Cool to Be You

2004’s Cool to Be You was the sixth Descendents album in 22 years, thereby proving that while their productivity was intermittent, their relevance to the punk community was undiminished. Singer Milo Aukerman—the bespectacled biochemistry student who became the band’s early figurehead and the inspiration for its famous line-drawn mascot—was past 40 at the time of this recording, but he could relate to the complaints of “Mass Nerder”: “Don't got no biceps/Don't got no pecs/But I'll read you under the table/With my thick specs.” At a time when their artistic progeny Blink-182 had eclipsed them in terms of popular success, Descendents still embodied an authenticity unmatched by younger pop-punk outfits. Among other things, they achieved the near-impossible feat of being at once young (at heart) and old (of mind). Cool to Be You is lined with songs about American history and the trials of marriage, but as soon as you assume that Descendents have outgrown their young audience, they deliver “Blast Off”—a giddy ode to flatulence—as if to prove they’ll never be too old to converse with the juveniles.