Couldn't Sell Out a Telephone Booth: Descendents (Part 1/2)

I don't generally buy new music the day it comes out. Most of the bands I listen to are long gone or they have reached a point in their career where they release music much less frequently. However, this year, there have been a couple of exceptions: Blink-182 and the Descendents, both of which impressed me. However, I will discuss Blink some other time and focus on the Descendents and its sister band, All.

Based on the bands I have discussed in the past, I think it's no surprise I tend to listen to the poppier, more melodic end of punk rock, and aside from the Ramones, the Descendents more or less kickstarted it. Coming up at the same time as more aggressive, rougher edged bands like Black Flag, the Circle Jerks and Minor Threat in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Descendents interjected a much stronger sense of melody and a much less serious demeanor, which helped set them apart from many of their contemporaries.

Initially formed in the late 1970s in Hermosa Beach, California by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson, the group put out a surf-y, new wave influenced single with Navetta and Lombardo singing on the each side. Soon afterwards, the band drafted Milo Aukerman, a friend of Stevenson's from high school, to front the band, a role he has had ever since. With Milo in tow, the band abandoned their earlier sound in favor of much faster, shorter, aggressive punk songs, which can be heard on the band's first EP, Fat.

After Fat, the band followed up with their first full length album, Milo Goes to College in 1982. True to the album's name, Milo would end up leaving the band to go to college to study biochemistry, and Bill Stevenson joined Black Flag, while the rest of the band largely went on hiatus. On the occasions the band would perform, they were fronted by Ray Cooper, unless Milo was in town. In that case, Milo would sing and Cooper would play rhythm guitar.

By the mid 1980s, Bill Stevenson had left Black Flag and presented Milo with some new songs, and the Descendents regrouped. However, during the group's hiatus, Navetta set all of his equipment on fire and moved to Oregon to become a full-time fisherman, and Cooper took over guitar duties. After rehearsing for two weeks, the band put out their sophomore album, I Don't Want to Grow Up, and Stevenson lined up a tour to support the album. This album would also be the last for Lombardo, who, already being close to 20 years older than the rest of the members, had a full time job and a new house. As a result, he had to reluctantly had to bow out of the band before the tour. To fill his place, Stevenson and Aukerman recruited high school classmate Doug Carrion and the tour commenced.

A year later, the band followed up on I Don't Want to Grow Up with Enjoy!, which included more experimentation with styles like heavy metal and relied more on toilet humor. After supporting this album, both Cooper and Carrion left in pursuit of different interests.

The band soon drafted bassist Karl Alvarez, who in turn recommended childhood friend Stephen Egerton to serve as guitarist. With Alvarez and Egerton, the band put out their fourth album, ALL in 1987, based on the concept of "All" by Stevenson and a friend. This concept, which meant you always go for greatness, has been part of the band since then. However, after this album, Milo backed out to resume his path towards a career in biochemistry, having always seen the Descendents as a hobby rather than a job. Thus, after the band's FinALL tour, the group retired the Descendents moniker.

With Milo leaving the band, Stevenson, Egerton, and Alvarez decided to carry on under a different name, donning the name, ALL, and initially recruiting Dag Nasty's Dave Smalley as vocalist and would release several albums with different singers from 1988 to 2000.

Our story with the Descendents resumes in the mid 1990s, when Milo, burned out from work contacted his former bandmates about doing some songs and shows. This resulted in the album, Everything Sucks, released in 1996. Due to the revived mainstream interest in punk at the time, Everything Sucks went on to be the band's first charting album. The album even featured guest appearances from Frank Navetta and Tony Lombardo. The band supported the album with a tour and even played on an early Warped Tour. However, much like before, Milo still considered Descendents a hobby and went back to work after the tour concluded.

After Everything Sucks, the band lied dormant until 2002, when the group reconvened in the studio. However these tracks would not see the light of day until 2004 with the album Cool to Be You. However, the group did not really support the album and the band went back into dormancy. Milo continued work as a biochemist while Stevenson and Egerton began careers as recording engineers. 

In the late 2000s, there were a handful of rough patches and tragedies that struck the band. Karl Alvarez had a heart attack in 2007. Frank Navetta died after going into a diabetic coma in 2008, and Bill Stevenson had both a meningioma (a brain tumor) and a pulmonary embolism. However, as Alvarez and Stevenson recovered, the band began to reconnect and began performing shows again, mainly performing one-off shows and festivals every couple times a year.

This tradition has changed as of 2016, as the band announced its seventh album, Hypercaffium Spazzinate, and Milo announced he was leaving his science career behind and playing with the Descendents full time. As I write this, this album has been out for less than a month and the band is on tour now.

When I first heard the Descendents in early high school, I wasn't very impressed, to be honest. Granted, at the time, I was much more picky in terms of what I listened to and I grew to love many of these songs later on. Ironically, I really got into the Descendents after I got into All, which is nowhere near as recognized or appreciated as the Descendents. As high school went on, I gradually began listening to them more often and really became a fan of the group around my sophomore year of college and began accumulating their CDs, as well as their documentary, Filmage. Since then, my appreciation for the band has only grown and have become a group I listen to routinely.

MY COLLECTION

1. Two Things At Once (CD, 1987) - This CD documents the band's early recordings, compiling both Milo Goes to College as well as the Bonus Fat record, which. in of itself, is a compilation in of the Fat EP and the group's debut single "Ride the Wild"/"It's a Hectic World". I got this compilation Christmas 2014 and I remember listening to it all the way through on the way up to my aunt and uncle's house for Christmas. Obviously being a collection of early recordings, it shows the band at its rawest. 

