Customer Reviews

Punk Goes Metal 1

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since Amazon didn't do any research, I'll be nice and post the track listing for this album.

1. Divit -Breakin The Law
2. Jughead's Revenge -Talk Dirty To Me
3. AFI -My Michelle
4. Bigwig -War Ensemble
5. A New Found Glory -Heaven Isn't Too Far Away
6. Strung Out -Bark At The Moon
7. The Ataris -I Remember You
8. Link 80 -Harvester Of Sorrow
9. Guttermouth -Sexual Abuse
10. Dynamite Boy -TNT
11. Death By Stereo -Little Fighter
12. Swindle -Youth Gone Wild
13. Turnedown -I Don't Know
14. Diesel Boy -Looks That Kill
15. Rx Bandits -Holy Wars
16. Ten Foot Pole -Love Song
17. The Aquabats -Why Rock?...

I purchased this in a local record store. And yes, the store I shop at still sells records.

To give you a bit of background, I have always been into punk. I have a pretty vast collection of punk ep's (on vinyl even). I was always the guy who liked punk for it being punk, regardless of where or whence it came. I listen to X-ray Specs, Black Flag, Bad Religion, The Exploited, Dead Kennedys, Gen-X, Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, The Germs, D.O.A, Reagan Youth, Descendants, Subhumans, Circle Jerks, Misfits, Sex Pistols, Ramones...the list goes on. I have a pretty extensive knowledge of classic punk, but I am by no means an expert.

That being said, I felt like I lost the punk influence in this album. I have always considered punk to have originated in the early 70's with in-your-face attitude, lyrics and guitar riffs. Punk songs, even covers, in my mind have always been unique to the band because the ideals behind punk were to avoid the mainstream and sing about what matters to the band. For example, The Dead Kennedy's remade "I Fought the Law" but they completely owned the song, modified the lyrics and the point of the song and created a unique cover true to their ideals.

This album, as well as the other songs I have heard from the other "Punk Goes..." albums, seem to have taken some newer punk bands and asked them to remake the original songs EXACTLY as they were without redefining the popular songs in terms of tempo, lyrics and overall influence. The majority of the songs on this album are from bands I don't know well, so I may have a biased opinion here but they don't seem to have the punk ideals I am used to and seem to have conformed to what the mainstream might have expected from the original artists. It just isn't punk to me.

Now, on the other side, some of these songs are trips down memory lane for me and I enjoyed a few of them, namely Jughead's Revenge's rendition of Poison's Talk Dirty to Me was a serious blast from the past and was overall enjoyable. Please don't take any of this to say that this is a bad album for what it is but if you have a classic understanding of punk, you may be let down. If you find new punk to be your forte, you will likely be pleased. But if you are looking for cover songs that are a bit more PUNK, I might suggest Me First and the Gimme Gimme's. Also check out Manic Hispanic's version of Gilligan's Island.

Summary - It isn't for me because I remember when punk was an ideal, not just a style of music and dress. If you are under 25 years old and Good Charlotte and Green Day are punk to you, give it a shot. You might like it.

I discovered some pretty good 80's music from listening to this. After listening to the covers I wanted to hear the originals. I do like the "My Michelle" cover the most.