Media Review

Various Artists

Punk Goes Crunk (CD)

Fearless

Overall Rating:

4.0

Music Quality: 4.0

Production: 5.0

Originality: 4.5

What makes a good cover song? This is the question I pondered when receiving Fearless Records’ latest "Punk Goes…" installment. I mean I love (good) covers as much as the next person. Sometimes it’s the humor added to a song that makes a cover great, or the sheer shock in hearing a band sing a song you would never expect. While “Punk Goes Crunk” has plenty of both, the release still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Are the funny songs almost insulting? Are the covers (sadly) even worse than the originals? Are the selected tracks just simply songs I never want to hear again? Whatever it is, this compilation is easily my least favorite in the series and the songs (with the exception of one or possibly two) are definitely NOT “crunk” which adds to my annoyance.

OK ok. Maybe you feel I am being too cynical. I mean it’s a CD of cover songs, it’s just supposed to be fun right? I could understand that. I mean a few of the tracks namely: “I Got Your Money” (original Ol’ Dirty Bastard) covered by Say Anything, “I Wanna Love You” (original Akon) covered by The Maine and “Notorious Thugs” (original The Notorious B.I.G. & Bone Thugs N’ Harmony) covered by Scary Kids Scaring Kids have the elements of good covers. These songs fuse the original tracks with the personal style of the artists covering them without seeming half-assed, strained or irritating. While these tracks attempt to save this sinking ship the majority of the remaining songs act as boulder-like weight causing the CD’s overall demise to be inevitable. How you ask? Well…

Some of the songs made my hit (hate) list for only one reason – they are super played out! I think I speak for a good percentage of music listeners when I say its going to take years (decades?) before I can stomach even dancing at a good friends wedding to songs like – Will Smith’s “Men In Black” covered by Forever The Sickest Kids, Rihanna’s “Umbrella” (sidenote: is the least “crunk” song on this CD, though New Found Glory’s cover of “Tennessee” is a close second) covered by All The Low or Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” covered by Lorene Drive. Other songs got on my (s) hit list for being completely obnoxious, queue tracks like “Put Your Hood Up” (Set Your Goals), “Still Fly” (The Devil Wears Prada) and “California Love” (My American Heart). These tracks had my pointer finger trembling over my “next” button while my brain screamed “Please make it stop!”

A personal disappointment on the CD was Person L’s version of The Root’s “The Seed”. Being a Philly native I have a warm place in my heart for The Root’s and I was particularly looking forward to this track thinking Kenny (from The Starting Line) would represent the PA. Unfortunately, the track lacks personality for me. Maybe in attempts to be respectful Person L decided to play it safe, alas in doing so the cover sounds drab and falls flat.

Anyway enough. Obviously I will not be listening to “Punk Goes Crunk” much past submitting this review. However, depending on personal taste some of the tracks could have short-lived appeal. I would recommend spending a dollar or two on those tracks rather then purchasing the CD in its entirety. And as a plea to Fearless Records, I hope the next place “Punk Goes” will be a tad less, well, unrealistic.

reviewed by Heather Galbraith