So why is Descendents’ Milo Goes to College on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
When I hear “Bikeage” off Milo Goes to College, I think about these Descendents kids in early-1980s Southern California cranking out punk rock wildly out of sync with the “mainstream” of the time – and somehow it was impressively mature, sophisticated, and influential for future generations of punk bands.
It’s also the archetype of the pop-punk DNA that would later explode through bands like Green Day, Blink-182, and the entire Warped Tour generation.
But toss all of that overboard, because at its core Milo Goes to College is also a punk rock album that thoroughly and expertly kicks ass in the way that punk rock is supposed to.
“Suburban Home” is my favorite Descendents song of all. It’s a minute and forty seconds of pure punk rock bliss, with as biting a shot at suburban conformity as you can fit into 100 seconds. It’s also dizzyingly catchy and wonderful on a sonic level.
The sarcastic, defiant, yet ebullient spirit of the Descendents shines through on “I’m Not a Punk.” And beyond the lyrics, it’s just a pure and perfect punk rock song.
I’m not a punk how can I be?
Show me the way to conformity
The melody and punk aesthetic of “I Wanna Be a Bear” reminds me a lot of The Suicide Machines, a band which I love and hold in very high regard.
As with The Descendents later material, many of their songs resemble Bad Religion’s, and of course the reverse is true as well. Which is another way of saying both bands wrote expertly constructed, tight punk songs that are uniquely exciting. “Marriage” is a prime example — a tight, thrilling punk song that still feels alive today.
Also see:
- Descendents – I Don’t Want to Grow Up: #513 of best 1,000 albums ever
- Descendents – Cool To Be You: #798 of best 1,000 albums ever
- Descendents – Everything Sucks: #824 of best 1,000 albums ever
What Milo really nails is the balance: it channels hardcore punk’s speed and aggression, but laces it with undeniable melody, creating a blueprint for melodic punk that countless bands would mimic, refine, and mainstream.
But almost never this well.
Some stats & info about Descendents – Milo Goes to College
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Punk Rock, SoCal Bands, College Rock, Pop Punk, Hardcore Punk, American Punk
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Milo Goes to College released? 1982
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #494 out of 1,000
Descendents’ Milo Goes to College on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Descendents’ Milo Goes to College that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
I wanna be stereotyped, I wanna be classified, I wanna be a clone – I want a suburban home.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.