In every issue I plug a gaping hole in my music knowledge, papering over some area of ignorance that I normally try to keep secret. This week’s revelation: I have never listened to The Descendents.
I recently went to see Descendents play in Chicago. I knew very little about them, though I had a vague notion that they were pop-punk pioneers – which made me never want to hear them. However, some friends were going to the show, so I went along. It was one of those corporate music events with Jack Daniels sponsorship, terrible sound and six quid cups of watery lager. My music snob cynicism was high, my expectations low. But, much to my surprise, I quite enjoyed Descendents, whose songs had an edge and depth I had not anticipated. I decided to learn more.
First, let’s deal with the history of the band, which is rather convoluted. Descendents formed in the late '70s as part of the emerging punk and hardcore, along with bands like Circle Jerks and Black Flag. However, unlike those bands, Descendents' sound was more tuneful, and their lyrics often humerous and self-deprecating rather than aggressive and proselytising. The initial three-piece lineup released a 7” EP before adding singer Milo Aukerman for their debut full length Milo Goes To College. A proud outsider, Aukerman made the difference between Descendents and other bands of their ilk: he wore glasses, sang about the jagged edges of a teenage heart and generally shirked the beer-stained machismo that pervaded the hardcore movement. The band went through several guitarists and bassists in their lifetime, but the classic lineup was Frank Navetta on guitar, Tony Lombardo on bass, Bill Stevenson on drums and Milo Aukerman on vocals. Over the next three decades the band released six albums, albeit with several long hiatuses. They also formed another band called ALL, which is essentially Descendents minus Aukerman.
The band are best known for their aforementioned debut Milo Goes to College. I am not a fan of hardcore, which I have always found to be rather repetitious. However, Milo Goes To College offers something more than the regular hardcore effort, as it is both lyrically and melodically thoughtful and complex. Songs like 'Kabuki Girl' and 'Marriage' offer heartfelt moments, while levity comes through 'I’m Not A Loser'. “I’m just a square, going nowhere” sings Aukerman on 'I’m Not A Punk' - a very un-hardcore statement. They also avoid the self-pitying ‘I’m a teenager and life is so hard for me’ bullshit that their progeny in the world of emo have since embraced. But the real highlight here is 'Bikeage', an ode to love and self-destruction. “Who’s going to pick you up and use you for tonight?” asks Aukerman, with genuine concern for the girl he wants to protect. The song is also one of the slowest on the record, which means the melody can sink in the great chord progression can shine. I’m not a huge fan of Aukerman’s vocals, which are too whiny for my taste, but there is no denying the sincerity of his delivery. Milo Goes To College is one of those albums that, if you hear it at the right age, can define a whole phase of life.
Following that first record, Milo Aukerman really did go to college, and the band took a four-year hiatus. Upon reuniting they released I Don’t Want To Grow Up, and it's clear that taking a break did not do them any favours. They are older, and so material that sounded fresh and true on Milo Goes To College now seems less immediate, less sophisticated. While that album was diverse, I Don’t Want to Grow Up is myopic in its vision. The songs all have a similar sound, tempo and length. It is lyrically poorer too: “I want to fuck you night and day,” on 'Pervert' would not have earned a place on the first album. The production is less natural, and there is even a hint of hair-metal creeping in around the edges. It is simply a weaker effort than their debut.
More of the same, but worse, came on their third album on Enjoy, where the band chose to accentuate their weaknesses – a reliance on kid humour and speed – while minimizing their musicality. There are a couple of good songs, particularly 'Sour Grapes', but most of it is pretty tame. Lyrics like, “You are a piece of poo,” might have been funny for the band at the time, but do not sound so good to a new listener 25 years later. Enjoy is a low point in the career of Descendents.
The band took a more experimental direction on their next release ALL, a concept album based on a life philosophy conjured up by the band on a fishing trip. The premise seems to be one of continuous self-improvement, in all elements of life. While not well elucidated, or entirely original, it does provide a framework for new lyrical and musical directions. Songs like 'Impressions', 'Van' and 'All-o-gistics' have unusual structures, and are more like post-punk jazz than punk-pop. It’s an interesting listen, but lacks the anthemic moments that made the first album so endearing.
Following the creative bloom of ALL, the band took another hiatus, this time for almost ten years, and came back with their biggest hit yet: 'I’m The One'. Gone are the experimental structures, noise and jokingly grandiose thematics. Instead, 'I’m The One' (taken from the album Everything Sucks) is a pure pop parasite, designed to infest your brain. It’s one of those tracks that is stuck in your head after a single spin. Some of the lyrics are crude – “yeah you know he’s a dick” - but the chorus is so good that it makes up for flaws elsewhere. “I’m the one, I’ve been here for you all along, I’m the one, the shoulder you’ve been crying on,” chants Aukerman, and given his nice-guy persona it rings true, an earnest line that cuts to the kid in me. Sure, the production is pretty glitzy (sounds like Green Day at their most commercial), but who cares when the chorus is this good. Having been pulled in by 'I’m The One' I found the rest of the album disappointing. None of the other songs are memorable, and it's almost a shame that they didn’t simply release this is as parting single without an album – it would have made a great goodbye. Instead the band went on to release one more album called Cool To Be You, which is pretty much crap throughout.
The best thing about the Descendents is that they were themselves, and didn’t try to live up to the act put on by other hardcore groups: they were proud of their uncoolness. On Milo Goes To College, and in patches on other releases, they created smart, fast music. Unfortunately, much of their material is not so good. Too often they relied on pre-pubescent humour, generic hardcore sounds and, quite frankly, weak material. Buy Milo Goes To College – it’s a classic album, up there with the best of '80s punk. Listen to 'I’m The One' on YouTube – it’s a fantastic pop song that even the most jaded can enjoy. Otherwise, unless hardcore nerd-pop is really your thing, I wouldn’t expend too much time on the rest of their material. Join me next time as I learn all about Leonard Cohen.