Descendents

The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in Manhattan Beach, California, in 1977, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson as a power pop/surf punk band.<ref name="Blush"/> In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a singer, and reappeared as a melodic hardcore punk band,<ref name="Blush"/> 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.

History

Early years, Fat EP, Milo Goes to College, and first hiatus (1977–1984)

In 1977, friends Frank Navetta and David Nolte began writing songs on acoustic guitars with the intention of forming a band.<ref name="FAQ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They initially called themselves "The Itch", until Navetta came up with the name "Descendents".<ref name="FAQ"/> By the end of the year they had failed to attract any more band members, so Nolte left to join the Last with his brothers.<ref name="FAQ"/> In late 1978 Navetta, joined by drummer Bill Stevenson, and with Nolte switching from guitar to bass, revitalized the Descendents project.<ref name="FAQ"/><ref name="Blush">Template:Cite book</ref> Nolte sang with the group at several of their early performances alongside Navetta, but by the spring of 1979, The Last were becoming more active and he left the Descendents again, being replaced by bassist Tony Lombardo.<ref name="FAQ"/> The lineup of Navetta, Lombardo, and Stevenson recorded the band's debut single at Media Art studios and released it on their own label, Orca Records, named after Stevenson's fishing boat.<ref name="FAQ"/><ref name="Blush"/><ref name="Blush, p. 310">Blush, p. 310.</ref><ref name="Hallraker">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Navetta sang "Ride the Wild" while Lombardo sang "It's a Hectic World". Nolte produced and mixed the session, and his brother Joe turned the lead guitar level up, resulting in the guitar being very loud in the mix.<ref name="FAQ"/>

File:RedondoBeachPier02.jpg

Redondo Beach, where the Fat EP and Milo Goes to College were recorded

The band's music at the time was described by Stevenson as a "coffee'd-out blend of rock-surf-pop-punk music [...] The sound consisted basically of Lombardo's hard-driving, melodic bass lines, Navetta's tight guitar riffing, and my 'caffinated' surf beats."<ref name="Hallraker"/> Steven Blush, author of American Hardcore: A Tribal History, describes the single as "a blend of Devo-style new wave and Dick Dale-like surf."<ref name="Blush"/> Ned Raggett of AllMusic describes it as surf-inspired power pop with a New Wave edge: "Not quite Devo if they grew up on the coast, but there's something to that comparison."<ref name="Raggett2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

After a six-month trial with a female singer, Cecilia Loera, they recruited Milo Aukerman as their new vocalist after Navetta and Lombardo got tired of singing.<ref name="Blush"/> The addition of Aukerman led the band to write shorter, faster, and more aggressive songs in a hardcore punk style.<ref name="Blush"/> They later released the Fat EP in 1982. It was a record which established the band's presence in the southern California hardcore punk movement with its short, fast, aggressive songs.<ref name="Blush"/> {{#invoke:Listen|main}} 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.<ref name="Somery">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> 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."<ref name="Blush"/> The album's title and cover illustration referenced Aukerman's departure from the band to study biology at the University of California, San Diego.<ref name="Interviews">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="FAQ"/>

A note on the back of the LP read "In dedication to Milo Aukerman from the Descendents", and was signed by the other three members.<ref name="Milo Goes to College">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Aukerman later recalled that the band took his departure in stride:

When I decided to go to university, the guys in the band were pretty hip on it because they knew how big of a nerd I was. Like, "What else would you expect him to do but to go off and be a geek?" I mean, I've got a Ph.D in biochemistry — how uncool is that?<ref name="Blush"/>

The band continued performing for a time with Ray Cooper on vocals, who would switch to rhythm guitar, when Aukerman made return visits to Los Angeles.<ref name="Interviews"/><ref name="All">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref><ref name="Shrub">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At the same time, Stevenson had also joined Black Flag, intending to be in both bands at once but soon finding it too difficult due to Black Flag's touring and recording schedule.<ref name="Hallraker"/>

