After decades of mishandling, one of the most seminal and groundbreaking punk records is back in print. Thanks to SST’s bizarre choices, Descendents’ Milo Goes to College used to be impossible to find and when you did, it was a sub par bootleg sourced from an old CD. Now back in the control of the Descendents themselves, as licensed to Org (who also now oversee Bad Brains), Milo is pulled up from the gutter, cleaned off, and really allowed to shine.

I need not belabor the importance or punch of Milo. At a time when hardcore and punk was getting more and more savage (and awesomely so, mind you), Descendents made the bold choice to go melodic. That’s not to say there is no savagery in Milo. “I wanna be a bear” has the raw smack and vitriol of first wave punk- as does it’s follow up, the bitter “Loser” which has Milo Aukerman spitting while Frank naveta kicks out a bran smasher of a riff.

But, unlike the increasingly violent and raw punk of the day, Milo was also heartfelt a melodic. While a lot of contemporary hardcore took the route of “that girl won’t go out with me so I’m going to go insane!” on “Hope” Milo took the angle of “that girl won’t go out with me so now I’m sad.” Notably, that songs trucks more in a vaguely Beach Boy melody than, say, the raw guitar destruction of Crime or Black Flag.

If anything, while Damaged and Group Sex dealt with the young man as a frenzied mess of explosive hormones acting out, Milo found the subject reflecting inward. And really, the strain still has massive influence on punk today and may have an even greater influenced than the crazed Black Flag side of things. Notably, some of the lyrics and maybe some of the themes on Milo are outdated. As to themes being viewed by a contemporary vision- the problem there is certain thoughts/philosophies that are associated with isolation in 2025 actually weren’t necessarily associated with teenage isolation in 1982. So, it’s an error to cast the dark, deep web/reddit creep mindset of an insecure, lonely young man from 1982 since the darker, contemporary ideas didn’t really exist yet. That is, Milo came from a place of earnest reflection and frustration- not the calculated, processed twisted vision found on message boards in 2025. As to the not cool words, well, those words are not cool, but a lot of people used them in 1982. Leave them in and take reassurance that we have grown as a society.

It's tough to be as rocking and as savage and as earnest as Milo is, which is why it has resonated with such force throughout the decades, DESPITE the fact that certain parties seemed to have try to bury it. It’s so good and so important even putting it in the shadows won’t dim its power.

The ORG reissue is super nice. The sound is crisped up and is a little louder. It rocks. ORG took the perhaps, daring, choice to include JUST the album on the CD as opposed to the more common SST CD which also includes Bonus fat. It’s an artistic choice that does make the album feel much more compact and more of a singular statement. Still, that leaves Fat/Bonus fat as an orphan. The CD is also in one of those super slim cardboard wallets. A jewel case/Digipack would have been a little bit more fitting for a release of this level. Still, the vinyl version, between the crisp sound a reverent packaging is just about perfect.