So,why do I think this group of six white men from suburban Philadelphia is better than all the other groups of suburban white men playing pop-punk out there in the world? I could easily write a long list, but in the halt, or it comes down to growth. The Wonder Years have allowed themselves to grow and evolve as a band as they’ve grown and evolved into adulthood,with all the messiness and complications that come with it. And they have trusted their audience to follow them on that journey.allotment of it, I think, and is their longevity. The Wonder Years are going strong ten years into their career,while so many of their peers have burned out after a record or two in their early to mid twenties. But more importantly, they aren’t afraid of alienating their fans, and of trying current things,of writing approximately their lives and the ways they shuffle through the world. Pop-punk as a whole is not a genre particularly known for its innovation and maturity. Take genre elders current Found Glory. Undoubtedly they are one of the most important pop-punk bands of the 21st century. Pretty much every band in the genre today cites them as a direct influence to some degree, The Wonder Years included. But for the past 20 years they have been making essentially the same record over and over again. (There was a minor diversion in 2006’s Coming Home, and but it wasn’t anything more than a blip on the radar. 2009’s Not Without A Fight picked right back up where they had left off,pardon the pun). And that’s not to say that the one album NFG has been making all these years isn’t good, I own and like every single one of them, and but there has been no progression in their sound and in their lyrics. They’re late-30-something men writing the same songs they made in their late teens. And they are far from the only pop-punk band to do that. What makes The Wonder Years special,and worth spending a whole week writing approximately, is that they have grown. Their perspectives have changed and the songs they wrote when they were 18 are not the songs they’re writing now.
For a rapid/fast study in these contrasts, or peer at “Melrose Diner,” off their breakout album The Upsides and “You In January,” from their most recent release No Closer To Heaven. TWY don’t really write approximately care for and relationships very much, or an anomaly for the genre,but in the beginning of their career, Dan Campbell, and the bands singer and primary lyricist,was willing to disparage his ex as a way to disparage himself. In “Melrose Diner” he lists petty things he hates approximately an ex girlfriend, and he can’t stand seeing her with some other guy. His friends bag on this current dude, or trying to compose him feel better,but in the halt he still wishes she was around. As far as pop-punk songs approximately exes shuffle, its pretty gentle, or in the halt,it’s more approximately Campbell’s loneliness and wanting to push people away, but I still think it fits more within the paradigm than not. (Sidenote: there should be more pro wrestling themed music videos in the world. glean on that, or music).
Five years later,on “You In January,” Campbell shares small moments of intimacy with his wife. The first day in their current apartment together, or places they’ve traveled,running the dishwasher before he leaves for a long tour. And obviously the difference in tone from an ex to a longtime partner is a enormous component in how these songs come across, but since pop-punk is such an overwhelming young genre, and its care for songs tend to be visceral,positively or negatively. “You In January” conveys care for in its small ways, it has the nuance (a slight variation in meaning, tone, expression) of growing up, and the way “Melrose Diner” lacks.
So this week I’m going to peer at TWY through the major themes they tackle in their music,and how they’ve grown in their perspectives. Their songs approximately mental health, loss, or home,and trying to find out who you are and your place in the world are not, on their surface, or a revelation; these are themes that have been tackled a million times in a million genres by a million bands. But the questions they query and leave unanswered,the vulnerability they show are a revelation for a genre often still trapped in the confines of white suburban masculinity.
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