Descendents - I Don't Want To Grow Up + Enjoy - 1985-86

I'm posting this one a day early, as I have to go back on the road tomorrow and I won't be back until Thursday night.  Work isn't so bad, I think I'm enjoying it.  But, time away from the family is never good in my book.  I'll miss my boys.

These two albums were the Descendents in their prime.  IDWTGU is by far my favorite of the two, as every song is a pop masterpiece (to my ever-so-sensitive ears.)  But, Enjoy is great in it's own right, as well.  I just don't like it as much.

I first heard IDWTGU in the car on the way to school, one fall morning in Downers Grove, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.  I was in the back seat of Carey's camaro, sitting to a skinhead with short, stubbly red hair fuzzing his scalp.  Sharon was in the front seat next to Carey, and we were driving over the commuter tracks next to the station on Main Street.  The Tivoli Theater was on my right, and I can't remember what was on my left.  The sun was coming out, and the air was crisp with a chill.  No clouds in the sky, and the leaves on the trees were brown.  Sharon turns around and begins singing along with In Love This Way, right at me, tossing her hair back and forth.  I had nothing for her, but it seemed rather pleasing to have that happen.  I felt one with the group, I felt some adoration to a degree, it made me blush.

I had a tape of a tape of a tape the first time I "got" this album, and I wore that sucker out.  I didn't actually buy the tape until my senior year, and then got the CD in about 1993.  By then, I had that album memorized forward and back.

Enjoy was another story.  I never had any real personal connection with it.  I simply got the tape about the same time I got the actual tape of IDWTGU, and listened to that in tandem with the other.  Sour Grapes, Cheer, 80s Girl and, of course, Wendy were among my favorites.  Although somewhat humorous, I never understood the necessity of the Orgofart track.  Was that how they wanted to be portrayed for the rest of forever?  Probably a precursor to Van. 

I found some bootleg demos of some unreleased tracks that fell somewhere between the two albums.  They aren't too bad, but you can tell why they weren't ever used.  Some may say that there were other tracks out there that I didn't include.  Don't worry, I have them all.  There ARE some other tracks out there with different names, but if you listen to them, they are all the same as the ones I included in this set.  As for which names were the correct names, I don't know.....

Descendents - I Don't Want To Grow Up + Enjoy - 1985-86

Descendents - Milo Goes To College - 1982

When my parents finally gave up on keeping me from "secular" Rock N Roll, one of the first albums I bought, at the behest of my pseudo-skate friends, was the Descendents MGTC.   I had listened to them with friends before, and loved their music, so it wasn't to much for me to slap down my hard-earned for a little straight-edge Punk Rock from California.

I think that if there hadn't been a Descendents (and a Stiff Little Fingers) then there would never have been a Green Day.  The Descendents were Green Day before there was a Green Day.  The Descendents had great vocals, awesome pop-hooks and hilarious yet serious lyrics.  Just like Green Day...

The best tracks on this one start about track 7, which is after the Bonus Fat EP tracks, and the actual first track to the album.  They roll through about 6 tracks before they start to cool off and blend together.  Myage, Marriage, Bikage.  But the BEST track Tonyage, and it's only 56 seconds long.  Fantastic.  This one even has Wienerschnitzel, the track that had a cameo in the Christian Slater movie Pump Up the Volume.

This is one of the albums that I pull out when I want to reminisce about my teen years in the big old CHICAGO, my favorite town.  I still remember the girl that introduced me to them.  Her name was Sharon, and most of the boys made fun of her.  I felt bad about that.  Anyway, we were on our way to school on a fall morning, and she popped it in the tape deck, and sang every song, all the way to school.  I just sat in the back seat with another kid, and stared out the window...

Descendents - Milo Goes To College - 1982

Descendents - All - 1987

Nice, good old American Punk Rock.  This was my first Descendents album.  I got it on cassette.  I wore it OUT.  In 1987 I was sixteen years old, having girl problems, having problems with school, trying to fit in.  This album spoke volumes to me.  I had my Dad's old '78 Nova that I drove to and from work, and occasionally with some kids my age.  I remember driving through the streets of suburban Chicago with tape playing in the boom box in my front seat, because the car didn't have a tape deck.  I remember giving this skater hood rat girl a ride home from work in that Nova, listening to this album.  We sucked face and she let me grope her through her shirt, but she suddenly got scared and jumped out of the car.  So goes the sexual antics of teens in the 80s.

Anyway, every song is great.  It starts to get a little wobbly toward the end, though.  A little experimental or something.  But, Coolidge, Van and Jealous of the World...  Wow.

Wanted to liven the cover up, but there weren't any single sleeves and the Descendents are notorious for simple designs anyway.  So, I just took graphics from the concert tour t-shirts, and they look pretty good.

Listen up -

Descendents - All - 1987