I was born in 1996, just three short years before Blink-182 released “Enema of the State” and sling-shotted Pop-Punk into the mainstream of music. You could say I grew up in the golden age of Pop-Punk thanks to bands like New Found Glory, Sum 41, Yellowcard and The Starting Line.
Even after the so called “death of Pop-Punk” when Blink-182 went on hiatus in 2004. many teens from my generation were still craving Punk music with pop roots and lyrics. Thus began the subculture of Pop Punk and it’s underground movement, a time that I remember vividly for the lack of Pop-Punk that I knew and love.
Then several years ago, there was a second coming of Pop-Punk, bands that grew up with the same bands that I did, began making music of their own influenced by all of the bands I knew and loved. This was led by a band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called The Wonder Years. When I first heard about The Wonder Years I was reluctant to give them a listen, I had heard so much about them and how they were going to be the band that would bring Pop-Punk back to it’s former glory, but I was still reluctant. I didn’t want them to be another Popcore or Screamo band, like those that had risen to fame after the fall of Blink-182. In early 2010, I finally caved and gave them a listen.
The first song I ever listened to was “Don’t Let Me Cave In” from the 2010 release “Suburbia: I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing”. After listening to that song, my initial reluctance and fear were thrown out the window. The Wonder Years had it, at the time I didn’t know what that was, but I knew The Wonder Years had it. As I continued listening to them, I found something that is so rare in music these days, honesty. Something about Dan Campbell (Singer/Lyricist) and his writing was just so blunt and honest. He wrote how he felt, and I respected that, he put his feelings on paper and turned them into songs that people feeling the same way could relate to.
It’s so rare to see something like that in today’s popular artists, it seems like these days everyone has a ghost writer, writing songs that will appeal to the casual music listener, but what about people who take their music seriously? What about people who want something intellectual or heart-wrenching or simply thought-filled in their music? I found that in The Wonder Years, the whole point of their existence as a band is to write music that is honest and heart-wrenching and intellectual. It’s Pop-Punk, but at the same time, much more depth and thorough than the Pop-Punk I grew up with. It has that catchy riffing type of guitar, but lyrics that mean a lot, lyrics that make you think and realize how normal these musicians are. It makes the listener realize they’re not alone in their problems, the three albums The Wonder Years have released discuss depression after graduating from college, not knowing what to do with your life, getting over that depression, losing a loved one who had been there forever, letting go of people who you thought you needed, and most importantly, they write songs about having hope for the future, and being ready to get over this depression and not let it take over. The Wonder Years deserve so much more credit than they are given, they write music that every person needs regardless of if they’re willing to admit it or not. We all feel this way sometime, and Campbell can identify with any audience because his lyrics are honest, and of truth. The people mentioned in his songs, are real people in his life, the events in his lyrics are real as well.
It’s music than anyone can relate to, the fact that The Wonder Years aren’t currently in the Top 40 just shows what music has come to. People are too afraid to admit to their emotions and they just want music that takes them away from it, but that’s how depression gets worse, you can’t get better by suppressing a problem. A band like The Wonder Years is therapeutic, they have catchy riffs, fast drums, loud guitars, and powerful vocals, but most importantly the lyrics are something anyone can relate to. The Wonder Years deserve much more credit than they are given, their music is way ahead of it’s time and will hopefully come around soon enough that a band like this can be selling out arenas as big as Madison Square Garden.
When a band puts blood, sweat and tears into their art, to make something beautiful, to make something meaningful, that’s when they deserve the spotlight, and deserve to be on the radio, and touring the world. A band like The Wonder Years puts so much passion into their music that they should be that band, they refuse to give up, and make it known through their music, and when a band is that hard working, they should be playing huge arenas and touring the world. A band like The Wonder Years, is a band the music community needs, whether they are willing to admit it or not.
