Everything Sucks (CD - 1996)

Additional personnel: Frank Navetta (guitar); Tony Lombardo (bass); Chad Price (background vocals).

Recorded at The Blasting Room, Fort Collins, Colorado in June and July 1996.

Personnel: Milo Aukerman (vocals); Frank Navetta, Stephen Egerton (guitar); Bill Stevenson (drums); Chad Price (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Andy Wallace; Steve Sisco.

Recording information: Blasting Room, Fort Collins, CO (06/1996-07/1996).

Illustrator: Grey Stool.

Photographer: Jesse Fischer .

To hear it told, the reason why yet another Descendents reunion happened might have been because Epitaph wasn't going to sign All on their own. Then again, it all depends on who one talks to. Regardless of rationale or the nagging suspicion that the mid-'90s breakthrough of Green Day and the Offspring was the only reason this album got recorded, one fact remains: take this out of its surrounding context and this was and is a prime Descendents album. All the humor and heart-on-sleeve showcasing one could hope for are here, and if the band is essentially just All with Aukerman back on vocals, said band had been playing the old Descendents classics for long enough to know their way around great pop-punk, straight up. Aukerman's not the snot-nosed brat from Milo Goes to College anymore, of course, but as the logical continuation of his half-goofy/half-emotional persona from the mid-'80s he's more than fine. All it takes to demonstrate that is to hear the great, affecting "I'm the One," a perfect tug-the-heartstrings hooky roar, immediately followed by the half-minute long jokey romp "Coffee Mug." All the band members write one thing or another throughout, an admirable democracy that follows the everyone-does-something approach found on earlier albums, and the hits outweigh the misses -- anyone dismissing this as just like any other pop-punk around misses the point that these characters helped found it as much as anyone! That the Descendents aren't interested in simply rehashing the past comes up more than once. Consider "Caught," which uses certain allegations about President Clinton (at least the earlier ones) as a starting point on responsibility and truth, and the just wistful and wondering enough "When I Get Old" ("will I still hate the cops/and have no class?"). A welcome, wonderful return to action. ~ Ned Raggett

Along with Black Flag, the Circle Jerks and others, Descendents were founding fathers of California punk, popularizing a brand of hardcore that was singularly West Coast--streamlined, with equal amounts of aggression and tuneful popcraft. This was the scene that would cough up chart toppers like Green Day and Rancid 15 years later. From their recording debut in 1979 till their breakup in 1987 and mutation into the equally fierce All, Descendents shot out album after album of tight, concise punk. After a nine-year layoff, the bespectacled Milo and crew have returned with an album as raucous and engrossing as any of their previous outings.

Unlike many of the bands who followed in their footsteps, Descendents add a welcome touch of sardonic humor to their existential rancor, making you laugh along with the bleak narrative of the title tune, even as you empathize with the poor sap whose life is in shreds. Only a mind as deliciously twisted as Milo's could come up with as bizarre a tale as "Eunuch Boy" and manage to cram the entire lyric into 30 furious seconds. Ultimately it's Descendents' gift for melodic songwriting that makes them continually engaging. EVERYTHING SUCKS does everything but live up to its title. minimize