Punk Goes 90s

Punk Goes 90s should give its 90s hits a Noughties modernisation, but they instead the covers conclude as hollow copies of the original, many of which, shouldn’t have been attempted in the first place.

Fearless Records Punk Goes series works because punk(ish) artists cover dissimilar genres (be it pop, country, etc) and turn them into punk(ish) songs. Punk Goes 90s doesn’t even try to fit its name and description, choosing non-punk bands to cover, in many cases, punk songs. Choosing to cover songs such as Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom’ in the punk style makes no sense and simply recreating a version of the original is not the point at all.

Gym Class Heroes (who aren’t even close to a punk band) don’t even attempt a punk cover, instead turning Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Under The Bridge’ into a funk-rock fuelled feel-good track while Plain White T’s create a sad attempt at an exact replication of Blur’s ‘Song 2’, the vocals just not up to par and the band not adding a single twist of originality in the instrumentation.

While most of the 2006 compilation record falls flat, The Killing Moon’s version of ‘You Outta Know’ is one of the few that actually encompass the goal of the record – a punk cover of a non-punk 90s song. While it could have lost the imitative vocals, the track elevates Alanis Morissette’s soft seething anger, injecting male hardcore resentment that both brings an original spin while upping the level of brutal almost psychotic sentiment.

Words by Kaitlyn Ulrich