The Youth Ahead - Better Late Than Never (2020)

Nostalgic pop-punk that’s catchier than the Rose Garden

From 1995 through 2005, The Youth Ahead were a New Jersey pop-punk mainstay. Those of us lucky enough to have been witness to that scene have been given a long overdue treat with Better Late Than Never. The collection of covers, demos and tracks from an unfinished album harkens back to the glory days of NJ pop-punk. Before we dive into this latest release though, the band’s history is worth laying out.

Odds are good that if your favorite pop-punk band toured NJ at the turn of the millenium, The Youth Ahead was their favorite pop-punk band. The vastly underrated trio (later quartet) were known for their raucous live shows & songs that were catchier than coronavirus in the Rose Garden.

The original trio, Shawn McGovern, Chris “Rock” Sparta and Jay Monchik, had always been appreciated for its sophomoric lyrics. 2000’s The Oneder Years feature tracks like “Soap Slut,” “I Want Your Girlfriend” “Ode To The Dollar” and “I’m a Fuckup”which are an indication of the beautifully juvenile and cheeky themes The Youth Ahead were loved for. Those fun and absurdly contagious tracks garnered The Youth Ahead a horde of fans throughout the NJ scene.

As the trio’s fans started to grow up, so did TYA. With the addition of fourth member Chris “Loon” Leone there was an added sense of maturation found on 2003’s The New Album and the 2005 EP For The Ones That Got Away.

The rarities collection leads off with seven tracks originally intended for an album that never got made prior to The Youth Ahead splitting up. “So Safe and Simple” lead the record off with a pitch perfect pop-punk bounce accompanied by McGovern’s nasally vocals call back to the fun of those TYA live shows and early 2000s records from New Found Glory and Blink 182.

“Kiss Yer Ass Goodbye” was originally written for The Youth Ahead by Glen Burtnik of Styx. Yes, that Styx. The track is another McGovern-led slice of pop heaven. Leone leads “Crimson and Blue,” another standout track with a slowed air of growth and longing.

Better Late Than Never features two previously unreleased demos “Geronimo” and “Sensitive Girl.” Both songs were produced by Rob Kinelski, who was just starting out at the time he produced both of these tracks or The New Album but has since become a Grammy Award winner for his work on Billie Eilish‘s “Bad Guy.” The demos show the paths TYA could have taken if they had kept together.

The album closes out with a trio of covers starting with “Yummy Yummy” originally by Ohio Express and recorded as a trio in this case. The cover is more fun than it deserves to be. Roxette‘s “It Must’ve Been Love” gets the pop-punk reimagining as well, as TYA crafts a fast and fun version of the heartbreak ballad before knocking “Paradise City” out of the proverbial park.

Better Late Than Never is a great introduction to the NJPP scene and TYA’s back catalog for listeners who didn’t get to live through it, and an amazing reintroduction to those lucky souls who stumbled up and down the stairs after The Youth Ahead took the stage at the Birch Hill. The album reminds those of who lived it of the sweat and smiles a set from TYA would undoubtedly bring. In a world where every day Americans face a “new” new normal, the opportunity to travel back to the pinnacle of pop-punk with The Youth Ahead is a welcome and well-needed respite.