Enjoy! | ||||
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Studio album by the Descendents | ||||
Released | 1986 | |||
Recorded | March–April 1986 | |||
Studio | Radio Tokyo, Los Angeles | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 31:30 | |||
Label | New Alliance (NAR-029), Restless | |||
Producer | Bill Stevenson | |||
Descendents chronology | ||||
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Enjoy! is the third studio album by American punk rock band Descendents, released in 1986 through New Alliance Records and Restless Records. It was the band's final album with guitarist Ray Cooper and only album with bassist Doug Carrion, both of whom left the group after the album's first supporting tour. Enjoy! was marked by the use of toilet humor, with references to defecation and flatulence in its artwork, the title track, and "Orgofart". It also displayed a darker, more heavy metal-influenced sound in the songs "Hürtin' Crüe", "Days Are Blood", and "Orgo 51". Reviewers were critical of both the scatological humor and the heavier songs on the album. Enjoy! features a cover version of The Beach Boys' "Wendy".
Following three tours of the United States in support of 1985's I Don't Want to Grow Up , the Descendents prepared to record their third album, their first with bassist Doug Carrion. [3] As with their prior records, all four band members contributed songwriting ideas to the album. [4] Some of their new songs displayed a heavy metal influence, including "Hürtin' Crüe", the instrumental "Orgo 51", and the nearly 8-minute "Days Are Blood". [2] "We'd been on tour for so long that we wrote some messed-up freakazoid songs like 'Days Are Blood' and all these weird things", recalled singer Milo Aukerman in 2013. [5] The lyrics of "Hürtin' Crüe" derived from a high school classmate of Aukerman's who had earned a score of 1420 on the SAT, gaining him admittance to the United States Military Academy. Gloating about his accomplishment, he sang a taunt that went "I am better than you / You are a piece of poo / 1420". Aukerman incorporated these lyrics into "Hürtin' Crüe". [4]
The song "Enjoy", which became the album's title track, openly celebrates flatulence and foot odor. [2] [6] [7] Drummer Bill Stevenson's "Kids" celebrates the band's love of coffee-fueled hyperactivity, referencing their go-to drink, the "Bonus Cup", a mud-like slurry of coffee grounds, hot water, and sugar. [2] [3] [5] [6] [8] "Thanks to modern chemistry, sleep is now optional" he declares at the song's end. [7] Aukerman and Carrion's "Sour Grapes" is sung from the perspective of a frustrated geek whose advances are rebuffed by a new wave girl. [2] [9]
Enjoy! was recorded in March and April 1986 at Radio Tokyo studios in Venice, Los Angeles. [7] [10] The Descendents recorded their own farts live in the studio for inclusion on the title track and "Orgofart" (the latter has no instrumentation, consisting entirely of the band members cheering each other on as they fart into recording equipment). [2] [7] Stevenson produced the album, while studio owner Ethan James and his assistant Richard Andrews served as recording engineers. [7] [10] It was Andrews' first experience recording a band on his own, and he found the Descendents' crude humor startling:
I was a jazz musician, and I was at Radio Tokyo cutting my own demos. Ethan James, the owner of the studio, said "If you want to learn how to engineer, I need help." Finally I'm good enough and he's ready to give me some clients, and he says to me "There's this record that I want you to do", and I'm like "Alright! A record! I got a fucking record!" and I go in to do it and it's the Descendents and they're farting. I'm a classically trained musician; I learned to play piano at four, I went to a conservatory for two years, I studied at Berklee College of Music. I know all this stuff, and Bill's like "Stick the microphone closer to my ass so you can hear this fart!" It was terrible. But as time went on, I discovered that it's not about what you know about the music, it's about "are you expressing yourself authentically through the music?", and these guys totally brought the idea of authenticity to my fore, and that totally changed my perception of all music. And to have that "bing" moment from punk rockers was a real mind trip. [11]
Andrews would continue to work with the Descendents and their successor band, All, recording five more of their releases between 1987 and 1989. [I] Stevenson later said that the recording and production qualities on the finished album were "wearing the '80s new wave influence really boldly on the sleeve." [5]
The cover artwork for Enjoy!, which depicts a roll of toilet paper, was drawn by guitarist Ray Cooper under the pseudonym "Scoob Droolins". [4] [7] Rather than listing the song titles on the reverse of the album's sleeve, the band instead replaced them with various euphemisms for feces, such as "floater", "sausage", and "loaf". [2] [7] Stevenson later explained this as an attempt to "come up with as many toilet humor-related jokes as possible." [6]
We left at the same time, but we probably left for different reasons. I just wanted to keep kind of experimenting, and that's really it. It was like "Okay, cool, you're taking the ship north, I'm going south. Roger!" And for Ray, I don't know. He's not really the kind of guy who would have that heart-to-heart with you. Sometimes a man of few words. I don't think he really wanted to be in the center of the tornado of the Descendents.
