After Punk Goes 80s, 90s, Metal, Pop, Acoustic, and Acoustic 2, Punk finally went Crunk in April of 2008. The contributing punk bands such as All Time Low, New Found Glory, The Maine, Hot Rod Circuit, The Devil Wears Prada, and Say Anything, cover songs by Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, OutKast, Akon, 2Pac, Lil’ Jon, and more.
For the most part, the bands chose songs that could be easily translated into punk. The smooth, bouncy flow of crunk is replaced with the rough scratch of guitar strings and drums. “The Seed,” “I Wish,” “Hey Ya,” and “Gin and Juice” are almost the same as their original songs, except with grittier instrumentation and higher (some might say, whinier), more teenage sounding voices. Other artists take more liberties with their tune. “Notorious Thugs” and “Nothin’ but a G’ Thang,” for example, have entirely different melodies from the original songs.
Even the lyrics are not always the same. While some punk bands try as best they can to fit the entire rap into their song, some lines need to be cut out for space and timing reasons (“Nothin’ but a G’ Thang,” covered by The Escape Frame). Other times, though, bands choose to change parts of the lyrics from the original song. The Devil Wears Prada, for example, confesses that their choice of song to cover was difficult because they do not identify themselves as a “sex and drugs type of band.” After they picked their song, they admit to changing some of the lyrics for the sake of their band’s personality.
Punk Goes Crunk Reviews
Reactions to the band have been mixed at best. Listeners claim that it is “hit or miss,” and certain elitists deny that there is either punk or crunk to be found on the album. Many will admit that there are at least a few brilliant songs on the album, but one person claims that this number was only enough to download, and not to buy, the album.
Despite less-than-positive feedback from listeners, message boards reveal that the Punk Goes series is looking for future album themes. Posters suggest country, Disney songs, classical, and techno, but how much any of these suggestions are being considered can only be known by the creators of the album series.
Punk Goes Crunk Reflections
The punk bands that participated in the album seem to be grateful for all the challenges that came to them in the process of selection and recording. The Devil Wears Prada quotes, “Through thick and thin, Punk Goes Crunk was an awesome and exciting experience for the band.” New Found Glory was happy to cover a song about issues that their band cared about, and Person L thoroughly enjoyed covering a band that had been a “hometown inspiration” for them.
Punk Goes Crunk may not have been the album of the year. It may not have even been a well-liked album among most music circles. But if you like punk music in many forms, and you thoroughly enjoy irony, then the musical dichotomy of punk music with crunk lyrics will definitely be enough to put a smile on your face as well as introduce you to new punk bands.
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