History Music / Descendents

!!!Former members:

!!!Current lineup:

* HiddenDepths: Think the title ''Milo Goes to College'' was chosen because it was catchy? Well it turns out lead singer Milo Aukerman actually was going to college in order to be a biochemist. The band now tours around his work schedule.

* IconicLogo: A caricature of Milo Aukerman appears on the cover of most of their studio albums.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Their debut single, "Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World", had more in common with SurfRock and NewWave than HardcorePunk. Also, as already mentioned, Milo wasn't in the band yet - Frank Navetta sang the A-side and Tony Lombardo sang the B-side, these being the only times either would ever sing lead on a Descendents recording.

* LongRunner: Releasing latest album in July 2016.

* VulgarHumor- Overuse of this got a rather icy reception for "All". The album still has it's fans regardless.

* VulgarHumor

!!Tropes:

The descendents are a punk-rock band from Hermosa Beach, California. They started in 1978, released their first EP, ''Fat'', in 1980, and their first album ''Milo Goes to College'', in 1982. They went through many lineup changes and there's even an entire separate band that has three of their members. They continue to tour today.

Their sound was more melodic than most punk bands of their generation, and they sang about being losers, problems with girls, and other sensitive subjects, with a lot of nonsense and humor included. While nobody would mistake them for an emo band, they might be seen as a precursor for the genre--sensitive and melodic, but with edgier music. They're not as [[{{Wangst}} wangsty]] though, and a lot more fun. In addition to girls and other problems, the band sang occasionally about food and coffee, and in particular, not doing drugs (except for caffeine, of which they were fond). They even had at least one entire song about farting ("Enjoy").

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Their debut single, "Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World", had more in common with SurfRock and NewWave than HardcorePunk. Also, as already mentioned, Milo wasn't in the band yet - Frank Navetta sang the a-side and Tony Lombardo sang the b-side, these being the only times either would ever sing lead on a Descendents recording.

* HollywoodToneDeaf: When playing the song, "Descendents," live, Milo often deliberately sings the line, "Don't even know how to sing" way off-key.

* LeadDrummer: As stated above on the list of members, Bill Stevenson has been the only consistent member.

* PunBasedTitle: "Mass Nerder."
** "Marriage" arguably counts. A lot of their songs (especially on ''Milo Goes to College'') add the suffix "-age" to a word, such as "Bikeage" or "Tonyage," with "Marriage" being the only real word that ends in "-age" on the album. On a similar note, there's "Coolidge" from ''All.''

* ShoutOut: The outro to "Mass Nerder" is a reference to Music/TheGerms. The "We must read" bit is sung to the tune of their song, "We Must Bleed" and "Somebody get me a book!" is a variation on Darby Crash's famous "Somebody get me a beer!"

-->Milo Aukerman, voice, 1980–present

Their sound was more melodic than most punk bands of their generation, and they sang about being losers, problems with girls, and other sensitive subjects, with a lot of nonsense and humor included. While nobody would mistake them for an emo band, they might be seen as a precursor for the genre--sensitive and melodic, but with edgier music. They're not as [[{{Wangst}} wangsty]], though, and they're a lot more fun. In addition to girls and other problems, the band sang occasionally about food and coffee, and in particular, not doing drugs (except for caffeine, of which they were fond). They even had at least one entire song about farting ("Enjoy").

The Descendents' original lineup was Frank Navetta on guitar, Tony Lombardo on bass, Bill Stevenson (presumably the Bill whose sperm is offered in "Der Wienerschnitzel," quoted at the top of the page) on drums, and Milo Aukerman on vocals. (Actually, Milo was not in the very first lineup, but he was added before the first album [which, to continue the digression, was actually an EP], and most fans would consider him one of the originals; some fans would even consider him the heart of the band.)

Descendents have had many lineup changes over the years, with Stevenson always on the drums. An unnnecessarily detailed list of their lineups is below.

Bill Stevenson, drums, the only member who never left\\
Tony Lombardo, bass, 1978-86\\
Frank Navetta, guitar, 1978-83\\
Milo Aukerman, voice, 1980-82, 1986-98\\
Ray Cooper, vocals and guitar, 1982-83 and guitar 1985-98\\
Doug Carrion, bass, 1986-98\\
Karl Alvarez, bass, 1987-current\\
Steven Egerton, guitar, 1987-current

As All:

The current lineup of the Descendents: Karl Alvarez, Steven Egerton, Bill Stevenson

With vocalists: Dave Smalley, 1987-1989; Scott Reynolds, 1989-1993; Chad Price, 1993-Current

** While he only wrote a handful of songs since he was only there for their earlier years, one can't help but notice a bit of a theme with Frank Navetta's "Parents" and "My Dad Sucks."

** "Marriage" arguably counts. A lot of their songs (especially on ''Milo Goes to College'') add the suffix "-age" to a word, such as "Bikeage" or "Tonyage," with "Marriage" being the only real word that ends in "-age" on their debut. On a similar note, there's "Coolidge" from ''All.''

* PunBaedTitle: "Mass Nerder."

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Their debut single, "Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World", had more in common with SurfRock and NewWave than HardcorePunk. Also, Milo wasn't in the band yet, so Frank Navetta sang the a-side and Tony Lombardo sang the b-side.

* OldShame: They regard "I'm Not A Loser" from ''Milo Goes to College'' as this. In particular, the last verse which has blatantly homophobic lyrics like "You fucking homos!", "You suck, Mr. Buttfuck!" and "Go away, you fucking gay!" claiming that they were dumb, ignorant kids. In their defense, information regarding homosexuality was somewhat limited at the time the song was written.

* NeverLiveItDown / OldShame: They regard "I'm Not A Loser" from ''Milo Goes to College'' as this. In particular, the last verse which has blatantly homophobic lyrics like "You fucking homos!", "You suck, Mr. Buttfuck!" and "Go away, you fucking gay!" claiming that they were dumb, ignorant kids. In their defense, information regarding homosexuality was somewhat limited at the time the song was written.

The descendents are a punk-rock band from Hermosa Beach, California. They started in 1978, released their first EP, ''Fat'', in 1980, and their first album ''Milo Goes to College'', in 1980. They went through many lineup changes and there's even an entire separate band that has three of their members. They continue to tour today.

The Descendents have had many lineup changes over the years, with Stevenson always on the drums. An unnnecessarily detailed list of their lineups is below.

As All

* LongRunners
* NeverLiveItDown/OldShame: They regard "I'm Not A Loser" from ''Milo Goes to College'' as this. In particular, the last verse which has blatantly homophobic lyrics like "You fucking homos!", "You suck, Mr. Buttfuck!" and "Go away, you fucking gay!" claiming that they were dumb, ignorant kids. In their defense, information regarding homosexuality was somewhat limited at the time the song was written.

Milo Aukreman, voice, 1980-82, 1986-98\\

->You want Bill sperm with that?\\

Their sound was more melodic than most punk bands of their generation, and they sang about being losers, problems with girls, and other sensitive subjects, with a lot of nonsense and humor included. While noboy would mistake them for an emo band, they might be seen as a precursor for the genre--sensitive and melodic, but with edgier music. They're not as [[{{Wangst}} wangsty]], though, and they're a lot more fun. In addition to girls and other problems, the band sang occasionally about food and coffee, and in partcular, not doing drugs (except for caffeine, of which they were fond). They even had at least one entire song about farting ("Enjoy").