Various Artists

The Punk Goes… series has been running since the start of this century, beginning with metal and running through pop, acoustic, the 80’s, the 90’s, and now culminating with crunk. There have been some good renditions over the years: A.F.I.’s “My Michelle,” Reach the Sky’s “Sometimes,” Coalesce’s “Blue Collar Lullaby,” and High the Lights’ “Hey Jealousy” come to mind. On the other hand, there have also been several atrocities: the entire Punk Goes 80’s disc, Slick Shoes’ “Candy,” Mae’s “March of the Pig,” Cartel’s “Wonderwall” and many more. So what happened when punk met crunk?

First off, the “crunk” label of this covers album isn’t exactly fitting. Sure, there is a Lil’ Jon song and an Outkast song. But there are also covers of Will Smith, Akon, Rihanna, The Roots, and Arrested Development. I’m not a hip-hop/rap expert but even I know that Will Smith is the furthest thing from crunk - hell I think some of the bands performing the covers might be closer to crunk that Mr. Smith.

Onto the covers… Set Your Goals perform an adequate rendition of Lil’ Jon’s “Put Your Hood Up.” Its one of the actual crunk hits tackled here. Say Anything and The Secret Handshake both follow and fall flat with their takes on ODB and Skee-Lo. Forever the Sickest Kids do their best Panic at the Disco impersonation on Smith’s “Men in Black.” My American Heart just can’t live up to Tupac and Dre’s classic “California Love.” They try but come up a bit short, though better than most here. Then a string of horrific audio atrocities is unfolded: The Maine, Emanuel, Person L, and The Devil Wears Prada. “Umbrella,” perhaps the most over hyped pop song ever, is decently performed by All Time Low. Bone Thugs, Dre, and Snoop see some of their biggest hits bastardized by Scary Kids Scaring Kids, The Escape Frame, and Hot Rod Circuit. Lorene Drive actually turns in a decent rendition of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” - much to my surprise. New Found Glory wraps things up with Arrested Development’s “Tennessee.” By no means crunk, but probably the most sincere and artistic cover of the bunch.

If my name were Fry and I had accidentally been frozen since 2000 I’d seriously be shocked by this output from Fearless Records. But considering the recent signings and releases of the label, I really am not surprised they’ve gone from hosting At the Drive-In and Glasseater to releasing records from Plane White T’s and wastes of plastic like this.

1.0 / 10 — Michael