First coming together in the late ‘70s, the Descendents mixed caffeinated punk riffs with raw pop hooks, and helped to launch the melodic hardcore scene. Playing energetic and tuneful songs that were sweet and sarcastic in equal measure, the band immediately stood out from their furious hardcore peers, and charmingly geeky frontman Milo Aukerman wrote hilarious and heartfelt lyrics about junk food, high school, bad relationships, and other not-quite-punk subjects. And despite the occasional long hiatus, the Descendents have continued bashing out their impossibly catchy hardcore anthems for decades.