and perfectly poppy, they can and do with smashing success, with surprisingly mature, emotional lyrics and playing that doesn't rely on all-speed all the time." Rock critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ rating, saying "They 'don't even know how to sing', they excoriate themselves as perverts for wanting sex, and when they fall in love they try to write Beatles songs. Chances are you'll find them awkward, but I'm tremendously encouraged that they can fall in love at all. Anyway, their Beatles songs are pretty catchy." In a 2004 biography of the band, Jenny Eliscu of Rolling Stone commented that the album "featured the most singable tunes the band had ever written. 'Good Good Things', 'In Love This Way', and 'Can't Go Back' were positively sunny by Descendents standards; the Beach Boys-gone-punk vibe was an obvious precursor to Weezer. The real advance was their ability to give strong melodies to thrash songs: 'My World' and 'Silly Girl' border on heavy metal but leave out the goofy excess and include way more self-pity." According to Finn McKenty, the band and the album was a major influence on what would be known as pop punk in the 1990s and 2000s, mainly due to the band's "fairly normal" image and upbeat songs with lyrics about growing up, going to school/college, falling in love, breaking up, rather than something political, aggressive, violent or anti-social - themes that were prevalent in the punk rock and hardcore music at the time. Cover versions In the decades since its release, several artists have recorded cover versions of songs from I Don't Want to Grow Up for other releases, including: "I Don't Want to Grow Up" by Pkids and by Bobby Birdman "Pervert" by The Bouncing Souls "Can't Go Back" by Poole and by the Tijuana Panthers "Silly Girl" by Bunnygrunt "Christmas Vacation" by Soccer and by +44 "Good Good Things" by Dunebuggy, Edsel and Colleen Green "Ace" by Thrush Hermit "Pep Talk" by Parasites Track listing Personnel Adapted from the album liner notes. Band Milo Aukerman – vocals Tony Lombardo – bass guitar Ray Cooper – guitar Bill Stevenson – drums, producer Production David Tarling – producer, engineer John Golden – mastering Notes I My War (1984), Family Man (1984), Slip It In (1984), Live '84 (1984), Loose Nut (1985), The Process of Weeding Out (1985), In My Head (1985), and Minuteflag (1986) II On