Descendents is an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by
guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson as a power-pop/surf punk band. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a singer, and reappeared as a melodic hardcore punk band, becoming a major player in the hardcore scene developing in Los Angeles at the time.
They have released eight studio albums, three live albums, three compilation albums, and four EPs.
Since 1986, the band's lineup has consisted of Aukerman, Stevenson, guitarist Stephen Egerton, and bassist Karl Alvarez. They gradually emerged as one of the most enduring and adored punk bands of their time. While the band seemingly celebrated their own immaturity in their most iconic music, they also found a way to grow up and continue to make music that pleased themselves and their fans well past 2020.
1982's Milo Goes to College was their first and most enduring masterpiece, 2004's Cool to be You
was a strong, lively reunion effort, and 2021's 9th & Walnut looked back to their earliest days, revisiting a handful of forgotten songs. For the recording of their debut album Milo Goes to College in June 1982, the band worked at Total Access Recording in Redondo Beach, California, with Spot, who had also engineered and produced the Fat EP. While still short and fast, the songs on Milo Goes to College were also melodic.
Aukerman later reflected: "It's interesting: we started very melodic, then moved to hardcore, but melded
the two at a certain point and became melodic hardcore." The album's title and cover illustration referenced Aukerman's departure from the band to study biology at the University of California, San Diego. The illustration was done by Jeff Atkinson, based on earlier caricatures by a high school classmate of Aukerman's named Roger Deuerlein, who had drawn comic strips and posters depicting Aukerman as the class nerd.
In 1985, the group re-formed, with SWA alum Ray Cooper replacing Navetta on guitar; after the release
of the more pop-flavored album I Don't Want to Grow Up, ex-Anti bassist Doug Carrion assumed Lombardo's duties. A sunnier perspective informed 1986's Enjoy!, as evidenced by the inclusion of a cover of the Beach Boys' "Wendy," but after 1987's All, the group split again; after Stevenson formed a new group, also dubbed All, the only Descendents products to appear for a number of years were a pair of live releases, 1987's Liveage! and 1989's Hallraker.
Somewhat surprisingly, Auckerman and Stevenson re-formed the Descendents in 1996 with All bassist
Karl Alvarez and guitarist Stephen Egerton; in addition to mounting a tour, the group recorded a new album, Everything Sucks. Following the tour, Auckerman once again returned to his life in the chem lab until 2004 when the guys were back with two new releases, both issued on Fat Wreck -- February brought the EP 'Merican, and the full-length Cool to Be You followed a month later.
For the following decade, they would remain relatively quiet, save for a few significant events. In 2008, founding guitarist Frank Navetta unexpectedly passed away. The band also reunited for a few gigs in
2010, but it wasn't permanent. In 2020 the band began reworking material recorded in 2002 with Bill Stevenson, Frank Navetta, and Tony Lombardo, in which they put to tape fifteen songs they had written between in 1980 but had never released. With Auckerman recording new vocal tracks for the material, these unique recordings from the "classic" Descendents lineup were issued by Epitaph Records in July 2021 on the LP 9th & Walnut, named for the address of their first rehearsal space.
DESCENDENTS - MILO GOES TO COLEGE 1982
Milo Goes to College is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Descendents, released on September 4, 1982 through New Alliance Records. The playing of the core band is even better than
before, never mistaking increased skill with needing to show off; the Lombardo/Stevenson rhythm section is in perfect sync, while Navetta provides the corrosive power. Add in Aukerman's in-your-face hilarity and f*ck-off stance, and it's punk rock that wears both its adolescence and brains on its sleeve. The album's mix of fast and aggressive hardcore punk with melody and semi-ironic love songs led to it being considered one of the most significant albums of the early 1980s southern California hardcore movement.
Descendents – Milo Goes To College
Label: SST Records – SST CD 142
Format: CD, Album, Reissue
Country: US
Released: 1982
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk
TRAXS
01. Myage 2:00
02. I Wanna Be A Bear 0:44
03. I'm Not A Loser 1:30
04. Parents 1:40
05. Tonyage 0:58
06. M 16 0:45
07. I'm Not A Punk 1:06
08. Catalina 1:48
09. Suburban Home 1:42
10. Statue Of Liberty 2:01
11. Kabuki Girl 1:12
12. Marriage 1:41
13. Hope 1:59
14. Bikeage 2:15
15. Jean Is Dead 1:32
LINE - UP
Bass – Tony Lombardo
Drums – Bill Stevenson
Guitar – Frank Navetta
Vocals – Milo Aukerman
Written-By – Stevenson (tracks: 1, 5, 8, 12, 14, 15), Navetta (tracks: 2 to 4, 10, 12), Aukerman (tracks: 6, 13), Lombardo (tracks: 2, 5 to 9, 11)
NOTES
Recorded June 1982 at Total Access Studio, Redondo Beach
I WANT TO BE A BEAR LYRICS
Got your jourdache jeans
Got your pretty long hair
Dinner and a movie powder your nose
Take their honey for lay
Just like pay
You're just a human being on this planet
You're just flesh and blood like all the rest
You'll get old and have a wrinkled ass
Humans are ses I want to be a bear
I want to shit in the woods
In my cave hunt my prey
Could be you, I want to have food
Burgers not berries
Ladies are women but women are ladies
Got a baited hook you are calling it your cherry
You wanna settle down and you wanna get married
I don't want to smell your muff
PARENTS LYRICS
Parents, why won't they shut up
Parents, they're so fucked up
They treat me like a tool
They take me for a fool
Parents, why won't they shut up?
