Customer Reviews

Somery

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This "Best Of" by the Descendents is the best way to go if you're just finding out about the band, because it will give you a good chance to let you know if you like them or not. Descendents staples like "Silly Girl" and "Hope" are standouts, and within the 28 tracks, there's enough to pick and listen to, from their harder stuff to their poppier stuff. This is the closest to hearing the essence of the Descendents on one disc, and as it was my first CD of theirs, they're one of my fav bands, so I recommend this to anyone who has curiousity into what the Descendents were all about.

Ah, yes. The Descendents. The first hardcore band to incorporate pop sensibilities and, at times, pure sillyness into the often harsh world of hardcore punk. Don't get me wrong, I love hardcore. Bad Brains, Black Flag, Minor Threat, and the Germs are all on the list of my favorite bands. But, the Descendents were very different from these aforementioned bands. They combined hardcore, punk, and pop into one great, unique sound.

Altough Milo Goes to College is their essential album, this compilation gives a much better overview of the Descendents' sound (MGTC focuses mainly on their hardcore, savage side). Somery, on the other hand, mixes their hardcore sound (songs like "I'm not a loser" and "Hurtin' Crue"), their melodic (but, never whimpy) pop-punk songs about girls ("Cameage", "Cheer", "Silly Girl"), their songs of pure adolescent sillyness and immaturity ("Van", "Enjoy", "All-O-Gistics", "Pervert"), and, of course, their famous (or infamous) 1-10 second "songs" ("All", "I like food", "Weinerschnitzel").

When you listen to this record, you can really tell how much of an influence these guys had on bands of today (listen to "Silly Girl" and be thinking that this was made in 1985). Unlike the so-called "pop-punk" bands of today, however, the Descendents were able to make melodic punk songs and not sound like whiney junior high students who can't get a girlfriend. Milo delivers his vocals with just the right amount of melody, emotion, and harshness, unlike bands such as New Found Glory whose vocals sound more like an incessant whine than actual singing. If you're a fan of bands such as Blink 182, NFG, and Good Charlotte, my advice is to: a.) stop watching MTV and b.) throw those CDs away and pick up the Descendents' Somery. If you don't like it, well, I guess you could always fetch your CDs out of the garbage and continue to listen to inane, mainstream, power-pop that MTV and the media try to pass as "punk rock." On the other hand, if you like it, some other good bands simliar to the Descendents are Buzzcocks, Husker Du, Bad religion, and Black Flag.

Bottom Line: Great, extremely influential mix of hardcore, pop, and punk from the 80s that must be played to NFG fans.

You'd be better off getting their entire discography. Seriously, they're ALL worth having.
Truth be told, this was my introduction to the early Descendents (I started with "Everything Sucks"), but I went out and after 5 years, had everything both the Descendents and ALL put out.
Everyone I've introduced to the Descendents, loved them.
They're my favorite band, and they should be yours too.
But If you're not sure, I'd say pick this up. If you love it, do yourself a favor, and get the rest of their discography.

Descendents were one of the early L.A. punk bands, a pop-punk group with songs about girls, parents, and food.

This CD is a compilation of some of the better songs from each of their albums. It's a great overview... if you haven't heard the Descendents before, this is a great place to start.

I suspect that Blink 182, Offspring, and Down by Law all were influenced heavily by this band. Not to mention Green Day.

"Coolidge" is one of the best pop-punk songs ever. These guys had a great sense of humor; it's a shame they didn't stay in the same vein as Descendents for longer than they did.

If you like any of the above listed bands, "Somery" is worth a listen.

ken32

The DESCENDENTS are one of the few bands who truly are "Punk". with all the mainstream crap out there this album is sure to be different and capture punk in its purest form. The DESCENDENTS formed in 1979 and "never did a popular thing" but had a great impact on many bands today(Less than Jake , Blink-182).Somery is a great addition to any CD collection and is sure to add up to the DESCENDENTS legacy. With so many bands out there giving punk a bad name (good charlotte, simple plan, Ashlee, and any other sellout/posers you can think of) somery is sure to give you true punk that doesn't sound like every body else and a taste of what inspired many bands today(the good ones at least). Just Buy it OK!!

this band was one of my faves in the eighties and early 90's. they basically got me through most of my 20 something years, including a crappy relationship. old school, melodic, driving and emotional are only a few words that can describe this band. oh..and timeless. what happened to pop punk? all these bands nowadays sound the same. the music does nothing for me. i'll always have love for the descendants. and they only got better with All.

:)

one of the best for its time..it could still keep up with black flag on hardcore and yet have some melody go and get it better than all

Here is an album that u really must have. It's about a band that mix speed, love, anger and punk rock. All their albuns r great, but this is a way for u to check their changes through formation, time and growing up. Classics as Hope, Silly Girl, Bikeage, Cheer...r all there...and for the def's that insist in criticize Stephen Egerton and Karl Alvarez...go see them in a live performance and say that again....as Navetta and Lombardo appeared in Everything Sucks, is very clear that play more who play the best....and Bill knows very well about it. Still here?..Go buy it man!!!

When I first bought this album my expectations wern't very high. I bought this along with an old Vandals album. I must say being a greatest hits album it wasn't so great.

First I'd like to point out that if this is a greatest hits album then how can you have an 11 second song on here and claim it one of your greatest hits. It seems theres a lot of songs on half a minute that made it onto this album, that's just kind of weird not exactly bad.

I bought this for fourteen dollars which is a good deal for 28 songs. There really are some awesome songs on this album like "Myage", "Van", "Suburban Home", and "Theme" are the best ones. There arn't that many bad songs but it does get sort of repetitive. There is a bit of humor in this album so it does keep things interesting.

If you like punk music that is being made today and is on MTV you will most likely hate this. If you like 80's and early 90's punk then you will love this! This is raw and at the same time sort of catchy

This was a great purchase for my wife. She like this kind of music. I didnt really kneed to know anything before I purchased. Everything was very clear. Shipping was very quick