TWO THINGS AT ONCE - Descendents

YEAR: 1988
LABEL: SST
TRACK LISTING: Myage, I Wanna Be A Bear, I'm Not A Loser, Parents, Tonyage, M-16, I'm Not A Punk, Catalina, Suburban Home, Statue of Liberty, Kabuki Girl, Marriage, Hope, Bikeage, Jean Is Dead, My Dad Sucks, Mr. Bass, I Like Food, Hey Hey, Weinerschnitzel, Global Probing, Ride the Wild, It's A Hectic World
IMPRESSIONS: It always makes me laugh when people complain about punk not having any musicality. You listen to songs by the Misfits or the Ramones, fer goshsakes, and you're gonna hear rock solid melodies. The same goes for most of the songs heard here. I suppose we DO all want to be stereotyped and we DO all want to be classified but the songs on this Descendents album (or more correctly this album and EP combined) are filled with a ton of hooks wedded to punk volume and energy much like Nirvana would be doing over a decade later. Never mind that someone like Metallica could easily do a great cover of a song like "Jean Is Dead"; it is even my wild-assed contention that the Carpenters' could've covered "Marriage" quite well if'n they had been so inclined. If you listen with open ears and an open mind to the song, I'll be you can ever hear the Carpenters covering it. I know I can. Ha. And yes, these are the kinda thoughts which kept me out of the really good schools.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Myage, I Wanna Be A Bear, I'm Not A Loser, Parents, Tonyage, M-16, Catalina, Suburban Home, Marriage, Bikeage, Jean Is Dead, I Like Food, Hey Hey, Weinerschnitzel, Ride the Wild
FACT SHEET: TWO THINGS AT ONCE is actually a combination of the Descendents' first album "MILO GOES TO COLLEGE" (1982) and their "BONUS FAT" (1985) EP. The Los Angeles-based punk rock group Descendents consisted of Milo Aukerman (lead vocals), Tony Lombardo (bass guitar, vocals on "It's A Hectic World"), Frank Navetta (guitar, vocals on "Ride the Wild") and Bill Stevenson (drums). TWO THINGS AT ONCE was released after the Descendents' farewell tour following the departure of lead singer Milo Aukerman to become a biochemist. Afterwards, the band changed it's name to All featuring new lead singer Dave Smalley. The album was released by SST Records after the label purchased the entire Descendents output from their previous label New Alliance Records. TWO THINGS AT ONCE contains all of the Descendents' recorded output from the years 1979 to 1982. The song "Weinerschnitzel" was prominantly featured in the 1990 Christian Slater film "Pump Up the Volume".