REVIEW: Descendents – Milo Goes To College (SST)
Welcome to the invention of pop punk, back in 1982 the band themselves described their invention as melodic hardcore but who are they kiddin’, it’s pop right, and punk in places too. Today it’s become a style of music which has become so utterly vomit inducing that if a band dares describe themselves as anything close to pop punk in an interview, I instantly turn the page and delete them from my memory banks. Somewhere after the second wave of pop punk that began with Bad Religions Suffer in 1988 and ended with the release of NOFX’s Punk in Drublic in 1994 the scene lost its spunk and just as punk and grunge lost its way with 1000 carbon copy weak imitations of its big players so did pop punk. Today I have friends that rave about the likes of Four Year Strong and whilst I can see the attraction (the same attraction that brought me to the Descendents in the first place) if you compare Four Year Strong’s Enemy Of The World with a record like Milo Goes To College it simply withers away and crumbles under the weight of the sheer quality of the songs.
The Descendents themselves only released two stone cold classic records, this and Everything Sucks which didn’t come out until some fourteen years after Milo Goes To College did. They are not infallible as a band but lightning strikes every now and then and the band have been dealt two incredible hands of electrifying music in their history.
It’s a history that is so uncool that’s its insanely cool, lead singer Milo Aukerman did actually leave the group after recording and touring this, the band’s debut long player to study and eventually receive a doctorate in biochemistry. Since then he has come and gone as he pleases to lay down his distinctive vocals and rock out with his friends. How non-careerist is that? My favourite song on here, Hope was the only song where Milo receives a full writing credit on his own. It’s so utterly powerful. An anthem for geeks around the world, “I know my day will come” a single line sung with such conviction that as a young fellow listening to endless piles of vinyl in my room I felt here was a comrade who understood how being awkward around girls and lonely wasn’t the be all and end all. Look at him, he sings in this bitchin punk band, he is a total nerd but has utter conviction in his actions. I totally related to Hope as have many other people judging from the amount of awful covers there are out there of this tune. It’s a righteous moment and dare I say it one of the finest tunes ever written by anyone, ever.
Other brilliant moments on here are tenfold at least, the bridge and chorus of I’m Not A Loser stand out as a rallying cry of defiance against those that bully their way into positions of non-political power. As for Suburban Home it’s hard to articulate the beauty that punk rock or pop punk for that matter can contain. If any proof was needed this song is enough. 100 seconds long and every one of those seconds are heavenly. Not only does this track contain the best chorus on the record but Tony Lombardo’s bass runs are spot on. It’s an incredibly uplifting piece of work.
A couple of tracks miss these heights, Statue Of Liberty sounds puny in its surroundings and Catalina is reminiscent of a watered down pre-Rollins Black Flag but having a couple of strike-outs is palatable in such illustrious company. With Milo Goes To College nerds had a musical voice and punk gained itself a new ill-fated sub-category.
