Descendents
I Don't Want To Grow Up

THE REVIEW

The Descendents, as we know, wouldn't be the Descendents without their legendary frontman, Milo Aukerman. Tony Lombardo and Bill Stevenson are two musicians with amazing talent, but without his bitter sensitivity, his resentment towards a world that labeled him a "nerd", his voice tinged with that disarming melancholy, an album like the immortal "Milo Goes To College", a brief twenty-minute set of melodic hardcore where our nerd shouted his insecurities and the injustices he faced with his unique and overwhelming passion, would never have existed. Along with it, songs like "Hope", "Bikeage", and "Jean is Dead".

"I Don't Want To Grow Up", the second work from our heroes, was released by D. Boon's (rest his soul) New Alliance, the sister of the legendary SST, in '85, a year when hardcore was no longer hardcore in the strict sense of the term, and albums like "New Day Rising" were produced, among the most enlightening examples. The Descendents take a bold step forward and, fully and consciously embracing melody within their walls, pave the cheerful path that would be followed over the years by bands like Bad Religion and NOFX. 

It's an album more about songs and ideas than nerves, with Milo's explosive stream of consciousness filtered by song structure, thus compromising a bit of the result's charm. "Descendents", a true anthem for fans, along with the swift "Rockstar" and "No FB", each forty-second songs, is there to show that old-school hypervelocity runs a bit in their veins, along with their mischievous attitude, as demonstrated by the silly nursery rhyme of the title track. In "Pervert", a live staple for the band, Milo plays a bit of Henry Rollins, but right after, with "Can't Go Away" and "GCF", tracks that could give them the right and arrogance to sue Green Day for plagiarism and snag some of their millions, they definitively show their new face. Amid the killer choruses of "My World" and "Silly Girl", another beautiful love song à la "Hope" and a gem of the album, they even manage to slip in the instrumental zumpappà of "Theme", a ménage à trois between Cooper, Stevenson, and Lombardo that will color your synapses with cheerful and vibrant hues. The dreamy "In Love This Way", the disenchanted "Good Good Things", and yet another forceful melody of "Christmas Vacation" will open the doors to the nearly four minutes of "Ace", closing the album under the sign of sadness, where that obsessive now's the time will make us face reality. In the end, one has to grow up.

With "Milo Goes To College", the Descendents had already said it all, but they will always be my favorite Peter Pans.