Album
Vermilion Sands

Youth of America Wipers

released: 1981-11-11
on label: Park Avenue
artist: Wipers
genres: Post-PunkPunk Rock
with some: Art PunkNoise Rock
listen at: Apple Spotify YouTube Music

“A grizzly, furious beast of a 30-minute record, Youth of America saw Greg Sage and his Wipers lengthening some of their material to very unfashionable lengths. Sage’s time spent in a professional setup for the debut LP frustrated him, and the fact that he’s gained complete control here makes it seem as if a cork has been pulled from a bottle. The shackles are off and the group’s own personality hits full bloom. Vocally, Sage sounds like a sleepless outcast loaded on an unhealthy amount of caffeine, fraught with a magnified level of paranoia and angst that needs immediate purging – often, his life seems to be depending on it. “Youth of America” itself is a nightmare locomotive, a ten-minute chug through a persistent rhythm, screechingcareeningwailing guitars, and jarring psychedelic effects. The remaining five songs, which don’t lessen the intensity very much, are solid in their own right and are generally more tuneful than the title track.” - Andy Kellman, AllMusic