With Aukerman in college and Stevenson in Black Flag, the Descendents went on hiatus from 1983 to 1985.<ref name="Interviews"/><ref name="All"/><ref name="Shrub"/> During this time Navetta burned all of his equipment and moved to Oregon, while Cooper and Lombardo performed as the Ascendents.<ref name="FAQ"/><ref name="All"/><ref name="Shrub"/>

Reformation, I Don't Want to Grow Up, Enjoy!, All, and second hiatus (1985–1995)

{{#invoke:Listen|main}} In 1985 Stevenson left Black Flag and he, Aukerman, Cooper, and Lombardo reconvened as the Descendents for I Don't Want to Grow Up, recorded that April at Music Lab studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, with producer and engineer David Tarling and published by New Alliance Records.<ref name="Blush, p. 310"/><ref name="Somery"/><ref name="I Don't Want to Grow Up">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

After three tours in support of I Don't Want to Grow Up, the band recorded Enjoy! in March and April 1986 at Radio Tokyo studios in Venice, California.<ref name="Somery"/><ref name="Enjoy!">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Drummer Bill Stevenson acted as producer of the album, working with recording engineers Richard Andrews and Ethan James.<ref name="Somery"/><ref name="Enjoy!"/>

The lyrics of "Hürtin' Crüe" derived from a high school classmate of singer Milo Aukerman who had earned a score of 1420 on the SAT, gaining him entry into the United States Military Academy. Gloating about his accomplishment, he sang a taunt with the lyrics "I am better than you / You are a piece of poo / 1420". Aukerman incorporated these lyrics into "Hürtin' Crüe".<ref name="FAQ"/> The cover artwork for Enjoy! was drawn by guitarist Ray Cooper under the pseudonym "Scoob Droolins".<ref name="FAQ"/><ref name="Enjoy!"/> Rather than printing the song titles on the reverse of the album's sleeve, the band instead replaced them with various euphemisms for feces.<ref name="Salmon">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The band supported Enjoy! with a tour through the Summer of 1986.<ref name="Blush, p. 310"/><ref name="Hallraker"/> Following the tour both Carrion and Cooper left the band, and were replaced by Karl Alvarez and Stephen Egerton, respectively, from the Utah band Massacre Guys.<ref name="Hallraker"/><ref name="All"/><ref name="Shrub"/> In 1987 New Alliance was sold to SST Records, who re-released Enjoy! on cassette and compact disc. The cassette and CD versions added two additional tracks: "Orgofart" and "Orgo 51".<ref name="Discography"/> "Orgofart" consists entirely of the band members cheering each other on as they fart into recording equipment, a technique also used in "Enjoy", while "Orgo 51" is a heavy metal-influenced instrumental track.<ref name="Salmon"/>

One week later, on Stevenson's birthday of September 10, Stephen Egerton and Karl Alvarez moved from Salt Lake City to fill the vacant guitar and bass positions.<ref name="Hallraker"/> All was recorded in January 1987 at Radio Tokyo studios in Venice, California, with recording engineer Richard Andrews and was produced by Stevenson.<ref name="Somery"/><ref name="All (Descendents)">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Dez Cadena sang backing vocals, while Stevenson created the album's cover graphics and Alvarez provided illustrations for the sleeve and liner notes.<ref name="FAQ"/><ref name="All (Descendents)"/>

The album was themed around the concept of "All", which had been invented by Stevenson and friend Pat McCuistion during a fishing trip on Stevenson's boat Orca in 1980.<ref name="Blush"/><ref name="Hallraker"/> According to singer Milo Aukerman: "While drinking all this coffee in the midst of catching mackerel they came up with the concept of All — doing the utmost, achieving the utmost. The more they got into it the more it turned into their own religion; it's partly humor, but it's also an outlook on how to conduct your life: to not settle for some, to always go for All."<ref name="Blush"/> Stevenson described the concept of "All" as "the total extent", and he and McCuistion had quickly written several short songs that would later be recorded by the Descendents, including "All" and "No, All!", written "in a fit of Allular frustration. The songs were only seconds long, but that was all the time we needed to make the point."<ref name="Blush"/><ref name="Hallraker"/> McCuistion also shared writing credit on "All-O-Gistics", a musical set of commandments for achieving All, including lyrics such as "Thou shalt not commit adulthood", "Thou shalt not partake of decaf", and "Thou shalt not suppress flatulence".<ref name="All (Descendents)"/> In a June 1987 interview with Music magazine, Stevenson elaborated on the "All" concept:

