JiggyJay's Full Review: Cool to Be You by Descendents
I got into The Descendents a couple weeks ago when a friend of mine burned me a copy of his Everything Sucks CD. I loved Everything Sucks and it is practically glued inside my player. So, naturally, I went to the store and picked up whatever Descendents CD I could get my hands on and that turned out to be their newest, Cool To Be You.
My friend heard from one of his other friends that the album totally sucked, but I just shrugged it off and bought it anyway because I thought that I would like all of The Descendents’ work. Well, I was disappointed, but I was also satisfied when I first spun Cool To Be You. It was really unlike my previous outing with the band in the fact that it was very poppy.
What made Everything Sucks really good was that it blended fast paced punk rock songs with poppier tracks and the blend mixed an equal blend of the two and was actually an incredible record. Everything Sucks was released in 㥨 I believe it was and it’s been seven years since the band has produced something new because Milo went to college to get a diploma in Bio Chemistry so the remaining members played in a little band called All, which was pretty good, but never made it as big as The Descendents.
Straight out of Fort Collins, CO the band has been making music since the late seventies with one member even making music with Black Flag! What The Descendents’ big draw are their fast paced three-chord songs that move at breakneck pace and that are about weird things like food, coffee, and not wanting to grow up. Although not many of those themes return in Cool To Be You, their old style shows in the song Blast Off (a song about farts).
Cool To Be You was released a few months back on the famed Fat Wreck Chords, owned and run by Fat Mike of NOFX. Along with some other cool bands on the label like The Lawrence Arms, Anti-Flag, and Good Riddance, the label has been easily recognized by a lot of the punks who love Epitaph and Hellcat. It wasn’t really surprising when I heard that The Descendents released their newest CD on Fat since in NOFX’s most recent release, The War On Errorism, they mention the band as being one of their biggest influences.
When I first heard this gourmet disc I had mixed feelings. I loved Milo Aukerman’s (the lead singer’s) new vocal patterns and technique and I loved the lyrics. I found the CD catchy immediately; right from the moment that I heard it. The first song, Talking, went by fast with a very catchy bass string as well as drums that just make you want to soil yourself—a perfect opener. Well, after that song was done another semi-poppy song started and I kept my cool because I knew the band was going to get harder. Now fast forward a little bit. Track eight passes and I lost hope. There was no punk or hardcore tracks on here! Just pop/punk! I was disappointed, but it soon passed.
I’m pretty sure that fans of this band will be extremely angered when they hear that it’s poppy, but their talent is still intact. Sure, their sound is different, but the lyrical value that they incorporate in their music is still there totally blowing your speakers away. In Cool To Be You there’s an actual political track titled ’Merican, which is definitely the finest track on the entire CD because it’s Milo basically spitting on America’s image with vile (and truthful) lyrics such as “We flipped the finger to the king of England / Then stole our country from the Indians / With God on our side and guns in our hands / We took it for our own”. The great songs don’t stop there.
It slows down a bit on the song Dry Spell with lyrics that are about hope and the message is clear. The lyrics are definitely some of the best of the entire album. The chorus really opens your eyes and adds a sentimental property to the CD. The bass and drum driven song just juggles with highs and lows as the song can go from fast paced to slow and I have to admit that Milo’s voice is very fantastic in the song and it has an almost Rivers Cuomo (of Weezer) sound to it. But you can’t forget some other key tracks like Dog and Pony Show and Mass Nerder, which really put Egerton’s guitar skills to the test.
A lot of my friends thought that Chad Price (the lead singer of All) lent his vocal talents throughout the entire Cool To Be You CD since Milo’s voice sounds different, but that’s a false claim. Sure, Price back ups on some songs, but not to a degree where he’s overpowering Milo. Milo Aukerman has great voice whether he’s singing or screaming and that’s a difficult feat. Sure, he doesn’t have an easily recognizable voice, but he’s one of the most underestimated vocalists of the punk rock genre.
Speaking of underestimation, Bill Stevenson (the drummer), is really unappreciated. For a big fellow he can sure drum his as* off with some very impressive patterns in this album. I’ve listened to Everything Sucks, Hallraker, and Somery and in all of those albums his drumming kept getting better and I have to admit that his drumming is a definite highlight in this release because he adds a lot of energy to Karl Alvarez and Egerton’s energetic vibes.
These two stringers can easily hold their own against some of the heavier punk rock individual. Although Egerton’s stuff can grow a little repetitive, he can really play his instrument whether he’s playing only a couple of chords per song or whether he’s playing many. Oddly enough his guitar work really reminds me of Mr. Brett (of Bad Religion). As for Alvarez, he supplied some nice lyrics to this release, but he also supplied some totally crazy bass work that’s reminiscent of Matt Freeman’s (of Rancid). His stuff is jumpy and very disco-like, but in a good way. He drives most songs hard with some incredible solos that back up the drums, the vocals, and Egerton’s guitar all at the same time. That’s awesome, eh?
I definitely recommend this NOFX fans and Descendents fans alike. Although some hardcore Descendents fans who’ve been listening to them since I Don’t Wanna Grow Up and Enjoy may sort of not like this release, but peeps who’ve listened to some of their more recent (Ha!) CDs and who have liked their poppier tracks may like how this one’s like the song on Everything Sucks titled I’m The One. I think that if you like punk rock or any of the bands on Fat Wreck Chords then you will surely enjoy this addition to the label and I can’t wait for the band’s next offering. Until then I humbly remain a huge fan of this legendary group.
01. Talking
02. Nothing With You
03. She Don’t Care
04. ‘Merican
05. Dog and Pony Show
06. Blast Off
07. Dreams
08. Cool To Be You
09. Maddie
10. Mass Nerder
11. One More Day
12. Tack
13. Anchor Grill
14. Dry Spell
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