Genre: Punk Rock / Skate Punk
Country: USA
Descendents were formed in 1977 as an acoustic duo by Frank Navetta, and David Nolte. Bill Stevenson soon hooked up with the duo as their drummer. At the end of 1977, Nolte became bass player for The Last and that group took precedent over David’s commitment to the Descendents, so he was replaced by Tony Lombardo, although David stuck around briefly to sing with the band. Their first release (as a trio at the time with Navetta and Lombardo handling vocals) was the Ride The Wild / It’s A Hectic World 7″ in the style of melodic garage pop. In 1980 they enlisted Milo Aukerman, Stevenson and Navetta’s classmate and a constant presence at Descendents’ rehearsals, as a singer, and reappeared as a ‘proper’ punk band, becoming a major player in the hardcore scene developing in Los Angeles at the time.
Their debut album the following year, Milo Goes To College, introduced an element of melody and sensitivity that set them apart from most other hardcore bands and Stevenson’s songs in particular were to greatly influence the melodic punk-pop bands of the 1990s with themes of love and loss and alienation (themes far less common in the punk scene at the time).
Following the album’s release, Milo actually went to college to embark on an education that would take him as far as a doctorate in biochemistry. The band recruited Ray Cooper (3) to handle the vocals but at the same time Bill Stevenson became the drummer with fellow hardcore punks Black Flag. Although the plan was to play in both bands, Black Flag’s rigorous touring scheduled proved to be too time-consuming. During this time, Descendents gigs were sporadic. There were a few gigs where the band appeared as a 5-piece, with both Navetta and Cooper playing guitar and Milo on vocals, and other shows by Lombardo and Cooper playing under the name Ascendents. The band did not record again until 1985, when they returned with the album I Don’t Want To Grow Up. This was much more sensitive than «Milo…,» despite silly songs such as «Pervert» and «No F.B».
The band’s lineup changed around the time «I Don’t Want to Grow Up». By the time of the recording, Navetta left the band to become a fisherman in Oregon and guitar duties were handled by Ray Cooper. Tony Lombardo left after the recording as touring was incompatible with his career as a postal carrier. Doug Carrion replaced Lombardo on bass. Lombardo has since stated that leaving the Descendents is the biggest regret he has in life.
Their next album, Enjoy! (released in 1986) was not well received by critics, but fans liked it. It was a mix of more ‘silly’ songs (The last track on the album involving band members farting into microphones and laughing). After the Enjoy! tour, Ray Cooper got a job working in the emerging software scene and Doug Carrion left for other projects, eventually ending up in Dag Nasty. Stevenson invited Stephen Egerton and Karl Alvarez of Salt Lake City’s Massacre Guys to replace them, and the now permanent line-up of the Descendents was in place.
The group released the album All in 1987, which, despite «Van», «ALL-O-Gistics» and the one-second «ALL», was the Descendents’ most mature 1980’s album, and featured emotional songs such as «Coolidge», «Cameage» and «Clean Sheets». With the release of ALL, the Descendents introduced to the world the driving concept behind their career’s work, from which the album derives its title, the philosophy of ALL which they define quite conventionally as «the total extent.» The idea of ALL as a concept beyond this conventional definition is one of endless self improvement. «The total extent» is an all-encompassing greatness, the pursuit of which is endless and impossible, but which is also the source of all real happiness.
Milo left again in 1987 and the remaining Descendents reformed with singer Dave Smalley and reformed under the name ALL and continued the legacy until 1996, when the Descendents reformed again with Milo Aukerman, now a full-time research biochemist, to record and tour in support of the album Everything Sucks. In 2004 the band released the ‘Merican EP and their newest full length Cool To Be You, which is among their more emotional releases to date. Since then, the Descendents have sporadically performed live and have continued to work on new material when their schedules allow it. In 2002 and 2006, Stevenson, Lombardo, and Navetta got together to record the original songs the Desendents had written (predating «Milo Goes To College») and had never been recorded before (these recording were released as «9th & Walnut», a reference to the location of their old practice space, in the summer of 2021). Navetta passed away in 2008 after a brief illness. In 2014, the band performed the entire «Milo Goes To College» album live with Tony Lombardo playing bass. Also, a documentary about the band, titled «Filmage» was released that same year.
