My Top 17 Albums of 2017 #15 / My Top 90 Mid-Life Crisis Songs #10

15. The Menzingers - After The Party

Springsteen-infused post-emo punks make huge-hooked guitar anthems out of the misery of turning 30.



Today's a two-fer, because I've been meaning to feature this album in My Top 90 Mid-Life Crisis Songs since I took a (successful) punt on it a few weeks back.

Mid-Life Crisis Songs #10: The Menzingers - After The Party

After The Party is an album full of songs about the first truly terrifying mid-life crisis we all face - turning 30. Seems so long ago now, I can't even remember how it felt, but I know that wasn't a particularly positive time in my life and I doubt that particular milestone helped any (although now, of course, it seems an age devoutly to be wished for: if only I could go back there, knowing what I know now...)

It all starts with Tellin' Lies, a song which sets up the album's big question: "Where we gonna go now that our twenties are over"...

Oh yeah, oh yeah, everything is terrible
When buying marijuana makes you feel like a criminal
When your new friends take a joke too literal
Making you feel like the bad guy

Then comes Lookers, a track constantly harking back to the old days "when we were both lookers". They exist now only in sad old photographs...

Lost in a picture frame
The way my body used to behave
The way I smiled in the moment
Before it permanently froze
But that was the old me
I was such a looker in the old days

Then there's the excellent Midwestern States in which our narrator complains about the mundane realities of real life now that magic has worn off...

Been having problems with our landlord
He said he's taking us both to court
She got her hours slashed
And my unemployment's drying up fast
We both got worthless diplomas from worthless universities
Two bachelors in worthless studies
But at least it made our parents happy
And cost a whole lot of money

All of which leads to the title track, and the realisation that the only way to survive adult (post-20s) life is to find yourself a fellow survivor with whom to cling onto the wreckage.

We put miles on these old jean jackets
Got caught up in the drunk conversations
But after the party, it's me and you
After the party, it's me and you

The video does a pretty good job of illustrating "growing up" too... 



Next: Buddy Holly goes POP!