Parents, they're so fucked up
Oh they're so fucking dim
They look into the past
For future reference
Parents, why won't they shut up?
Parents, they're so fucked up
They don't even know I'm a boy
They treat me like a toy
But little do they know
That one day I'll explode
I'm a boy and not a toy
I will kill and I'll destroy
I'm a boy and not a toy
I will kill and I will destroy
Parents, parents, parents
They don't even know I'm a boy
They treat me like a toy
But little do they know
That one day I'll explode
I'm a boy and not a toy
I will kill and I'll destroy
I'm a boy and not a toy
I will kill and I will destroy
Parents, parents
Parents, parents
Flac Size: 162 MB
DESCENDENTS - I DON'T WANT TO GROW UP 1985
I Don't Want to Grow Up is the second studio album by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released in 1985 through New Alliance Records. It marked the end of a two-year hiatus for the band,
during which singer Milo Aukerman had attended college and drummer Bill Stevenson had joined Black Flag. I Don't Want to Grow Up was the first of two albums the Descendents recorded with guitarist Ray Cooper, and their last with original bassist Tony Lombardo, who quit the group because he did not want to go on tour. Though recorded quickly and without much rehearsal time, I Don't Want to Grow Up received positive reviews from critics, who praised its catchy songs, strong melodies, and pop-influenced love songs.
Descendents – I Don't Want To Grow Up
Label: SST Records – SST CD 143, SST Records – SSTCD 143
Format: CD, Album, Reissue Feb 20, 1988
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk, Hardcore
TRAXS
01. Descendents (Lyrics By – Descendents/Music By – T. Lombardo) 1:42
02. I Don't Want To Grow Up (Lyrics By, Music By – T. Lombardo) 1:19
03. Pervert (Lyrics By – M. Aukerman/Music By – T. Lombardo) 1:45
04. Rockstar (Lyrics By – F. Navetta/Music By – T. Lombardo) 0:35
05. No FB (Lyrics By, Music By – M. Aukerman) 0:33
06. Can't Go Back (Lyrics By, Music By – B. Stevenson) 1:43
07. GCF (Lyrics By, Music By – T. Lombardo) 1:57
08. My World (Lyrics By, Music By – M. Aukerman) 3:27
09. Theme (Music By – T. Lombardo) 2:12
10. Silly Girl (Lyrics By, Music By – B. Stevenson) 2:21
11. In Love This Way (Lyrics By, Music By – M. Aukerman) 2:30
12. Christmas Vacation (Lyrics By – M. Aukerman/Music By – B. Stevenson) 2:36
13. Good Good Things (Lyrics By, Music By – B. Stevenson) 2:19
14. Ace (Lyrics By, Music By – B. Stevenson) 3:54
LINE - UP
Bass – Tony Lombardo
Drums – Bill Stevenson
Guitar – Ray Cooper
Vocals – Milo Aukerman
NOTES
Recorded April, 1985 at Music Lab in Hollywood.
I DON'T WANT TO GROW UP LYRICS
I don't want to grow up
I don't want to grow up
If growing up means being like you
Then I don't want to be like you
Recycled trash
It's deja vu
I don't want to grow up
I don't want to grow up
You're grown up told what to do
Your suit can't hide the truth
You're a fool
And I refuse to be like you
I don't want to grow up
MY WORLD LYRICS
Stop knocka-knocka-knocking
Stop knocka-knocka-knocking
Stop knocking
Stop it
Went to the No Nukes rally
The Don Quixotes made me feel silly
Went to the punk rock show
Nobody that I know did go
Went to my university
Boys and girls dress up and look pretty
Went to the party last night
I was there, but it was really out of sight
My world is my mind
I'm locking myself inside
People, they can't get in
Oh I have no use for them
Well I just came from my girl's bed
Don't think I'll ever forget what she said
I tried to show her my song
She laughed and said the chords were all wrong
Went out to look at the moon
Blood red and the water was too
Just ran away from her house
Not another word from her pretty little mouth
My world is my mind
I'm locking myself inside
People, they can't get in
Oh I have no use for them
Not my world
So stop koncka-knocka-knocking
Stop knocka-knocka-knocking
Oh stop knocking
Stop it
Stop knocka-knocka-knocking
Stop knocka-knocka-knocking
Stop knocking
Stop it
Well let me tell you what I did
I went to the toilet and sat down
There was no one else around
I went inside my closet
Took my guitar and strummed upon it
Went out to run 10 miles
Sifted through my personal files
Went to my desk to study
There's no world, no love, nobody but me
And that's the way it's gonna be yeah
That's the way it's gonna be yeah
That's the way it's gonna be cuz'
My world is my mind
I'm locking myself inside
People, they can't get in
Oh I have no use for them
Not my world
So stop koncka-knocka-knocking
Stop knocka-knocka-knocking
Stop knocking
Stop it
Knocking on my world
