I Want to Be Stereotyped, I Want to Be Classified

Regular readers of this blog (yes, both of you) will be aware of my love of the Descendents.

The Descendents have two different eras, both of which are excellent for different reasons. 1987's All was basically the the pivotal point, in no small part to the addition of Karl Alvarez and Stephen Egerton, and the band's sound changed markedly after that.

Anyway, full-length debut, Milo Goes to College, is definitely the best offering from the band's first era, from when they were less fuzzy-sounding and less riff-tastic than today's version. The Descendents have always had a knack for catchy singalong songs and every track from this album would feature on a greatest hits. It's an album from the early 80s US punk scene that has stood the test of time and is as relevant still as anything by Black Flag, Dead Kennedys or Minor Threat.

The difference between the Descendents and a lot of other bands from the time is they incorporated a lot more melody and humour into their music than anyone else. They showed they had a fast, more hardcore sound at times too.

15 tracks in 22 minutes is fairly impressive and I will adopt a similar brevity in my summary.

Myage: Contains some amazing fret-dancing bits of bass work.

I Wanna Be a Bear: Fast, fun and all over the show, time signature-wise.

I'm Not a Loser: Not an anthem for nerds; more of an anthem for people who aren't pricks. Disappointing use of the word 'gay' in a negative and insulting context though.

Parents: Why are they so fucked up? Sadly this songs sheds little light on the subject.

Tony Age: Time signature and tempo lucky dip.

M-16: Anti-war song that sadly didn't work.

I'm Not a Punk: They don't look like punks, but they sure as hell sound like punks.

Catalina: What's more punk than going fishing? Exactly. Genius.

Suburban Home: Legendary song that has probably been covered by every punk band worth their salt.

Statue of Liberty: Simple, yet effective riff. It doesn't have to be complicated to be good.

Kabuki Girl: Inventive rhyming - “don't say 'sayonara', I wanna see you tomorrow”.

Marriage: Slow start, but speeds up after 15 seconds. Very catchy.

Hope: The closest you're going to get to a Descendents ballad. You'll find a million covers of this after minimal research too.

Bikeage: Another song with an iconic punk bassline. At 2:14 it's the album's longest song.

Jean Is Dead: Did they foresee the demise of the Hilda Ogden actress? Different Jean.

As the album's title suggests, singer Milo did indeed go to college and he more or less prioritised education and his subsequent work in science over the band for the next 30 years, meaning that the Descendents' ouput has sadly been sporadic, to say the least.

If you watch the documentary, Filmage, from a couple of years ago you'll see how legendary and inspirational the Descendents truly are. Among those filmed saying how great the band are, how they helped shape modern music and how they deserve to be much bigger is one Dave Grohl. That's right, Dave fucking Grohl. And if he says a band is good you really should be listening to them.