–Doug Carrion, on he and Ray Cooper leaving the band [12]
Enjoy! was released jointly through New Alliance Records and Restless Records as a ten-track LP. [13] In 1987 New Alliance was sold to SST Records, who re-released Enjoy! on LP, cassette, and compact disc. The cassette and CD versions added two additional tracks, "Orgofart" and "Orgo 51". [14] A music video, the band's first, was created for the song "Kids".[ citation needed ]
The Descendents supported the album with a tour of the United States through the summer of 1986, beginning June 26 in Chicago and proceeding through the Southern and Mid-Atlantic states, into Canada to Montreal and Toronto, then visiting most of the Midwestern states before making their way northwest to Vancouver, and finally down the West Coast of the United States back to Los Angeles by August 30; covering 34 states and 3 Canadian provinces with a total of 58 shows in 56 cities. [3] [15] For most of their July dates they were supported by Dag Nasty. [15] Cooper and Carrion both left the band that fall, in what Carrion later described as an amicable split. [6] [12] They were replaced by bassist Karl Alvarez and guitarist Stephen Egerton who, after practicing with the band for a few months, played on the second Enjoy! tour from late November 1986 to mid-January 1987. [4] [15] [16] [17] This second tour followed a different route, beginning November 20 in Eugene, Oregon and heading north to Vancouver; east into Alberta; southeast through the Western United States into Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas; then westward for stops in Albuquerque, Phoenix, and San Diego before doubling back through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma; on through the Southern United States; then finally up the East Coast, ending January 16 in Richmond, Virginia having covered 21 states and 2 provinces with a total of 45 shows in 40 cities. [15]
Jeremy Salmon of Allmusic gave the album two stars out of five, remarking that "Highbrow humor was never a signature of the Descendents, but the toilet-themed album Enjoy! is a bit much." [2] He criticized the scatological humor of "Enjoy", "Orgofart", and the album's artwork, and called the heavy metal-styled "Days Are Blood" and "Orgo 51" "disposable", but noted the similarly heavy "Hürtin' Crüe" as an exception worthy of its inclusion on the band's best-of album Somery . [2] Despite the weaker tracks, he noted that Enjoy! includes several songs central to the Descendents' repertoire, including "Kids", "Wendy", and "Sour Grapes", calling the album "a fine metaphor for the history of the Descendents; no matter what turbulence befell the band, some excellent songs were still able to seep through anything that clogged." [2] Jenny Eliscu of Rolling Stone called Enjoy! "weak overall, due in part to [original bassist Tony Lombardo's] departure, though mostly because of the scatological humor on the title track ('Sniff my ass while I pass gas', goes but one pearl.) The album is rescued by a cover of The Beach Boys' 'Wendy' and the band's own 'Sour Grapes', on which Auckerman gets rejected by a snooty new-wave girl." [9]
Some friends of the band were more complimentary of the album. Dave Naz of Chemical People later remarked that " Milo Goes to College is probably the record you identify most with the band, maybe, but Enjoy! is like, 'Wow!' I don't want to say they polished their sound, but they kind of took it to another level. I think that album best represents them. There's a lot of farting, and that goes on when you're hanging out with those guys." [11] Robert Hecker of Redd Kross cites "Get the Time" as one of his favorite songs: "I regularly lump it in my top three greatest songs in pop music of all time, with 'Hey Jude' and 'Under Pressure'. It's perfect. It is a perfect song. And maybe if [the album] didn't have a toilet paper roll on the cover, it could have sold 20 million copies." [11]
