HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: The Upsides – The Wonder Years
Released on January 26 2010, The Upsides saw a turning point for pop-punk’s THE WONDER YEARS. As their second studio album, this was a new approach to their music following 2007’s humour-led Get Stoked On It!. The Upsides, whilst not losing sight of playfulness, turned to vulnerability and saw THE WONDER YEARS release an and more mature outing that has since seen the album become their spiritual debut.
THE WONDER YEARS set out with their sophomore release to write an album about giving up. Initially disillusioned with his early 20’s, lead singer Dan Campbell reflects in the vinyl’s liner notes that he wrote the album in a notebook whilst on bike rides. However, it was one particular bike ride past a fountain at Logan Circle that found the entire album changing shape. The sight of beauty in the mundane struck a change in his creative process, and saw the album change its track, rejecting misery and embracing fighting back.
The Upsides delved into what you would expect from an early 2010’s pop punk album from social anxiety on This Party Sucks to feeling stuck in your town on It’s Never Sunny In South Philadelphia. Yet, no matter how sad THE WONDER YEARS got on The Upsides, it was this search for a silver lining that carried across. Reflecting in an interview with Clash, Dan notes ‘the conceit of [the Upsides] was, if I continue to look at everything through a morose worldview, I will continue to perpetuate that cycle, and so I need to attempt to break that.’ For each moment on The Upsides that the world weighed on them, there was a determination to fight back. The memory of the transformative bike ride past Logan Circle weaved through each track, none more specifically than Logan Circle itself.
The promotion for the album rolled out with the energetic first single Melrose Diner, a track equally angry and self-reflective, being released on MySpace. It was the use of social networking platforms that saw THE WONDER YEARS fostering a devoted fanbase. As they posted, asking their fans to share their own upsides, the album’s rollout became a place to create community within the resilience and positivity that the band themselves were fighting for on the album.
This fostering of empowerment in resilience came to redefine THE WONDER YEARS’ discography. In an interview with NME surrounding The Upsides’ 10th Anniversary, Dan claimed that the album “helped me exercise a lot of things mentally, it launched a whole career for us.” It’s hard to imagine if THE WONDER YEARS had chosen to continue the humour packed style of Get Stoked On It! Instead, The Upsides saw THE WONDER YEARS taking a vulnerable turn towards determination and hope, two themes that have remained consistent in everything they have since released.
Following its release, the band embarked on a busy touring schedule to promote the album. They played a handful of release shows that January across the US, before further touring with THEREFORE I AM and MAN OVERBOARD in the February, CRIME IN STEREO and SUCH GOLD in the March, and SET YOUR GOALS in the April. The buzz that they were able to generate following the album’s release reached new levels when in May of 2010 they announced they had signed to Hopeless Records. For the rest of the year they were touring the US with bands such as STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO and NEW FOUND GLORY, and Australia with TONIGHT ALIVE.
Initially released through No Sleep Records and Run For Cover Records, The Upsides was later re-released as a deluxe version through Hopeless Records. This included four extra tracks, I Was Scared And I’m Sorry, Dynamite Shovel (Campfire Version), Longan Circle: A New Hope, and We Won’t Bury You. This signing with Hopeless saw THE WONDER YEARS pushed to the forefront of the early 2010’s pop punk landscape, and paved the way for the trilogy of albums within which The Upsides exists. Sitting amongst Suburbia I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing (2011) and The Greatest Generation (2013), The Upsides opened the narrative within THE WONDER YEARS’ discography regarding growing up, and Dan’s fight against depression and anxiety.
The Upsides upon its release charted at number nine on the Billboard Top Heatseekers and 42 on the Top Independent Album Charts. Yet, it has not been until people have looked back that The Upsides has truly been given its full recognition. Rock Sound have listed it at number 24 on their ‘The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums Of All Time’ list in 2014 (Issue 191), and 133 on their ‘250 Greatest Albums of Our Lifetime’ list in 2019 (Issue 250).
This desire to reflect on the album has taken THE WONDER YEARS’ fancy too. In 2015 the album was reissued with bonus track Leavenhouse. 11:30, and in 2021 a 10th anniversary box set compiling The Upsides and Suburbia I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing was released, featuring previously unheard demos, archival material and new tracks Brakeless and Out On My Feet which were recorded in the styles of each album era. This release was also paired with a tour in 2022 where the band played each album in full each night.
“I’m not sad anymore I’m just tired of this place.” These lyrics open and close The Upsides, and perfectly encapsulate the determination to find hope despite the sadness that THE WONDER YEARS have perfected across their discography. Listening back to The Upsides 15 years after its release feels like capturing lightning in a bottle – a snapshot of a band just on the cusp of becoming a defining part of their genre.
The Upsides was originally released on January 26 2010 via No Sleep Records.
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