Archive Review: Descendents’ Cool To Be You (2004)

Foreshadowed by the excellent ‘Merican EP a few months ago, the first Descendents’ album in eight years certainly does not disappoint. Featuring the band’s trademark melodic punk, ramped up and amped up to keep up with singer Milo Aukerman’s madcap and slightly geeky vocals, Cool To Be You nevertheless offers up a more mature worldview than previous Descendents albums. Eight years is a lot of time in the life of a band and during the Descendents’ lengthy hiatus, the band’s sound has been co-opted by younger “punks” like Blink-182 and Sum 41. The four band members aren’t angry young punks anymore, but age and experience has added a vital edge to their anger…

Descendents’ Cool To Be You

Evidence “’Merican,” the centerpiece of Cool To Be You and as blistering a piece of social commentary as you’re likely to hear this election year. A brief and damning history of the United States, bassist Karl Alvarez’s lyrics hit your ears like an out-of-control chainsaw: “I come from the land of Ben Franklin, Twain and Poe and Walt Whitman/Otis Redding, Ellington, the country that I love” Milo sings approvingly. The darker side of America is not overlooked, tho’ – “But it’s the land of the slaves and the Klu Klux Klan/The Haymarket riot and the Great Depression/Joe McCarthy, Viet Nam” states the singer, concluding “it’s the sickest joke I know.” 

There are more such moments on Cool To Be You, real adult angst and anger and frustration forcing the question, what do teenagers have to be pissed off about anyway? It’s adulthood that sucks, whether it’s illustrated by the strange mating rituals of “Dog and Pony Show” or the extreme alienation of the title cut, the lyrical protagonist “counting scars in the land of the smiling knives.” Cool To Be You isn’t all pissed off lyrics and downer vibe, tho’, Milo standing up to be counted with the geek anthem “Mass Nerder.” A broadside leveled at the seemingly endless mass of hipper-than-thou posers and mall culture manufactured dissent, Milo proudly sings “I’ll read you under the table with my thick specs!” while “Maddie” addresses the realities of adulthood and relationships, concluding that “punk rock won’t pay the bills.”

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Descendents are blessed with not one but three above-average wordsmiths in Aukerman, Alvarez and drummer Bill Stevenson, while guitarist Stephen Egerton lets his playing talk for him, driving each song with perfectly-placed riffs and slashing leads that are typically overlooked by critics in awe of flashier axemen. Egerton is a damn fine guitarist, though, playing just what is needed and nothing more, each Descendents’ song a carefully crafted and deliberate mix of melody, energy, humor and anarchic spirit. In eight years, the band hasn’t lost a step – in fact, listening to Everything Sucks, the Descendents’ previous album (1996), it seems like the chemistry between the four is even better, each song meshing lyrics and instrumentation for total effect. Cool To Be You is punk rock as it was always meant to be – intelligent, entertaining and, at times, thought provoking. (Fat Wreck Chords, released 2004)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ zine...