For only the second time in seventeen years, Milo Aukerman returns to the fold, and like Letter Man turning soap into soup, turns All back into the Descendents.
The Descendents, formed by drummer Bill Stevenson as a trio in 1978, are the emotionally stunted godfathers of today's emo industry. After recruiting Aukerman as lead vocalist (following the release of their debut 7"), they released Milo Goes to College in 1982. That album is the template for what became known to the mainstream years later as "pop-punk," and a few years after that, as "emo." It is unquestionably a punk rock album, but the snotty aggression is tempered by melody, humor, and plenty of mushy stuff about girls.
"When he starts to lie/When he makes you cry/You know I'll be there/My day will come/I know someday/I'll be the only one." It was this lyrical approach that made the Descendents so uniquely appealing, and yet they sound like they could have been written by any number of bands wearing today's emo label. But the important thing to remember is that when Milo Goes to College came out, there was nothing at all cool about it. Unlike most of today's sensitive bands, these guys were not good-looking and they sure didn't dress cool, or even "punk." Milo was the quintessential nerd with glasses, and when he sang songs about unrequited love, it was very believable.
The band continued to explore similar territory on their next three albums, I Don't Want to Grow Up, Enjoy!, and All, before Milo packed up and left for an advanced degree in biochemistry (now that's a nerd!). Stevenon continued on with the more recent recruits, guitarist Stephen Egerton and bassist Karl Alvarez, but respectfully changed the band's name to All when ex-DYS and Dag Nasty vocalist Dave Smalley signed on.
All released a number of albums throughout the 90s, and still exist today, now with Chad Price as lead vocalist. They have not strayed too far from the sound of later Descendents, and their lyrical fixations have remained more or less the same, but they have never quite had the same appeal as when Milo Aukerman was leading the band.
Cool to Be You is the second Descendents reunion album since 1987 (Everything Sucks was released in 1996). When I first picked up my copy, I was unsure how I would feel about it, although I liked Everything Sucks, and I was a fan of the original albums. Examining the package and the lyrics before I got to listen to the disc did not raise my expectations. First of all, they get no points at all for yet another unimaginative re-cycle of the Milo caricature, used for the first time on the Milo Goes to College cover.
The lyrics don't read well, and they didn't seem to show any indication of… growth? Am I looking for the wrong thing here? These guys are older, and while some of the songs reflect adult concerns, it seems that the progression is little more than going from songs about girlfriend trouble to songs about wife trouble. Not terribly stimulating.
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But I must admit that my apprehension disappeared when I actually got to listen to the songs. Somehow it works, nearly all of it. This disc is loaded with really catchy, high-energy punk rock tunes, of the type invented by this very band. The first two tracks (written by Aukerman, as are five of the other twelve), are definitive Descendents songs - they're short and fast, they're catchy, they're about relationships, the band plays the hell out of them, and they're nearly irresistible.
Proceeding from there, Karl Alvarez provides two of the best songs on the album: "'Merican" and the title track. I was a little worried about "'Merican," when I saw the single release of it (with a caricature of Milo as Uncle Sam, naturally!). I was afraid it might be a blast of Bush-era jingoism (I still haven't forgotten Bill Stevenson's pointless and odious tribute to his own sexuality, "Hetero," from All's only major label release, 1995's "Pummel."), but it's actually a rumination on the conflicted feelings a concerned citizen might have in these contentious times.
Although some of the Descendents' style has been copied and diluted over the years, they still do this type of thing better than anyone else. There is a level of genuine musical sophistication at work here which this band's disciples tend not to aspire to. The vocal melodies on songs like "Maddie" have a Beach Boys quality which few other bands in the punk rock realm would attempt.
(It is noteworthy that Stephen Egerton gets not a single writing credit on this album, and as a result, there is none of his Black Flag-style dissonance to add variety to the proceedings. His material is probably being saved for the next two planned All albums, one of which is to be entirely instrumental).
In the final analysis, my feelings about the CD can be summed up by my anticipation of a tour. If they do tour to support this album, I will just as psyched to hear these songs as I will be to hear "Hope" or "Get the Time" or "Bikeage." and that says a lot for the relevance of the Descendents in 2004.
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