Bonus Fat is a compilation album by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released in 1985 through New Alliance Records. It combines the band's 1979 debut single "Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World" with their 1981 Fat EP and the track "Global Probing" from the 1981 New Alliance compilation Chunks. The compilation's cover combines guitarist Frank Navetta's illustration for the Fat EP with a caricature of singer Milo Aukerman drawn by Jeff "Rat" Atkins.[3][4]

Bonus Fat
Compilation album by
Released1985 (1985)
Recorded1979, March 1981
Studio
Genre
Length10:04
LabelNew Alliance (NAR-025)
ProducerSpot, David Nolte
Descendents chronology
I Don't Want to Grow Up
(1985)
Bonus Fat
(1985)
Enjoy!
(1986)

New Alliance initially released Bonus Fat as an EP. In 1987 New Alliance was sold to SST, who re-released Bonus Fat on EP, cassette, and compact disc. In 1988 SST paired Bonus Fat with the band's debut album Milo Goes to College as Two Things at Once, a single release compiling all of the band's recorded output from 1979 to 1982.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Tom Hull – on the WebB+ (  )[5]

Ned Raggett of Allmusic gave Bonus Fat three stars out of five and focused his comments on "Ride the Wild" and "It's a Hectic World", calling them "gentle, surf-inspired power pop more than anything else."[2][6] He noted that "It's a Hectic World" is "even more explicitly surfy in ways, but with a nervous, flat new wave edge to it as well — not quite Devo if they grew up on the coast, but there's something to that comparison."[2][6] Jenny Eliscu of Rolling Stone remarked that the inclusion of these two songs "can't be considered much of a bonus."[7] Rock critic Robert Christgau similarly called these two tracks "forgettable [and] surprisingly poppish" but gave the compilation an A− rating on the strength of the Fat EP material, which he said sounded better on this release than on the original EP.[8]

Track listing

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Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."My Dad Sucks" (from the Fat EP, 1981)Frank Navetta, Tony Lombardo0:35
2."Mr. Bass" (from the Fat EP, 1981)Navetta2:05
3."I Like Food" (from the Fat EP, 1981)Bill Stevenson0:16
4."Hey Hey" (from the Fat EP, 1981)Lombardo1:31
5."Weinerschnitzel" (from the Fat EP, 1981)Stevenson, Pat McCuistion0:10
6."Global Probing" (from Chunks, 1981)Navetta1:05
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Ride the Wild" (from "Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World", 1979)Navetta2:30
2."It's a Hectic World" (from "Ride the Wild" / "It's a Hectic World", 1979)Lombardo1:52
Total length:10:04

Personnel

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Band[3][9][10][11]
Production[4][9][10][11]

References

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  1. ^ Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Los Angeles: Feral House. p. 310. ISBN 0-922915-71-7.
  2. ^ a b c Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas, eds. (2002). All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Backbeat Books. p. 303. ISBN 0-87930-653-X. Retrieved 2015-02-27.
  3. ^ a b Fat EP (EP sleeve). Descendents. Lawndale, California: New Alliance Records. 1981. NAR 005.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  4. ^ a b LaCour, Deedle (Director); Riggle, Matt (Director) (2013). Filmage: The Story of Descendents/All (DVD). Manchester: Rogue Elephant Pictures. Event occurs at 24:08.
  5. ^ Hull, Tom (April 19, 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  6. ^ a b Raggett, Ned. "Review: Bonus Fat". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  7. ^ Eliscu, Jenny (2004). "Descendents Biography". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2008-08-21. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
  8. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Review: Descendents – Bonus Fat". robertchristgau.com. Consumer Guide. Retrieved 2015-02-09.
  9. ^ a b "F.A.Q." descendentsonline.com. Descendents. Archived from the original on 2010-02-11. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
  10. ^ a b Somery (CD liner). Descendents. Lawndale, California: SST Records. 1991. SST CD 259.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ a b Two Things at Once (CD liner). Descendents. Lawndale, California: SST Records. 1988. SST CD 145.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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