BACK TO 1982: DESCENDENTS – MILO GOES TO COLLEGE

Writing about your all-time favorite band is a thing and writing about a record that came before you’ve even been born is another thing. One of our writers, Martin, mentioned that there is only one important record for a band. Their first. Here we have the debut record of one of the most important pop-punk, melodic hardcore or whatever you call it, band and their debut broke into the scene in 1982 to become a milestone in punkrock history. But what makes that record so outstanding? I think on one hand the big sense of melody the band put in, which was something new in that time and on the other hand, they were singing about things like just having a suburban home or being bullied in school. That definitely was a novelty, cause most of the bands in those days had more “classic” punk topics in their lyrics.

It’s hard to pick songs out of a classic masterpiece like that record, but of course the bass intro of the first song Myage is iconic and every punkrock fan should at least once in her/his life heard that intro.
Catalina is a song about going fishing to get over an ex-girlfriend. I mean what punkband has ever written a song about going on a therapeutical fishing trip?
I already mentioned Suburban home which is one of my favourite songs of that band:

I want to be stereotyped
I want to be classified
I want to be a clone
I want a suburban home

And there is this gem of a song on the B-side, called hope! Is it the most perfect punkrock love song ever written? I’m not sure, but it turned out to be an anthem for generations of teenage punks that hopelessly fell in love. It’s the never ending story of the underdog trying to get the girl he loves. It’s a song about unrequited love and a guy that, in the end, “gets” the girl. Like a short, 2 minutes fairytale.

But I know my day will come
I know someday I’ll be the only one

Bikeage is about the fate of a person living on the streets, drug addicted and again the hope to help that person out of it. Something that all those Descendents songs come back to. In the end they often try to give those songs some kind of happy ending or at least show the listeners that there is hope left in the world.
Milo goes to college is definitely one of those classic punk records any fan of that genre should have listened to at least once. It is a record that inspired generations of punk bands and the Descendents are still an inspiration. Rumors are telling us that a new record is in the making and to go with the Descendents way:
I hope!
– written by Martin

BACK TO 1982: DESCENDENTS – MILO GOES TO COLLEGE
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