Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
What started as a series of albums released biannually has flourished into a series that hits shelves at least twice a year.
I’m talking about the “Punk Goes” series, produced by Fearless Records. In the past, “Punk Goes Metal,” “Punk Goes Classic Rock,” “Punk Goes Crunk” and many others have been released.
The idea of the “Punk Goes” series is famous pop-punk and hardcore bands try their hand at covering a classic or well-known song. These bands put a “punk” spin on anything from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” to “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child.
From the early- to mid-2000s, pop-punk lovers looked upon these collections fondly and with great anticipation. In fact, these albums might be considered responsible for the trend of most punk bands at the time increasing the amount of covers in their repertoire.
Over the past few years, however, most “Punk Goes” CDs haven’t been as well-received as they once were. The series is dying and quality has dropped.
The covers used to be well thought-out and had each band’s style mixed into song. Nowadays, covers don’t sound like much more than just throwing in guitar and drums or increasing tempo.
“Pop Goes Punk 4” is somewhat of a mixed bag — a few of these songs are solid gold, while others are uninteresting.
The album opens up with a cover of Bruno Mars’ hit “Just The Way You Are” by Pierce the Veil. The track is catchy, but doesn’t sound like Pierce The Veil; most of this band’s songs have a Mexican feel to them, but they failed to make “Just The Way You Are” their own. Still, the interesting lead guitar riffs and singer Vic Fuentes’s vocals make this track a good one.
The album’s other single, Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” performed by Woe, Is Me, is one of the more interesting tracks. Little touches like echoing effects, a sound clip from Aqua Teen Hunger Force and electronic sounds during the verses make an interesting mix. The switching between clean vocals and screaming provide a great dynamic.
Speaking of mixing between clean vocals and screaming, Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” is covered here by “For All Those Sleeping.” This Auto-Tuned track felt really awkward — the screaming verses and cheesy breakdown show the band was trying too hard.
Another song I found enjoyable was Ke$ha’s “We R Who We R,” performed by Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, with its powerful breakdown and well-done vocals.
A problem with this album is that most of the songs all have a combination of clean vocals mixed with screaming, breakdowns and synth. A bit more variety would have gone a long way.
The album’s true highlight is Cee Lo Green’s “F–k You,” covered by Sleeping with Sirens. Intense drum fills play through the entirety of the song and the vocals are top-notch.
A little less than half of this album consists of some solid covers, but the remainder sloppily adds a few hardcore elements to the pop songs and calls it a day, leading to much repetition and listener frustration.
Most of the album felt uninspired and lazy, raising suspicion that Fearless Records just wanted to make a quick buck. If you like any of the bands on this album, you will most likely love their contribution and have a great time exploring the rest of their catalogue outside the “Punk Goes” series.
Grade: B-
