The Wonder Years Band • Page 151

I think "Flowers" is my favorite TWY song

 

"Flowers" is def a top 5 for me. I think "It Must Get Lonely" is my favorite of theirs

 

SC being the best is a very understandable take for someone who doesn't have nostalgia for the previous albums.

 

The Upsides was the soundtrack to my freshman year of college, haha. I was rocking TWY tees when they were still making songs about breakfast cereal mascots. It was a black t with neon green and pink and I think like an alligator spraypainting their name? It was very ugly

Those first few albums just aren't very good. Suburbia is, but SS is a clear step up.

 

Also I take it back, Salinger is still my favorite TWY song. Flowers is a close 2

 

I think TGG is very very comfortably their best and I don't think nostalgia has much to do with it

 

I agree, but I'm not going to argue much with someone who would argue Sister Cities, especially since I view TGG as a perfected version of the pop punk they were playing up until that point, and Sister Cities is definitely experimenting a little more.

 

I really disagree with this haha. That record is such a half step from TGG to SC in a really awkward way imo. TGG was the apotheosis of what they were doing beforehand and on NCTH is just seemed like they were stuck between pop punk and whatever they wanted to do next

 

Yday I said I'd cut Ernest Hemingway from NCTH but admittedly hadn't listened to it in a long while--I was wrong.

 

I'm genuinely baffled for the love of TGG haha, especially as someone who pretty much ignored the band for the run of Suburbia-NCTH. Maybe in real time the shift to TGG was more noticeable, but knowing what they will eventually do with SC makes me not as impressed with it. I view TGG and NCTH as both "half steps" to what they will eventually become, NCTH just hits me harder with the lyrics.

Suburbia retains a lot of the humor that you get on Upsides, elevates the writing and keeps the hooks. TGG, to me at least, stripped away that humor and wasn't anywhere as interesting lyrically/hook wise. Not many standouts on that album to me. NCTH is a pretty boring sounding album, but I think the lyrics at least make up for it. I'm not going back to either any time soon, though.

SC is them taking the style to the next level and also contains some of my favorite writing from Dan.

 

Hard for me to take an argument against TGG seriously with one of the detractions being less interesting hook wise than Suburbia.

 

I agree with the humor part on TGG. It's definitely much more serious and heavy thematically compared to Suburbia. Although I love both of those records

 

I... do not care!

 

Let's start talking favorite single lyrics and really add some pages to this thread

 

what is your favorite 9th line of a TWY song

 

haha, no worries. I just really think those hooks are next level, and there's more songs with earworms than not. I'll admit 3-4 of them aren't the catchiest, but Dismantling Summer, The Devil In My Bloodstream, Chaser, and Cul-de-sac are top tier TWY choruses.

 

Well coincidentally I was looking at the lyrics of Teenage Parents and the 9th line is "All we had was good will," which is a pretty good one in my opinion

 

just doing a discog run and having a lovely, lovely time

 

Ugh I just put on NCTH. I love Cardinals so much, but the kick drum sounds like it's about to blow my speakers out, the cymbals are nonexistent, and Dan's vocals are so muted sounded.

 

theyre all good albums

 

As someone who's been listening since The Upsides came out and loves all of their albums, Sister Cities is their best both lyrically and musically. But they don't have a single bad album.

 

Suburbia will always be The One for me but they're all great, new song is great, band is great

 

Obviously with sister cities anything they did beforehand seems a little juvenile—I agree that that’s their best and pretty handily too. I don’t even disagree about TGG being a half step, but I think it’s much better executed than NCTH. I think it feels like a much, much more confident and competent version of that album, which feels watered down by comparison. I also completely disagree about the hooks honestly—chaser, screen door, dismantling summer, there’s some big tracks in here. I think it’s probably dan’s most consistent lyrical work, too, maybe even including SC. I don’t think the humor worked as well on suburbia as on the upsides so I appreciate that Dan took things a bit more seriously on TGG. The biggest complains I have with that record are 1) it is too long and 2) funeral is a much better song without the—sorry!—awkward and shoehorned callbacks

 

Agree TGG lost some of the humour but it's about the only thing I agree with from that take. Great album. For me Suburbia shades it but only just, and they're my top two