I'm really into "ALL"' and I've waited a long time to unleash the whole concept on people. And now I'm going to do it [...] It's just a way of thinking, in which there are extremes and there is this goal called 'ALL.' It's a way that I created in dealing with achievement and satisfaction and how the two relate. Basically just to avoid stagnation... going for "ALL" and never being satisfied and just wallowing in your own sameness.<ref name="Interviews"/>

Aside from the concept of "All", other songs on the album such as "Coolidge", "Pep Talk", and "Clean Sheets" dealt with themes of broken relationships, while "Iceman" was loosely based on the play The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill.<ref name="FAQ"/><ref name="DaRonco">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The album was released through SST Records, who had purchased the Descendents' previous label New Alliance Records that year and also re-released all of their previous albums. All was released in LP, cassette, and CD formats, the latter two containing the additional tracks "Jealous of the World" and "Uranus".<ref name="Discography">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The band supported the album with a 60-day Spring 1987 tour, followed by the 50-day Summer "FinALL" tour, so-called due to Aukerman's decision to leave the band to pursue a career in biochemistry.<ref name="Hallraker"/><ref name="All" /><ref name="Shrub"/> Recordings from these tours were used for the live albums Liveage! (1987) and Hallraker: Live! (1989). Following Aukerman's departure the band added singer Dave Smalley of Dag Nasty and rechristened themselves All, a change Stevenson claimed he had wanted to make for eight years.<ref name="Interviews"/> "Well, basically, I've been wanting to work with David for a long time; but at the same time, Milo has stuck with me for almost nine years now, so I wouldn't exactly feel right about just continuing to call us the Descendents. In a sense that would be kind of like discrediting Milo's nine years worth of effort. It's kind of like, 'Let the Descendents be my and Milo's sacred thing,' or whatever. Who knows, at some point later on we might decide that we want to get together and record something.<ref name="Interviews"/>

On December 16, 1987, during the recording of the first All album Allroy Sez, Pat McCuistion died when his fishing boat sank during a storm. Stevenson remarked that "He had 15,000 pounds of fish onboard, so I guess you could say he died in heated pursuit of All. He was always the '5th member' of the band, besides being my best friend, next to Milo."<ref name="Hallraker"/>

Second reformation, Everything Sucks, and third hiatus (1995–2003)

In 1995 Aukerman expressed a desire to return to recording and performing, so the band members decided to work with him as the Descendents while continuing to work with Price as All, in order to "make room for Milo without pushing Chad out."<ref name="FAQ"/> Stevenson explained that the arrangement did not cause any resentment between the two singers: "[I]t's all totally good, it's just that when we are playing, Milo couldn't be All's singer, cause Chad is All's singer. So, we decided that we could be Descendents with Milo, and All with Chad. It's not really a reunion, we've been together the whole time."<ref name="FAQ"/> Aukerman described his decision to rejoin the band as "really just my re-entry into the song writing, I had been away for so long and I just wanted to make music which is what I love to do."<ref name="FAQ"/>

Everything Sucks was recorded in June and July 1996 at The Blasting Room, a studio built and run by Stevenson in Fort Collins, Colorado.<ref name="Everything Sucks">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Original Descendents members Tony Lombardo and Frank Navetta made appearances on the album: Navetta wrote the song "Doghouse" and both he and Lombardo played on it, marking the first recording by the original Descendents lineup of Aukerman, Lombardo, Navetta, and Stevenson since Milo Goes to College in 1982.<ref name="Everything Sucks"/> Lombardo also played on "Eunuch Boy", a song he and Aukerman had written fifteen years earlier. According to Aukerman: Template:" 'Eunuch Boy' is the first song I ever wrote, really. When we formed, Tony Lombardo, the original bass player said, 'Dude- you need to write some songs,' and I had never written a song before so I just wrote down some words and brought it to him. He made the music for it."<ref name="FAQ"/> Lombardo also wrote and played on "Gotta", which was left off of the album but released as a B-side on the "When I Get Old" single. Chad Price sang backing vocals on the album, while Stevenson and Egerton produced and engineered it.<ref name="Everything Sucks"/>

