DESCENDENTS: Milo Goes To College Vinyl LP

1982. A teenager named Milo Aukerman was heading to university to study biochemistry, and his band decided to write an album about it. Forty-plus years later, "Myage," "I'm Not A Loser," and "Bikeage" are still playing in bedrooms of people who feel like they don't quite fit anywhere, which is pretty much the whole point.

Milo Goes To College is the record that cracked open the lane between hardcore's aggression and something more melodic, more emotionally exposed, more interested in suburban alienation than political sloganeering. It's a direct ancestor of everything that came after in melodic punk and alternative music, and it still sounds urgent. Not because it's been preserved carefully, but because the feeling it's describing hasn't gone anywhere. This one belongs in the collection alongside your Descendents patches and your suspicion that college was a mistake.

Vinyl LP. Originally released 1982 on New Alliance Records. US punk, melodic hardcore.

Fans of: Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Bad Religion