The Wonder Years have been celebrating the 10th anniversary of their classic album The Greatest Generation this year, with plans to release a now-sold-out box set and a tour that will find them performing the album in full. There will also be a standard 10th anniversary edition of the LP, and we’ve got an exclusive blue with black blob & orange splatter vinyl variant up for pre-order now and limited to just 500 copies. Get yours while they last!

We included the album in our recent list of 25 classic emo and post-hardcore albums turning 10 in 2023. Here’s what we said:

With The Greatest Generation, The Wonder Years pushed pop punk about as far as it could go, transcending the genre without ever abandoning what makes it so uniquely thrilling. I’ve called it the best true-blue pop punk album since Enema of the State, a statement that feels less and less hyperbolic as time goes on. The Greatest Generation didn’t just carry the torch for pop punk after most of the genre’s big names faded away, it redefined it for a new generation. It was their second consecutive album produced by Steve Evetts, and like on 2011’s Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing, Steve and The Wonder Years achieved a near-perfect sound without relying on auto-tune, drum quantizing, or other studio tricks that have been overused in pop punk. It’s an approach that came naturally to The Wonder Years, who have always been an exceptional live band, and The Greatest Generation is a well-produced studio masterpiece that also captures the uninhibited energy of their live show. The band is in full force, every little intricate drum fill and lead guitar riff and vocal harmony is perfectly placed and perfectly executed, and the songwriting on this album remains some of the band’s best. Dan Campbell bared his soul as he delivered heart-wrenching musings on mental health and death, turned everyday mundanity into vivid imagery, and sung impossibly catchy melodies at the top of his lungs. The Greatest Generation gives you everything that you want from a pop punk album and more, and The Wonder Years could pull off even the most familiar thrills in a way that sounded like no other band on the planet.

The Greatest Generation tour has support from three great newer emo / pop punk bands, Anxious, Sweet Pill, and Action/Adventure, and it hits the NYC-area on September 10 at Terminal 5 and October 22 at Starland Ballroom. Check out the tour poster below.

The box set also includes bonus material including recently-released outtake “GODDAMNITALL.” Hear that here.

Pick up our exclusive variant of the standard LP here and revisit the classic video for “Passing Through A Screen Door” below.