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.

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!!

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

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