This is an article I wrote in 2006 for a now defunct magazine. Enjoy
UNDER THE COVERS
New bands, and old songs, the relationship between the two can at times be a great thing, or can be comparable to Whitney and Bobby, but a bunch of up and coming bands hope to take a stab at it on the Punk Goes 90s CD which was released on May 9th.
Put out by Fearless Records, the little label that could, and primarily fueled by their myspace page (www.myspace.com/punkgoes90s), which at the time of this writing has had 365,239 plays since mid-March, Punk Goes 90s, the fifth installment in the Punk Goes series looks to tap into the popular music of the 90s.
This CD features eighteen tracks from bands such as The Starting Line, Emery, and the Plain White Ts covering the songs from the generation that brought us 90210, Nirvana, and those damn things called Beanie Babies.the 90s.
As for the topic of cover songs, sure, the original songs are great and all, but after a while of hearing the same song, sung the same way, it gets tiring. But fear not, thats where cover songs come in… Most of the time. Sometimes they can breathe new life into old songs, while paying homage to the original artist, and other times they can just suck.
Scary Kids Scaring Kids keyboardist Pouyan, whose band covered the R.E.M smash hit Losing My Religion, said “None of the members are really fans of R.E.M., but we liked that song, and the lyrics.” Also “covering a song like that was a more challenging choice for the band”, and according to him, they had to step it up, and mix his bands style with the original version. When asked what it meant to him, to be given the chance to cover such a hit song, he said “Its awesome. That song had such a huge impact”. However he feels that some cover songs are good, if done well, but believes that bands should concentrate on original music.
Brian Leppke, the guitarist from metal band Bleeding Through (whose band departed their roots and performed a dead on cover of the song Stars by HUM) said that his band chose that song because a few of the songs they wanted to cover were already chosen, and the band felt HUM was overlooked. When asked why Bleeding Through, a metal band, joined the Punk Goes series, he replied “Just because that type of music, the songs they gave us to pick from were big when we were growing up, and I mean, its awesome, its cool that we have opportunities to do stuff like this.”
When asked how he felt about cover songs, he had a different take than Pouyan, saying “A lot of bands were broken from cover (songs), like Limp Bizkit, its a fun thing”
Some of the highlights on this CD include Gym Class Heroes hip-hop/punk rock version of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers smash hit Under The Bridge, Anberlins lively cover of the Depeche Mode song Enjoy The Silence, and the Killing Moons screamo cover of Alanis Morissettes jagged little hit You Oughtta Know. However the three best songs on this CD are a simply amazing cover of Wonderwall by Cartel, which is fueled primarily by a non acoustic guitar, as the original was done, the punkish sounding cover of Hey Jealousy by music industry rookies Hit The Lights, and last but not least, internet sensation Bedlight for Blue Eyes emotionally charged acoustic version of Third Eye Blinds song Jumper.
This CD is sure to bring you back to the times before music became too commercial, so if you liked the music of the 90s, or are a fan of any band featured, you should definitely check out this album.
Also Gym Class Heroes, Emery, and the Plain White Ts are all appearing on this years lineup of the Warped Tour, which is set to hit the Fitchburg Airport, in Fitchburg Massachusetts on Wednesday, August 2nd. Tickets for this event are available on www.tickets.com.
