The Greatest Generation

The Greatest Generation is the latest album by a band called The Wonder Years. I read great reviews of it on the Web, so I bought it sound unheard. Mostly I end up liking albums I get that way, but sometimes I strike out. This is one of those times.

But here's the thing: the lyrics on this record, by lead singer Dan Campbell, are outstanding. Read just as poetry they are touching and visceral. I just couldn't stand the music, starting with Campbell's vocals, and extending to the production and arrangement.

Campbell's writing focuses mostly on the soul-crushing nature of life in the suburbs, and the fear of failure and being a fuck-up. Each song touches on these themes, sometimes brilliantly. The opening song, "There, There," kicks things off with the great line "You're just trying to read but I'm always standing in your light," and ends with "I'm awkward and nervous." In "Passing Through a Screen Door," Campbell sings, "Jesus Christ. I'm 26. All the people I graduated with all have kids, all have wives, all have people who care if they come home at night. Jesus Christ, did I fuck up?"

Most of the lyrics are not in the conventional pop song format, and the lyrics rarely rhyme. They are almost like prose, which lends itself to the problem of the music. I hate to say it, but I felt assaulted by the songs. The sound is straight-ahead pop punk, a lot like Green Day but without any of the catchiness. After listening to this record half a dozen times I can't hum one of the songs. They would have been better served to have a different type of arrangement--more like an acoustic folk sound, or orchestral arrangements. Instead, it's all high-speed instrumentation and Campbell shouting the words.

A good case in point is the song "The Devil in My Bloodstream," in which the singer worries that he has inherited the defects of his family. It has the beautiful line, "Two blackbirds on a highway sign are laughing at me at four in the morning." The instrumentation is the strumming of a guitar. But about halfway through the song, seemingly unable to contain himself, Campbell starts screaming, and the song was ruined for me.

But I could go on about the lyrics. I love the sprinkling of history throughout. Here are three examples: "I'm terrified like a kid in the sixties, staring at the sky waiting for the bomb to fall," or "Truman will always be remembered for dropping the bomb. I'll always be remembered for my fuck ups," or "It feels like 1929 and I'm on the verge of a great collapse today."

I would love to hear these lyrics with different music, something more subtle and sensitive to the words. Mostly it's just noise.