By Ryan Broderick

The “Punk Goes Pop” compilation CD came out recently. It brings a few questions to mind, the first and foremost being “Why?” Why on Earth would these bands do these covers? The “Pop Goes…” format is getting tired. On the newest disc, there is no trace of irony, there is no cheeky fun to be had.

Escape The Fate’s cover of Santana’s “Smooth” (like most of their material) is talentless and unrelently painful. Breathe Carolina’s Miley Cyrus cover just sounds like the original. Four Year Strong’s name attached to the project left a lot of hope for the disc, but their cover of “Love Song” is phoned in and sloppy. The only decent song on the album is A Day To Remember’s Fray cover, and even that isn’t terrific.

The main problem wth “Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2” is that these aren’t covers done by bands looking into mainstream music and poking fun at them; they’re instead simply covers for the type of people that like these bands. Critics have been mad at the use of the word “punk” in the “Punk Goes…” series for years, but this new batch of bands are so far removed from the original context that it’s embarrassing. This newest complilation is just another nail in the coffin for the emo/pop punk scene. It won’t be long before it completely cannibalizes itself and quietly fades into music memory with other mutilated genres of music like hair metal and rap rock.