first. That was a bad scenario." Stevenson soon found Black Flag's touring and recording schedule too busy to allow time for the Descendents. "I got in over my head", Stevenson later said. "When I joined [Black] Flag I had every intention of doing both bands but it was physically impossible. Flag had all this stuff in progress, so I put Descendents on hold." With the Descendents effectively on hiatus, Navetta, Lombardo, and Cooper tried to start a new band, the Ascendants, but only played one show. Navetta ultimately quit the band by setting all of his musical equipment on fire and moving to Oregon, where he became a full-time fisherman. Stevenson remained in Black Flag, with whom he recorded five studio albums, a live album, and two EPs, and toured consistently from March through December 1984. According to Aukerman, the idea to record a new Descendents album originated in March 1985 during the recording of Black Flag's Loose Nut album: Bill was recording with Black Flag and he invited me up to do backing vocals for Loose Nut. He pulled me aside and he’s like "Hey, I got these songs, but they’re not Black Flag songs, they're really more Descendents songs", and I said "Let me hear them." It was just an instrumental track and he sang over it and sang "Silly Girl" to me and I was like "Wow!" He said "I can't do these in Black Flag." I said "Well, maybe we should do them!" By April 1985 Stevenson had left Black Flag and he, Aukerman, Lombardo, and Cooper reconvened as the Descendents to record the band's second album. Writing In addition to the songs Stevenson had written, the other band members made songwriting contributions to the album. Although Frank Navetta had left the band, one song he had written lyrics for, "Rockstar", was used for the album. Cooper's sole writing credit is on lyrics to the lead track, "Descendents", which are attributed to the entire band. Descendents' was written by Ray and I about Bill leaving the band", said Lombardo. The song opens with the lyrics "Just because we've gone away / Here's a message from me and Ray / We're not gonna let the music die / Join us if you've got the energy". Lombardo contributed the album's title track, which expressed his desire for individuality: "I would write a song like 'I Don't Want to