Site: Facebook
Support: Bandcamp
Descendents — 1982 — Milo Goes To College
Year: 1982
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 52.19 MB
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01. Myage
02. I Wanna Be A Bear
03. I’m Not A Loser
04. Parents
05. Tonyage
06. M 16
07. I’m Not A Punk
08. Catalina
09. Suburban Home
10. Statue Of Liberty
11. Kabuki Girl
12. Marriage
13. Hope
14. Bikeage
15. Jean Is Dead
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Descendents — 1985 — I Don’t Want to Grow Up
Year: 1985
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 67.64 MB
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01. Descendents
02. I Don’t Want to Grow Up
03. Pervert
04. Rockstar
05. No FB
06. Can’t Go Back
07. GCF
08. My World
09. Theme
10. Silly Girl
11. In Love This Way
12. Christmas Vacation
13. Good Good Things
14. Ace
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Descendents — 1986 — Enjoy
Year: 1986
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 81.81 MB
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01. Enjoy
02. Wendy
03. Kids
04. Hurtin’ Crue
05. Sour Grapes
06. Get The Time
07. Orgofart
08. Cheer
09. 80’s Girl
10. Green
11. Days Are Blood
12. Orgo 51
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Descendents — 1987 — All
Year: 1987
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 87.05 MB
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01. ALL
02. Coolidge
03. No, ALL!
04. Van
05. Cameage
06. Impressions
07. Iceman
08. Jealous of the World
09. Clean Sheets
10. Pep Talk
11. ALL-o-Gistics
12. Schizophrenia
13. Uranus
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Descendents — 1988 — Two Things At Once
Year: 1988
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 75.55 MB
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01. Myage
02. I Wanna Be a Bear
03. I’m Not a Loser
04. Parents
05. Tonyage
06. M-16
07. I’m Not A Punk
08. Catalina
09. Suburban Home
10. Statue Of Liberty
11. Kabuki Girl
12. Marriage
13. Hope
14. Bikeage
15. Jean Is Dead
16. My Dad Sucks
17. Mr. Bass
18. I Like Food
19. Hey Hey
20. Weinerschnitzel
21. Global Probing
22. Ride The Wild
23. It’s A Hectic World
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Descendents — 1991 — Somery
Year: 1991
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 124.03 MB
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01. All
02. My Dad Sucks
03. Suburban Home
04. Silly Girl
05. Kids
06. Clean Sheets
07. Sour Grapes
08. Weinerschnitzel
09. Myage
10. Good Good Things
11. Van
12. Bikeage
13. Enjoy
14. Theme
15. Coolidge
16. I Like Food
17. I Wanna Be A Bear
18. I Don’t Want To Grow Up
19. Cheer
20. Pervert
21. Hope
22. All-O-Gistics
23. I’m Not A Loser
24. Get The Time
25. Hurtin’ Crue
26. Cameage
27. Descendents
28. No! All!
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Descendents — 1996 — Everything Sucks
Year: 1996
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 70.94 MB
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01. Everything Sux
02. I’m the One
03. Coffee Mug
04. Rotting Out
05. Sick-O-Me
06. Caught
07. When I Get Old
08. Doghouse
09. She Loves Me
10. Hateful Notebook
11. We
12. Eunuch Boy
13. This Place
14. I Won’t Let Me
15. Thank You
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Descendents — 2004 — Cool To Be You
Year: 2004
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 83.72 MB
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01. Talking
02. Nothing With You
03. She Don’t Care
04. ‘Merican
05. Dog and Pony Show
06. Blast Off
07. Dreams
08. Cool to be You
09. Maddie
10. Mass Nerder
11. One More Day
12. Tack
13. Anchor Grill
14. Dry Spell
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Descendents — 2021 — 9th & Walnut
Year: 2021
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 62.97 MB
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01. Sailor’s Choice
02. Crepe Suzette
03. You Make Me Sick
04. Lullaby
05. Nightage
06. Baby Doncha Know
07. Tired of Being Tired
08. I’m Shaky
09. Grudge
10. Mohicans
11. Like the Way I Know
12. It’s A Hectic World
13. To Remember
14. Yore Disgusting
15. It’s My Hair
16. I Need Some
17. Ride the Wild
18. Glad All Over
====================
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