Youth of America

For the Birdbrain song, see Youth of America (Birdbrain song).
Youth of America
Studio album by Wipers
Released 1981
Recorded 1981 at Wave Sound Studios
Genre Post-punk
Length 30:40
Label Park Ave.
Producer Greg Sage
Wipers chronology

Alien Boy
(1980)
Youth of America
(1981)
Over the Edge
(1983)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]

Youth of America is the second studio album by American punk rock band Wipers. It was released in 1981 by record label Park Avenue.

Background

The album marks a distinctive change in the band's sound. Compared to its predecessor Is This Real?, which was composed mostly of raw, sleek and relatively traditional songs, Youth of America features much longer and complex compositions; the title track alone clocks in at over 10 minutes. According to Greg Sage, this change of pace was a deliberate counter-reaction against the trend of releasing short songs, which many punk bands did at the time.[2]

Release

Youth of America was released in 1981.

According to Sage, the album was not well received in the United States at the time of its release, but fared better in Europe.[2]

Youth of America was later reissued on record labels Backbone and Restless, with different covers for each, and on Greg Sage's own Zeno Records as disc two of the Wipers Box Set, albeit with a different running order to the original vinyl issue.

Legacy

"Youth of America"
Sample of "Youth of America", from the album Youth of America by the Wipers in 1981. The overall song is over ten minutes long.

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Along with other records by the Wipers, Youth of America has since come to be acknowledged as an important album in the development of American underground and independent rock movements of the early 1980s.[3] Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth has cited the album as an inspiration,[4] and covered the track "Pushing the Extreme" with Keith Nealy for the Wipers tribute album Fourteen Songs for Greg Sage and The Wipers.

The title track was covered by The Melvins on their 2001 album Electroretard and Mission of Burma on the live album Snapshot. Kurt Cobain listed it in his top 50 albums of all time.[5][6]

Track listing

All songs written by Greg Sage.

A1. "Taking Too Long"
A2. "Can This Be"
A3. "Pushing the Extreme"
A4. "When It's Over"
B1. "No Fair"
B2. "Youth of America"

Personnel

Wipers

References

  1. Kellman, Andy. "Youth of America – Wipers : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Wipers..Youth of America". zenorecords.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  3. Kellman, Andy. "Wipers | Biography | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  4. Thiessen, Brock (January 19, 2009). "Thurston Moore Says New Sonic Youth Album Inspired by the Wipers • News • exclaim.ca". exclaim.ca. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
  5. Kennedy, Thomas (May 9, 2013). ""Top 50 by Nirvana" | Journal // Joyful Noise Recordings". Joyful Noise Recordings. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  6. Cross, Gaar, Gendron, Martens, Yarm (2013). Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-7603-4521-4.

External links