descendents Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Descendents “9th & Walnut”

sfilzen — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 19:37:48 +0000

Descendents “9th & Walnut” 2021. Epitaph Records. Limited edition green vinyl. 80’s era California punk, now a lot older: their 8th studio LP – the “lost album” recorded in 2020 by the ’82 lineup, the songs all written between 1977-80. “Only three of the originals had been previously released, with the album featuring re-recordings of “Ride the Wild” and “It’s a Hectic World” from the band’s first 7″, as well as “Like the Way I Know”, an outtake from the Milo Goes to College sessions that was eventually released on the 1999 compilation The Blasting Room…recording started way back in 2002…and featured drummer Bill Stevenson with former members guitarist Frank Navetta and bassist Tony Lombardo. The sessions laid dormant until the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, when singer Milo Aukerman recorded vocals at his home in Delaware. This marked the first time the “classic” lineup had been featured on a recording since Everything Sucks (1996), and the first album since Enjoy! (1986) not to feature current members Stephen Egerton and Karl Alvarez.” (Wiki) My top tracks are the long (for Descendents and this record; most tracks clock in around the one-minute mark) “Nightage,” the dancey “Tired of Being Tired,” the speedy “Like the Way I Know” (which seems to be credited to Dave Nolte of The Last, a 70’s/80’s garage-psych band that purportedly inspired Descendents and Black Flag), the all-out snotty punk’d “Yore Disgusting” and “It’s My Hair.”

We caught Descendents about a week and a half ago at Punk Rock Bowling in Vegas. I got one photo from pretty far away. I’ve seen them enough times that I didn’t feel the need to get to the rail.

The post Descendents “9th & Walnut” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Descendents “Enjoy”

sfilzen — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 18:45:02 +0000

Descendents “Enjoy” released about 35 years ago, 1986. Restless Records. In about 48 hours, we will be seeing the Descendents onstage in Las Vegas at the Punk Rock Bowling music festival…and it’s been close to 35 years since I’ve seen them perform (I did see ALL in ‘88 I think, and we will see ALL as well this upcoming weekend). Enjoy! was Descendents’ third album and as the cover indicates, it’s stuffed full of toilet humor, substituting the real songs’ names for shit euphemisms and including live studio recordings of their own farts on the title and lead track “Enjoy.” The empty toilet paper holder image on the back cover also gives me anxiety as we head into a music fest weekend (public restrooms are not among my favorite things).

There’s a lot of 80′s metal influence on Enjoy! – it’s pretty heavy at points, like on “Hürtin’ Crüe“ and ”Days Are Blood.” But there’s also the punk-pop sound that Descendents were more well-known for, “Get the Time“ is a good example. They even cover a Beach Boys song – “Wendy” originally from 1964. I never was a big Descendents fan but I am looking forward to seeing them play after so many years.

The post Descendents “Enjoy” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Descendents “I Don’t Want to Grow Up”

sfilzen — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 18:10:36 +0000

Descendents “I Don’t Want to Grow Up” 1985. New Alliance Records (this copy a 1987 reissue on SST) Snotty, SoCal punk, the band’s second album, recorded after singer Milo Aukerman’s return to Descendents after attending college and drummer Bill Stevenson’s stint in Black Flag. While definitely punk, I Don’t Want to Grow Up is decidedly not hardcore (like Black Flag and other contemporary SoCal bands in the mid-80′s), instead veering into the brighter pop lane. From Wiki: “Rock critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ rating, saying ‘They don’t even know how to sing, they excoriate themselves as perverts for wanting sex, and when they fall in love they try to write Beatles songs. Chances are you’ll find them awkward, but I’m tremendously encouraged that they can fall in love at all. Anyway, their Beatles songs are pretty catchy.’” And Ned Raggett on Allmusic writes, “What’s to be expected given the title track, with a hilarious ‘nyah nyah!’ line on top of the chorus! Give a closer ear to the song, though – where the reason not to grow up is that it might ‘mean being like you’ – and the band’s core message of having fun and dealing with things as best one can in a stupid society is still there. When the four want to be straight up and perfectly poppy, they can and do with smashing success, with surprisingly mature, emotional lyrics and playing that doesn’t rely on all-speed all the time. “Can’t Go Back” is a great lost power-pop classic, with some of Aukerman’s best singing, a wonderful chorus and a tuneful reflection on not reliving past mistakes. “Christmas Vacation” is another winner, a heartfelt and sharp depiction of a relationship on the skids with some great, melancholy harmonies, while “My World” draws on Aukerman’s college years with a tale of personal frustration in an unfamiliar locale, all while rocking hard and strong. For all this there’s ridiculous humor everywhere – thus “Pervert,” which is at once frank and funny, saying ‘I’d hate to think that romance is just a pose/But all I want to do is rip off your clothes.’ “Rockstar,” which immediately follows, is a hyperspeed trashing that’s the understandable sequel to “Loser,” demolishing the title character with a series of brief putdowns before concluding with a drawled ‘Let’s exploit rock and roll to its fullest potential.’ But of course.”

Personally I have mixed feelings about this pop-punk sound. In the mid-80′s I listened to the harder stuff (The Germs, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, etc) and only a little to Descendents, and then All, so I have a bias toward the familiar. I know the lighter stuff is more fun, accessible, and understandable!, but it provided an unfortunate blueprint for the 1990′s/early 2000′s copycat pop-punk bands that I really can’t stand.

The post Descendents “I Don’t Want to Grow Up” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Descendents “Milo Goes To College”

sfilzen — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 17:21:39 +0000

Descendents “Milo Goes To College” 1982. New Alliance Records/SST. Their first full-length LP, famously titled for singer’s Milo Aukerman’s leaving the group to go to college for biochemistry and decorated with his nerdy iconic cartoon likeness. Milo Goes to College is cited as an inspiration for the development of the melodic hardcore sound of 80′s California punk with its “super clean, super tight, super poppy hardcore about hating your parents, riding bikes” and girls. (It was also perfect for Midwestern punks in the 80′s: The Descendents, and then All, played A LOT in the mid-to-late 80′s in Appleton/Green Bay area of Wisconsin; it seemed there was a show every other month or so, and several of my friends got to know the band members and/or helped organize shows at various VFW clubs, bars and bowling alleys, the typical venues for all-ages punk shows.)

Though Milo Goes to College is youthful and snotty, my favorite aspect of the album is Tony Lombardo’s bass playing, which provides both rhythm and melody; Lombardo was already in his 30′s when the Descendents formed in ‘79 and the rest of the band were in their teens. Lombardo wrote a significant number of tracks for the album and they tend to be my favorites (though I particularly love the killer bass line Bill Stevenson’s “Myage”): “I’m Not a Punk” about his impatience with the punk scene (damn kids!), “I Wanna Be a Bear” (co-written with Frank Navetta) and the classic “Suburban Home.”

I want to be stereotyped
I want to be classified

I want to be a clone
I want a suburban home
Suburban home
Suburban home
Suburban home

I want to be masochistic
I want to be a statistic

I want to be a clone
I want a suburban home
Suburban home
Suburban home
Suburban home

I don’t want no hippie pad
I want a house just like mom and dad

I want to be stereotyped
I want to be classified
I want to be masochistic
I want to be a statistic

The post Descendents “Milo Goes To College” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.