In 1977, friends Frank Navetta and David Nolte began writing songs on acoustic guitars with the intention of forming a band. They initially called themselves The Itch, until Navetta came up with the name Descendents. However by the end of the year they had failed to attract any more band members, so Nolte instead joined The Last with his brothers. It would seem the Descendents had experienced a false start, yet in late 1978 Navetta was joined by drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Tony Lombardo who revitalised the project. They changed the style and lengths of their recordings over the early year from short under a minute hardcore style songs to average 2-3 minute punk rock songs.
Their first full length album was released in 1982 entitled 'Milo Goes To College' and although it made no chart significance at the time, it is now considered one of the most significant albums of the early 1980s southern California hardcore punk movement. It built on the reputation of the predecessor 'Fat' EP which cementing their status as one of the new influencers of the South California punk scene. They continued to release material up until 1987 and despite their fan base seeming to be ever-increasing, they consistently failed to impact the US charts. The band went on hiatus until the release of 1996 LP 'Everything Sucks' which was the first time they appeared within the top 200 on the US Billboard charts.
The band is more known for its legacy to punk than its commercial successes. The Descendents have been cited as hugely influential to a large amount of modern day pop punk and skate punk bands such as Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Propagandhi, The All-American Rejects, Green Day, The Bouncing Souls, NOFX, The Offspring, and The Ataris and they have made countless lists by publications including Spin, The Rolling Stone and Kerrang!
The Descendents’ music is short, but sweet. Each song is like a small package crammed with tons of energy and force, and to see the Descendents perform these short, choppy, in your face punk songs live is nothing less than exhilarating.
The Descendents were a monumental band for the California punk scene, helping create the hardcore punk movement. The band has extreme discipline when performing live, always playing in synch, and creating a fast pace, driving rhythm. Although their music heavily relies on the power chords played in fast rhythms, they also incorporate really catchy riffs with strong melodic draws. The Descendants always play in a very hyped up manner. They are like a ticking time bomb ready to explode. They jump right into songs with strong bursts of energy, and have been known to pump out fast driven hardcore songs in the ten-second time frame.
Lead singer, Milo Aukerman, takes the stage with great force, bouncing around stage like a ball of energy and yelling his hardcore tunes into his audience’s face. Milo is an interesting frontman for a punk band. He never acts macho or tries to put on a fake persona. Instead he embraces his nerdy and self-deprecating behavior and creates a sincerity to the music he produces. His lyrics are also always fun, dealing with such topics as caffeine addiction, toilet humor, and everyday problems. The band is rightfully considered a punk legend and have had a great influence on other punk bands like Blink 182, The Offspring, and Green Day. The audience at their performances are fully engrossed in the music, acting wild, and starting up mosh pits to the hardcore tunes that incite them to act this way.
The band’s setlist are always enjoyable because they can fit in so many songs due to the brevity of most of their songs. They will play songs from most of their albums with the majority coming from crowd favorites such as, Milo Goes to College and Everything Sucks.
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