The Wonder Years - The Hum Goes On Forever (Sept 23rd 2022) Album • Page 2

The one good thing about the band's older stuff is they never stooped as low as their peers in terms of sexism. Some weird race stuff aside, it's just corny more than anything else.

 

Suburbia
Sister cities
TGG
NCTH
Upsides

 

I and others have said this on here before but none of Dan's peers could have written a breakup song as self-aware/self-reflective as Melrose Diner. For the time/genre, it really holds up.

 

It would have been very easy for Dan to descend into bitter misogyny on songs like Melrose Diner off the Upsides (it's a breakup record to an extent) but everything snaps into place with the last line of the bridge. Lists off a bunch of light-hearted things he hates about his ex and takes a pop at her new man but also it's no big deal for him because 'I know he's what you need"

also what @Anthony_ said

 

I always really enjoyed this bands progression. A lot of their peers continued to write the same record four times over.

Everything I’ve heard about this has me more excited than anything they’ve ever done.

 

Let's goooooo

 

Never listened to GSOI! in full and never really felt the need to, although I'm sure I'd probably have some fun with it looking back. Otherwise, as I've said before, I like each record more than the one that came before

Sister Cities
NCTH
TGG
Suburbia
Upsides

 

The Greatest Generation
Suburbia
Sister Cities
The Upsides
No Closer to Heaven

People who weren't around when Upsides came out might have a have time knowing the landscape that was coming out in. It was mostly neon pop-rock like All Time Low that was popular, and that record really resonated with a ton of kids in college or younger, and kickstarted an entire pop punk revival. It's hard to think bands like Transit, Fireworks, The Story So Far, Man Overboard, etc. had anywhere close to the level of success they obtained if it wasn't for The Upsides.

I'm sure there were some that were onboard with TWY before me, but I still remember hearing them for the first time my freshman year of college. I loved how crunchy and beefy the instruments sounded compared to other pop punk, but it took me seeing them live open for NFG to make it click.

 

I Was Scared & I'm Sorry is probably the best track from that era

 

Sister Cities
Suburbia
The Greatest Generation
The Upsides
No Closer to Heaven

The Upsides could maybe be higher, but idk if it's recency bias seeing them play it in full on this tour

 

Suburbia
The Upsides
The Greatest Generation
Sister Cities
No Closer to Heaven
GSOI


All could easily be switched around though

 

The "Suburbia stop pushing" melody is probably my favorite thing the band has done. I think I maybe listened to that album 1-2 times when it first came out and it's stuck with me ever since. Really good stuff there.

 

TGG
Upsides
Suburbia
NCTH
SC
GSOI

The production of NCTH and SC aren’t the best and take away from how great the albums are. This band doesn’t have a bad album in them. I’d also put WBPF above the last two. It’s banger after banger.

 

Seeing The Wonder Years - LP7 makes me feel real fucking old lol

 

Always happy to rank albums. I am realizing that my opinion on Sister Cities is way off from most.

1A. The Greatest Generation
1B. No Closer to Heaven (I can't really pick between the two)
3. Suburbia
4. The Upsides
5. Sister Cities

 

TGG
NCTH
Suburbia
Sister Cities
The Upsides

 

TGG
SC
Suburbia
NCTH
Upsides

 

TGG
Suburbia
NCTG
Sister Cities
Upsides

 

TGG
Suburbia
Upsides
Sister Cities
NCTH

 

I don't recall lyrics from Upsides being embarrassing. Any examples? Same with racism you referred to?

 

I think the racism thing comes from the slightly misguided lyric of "I tried so hard to be some great white hope" which to me isn't racist, just tone deaf. Upsides lyrics are just kind of childish rebellion at points, Dynamite Shovel talking about burning a whole town to the ground and how they'll chalk up the ultra-Christian viewpoints as inbreeding just... isn't a mature way to talk about those issues.

 

I wouldn’t call it “racism”. Ignorance, maybe? They stopped playing Fruit Punched and I think Dan apologized for it later. Just outdated “white guy speaks in hip hop language” humor that sucks. Theres another weird line about “Asian neighbors” in another song that I don’t think theyd write today.



The cringe on the Upsides mainly comes from the “good guy” POV they take on the songs focused on college life (My Last Semester, This Party Sucks). That might just be me projecting because I knew people who had the same mindset and they stunk. Leave the juggalos alone!

 

This Party Sucks is cringy as hell

Also was it mentioned in the band thread that Dan has been omitting the great white hope line from Local Man live? I don't remember if it was included or not in the show I went to

 

He definitely didn't sing it at the show I was at.

 

yeah he's not sang that in a while. 'And you know I tried so hard...' Doesn't sub anything in as far as I'm aware