Kind of rediscovered Wipers’ Youth of America recently after I found this video of them performing the title track live in 1983:
And so that brought me back to the album, which is great:
Released in 1981 at the peak of the early hardcore scene, when hardcore was positing itself as the “real” thing reacting against “normal” punk and new wave, Youth of America was a further reaction against that: six songs in 30 minutes rather than 30 songs in six minutes, and the title track clocks in over 10 minutes. It’s borderline prog by comparison with, say, Minor Threat or early Husker Du (whose Land Speed Record was even shorter but had 17 songs). Great stuff. I’ve seen Greg Sage characterised as a sort of punk Hendrix, which he demurs in interviews but I don’t think it’s entirely wrong.
The thing that puzzles me, though, is that when Sage reissued it in the Wipers box set, he switched the sides round. I don’t know why, and obviously it was his prerogative to do that, “When It’s Over” still makes a good album closer… it’s just that the title track makes a better one. It’s the sort of epic guitar burnout that feels like a natural final track for an album or a live set closer.
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