In the decades since its release, several artists have recorded cover versions of songs from Enjoy! for other releases. For the Descendents tribute album Homage: Lots of Bands Doing Descendents' Songs (1995), Inch covered "Kids", Dooms UK covered "Sour Grapes", Snowplow covered "Cheer", Wally covered "Get the Time", and Scarab covered "Green". [18] Saves the Day covered "Cheer" on Ups & Downs: Early Recordings and B-Sides (2004). [19] Good Riddance covered "Sour Grapes" for Milo Turns 50: Songs of the Descendents (2013). [20]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Enjoy" | Milo Aukerman, Doug Carrion, Ray Cooper, Bill Stevenson | 2:10 |
2. | "Wendy" (originally performed by The Beach Boys) | Brian Wilson, Mike Love | 2:22 |
3. | "Kids" | Stevenson | 0:44 |
4. | "Hürtin' Crüe" | Aukerman (music and lyrics); Carrion, Cooper, Stevenson (music) | 2:34 |
5. | "Sour Grapes" | Aukerman, Carrion | 3:47 |
6. | "Get the Time" | Aukerman | 3:12 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Enjoy" | Milo Aukerman, Doug Carrion, Ray Cooper, Bill Stevenson | 2:10 |
2. | "Wendy" (originally performed by The Beach Boys) | Brian Wilson, Mike Love | 2:22 |
3. | "Kids" | Stevenson | 0:44 |
4. | "Hürtin' Crüe" | Aukerman (music and lyrics); Carrion, Cooper, Stevenson (music) | 2:34 |
5. | "Sour Grapes" | Aukerman, Carrion | 3:47 |
6. | "Get the Time" | Aukerman | 3:12 |
7. | "Orgofart" | Aukerman, Carrion, Cooper, Stevenson | 2:18 |
8. | "Cheer" | Stevenson | 3:01 |
9. | "80's Girl" | Stevenson | 2:15 |
10. | "Green" | Aukerman, Carrion | 3:34 |
11. | "Days Are Blood" | Aukerman, Carrion, Cooper, Stevenson | 7:51 |
12. | "Orgo 51" | Aukerman, Carrion, Cooper, Stevenson | 1:20 |
Total length: | 35:08 [4] [7] [10] [14] |
Adapted from the album liner notes. [7] [10]
Band
Production
John William Stevenson is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is the drummer, main songwriter, and only constant member of the California punk rock group Descendents since its inception. In late December 1981, he played a few concerts with the hardcore punk band Black Flag because their drummer, Robo was detained in England after a tour there. He went on to record with Black Flag on several of their albums until 1985, including the highly influential My War. After this, he focused his attention on Descendents and played with the band until lead singer Milo Aukerman left in 1987. After Milo's departure, Bill and the other members of Descendents, Karl Alvarez and Stephen Egerton, recruited singer Dave Smalley of Dag Nasty, moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, and formed ALL. ALL went on to have two more singers, Scott Reynolds (1989–1993) and Chad Price (1993–present). Aukerman came back for the 1996 album Everything Sucks, the 2004 album Cool to Be You, 2016's Hypercaffium Spazzinate and the newest album 9th and Walnut. All and Descendents continue to tour between Stevenson's and Aukerman's respective careers as a recording engineer and a biochemist. Stevenson was born in Torrance, California and attended Mira Costa High School, with fellow members of the Descendents.
Descendents is an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson as a power-pop/surf punk band. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a singer, and reappeared as a melodic hardcore punk band, becoming a major player in the hardcore scene developing in Los Angeles at the time. They have released eight studio albums, three live albums, three compilation albums, and four EPs. Since 1986, the band's lineup has consisted of Aukerman, Stevenson, guitarist Stephen Egerton, and bassist Karl Alvarez.
