
Jack Fraser (4.5)
Ten years out of high school, the world's changed but the music's stayed the same....
pianosmasher (5)
This is one for the history books....
Frasc5 (4.5)
The Wonder Years puts forth their best performance, noticeably more mature, and much impro...
FolioMage (5)
Philly punks end their trilogy with another perfect album....
ADV123 (4)
You're just trying to read...my review...
hahGAY (4.5)
Celebrate summer with The Wonder Years....
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Album Rating: 5.0
I've had a draft of this review sitting in my notes for months now, and I couldn't figure out how to finish it. I still think it's incomplete. I can't capture what this album truly means to me through words, and I don't think I'll ever be able to.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Hmm, well to start, you very clearly conveyed how much you loved this album and I actually become slightly entranced with the flow of it somehow which is good. On the other hand you really don't say much about the album at all aside from the lyrics, which is sort of bad. The first paragraph should be removed and relocated to your first comment most likely. Saying things like "greatest band of our time" will probably make it hard for people to get around the idea of you as a blatant fanboy, but I suppose it's just opinion. You should probably focus more on justifying those statements rather than just saying them for multiple paragraphs. I don't think it's worth a pos, but also not worth a neg either. Nice effort, try honing it a bit next time.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
I completely agree that my thoughts are all over the place. I've never had an album do that to me before, and I think it speaks to the greatness of the album. I've written dozens of reviews that I think would go over well on this site that I haven't published, but I was willing to publish this one even though I think it's clearly unfinished.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I would certainly say that if you thought this wasn't done, then you should have sat on it for a while more and worked on it. It's always hard to do these personal reviews. Channing Freeman, who is staff, is sorta famous for doing all his reviews in a similar manner to this and it works. He ties them together with his life experiences, while distinctly conveying the tone and sound of the album, generally speaking. Most new users fail utterly when they try this. I'd recommend going for some more standardly structured reviews, just outlining the sound of the album before you try something like this again. It's not bad, just could have been better.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I know I'm late to reviewing this, but honestly, I just needed time. The Wonder Years have meant everything to me, and I needed a few months to truly process The Greatest Generation. Believe me, it didn't disappoint.
delete this
that last paragraph also really needs to be broken up into at least another paragraph
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greatest band of our time
NEVER make this claim about any band in a review; it basically just kills the review. It's better to say "my favourite band of all time" (these guys are my second favourite band of all time, anyway). As Gameofmetal says, definitely put more focus on explaining and justifying your evaluations of the album.
You make plenty of good points during the review but they focus a lot on the lyrics and say almost nothing about the music other than the words "pop punk". It gives off very little sense of what the band actually does as a whole, which is a major weakness especially if the reader hasn't heard the record beforehand.
Don't be discouraged, though, there's plenty of positives to your writing. Keep at it!
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"and I needed a few months to truly process The Greatest Generation."
is this the most deepest pop-punk ever or am i taking this wrong?
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
It's pretty deep for pop punk I guess
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It usually doesn't take "a few months" but it needs more time than most pop punk albums.
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THEY ALL HAVE KIDS, ALL HAVE WIVES, ALL HAVE PEOPLE WHO CARE IF THEY COME HOME TONIGHT
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
what if they're atcually the best band of our time :o
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Btw, the lyric is "staring out at where I wanna be" not "staring at it"
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
"what if they're atcually the best band of our time"
too bad they aren't even close
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Amazing live band
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
@mall it's perfection, check it dude
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
i'm on a holiday sorry can't kill i gotta rest 8)
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
the 5's for this are disturbing tbh
also i should check jesu too ~_~
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not a 5 (but im surprised i like this at all)
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
4.5 is way more than just "i'm surprised i like it"
tbh
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lol i was saying how i'm surprised i like this even a little bit but i like this more than that, never said that i didnt like it a lot, i'm just surprised i liked it in general
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