All had previously been signed to major label Interscope Records for 1995's Pummel, but were dissatisfied with the experience.<ref name="Steininger">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Both All and the Descendents signed to Epitaph Records, who released Everything Sucks, the subsequent All albums Mass Nerder (1998) and Problematic (2000), and the All/Descendents double live album Live Plus One (2001). It was rumored that Epitaph would not sign All without getting the Descendents as well,<ref name="Raggett5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but Stevenson explained that the arrangement was made because Epitaph head Brett Gurewitz would allow both bands to make albums at their discretion:

When we signed with Epitaph it was for both bands. It was a thing of knowing Brett forever, and so I just sat down and said, "Well, we want to make records!" At the time we were leaving Interscope. We weren't happy with Interscope at all. So we sat down and told them we wanted to make both All and Descendents records whenever we want, at our choosing. Brett and I worked out a deal like that, so it was really flexible and we could basically do whatever we wanted.<ref name="Steininger"/>

The Descendents supported Everything Sucks with a series of tours from September 1996 to August 1997 covering the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe, touring with Swingin' Utters, the Bouncing Souls, the Suicide Machines, Shades Apart, Guttermouth, Less Than Jake, Handsome, Electric Frankenstein, Social Distortion, Pennywise, H₂O, and others.<ref name="Tours">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Music videos were filmed for "I'm the One" and "When I Get Old", and both songs were released as singles in Europe.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Third reformation, Cool to Be You, reunions, Filmage, and Hypercaffium Spazzinate (2004–2017)

File:The Descendents.jpg

Descendents in 2010

In the early 2000s, Aukerman took a break from biochemistry and reunited with the Descendents to record a new album. The recording sessions for Cool to Be You took place with Aukerman in February 2002 at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado, with additional recording done in April at Planet of Sound in Wilmington, Delaware, and were produced by Stevenson.<ref name="Cool to Be You">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> The band recorded the music for the songs live in the studio with minimal overdubbing, and Aukerman's vocals were recorded over the instrumental tracks.<ref name="Interviews"/> However, these recordings were not released for another two years. Stevenson explained that the gap of eight years between Descendents albums was due to the band members having children and to his father's death.<ref name="Interviews"/> {{#invoke:Listen|main}} For the release of Cool to Be You the Descendents signed to Fat Wreck Chords. Label head and musician Fat Mike was a longtime fan of the band, and his enthusiasm for working with them was a major factor in their decision to sign to the label.<ref name="Interviews"/> Stevenson commented that "If you've got the owner of the label saying he wants to put out a record by what is probably his favorite band of all time, that's rad. That's the best possible position for a band to be in."<ref name="Interviews"/> The album was preceded by the 'Merican EP in February 2004, followed by the full-length album in March. Cool to Be You was released in both CD and LP formats, with a cover illustration drawn by Chris Shary depicting the band's Milo caricature drawn on graph paper.<ref name="FAQ"/>

In October 2008, founding member Frank Navetta died after "becoming ill over the course of a few days". The official website of the Descendents gave its grief to Frank, "We're very sorry to announce that founding member of The DESCENDENTS, and close friend Frank Navetta died on October 31, 2008 after becoming ill over the course of a few days. This is obviously a huge loss for the DESCENDENTS family. His contribution to the band, and to music in general can not be overstated. Frank will be truly missed."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2010 the Descendents reunited again for a series of gigs. According to Milo, the reunion is not an official reformation. He classified these as "one-off shows", usually occurring when he is able to take advantage of vacation breaks as working as a biologist to perform with the Descendents.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref>

