Descendents

Cool To Be You (2004)

Pete Vincelli

To me the Descendents have this mythical, if not legendary, status as a punk rock band. Between the simple block-lettered logo and Milo character that adorne almost every album cover and the mostly light hearted, catchy punk songs, you typically know what you’re going to get with a Descendents record. And that’s a good thing, especially when the band releases an album every 8 years or so.

Descendents disciples, both new and old, were super stoked to see that the band was releasing a follow up to their comeback record, Everything Sucks. So when Cool To Be You was released in 2004, fans more or less knew what to expect. Another classic cover. More songs about love, losers, and flatulence, with a touch of some new song topics. And that same ol’ Descendents sound.

With all of this in mind though, it can be argued that this wasn’t their best release. Even Milo believes that this album ranks near the bottom of the band’s output, partially because he felt the songs were a bit laid back and partly because he felt his voice was a little rusty because the band hadn’t been touring at the time. But when you think about it, this album may not stand out to some fans simply because the other albums were so damn good.

Despite all of this, there were still some great tunes on here that fit well in the canon of Descendents lore. “Talking”, “Nothing With You” and “Cool To Be You”, among others, mixed that classic, early sound with the Everything Sucks-era sound. With “‘Merican”, the band strayed a little bit from their usual song topics for a song that was easily one of my favorites on the album. And one of the best parts about the Descendents as a punk rock band is that they don’t fit the mold of a punk rock band. And they embraced that here with songs like “Mass Nerder”.

This band can do no wrong in my mind. So even though Cool To Be You wasn’t their best effort by most accounts, I loved it when it came it and I still love to listen to it now.