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Descendents

I Don't Want to Grow Up (1985)
SST Records

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Contributed by: coldjuly
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on August 31st 2001

The Descendents have always been a favorite with me...I first heard the song "ride the wild" on some skate punk tape way back in '91. And I've been a fan ever since.

This is probably my favorite Descendents release to date....changed a bit from their earlier records, a bit more poppy here...kind 0f ironic though this seems to be the record they kinda "grew up" on.

It begins with a song just titled, "descendents" and on to great songs such as "i dont want to grow up", the strange but appealing song "rockstar" the fucking hilarious song "no fat beaver" and the song that drew me to this record "ace" I dont know, but on most of my punk mix tapes...you seem to find that song, I love it.

When i first got into punk some 10-12 years ago, the descendents were one of the bands who really got me into punk in the first place....They seem to be one of those seminal bands who even though no longer really together, they seemed to have never left us. And are considered to be one of the founding bands of punk in general.

This album is probably the most liked by descendents fans....which I can agree, this has a more melodic approach with better guitar and drum work...and milos' voice is very distinct its nearly unmistakable.

With most of their material I can play some records and then others, and cant really believe its the same band in some cases....but even though all their albums are great, this one to me is by far the best...mainly because I was so influenced by this album alone.

I know most of you own "everything sucks" or have heard it somewhere along the line....But Im just drawn to the older stuff they have done....Milo goes to college, enjoy, ALL, each record different, but retains the descendents edge....I recommend you check out their early years...Its strangely appealing.

No fat beaver, no fat beaver...swear I'm gonna leaver her...just cant stand that beaver.

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mikexdude (June 3, 2011)

So good.

jephso (January 13, 2011)

Interesting interview here: http://www.operationphoenixrecords.com/flipsidedescendents.html

Bill states his thoughts on this album.

mikexdude (June 6, 2010)

Perfect.

mikexdude (June 6, 2010)

It's fucking perfect.

thatsyouth (May 29, 2009)

So good.

mikexdude (May 3, 2009)

It's been a year and two days since I commented on here... this is still the greatest album of all time. The aforementioned fight still stands. Word.

mikexdude (May 1, 2008)

No one has commented on here in like... 5 years, but this is their best album. This is also happens to be the greatest album... ever. I will fight all of you who think otherwise.

TheOneTrueBill (May 11, 2003)

i have the LP for this. you're 100% true. Side one is great, but side two let me down

bemused (June 8, 2002)

Unfortunately I haven't had the pleasure of hearing this, but if its anything like Milo Goes to College or Everything Sucks, I'm sure its awesome. I'll give it 4, based on the song Ace though.

plummy (September 3, 2001)

this was a good album...my reivew goes along exactly with that guy underneeth mine...best tracks were "good good things"
, "christmas vacation", "descendents", "i don't wana grow up", and "silly girl"...i think the only thing that really made this album weird was the 80's cocain band sounding guitar riffs and the end of the album...i thing selected songs from "Enjoy!" and "Milo goes to college" was alittlebit better than this album...

Anonymous (September 3, 2001)

Any Descendents album is worthy of at LEAST a 7. In this case, "Christmas Vacation", "In Love This Way", "Good Good Things", "Cheer", "Pervert", and the title track make this album worth owning for even the casual Descendents fan. The only thing holding it back are the weird '80's-style production and some slightly lackluster performances. Milo and Bill are golden as always, though. Other albums to check out (that I think are even better) are, of course, Milo Goes To College, ALL, and Everything Sucks. Each album got progressively better, in my opinion.

Anonymous (September 2, 2001)

I don't understand how any Descendents fan can not like ALL. Drop the purist attitude, quit worrying about the group members and just enjoy their music.
This CD was great, but I agree that Milo goes to college is better. This CD gets an 8 but MGTC definately deserves a 10.

Anonymous (September 2, 2001)

Great album, long live the descendents, they need to make another album and get out and tour again. ALL? NO ALL!

Cos (September 2, 2001)

I don't know how many folks out there in internet land favor tapes and LPs to CDs, but this is one of those albums, like the Clash's "Sandinista!" that is best understood in its original format.

I just love the way its split--the first side is the weird, adolescent songs of frustration and angst ("No FB", "Pervert", "My World"), while the second side is all love songs. Its just so perfect. For the love-lorn punk fan, few things measure up to this side.

"Good Good Things" may be the best punk rock love song ever written. I'm also a big fan of "Christmas Vacation," but that's probably just because I can really relate to it.

(but I'll stand behind the arguement that "Milo Goes to College" is a better album)

Anonymous (September 2, 2001)

Milo Goes To College was my favorite. It is amazing in its simplicity and its harshness to the ears. It's almost like Milo didn't want to "sing" on the record so he instead strained his voice and made it raspy on purpose. I couldn't get into this album when I first listened to it because it just didn't seem to have enough of a melody for me. After a few listens however, the melodies started emerging and the pure emotion behind the songs stood out a lot. Bikeage is and will remain one of my favorite songs due to the raw emotion in Milo's voice. Let one of your friends who isn't into punk listen to that CD, and they'll think it's horrible. Songs like "Parents" and "M16" seem just too simple for the untrained ear. But to those who actually listen, it's a totally different story. I'm putting 9 stars in this comment, but they're for Milo Goes to College. I'd give I Don't Want to Grow Up a 6. The only songs that truly stand out to me are No FB, Silly Girl, Pervert, and Good Good Things.

Anonymous (September 2, 2001)

The Descendents aren't broken up, they have their on disc on the new live ALL cd, and roumour has it that their next cd will be out sometime next year! ALL and Descendents for life!

ETx310 (September 1, 2001)

If you see these guys live, they're probably going to play twice as many songs off of Milo Goes To College as they do off of this one, and there's a reason for that. This album was good, but Milo Goes to College is a classic. I don't think we've heard the last of the Descendents either.

AtomicGarden (September 1, 2001)

Yeah, I like Milo Goes to College a ton more, but this is still a good album.

Anonymous (September 1, 2001)

"This album is probably the most liked by descendents fans"
No that would be Milo Goes To College which is a far better album