A documentary called Filmage documenting the story behind the Descendents and All<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> premiered at Bloor Hot Docs cinema in Toronto on June, 15th 2013 as part of the NXNE Music and Film festival.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Directed by Matt Riggle and Deedle LaCour, Filmage had a limited theatrical run in Los Angeles starting September, 26th 2014 and was released in the US and Canada on VOD, Digital and Blu-ray/DVD September, 30th 2014.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In May 2015 it was announced by Stevenson that the band had been working on some demo songs for a new album, which could possibly be released mid-2016. On April 22, 2016, it was announced that the band's next album, Hypercaffium Spazzinate, along with an accompanying EP with five bonus tracks from the recording sessions entitled Spazzhazard would be released through Epitaph in July.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On June 7, the debut single from Hypercaffium Spazzinate, "Victim of Me", was released on all streaming services.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In July 2016, Milo announced he would be leaving his scientific career to pursue the Descendents full-time, citing burnout with biochemistry and getting laid off from DuPont.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

New singles and 9th & Walnut (2018–present)

In a March 2019 interview with OC Register, Aukerman revealed that Descendents were working on a new album: "When we put out the last record we thought, 'OK, I bet we could put out another record after this one and not wait a decade to do it.' It was such a rewarding experience and you know what? Our fans deserve better. They deserve more than a record every decade or so. We started writing almost immediately after that record was done. I have been writing and Stephen (Egerton) has really picked up the mantle, too. Between us I think we have like 20 songs written and Bill (Stevenson) and Karl (Alvarez) have been writing songs as well. We've done some basic tracking, but it's still a work in progress but I hope we'll have something out by the end of the year."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2020, they released a single to streaming services, entitled "Suffrage" and including two songs, "On You" and "Hindsight 2020".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On May 4, 2021, the band put out a single called "Baby Doncha Know" and announced their eighth album that would be released on July 23 titled 9th & Walnut, named after the intersection in Long Beach, California, where their first rehearsal space was located. The album was recorded primarily during a 2002 session featuring the original lineup of Stevenson, Frank Navetta, and Tony Lombardo, with Milo Aukerman recording his lead vocals for the album at home in Delaware during the COVID-19 pandemic. It contains eighteen songs written by the band between 1977 and 1981, including re-recorded versions of "Ride the Wild" and "It's a Hectic World". The album serves as the band's first recording since Everything Sucks to feature this "classic" lineup.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Artistry

Musical style and instrumentation

{{#invoke:Listen|main}} Over the years, the Descendents style of music has changed from short under a minute hardcore style songs to average length 2–3 minute punk rock songs. The lyrical content of the Descendents made them being cited at the time as one of the most significant punk bands of the 1980s hardcore punk movement. Critics have cited that their earlier music style which reflected hardcore punk being influential to modern day skate punk and pop-punk. Steven Blush, author of American Hardcore: A Tribal History, remarked that their "cheeky love songs disguised as hardcore blasts became the most aped formula in rock."<ref name="Blush"/> Ned Raggett of AllMusic in his review of Milo Goes to College called it "an unpretentious, catchy winner. 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 fuck-off stance, and it's punk rock that wears both its adolescence and brains on its sleeve."<ref name="Raggett">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bill Stevenson attributed the change of their sound to the band's invention of the "Bonus Cup": "We took ⅓ of a cup of instant coffee grounds, added some hot water, threw in about 5 spoonfuls of sugar, and proceeded to play 10 second songs. The Bonus Cup became a part of everyday Descendents life."<ref name="Hallraker"/> Aukerman later recalled: "We started drinking too much coffee; 'cause of that and the addition of me, the music became very quick and all about bursts of energy. It's interesting: we started very melodic, then moved to hardcore, but melded the two at a certain point and became melodic hardcore."<ref name="Blush"/>

During the band's first reformation, the songs got longer, darker, and experimental. Enjoy! was marked by the use of toilet humor, with references to defecation and flatulence in its artwork, the title track, and "Orgofart". It also displayed a darker, more heavy metal-influenced sound in songs like "Hürtin' Crüe", "Days Are Blood", and "Orgo 51", with other songs recalling the pop-influenced punk of the band's previous efforts.

