Idolator
While watching the Minutemen documentary over the weekend, we were struck by this talking-head cameo by Descendents lead singer Milo Aukerman, who looks more like a friendly eighth-grade chemistry teacher than a pop-punk forefather. We were also struck by how long it had been since we'd listened to the band's classic Milo Goes To College album, which, shockingly, turns twenty-five next year.
Don't let that suburban-dad leather-jacket look fool you: Descendents brought the catchy and the funny, and we believe Aukerman and pals deserve to be a bigger part of the current '80s-punk reassesment. For proof, we present two of our favorite College tracks, which we strongly urge to check out—after you've pre-ordered some Descendents Vans, of course.
Descendents - Myage [MP3, link expired]
Descendents - Bikeage [MP3, link expired]
Descendents [Official Site]
Comments
"Clean Sheets," from ALL, is THE perfect pop punk song. Period.
Saw one of the first reunion tour shows back in the mid-1990s, not being old enough for the first time around -- great show, fun times. Nice to see love for the Descendents around here.
That's weird, because I was just watching We Jam Econo last week. Did you think that it was a disappointing documentary, too? I mean, the original footage was great and Watt's driving tour was nice, but they did a crap job of explaining why Minutemen were so musically revelatory and how they lived their philosophy. Say you didn't know anything about the band before; would you have gained any greater insight into them after seeing it?
OMG, Dr. Milo Aukerman is HOTT, y'all -- suburban dad my foot. Maybe it's just me, but that PhD. in microbiology sure is a turn-on!! I mean, seriously, check his scholarly works! Plant science is rad.
And naturally, we lurve all The Decendents' records to death, so we can't fault you too greatly for this post!
xo
cindy hotpoint
I have to say, I was really, really disappointed by the movie--it was just one talking head after another, each eulogizing the band in a slightly different way.
Here you have two guys who grew up together, fought about everything, and were closer than brothers--that should have been the movie. I was much more interested in getting some insight into the relationship between Watt and Boone than I was in hearing Flea talk about the merits of "Double Nickels." I can get that from Uncut.
I actually rather enjoyed We Jam Econo. Maybe it was just the nostalgia factor, but I found the old clips and commentary pretty inspiring. The parade of talking heads didn't bother me at all -- I always appreciate an appearance from Ian MacKaye or Jello Biafra.
I actually thought We Jam Econo was great, and perhaps one of the best music docos I've seen in a long time -- compelling for non-fans, and meaty enough for completeist types, based on the reactions of the crowd I saw it with. Just enough personal drama and critical framing, I think.
And really, a lot of it comes down to the fact that there's probably just not a lot of usable footage from the band's heyday. How exactly do you propose a filmmaker focus on a relationship in which one of the members is deceased and of whom there's very little surviving film footage?
I just don't think there was enough substantive material there to make it a movie. A good article? Sure. But if you're gonna take up 90 minutes and charge $10 (or whatever), you have to make the case that your story needs to be told on the screen, rather than in a book or a 5,000-word magazine article.
As for D. Boone's death: Of course you can't interview him. But that's why you talk to interview subjects about him and Watt, not about how awesome it was when "Mersh" came out. It's the old "Frank Sinatra Has A Cold" approach.
Sorry I'm so crabby about this. I just really wanted this movie to be great.
I saw the film several months ago, but I seem to remember quite a few people talking about Watt + Boone's relationship...
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