My Favorite Song on Each Descendents and ALL Album

I got the idea for this post while leaving a comment on Steve’s Descendents Shuffle post. The point of the post is to pick my favorite song from each of the bands’ albums. And what makes this one more of a challenge is that I’m limiting myself to one song per CD. Since I think of these groups as one band, normally I would organize this list based on album release dates, but to make it easier, I’m going to do a separate list for the Descendents and ALL and then list the albums themselves based on release.

Descendents --
Album: Bonus Fat
Favorite Song: “Global Probing”
-- “Hey Hey” is a close second.

Album: Milo Goes to College
Favorite Song: “Hope”
-- “Bikeage” is a close second.

Album: I Don’t Want to Grow Up
Favorite Song: “Silly Girl”
-- Picking a favorite from this album is pretty hard because there are so many great songs on it.

Album: Enjoy!
Favorite Song: “Get the Time”
-- “Sour Grapes” is a close second.

Album: ALL
Favorite Song: “Pep Talk”
-- “Clean Sheets” and “Coolidge” are close seconds. This was also hte band's last release prior to changing their name to ALL.

Album: Everything Sucks
Favorite Song: “I Won’t Let Me”
-- For a long time I didn’t like this record very much. I think part of it was my initial disappointment that it wasn’t as good as Milo Goes to College or I Don’t Want to Grow Up. Since then I’ve learned to appreciate this record more. Once I stopping thinking of it as the follow up to the ALL record and started thinking of it as the follow up to Pummel, then I was able to appreciate it for what it is and enjoy some really great songs. I also had to get a bit of a chip off my shoulder that had grown after the (really bad) video for “I’m the One” became a bit of a hit (the song was also played from time to time on 95X, which really perturbed me at the time) and the fact that people went gaga over this band when they played as the Descendents, but barely noticed when they played as ALL.

Album: ‘Merican
Favorite Song: “Nothing with You”
-- This song also appears on Cool To Be You. My second favorite song on this EP is “I Quit.”

Album: Cool To Be You
Favorite Song: “Tack”
-- This is probably the best album that this band has released as the Descendents, IMHO. Unlike some of their classic releases (Enjoy comes to mind for sure), there isn’t a bad song on this album. “Talking” would probably be my second favorite on this one.

ALL –
Album: Allroy Sez
Favorite Song: “Don Quixote”
-- This record is another one that is incredibly hard to narrow down one favorite song. This is one of what I consider to be ALL’s three great masterpieces (the other two are Allroy’s Revenge and Problematic). This is also one of this band’s most underappreciated albums. My second favorites would be “Hoodige” and “Sugar and Spice.”

Album: Allroy for Prez
Favorite Song: “Just Perfect”
-- This song also appears on Allroy Sez. My second favorites are “Daveage” and “Skin Deep.”

Album: Allroy’s Revenge
Favorite Song: “She’s My Ex”
-- This was the second proper album by ALL that I heard and it is considered by most to be their best. “Mary” and “Fool” are also standouts (I would call them close seconds but that’s just not true because “She’s My Ex” is one of the greatest songs ever written IMHO).

Album: Allroy Saves
Favorite Song: “Educated Idiot”
-- “Just Like Them” is a close second (but I actually prefer the version with Milo on vocals that was on their greatest hits release). While this album has some really good songs on it, overall I think it is probably the weakest album that they have ever released

Album: New Girl, Old Story
Favorite Song: “Guitar Case”
-- This album is considered to be a bit of a side project, but I still see it as part of the band’s discography. The following is from the liner notes and sums up this album and the band perfectly – “The songs on this recording were written and arranged by Tony Lombardo between 1979 and 1989. Tony was the original bass player for the Descendents who in 1987, changed their name to ALL. The members of ALL appear on the recording as Tony’s band.”

Album: Percolater
Favorite Song: “Dot”
-- “Nothin’,” “Minute,” and “Breathe” are close seconds.

Album: Breaking Things
Favorite Song: “Shreen”
-- This album holds a special place in my heart. It’s the first ALL record that I heard and subsequently it’s been with me through many highs and lows in my young adult/adult life. The entire record is a classic and is probably my personal favorite from this bands’ entire catalogue (Descendents albums included). “Right,” “Stick,” and “Original Me” are close seconds but honestly the entire album is fantastic.

Album: Pummel
Favorite Song: “Miranda”
-- This is ALL’s one and only major label release. Overall this is a pretty disappointing record (especially when compared to its predecessor Breaking Things) but it still has song sonic gems. “Breakin’ Up” and “Long Distance” are close seconds.

Album: Mass Nerder
Favorite Song: “Perfection”
-- “Refrain” and “Silence” are close seconds.

Album: Problematic
Favorite Song: “Better Than That”
-- What I love about Problematic is that it has some of the most biting lyrics to ever appear on an ALL/Descendents album. Songs like “Better Than That,” “What Are You For?,” and “The Skin” are stark commentaries on modern society while at the same time being catchy pop tunes. My second favorite is probably “Carry You.”