Lyrics

The songs on Everything Sucks and Cool to Be You address topics including love and relationships, sociopolitical commentary, the death of parents, nerdiness, and flatulence.<ref name="Interviews"/><ref name="Paul">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:" 'Merican" addresses positive and negative aspects of American history, celebrating cultural figures such as Otis Redding, Duke Ellington, and Walt Whitman while condemning slavery, Joseph McCarthy, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Vietnam War.<ref name="Luerssen">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Campbell">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Stevenson wrote "One More Day" about the death of his father, who he had taken in and cared for throughout the last year of his life: "He and I always had a terrible relationship. We spent a good part of my adult life being somewhat estranged from each other. He became ill and I took care of him for a little while. And then he died. That song is just about his and my relationship. Just to get that out of me and not holding it inside anymore, is a huge relief for me [...] Every single time I hear that song, it just freaks me out. I've never, ever written a song that's freaked me out that much."<ref name="Interviews"/>

Milo character

File:Descendents - Milo Goes to College cover.jpg

The original version of the Milo character, as drawn by Jeff "Rat" Atkinson for the cover of Milo Goes to College

A caricature of singer Milo Aukerman has been a mascot for the Descendents since the early 1980s, appearing on the covers of six of the band's eight studio albums. The character was created by Rodger Deuerlein, a classmate of Aukerman and drummer Bill Stevenson's at Mira Costa High School who taunted Aukerman by drawing comic strips and posters depicting him as the class nerd.<ref name="FAQ"/><ref name="Filmage: Milo character">Template:Cite AV media</ref> "He usually used me to make campaigns for people running for class office. [...] I remember him making one that said 'Don't be a nerd like Milo, vote for Billy!' or something like that."<ref name="FAQ"/> For the cover of the Descendents' first album, Milo Goes to College (1982), Stevenson asked friend Jeff "Rat" Atkinson to draw his own interpretation of Deuerlein's Milo character: "I go 'Roger does the drawingTemplate:' ", recalled Atkinson, "He goes 'No, you gotta do it.' I said 'Okay, what kind of Milo do you want?' So I draw him a Milo. First was the crew neck T-shirt, then I drew the polo shirt Milo, then I drew the Milo with a tie, because he goes to college. Bill goes 'Oh, that's it', and it becomes the cover of the first record."<ref name="Filmage: Milo character"/> For the band's 1985 album I Don't Want to Grow Up, the character was reinterpreted as a baby.<ref name="I Don't Want to Grow Up"/> When the band's name was changed to All upon Aukerman's departure in 1987, bassist Karl Alvarez created the character Allroy to serve an equivalent function for the new band.<ref name="Bonus Cut">"Bonus Cut". Filmage: The Story of Descendents/All. Event occurs at 11:39.</ref>

In addition to appearing on much of the Descendents' merchandise and promotional materials, the Milo character has been reinterpreted by other artists for all of the band's releases since 1996:

• Reading a newspaper on the cover of Everything Sucks (1996).<ref name="Everything Sucks"/> The full illustration, used for the lyric sheet and the "I'm the One" single, depicts the character sitting atop the tank of an overflowing toilet as it floods the room around him and a mushroom cloud forms outside the window.<ref name="Everything Sucks"/> This illustration is credited to "Grey Stool", though Aukerman notes it was created by "the kind people at Epitaph [Records]".<ref name="FAQ"/>
• As an elderly man in a wheelchair on the cover of the "When I Get Old" single (1997)<ref name="When I Get Old">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>
• Dressed as Uncle Sam, in two versions, on the cover of 'Merican (2004), as drawn by Jeff Hagedorn<ref name="FAQ"/><ref name="'Merican">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>
• Drawn on graph paper on the cover of Cool to Be You (2004), as illustrated by Chris Shary.<ref name="FAQ"/><ref name="Cool to Be You"/> Shary also drew the character as an old man for the cover of the Descendents tribute album Milo Turns 50 (2013), published by Filter magazine, and a more detailed depiction of the character as the promotional artwork for Filmage, a 2013 documentary film about the Descendents and All.<ref name="Filmage: Milo character"/><ref name="Milo Turns 50">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• As an Erlenmeyer flask on the cover of Hypercaffium Spazzinate (2016).
• As a ballot box on the cover of Suffrage (2020), the full illustration also depicts a hand with a spiked wristband depositing a vote into said ballot box.