Milo Goes to College is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Descendents, released on September 4, 1982 through New Alliance Records. Its title refers to singer Milo Aukerman's decision to leave the band to attend college, and its cover illustration introduced a caricature of him that would go on to become the band's mascot. Milo Goes To College was Descendents' last record with founding guitarist Frank Navetta, who quit the band during the hiatus that followed its release.
The Fat EP is an EP by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released in 1981 through New Alliance Records. It was the band's first recording with singer Milo Aukerman and established their presence in the southern California hardcore punk movement, with short, aggressive songs that represented a shift in style from their previous new wave and surf sound. The EP was re-released in later years as part of several compilation albums.
I Don't Want to Grow Up is the second studio album by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released in 1985 through New Alliance Records. It marked the end of a two-year hiatus for the band, during which singer Milo Aukerman had attended college and drummer Bill Stevenson had joined Black Flag. I Don't Want to Grow Up was the first of two albums the Descendents recorded with guitarist Ray Cooper, and their last with original bassist Tony Lombardo, who quit the group because he did not want to go on tour. Though recorded quickly and without much rehearsal time, I Don't Want to Grow Up received positive reviews from critics, who praised its catchy songs, strong melodies, and pop-influenced love songs.
All is the fourth album by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released in 1987 through SST Records. It was the band's first album with bassist Karl Alvarez and guitarist Stephen Egerton, who brought new songwriting ideas to the group. The album is titled after the concept of "All" invented by drummer Bill Stevenson and friend Pat McCuistion in 1980. Based on the goals of achieving "the total extent" and "to not settle for some, to always go for All", the philosophy was the subject of the one-second title track, the two-second "No, All!", and "All-O-Gistics".
Everything Sucks is the fifth studio album by American punk rock band Descendents, released on September 24, 1996, through Epitaph Records. It was their first album of new studio material since 1987's All, after which singer Milo Aukerman had left the band to pursue a career in biochemistry. The remaining members had changed the band's name to All and released eight albums between 1988 and 1995 with singers Dave Smalley, Scott Reynolds, and Chad Price. When Aukerman decided to return to music the group chose to operate as two acts simultaneously, playing with Aukerman as the Descendents and with Price as All. It is considered a return to the band's angrier hardcore punk such as the Fat EP and Milo Goes to College.
Somery is a compilation album by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released in 1991 through SST Records. It compiles songs from their Fat EP (1981) and the albums Milo Goes to College (1982), I Don't Want to Grow Up (1985), Enjoy! (1986), and All (1987).
Frank Navetta was an American musician who was the original guitarist of the punk rock band the Descendents, which he co-founded. He formed the band in Manhattan Beach, California with Dave Nolte in the late 1970s and played on their 1979 debut single, the Fat EP (1981), and their first album, Milo Goes to College (1982). Navetta then quit the band and moved to Oregon to become a fisherman. He collaborated with the Descendents again on the 1996 album Everything Sucks, and prior to his death in 2008 had been working on new material with original Descendents members Bill Stevenson and Tony Lombardo. In 2021, the band released this material on the album 9th & Walnut, which has been critically lauded for Frank's songwriting and playing.
Tony Lombardo is an American musician who was the original bassist in the punk rock band the Descendents. He joined the band in 1979 and played on their debut single, the Fat EP (1981), and the albums Milo Goes to College (1982) and I Don't Want to Grow Up (1985). After leaving the band, he performed in other acts and worked for the United States Postal Service until 2005. He collaborated with the Descendents' successor band, All, writing two songs for their album Allroy's Revenge (1989) and teaming up with them for an album of his own songs, New Girl, Old Story (1991), credited to "TonyAll". He also collaborated with the reunited Descendents on their 1996 album Everything Sucks, and the 2021 album 9th and Walnut.
Allroy Sez is the debut album by the American punk rock band All, released in March 1988 through Cruz Records. Following the departure of singer Milo Aukerman from the Descendents, the remaining members—bassist Karl Alvarez, guitarist Stephen Egerton, and drummer Bill Stevenson—recruited singer Dave Smalley and changed the name of the band to All, which was both the title of the Descendents' 1987 album and a philosophical concept invented by Stevenson and friend Pat McCuistion in 1980. Allroy Sez introduced the character of Allroy, who would serve as a mascot for the band and be featured on many of their subsequent album covers.