• "Ride the Wild" and "It's a Hectic World" (1979) are the only notable exceptions. These were written and recorded before Milo joined the group and the band had not yet solidified their sound. "Ride the Wild", penned and sung by Frank Navetta, has a new wave sound with some 60s influence, while Tony Lombardo's "It's a Hectic World" has more of a surf-y influence. This would be abandoned once Milo entered the fold.

• Fat (1981), the first release with Milo on vocals, highlights the band's new hardcore leanings, with two songs, "Weinerschnitzel" and "I Like Food" both being under 20 seconds. I almost never listen to these tracks, aside from "Mr. Bass", but they are the first steps towards the band's main sound.

• Milo Goes to College (1982) - The band's first album marries the melodic elements of the band's first single and the aggression of Fat in a fantastic 22 minute collection of pop-inflected hardcore. Seen by many as the band's best, this album is frequently listed as one of the best punk albums of all time and I wasn't that impressed the first time I heard it, but I grew on me and I now love it. The album has many fan favorites, and I have heard numerous covers of songs from this album, including "I'm Not A Loser" by Strung Out, "Bikeage" by Face to Face, and "Hope" by both Sublime and Blink-182. The only issue I have is with some of the lyrics, most notably on "I'm Not a Loser", which features some fairly homophobic lines during the bridge. Nonetheless, I still find it to be a very enjoyable album and recommend it to anyone interested in hardcore.

          Highlights include: "Myage", "I'm Not a Punk", "Hope", "Bikeage", "Jean is Dead", "Kabuki               Girl"

2. I Don't Want to Grow Up (CD, 1985) - The follow up to Milo Goes to College features a slightly stronger pop influence, while still retaining a lot of the hardcore sound. This time around, Milo seems to have a better control of his voice, actually singing rather than giving the tuneful adolescent bark we heard on College. I got this album the same Christmas I got Two Things at Once, and I remember listening to it on the same car ride. My impression of the album was that I liked a number of songs from the get-go, I disliked a handful of them too. However, much like Milo Goes to College, these songs grew and I enjoy many of them now. Maybe not as much as Milo, but I enjoy them nonetheless.

Highlights: "Silly Girl", "Christmas Vacation", "In Love This Way", "Good Good Things"

3. Enjoy! (CD, 1986) - I have conflicted feelings of this album. I guess I'd have to say it's my least favorite of all other their albums. However, that is not to say there are not good songs. On the contrary, there are some fantastic songs on here. However, I'm not crazy about others and I don't particularly appreciate the toilet humor on this one. Aside from the Fat EP, this is one of the my least listened to Descendents albums.

Highlights: "Sour Grapes", "80s Girl", "Get the Time"

4. ALL (CD, 1987) - The first album for Alvarez and Egerton, this album begins to branch out and feature more experimental songs and music, giving it a somewhat quirky sound. I first got this album for my 20th birthday, but one song from this album, "Clean Sheets", was the one that got me interested in the band in the first place.

Highlights: "Coolidge", "Clean Sheets", "Cameage", "Pep Talk"

5. Everything Sucks (CD, 1996) - After several years of inactivity as the Descendents, the band came back in full force and could almost be seen as a brief renaissance for them. They made one album, which garnered both acclaim from fans and even attention from the mainstream and then went back into dormancy. It also features guest appearances from former members Frank Navetta and Tony Lombardo on the song "Doghouse". Regardless, this album seems to be one fans revere as a high point. This was one of my first albums by them and some of these songs were what helped get me into them in the first place. While I tend to listen to Milo Goes to College more often, I highly recommend this album, because if College belongs among Black Flag's Damaged and Husker Du's Zen Arcade, then Everything Sucks belongs among Green Day's Dookie, The Offspring's Smash and Rancid's ...And Out Come the Wolves.

Highlights: "I'm The One", "Rotting Out", "When I Get Old", "Thank You", "We"

6. Live Plus One (CD, 2001) - I don't usually buy live albums, but being a split live album with All, I indulged and bought this double CD recently and I really enjoy it. The Descendents disc was recorded in 1996, while supporting Everything Sucks, and the band was playing in great shape. It was also interesting to hear the band play All's "Original Me" with Milo on vocals rather than All's Chad Price. I haven't gotten a chance to listen to the other two Descendents live albums Liveage or Hallraker, but I know this is a strong performance and recommend it.

7. Cool To Be You (CD, 2004) - This album was actually the first CD I owned by the Descendents, and it basically carries the same sound of Everything Sucks. However, the band didn't seem to be totally "there" and invested in the record the way they were with past albums. Nonetheless, there are some good songs on here. Not the very best, but it is still a fairly strong album. One particular highlight on this album is Bill Stevenson's song, "One More Day", detailing the strained relationship with his father in the year leading up to his death. Song lyrics don't usually affect me, but for some reason, the ones on this album really hit a chord with me, and it is one of the most emotional songs I've heard.

Highlights: "Talking", "Cool to Be You" "One More Day", "Tack", "Anchor Grill", "Dry Spell"

8. Hypercaffium Spazzinate (CD, 2016) - The first album in twelve years is a strong return for the group. With the issues the members has faced in the past several years, it seems to have brought the band back together, and on this record, they seem to be rejuvenated much like they were on Everything Sucks. My copy includes the Spazzhazard EP, which gives the album an extra five songs, and simply adds to the listening experience. It's rare that new albums meet or exceed my expectations, but this one certainly did.

Highlights: "Feel This", "Victim of Me", "Spineless and Scarlet Red", "Fighting Myself", "Beyond the Music", "Shameless Halo".

With the new Descendents album out and the band on tour, I hope to see the group carry on with even greater activity. With that, I also hope it gives more people a chance to see and experience the group firsthand and help spread their influence even more.