Legacy and influence

The Descendents have been cited as hugely influential to a large number of modern-day punk bands such as Blink-182, MXPX, NOFX, Green Day, Pennywise, Propagandhi, Rise Against, the All-American Rejects, the Bouncing Souls, the Offspring, and the Ataris.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "Everything about how I sing and play guitar came from this band [...] Blink is absolutely a product of The Descendents," said Blink-182 vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge in 2011,<ref name="delonge">Template:Cite news</ref> while vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus called "Silly Girl" from I Don't Want to Grow Up (1985) "the first song that really altered my life. [...] It spoke to me in a way that nothing did."<ref name="hoppus">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2014, Filmage: The Story of Descendents/All, a documentary on the band, premiered. The film features interviews with Hoppus, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, and Mike Watt of Minutemen.<ref name="filmage">Template:Cite news</ref>

Milo Goes to College has been included in several lists of noteworthy punk albums. Spin has listed it several times, ranking it No. 74 in a 1995 list of the best alternative albums and No. 20 in a 2001 list of "The 50 Most Essential Punk Records", and including it in a 2004 list of "Essential Hardcore" albums.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Reynolds">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Beaujon">Template:Cite journal</ref> In these lists, critic Simon Reynolds described the album as "Fifteen Cali-core paroxysms that anatomize dork-dude pangs with haiku brevity", while Andrew Beaujon called it "Super clean, super tight, super poppy hardcore about hating your parents, riding bikes, and not wanting to 'smell your muff.'<ref name="Reynolds"/><ref name="Beaujon"/> In 2006 Kerrang! ranked it as the 33rd greatest punk album of all time.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The German edition of the Rolling StoneTemplate:'s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ranked it at 349.Template:CN

In 2016, a Descendents branded IPA entitled "Feel This Coffee" was released by the San Diego branch of Mikkeller Brewery. It is named after a track from their 2016 album Hypercaffium Spazzinate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Band members

Current members

• Bill Stevenson – drums (1978–1983, 1985–1987, 1995–1997, 2002–2004, 2010–present), vocals (1979–1980, 2002)
• Milo Aukerman – vocals (1980–1983, 1985–1987, 1995–1997, 2002–2004, 2010–present)
• Stephen Egerton – guitar (1986–1987, 1995–1997, 2002–2004, 2010–present)
• Karl Alvarez – bass (1986–1987, 1995–1997, 2002–2004, 2010–present)

Former members

• Frank Navetta – guitar (1977–1983, 2002), vocals (1977–1980, 2002); died 2008
• David Nolte – vocals (1977–1979), guitar (1977–1978), bass (1978–1979)
• Tony Lombardo – bass (1979–1983, 1985, 2002), vocals (1979–1980, 2002)
• Ray Cooper – vocals (1982–1983), guitar (1982–1983, 1985–1986)
• Doug Carrion – bass (1985–1986)

Timeline

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Documentary

In 2013 Rogue Elephant Pictures, an Austin Texas-based film company, announced the pending release of Filmage: The Story Of The Descendents / ALL, a film by Deedle Lacour and Matt Riggle. The documentary film has more than 40 interviews with band members past and present and keynote commentary by associated musicians such as Keith Morris of Black Flag, Mike Watt of the Minutemen, Kira Roessler of Black Flag, members of Rise Against, and many more. The film was released on June 15, 2013.<ref name="Dalton">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Discography

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Studio albums

• Milo Goes to College (1982)
• I Don't Want to Grow Up (1985)
• Enjoy! (1986)
• All (1987)
• Everything Sucks (1996)
• Cool to Be You (2004)
• Hypercaffium Spazzinate (2016)
• 9th & Walnut (2021)

EPs

• Ride the Wild / It's a Hectic World (1980)
• Fat EP (1981)
• Sessions (1997)
• 'Merican (2004)
• Spazzhazard (2016)

External links

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