Descendents: Everything Sucks

One look at the cover—a familiar line drawing of a bespectacled youth with a crewcut on the front, and another line drawing of a mushroom cloud on the back—arouses suspicious distrust, but one listen and that's put to rest. The Descendents may have reformed, but Everything Sucks doesn't, you know, suck. All that was required to bring the band back was a bit of dusting, a love of coffee and songs about girls, and pow! Back in full swing. It's hard to imagine one biochemist screaming with such oomph, but Milo Aukerman hasn't let a profession dull his anger or voice. It's a mistake to think of the Descendents as a one-man show, though. While Aukerman is the face of the band, one look at the liner notes shows that every member has contributed lyrics, and one listen shows the same knack for edgy punk rock the band always had. Descendents succeeded where Flipper and the Circle Jerks failed: The members not only reformed, but also recaptured the chemistry that made them great in the first place.