Weekly Poll: Favorite The Wonder Years Album

Rank em, tell us why, or just pick one.

Link to all of the other polls here. You can leave suggestions for new polls there or here. Whatevs.

 

Good morning everyone

Casting my vote for Sister Cities. I’m of the opinion that TWY get better with every album (although NCTH is more of a sidestep comparable to A City By The Light Divided into Common Existence). I’ve carried those songs with me for over a year now and they’ve all meant a lot to me at different times. My grandma was recently diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s and I can’t help but think of the second verse of “The Ghosts Of Right Now” every time I see her. “It Must Get Lonely” makes me think of my brother and his battle with drugs that he just can’t seem to shake. “The Orange Grove” ties into my aunt and uncle losing their health insurance and having to use fake names just to get my cousins their toddler flu shots. “The Ocean Grew Hands To Hold Me” is me, right now at this moment. I’m not angry like I used to be. I’m happy with my job, I’m comfortable with my skin and sexuality, I’ve stopped pushing away the people I love and for the first time in a long long time I feel good.

As far as the others go: NCTH has some high highs but some mediocre songs coupled with rough production keep it from greatness. TGG feels like this band fully realized on a lot of ways and will probably go down as their classic. Suburbia is aging really well and pretty much all of those songs and the bonus tracks hold up very well. The Upsides is kinda similar but some songs don’t hold up as well.

I love this band a whole lot sorry for the babbling

 

A toss up between Suburbia and TGG for me but I went with Suburbia because I listen to it more.

 

Sister Cities. Easily their most cohesive and expansive album. Greatest Generation is #2 for me.

 

This is a band for which whenever the new album comes out, I automatically label it as my next favorite. I think it is because as I grow older, the newer songs speak more to me than the older ones do. In fact, I cannot relate to the Upsides or Suburbia anymore and those songs don't do what they did for me at the time. However, Sister Cities and NCTH still get spins from me and I find myself revisting NCTH more than I ever expected (despite the obvious production flaws). Stained Glass Ceilings and Cigarettes & Saints are in my top 5 favorite TWY songs.

However, the way I am basing my vote is "which album spoke most to me at any given time in my life?" That answer is Suburbia. That album spoke to me at a period of time when I was much younger, but needed to hear it. Every song lyrically captured that suburban lifestyle, a bit of that self-loathing, slightly capturing feelings of loneliness and depression while your friends are away, as well as that slight rambunctious side. It was a perfect end of high school into college soundtrack.

If you asked me today, "which TWY album is the best?" I would say Sister Cities. However, Suburbia has a much more significant impact on my life 7-8 years ago and I will go with that.

 

This band fell off for me after TGG. I want to like it but it's not catchy anymore.

 

"Passing Through a Screen Door" was the only song of theirs I could get into, so The Greatest Generation it is.

 

I wish I could say I love their newer stuff as much as Suburbia or Upsides. Idk what it is with the last two records but I just haven't connected with Sister Cities or NCTH much at all compared to Suburbia which has always been the quintessential TWY record for me with Upsides and TGG right behind it. I think Suburbia was just the record I needed when I was graduating high school and experiencing my first couple years of college, which were both some of the scariest/stressful years of my youth

 

My mom passed this year and Sister Cities speaks to me in every way.

There's a man with his head in his hands on the sidewalk
His wife's there behind him just off of the street
She scratches his back as he sobs on the asphalt
And what strikes me most is the symmetry
How they're framed just like you and me
When the light from the hospital's eastern wing
Tangles up in your hair and the sadness that pooled in my heart
Starts emptying slowly

Devastates me every time. I have “it must get lonely” tattooed on me. Probably will grow into one of my all time favorites.

Also on a different level, it is the only CD of their’s that doesn’t feel slightly overlong. Moves seamlessly and never drags.

 

Suburbia

 

Love the upsides (2nd choice). Loved suburbia (my vote). GG was good. Just haven't connected with much since then. Really disliked most of the last two albums. Not catch enough, I dunno.

 

I like the one with Soupy crying about rent and being sad.

 

For real tho, Suburbia rocks

 

It’s The Greatest Generation. Their production has suffered since and The Upsides is all nostalgia based for me.

 

I really do think they've gotten better with every album. Although I still love them all (never listened to GSOI though)

 

TGG>Sister Cities>Suburbia>>The Upsides>>NCTH>>>>Get Stoked On It.

 

Someone actually voted for get stoked on it wow

 

TGG has my favourite songs but Sister Cities is their best album as a whole imo.

 

Happy to see SC getting a lot of love, but NCTH having only one more vote than Get Stoked is kind of hurting my heart

 

There, There, Hoodie Weather, Cul-de-sac

 

GG for me. Not even close.

 

Suburbia is the only one I really got into. Weird how that happens with bands sometimes.

 

Didn't think this poll would have so many votes. Any other suggestions? Was thinking The Front Bottoms soon.

 

This is my opinion as well

 

TGG is their magnum opus in my eyes. endlessly catchy, cohesive, overflowing with energy and the production's just the certain amount of rough. couldn't pick three one-liners if i tried - it's packed with those. Suburbia's a close second but they were clearly maturing back then, NCTH sounds bad, and Sister Cities just didn't grab me.