Allroy's Revenge is the second studio album by the American punk rock band All, released in 1989 through Cruz Records. It was the band's first release with singer Scott Reynolds, replacing Dave Smalley who had left in late 1988. The album includes two songs written by Tony Lombardo, the original bassist for All's precursor band the Descendents. It also includes a cover version of "Hot Rod Lincoln", a 1955 song by Charlie Ryan that was a hit for Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen in 1971. "She's My Ex" was released as the album's single.
Allroy Saves is the third studio album by the American punk rock band All, released in 1990 through Cruz Records. It was the first album that the band members recorded, mixed, and produced entirely on their own. A music video, the band's first, was released for the song "Simple Things".
Live Plus One is a live album by the American punk rock bands All and the Descendents, released in 2001 through Epitaph Records. A double album, it includes one disc by All recorded in 2001 on their Problematic tour, and a second disc by the Descendents recorded in 1996 on their Everything Sucks tour. The two bands are composed of the same musicians—bassist Karl Alvarez, guitarist Stephen Egerton, and drummer Bill Stevenson—but have different lead singers: Chad Price for All and Milo Aukerman for the Descendents. Live Plus One reached #45 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart, making it the only All release and the second Descendents release ever to chart.
Liveage! is a live album by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released in 1987 through SST Records. It is the band's first live album, it was recorded July 13, 1987 at First Avenue in Minneapolis during their summer 1987 "FinALL" tour, so-called because singer Milo Aukerman was leaving the Descendents to pursue a career in biochemistry, after which the band was relaunching itself under the name All. Liveage! was followed by a second live album, Hallraker: Live! (1989), which was partly recorded at the same show but featured a completely different set of songs.
"Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World" is the 1980 debut single by the American punk rock band the Descendents. It was the band's first release and displayed a new wave and surf sound. It was recorded at a time when the band lacked a lead singer, so vocals on the recording were provided by guitarist Frank Navetta and bassist Tony Lombardo. With the addition of singer Milo Aukerman in 1980, the band moved towards a hardcore punk sound. "Ride the Wild" and "It's a Hectic World" were re-released in later years on compilation albums.
New Girl, Old Story is collaborative album between the American punk rock band All and Tony Lombardo, the original bassist of All's precursor band the Descendents. Credited to "TonyAll", it consists of twelve songs written by Lombardo between 1979 and 1989. Lombardo played bass guitar on the entire album, with the members of All playing the rest of the instrumentation. Vocals were split between Lombardo and All singer Scott Reynolds, with All bassist Karl Alvarez also singing one song. Along with their 1990 album Allroy Saves, recorded at the same time, New Girl, Old Story was the last album recorded by All before their relocation from Los Angeles to Brookfield, Missouri.
The discography of the Descendents, a punk rock band formed in Manhattan Beach, California in 1977, consists of eight studio albums, three live albums, three compilation albums, three EPs, several singles, and four music videos.
"Just Perfect" is a song by the American punk rock band All, released as a single from their 1988 debut album Allroy Sez. Written by drummer Bill Stevenson, "Just Perfect" was remixed from the original album version for release as a single. The B-side track "Wishing Well", written by singer Dave Smalley, is from the Allroy Sez recording sessions but was not included on the album. Both tracks were later included on the compact disc release of All's following EP, Allroy for Prez (1988).
Filmage: The Story of Descendents/All is a 2013 independent documentary film chronicling the history of the American punk rock bands the Descendents and All. It was written by Matt Riggle, who produced and directed it with Deedle LaCour. The film uses an oral history format, telling the bands' stories through the use of interviews with over 40 subjects, as well as new and archival footage. It stars drummer Bill Stevenson, singer Milo Aukerman, bassist Karl Alvarez, and guitarist Stephen Egerton, and features nearly all past and present members of both bands. Filmage also features numerous musicians who were contemporaries of, worked with, or were influenced by the Descendents and All.
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