For the new Punk Goes Pop compilation, we had one reviewer who dug the album and another who hate it. Soooooo, here’s a Love/Hate double review for Punk Goes Pop 4!

Loved it….

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Punk Goes Pop 4
[Fearless Records]
Verdict: 8.5/10
The majority of Punk Goes compilations are pretty good (with the exception of some bad tracks and that awful Punk Goes Crunk mess). If one were to really look at the labels, though, then they’d question who the hell considers this band punk and this band pop, but try to ignore all that. For the new Punk Goes Pop compilation, Fearless Records and the roster here did a very solid job in covering some of the year’s best songs. The obvious hits are here (like “We R Who We R”, “Fuck You”, “Til the World Ends”, and “Last Friday Night”), along with several I’d forgotten about (or didn’t know to begin with). Before I dive into the good, let’s wrestle some of the bad points. What drove me crazy the most is why somehow covered Mumford & Sons here. I love “Little Lion Man”, but that song isn’t even close to being a pop song. It’s a blend of folk/country! Come on, people. Other than this annoyance, most of these tracks were memorable. Even the annoying Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! band did a pretty good cover. The Downtown Fiction especially did an awesome job with “Super Bass”, making the song sound like it was one of their own. Go Radio also did a superb performance with “Rolling in the Deep”, and I’m not even a fan of their music. Still, there’s always going to be that audience that digs these compilations for the bands that take their covers “heavier” than others. This would include A Skylit Drive, For All Those Sleeping, I See Stars, C!NCC!, and Woe Is Me. Each of these artists did a very good job with their versions, though I think A Skylit Drive and Woe, Is Me did the best (the “Last Friday Night” cover by WIM will be stuck in your head for days). Another surprise was Silverstein’s cover of “Runaway” (which did not strike me as a song they would put their spin on) and Sleeping With Sirens’ cover of “Fuck You” (which has become a favorite with many listeners judging by online posts). Overall, Punk Goes Pop 4 is quite entertaining. Fans of these Fearless compilations should enjoy this one thoroughly. – by Nathaniel Lay
> Recommended Tracks: “Super Bass”, “Rolling in the Deep”, “Til the World Ends”, “Just the Way You Are”, “Love the Way You Lie”, “Fuck You”, “Last Friday Night”
> Bottom Line: These aren’t punk bands, but Fearless doesn’t pay attention to that on any of these compilations it seems. If you can get passed that, then you’ll find some very enjoyable covers on this release. Any fan of previous Punk Goes albums should definitely pick this one up.

Hated It…

Verdict: 2/10
Fearless Records has been putting out a series of compilation albums called Punk Goes… for a while, and the most popular were the Punk Goes Pop collection. It’s on its fourth one, and if the title doesn’t give it away, punk bands cover pop songs that you’d find on the radio. Well, not to be technical, but none of the bands are actually punk. They’re all post-hardcore or pop-punk bands. Punk Goes Pop 4 is no exception. Every band sounds exactly the same, and that’s not a good thing. It gets very boring very fast. It takes a lot to impress me, and this doesn’t quite cut it. I want to be surprised on records like this, but I already know what I’m getting into, sadly. It also doesn’t help that most of the bands already contributed tracks to the last one, such as WOE IS ME, A SKYLIT DRIVE, and THE READY SET. I’d love to hear more bands than the exact same ones. That’s my main complaint. As for the music itself, it’s tolerable at times, but it’s just terrible for the most part. Isn’t the point of covering a song to make it better? Most of these covers are worse than the originals, sadly. The album starts out with a cover of BRUNO MARS’ “Just the Way You Are” by PIERCE THE VEIL and it’s not half bad. It’s tolerable at best. I don’t dig the band, but the song isn’t too bad. The next track is a cover of MUMFORD & SONS “Little Lion Man” by Australian pop-punk band TONIGHT ALIVE. I love MUMFORD & SONS but TONIGHT ALIVE just butcher it. WOE IS ME make a return with KATY PERRY’S “T.G.I.F. (Last Friday Night).” It’s enjoyable, but it’s not memorable at all. Then THE READY SET covers the WIZ KHALIFA track “Roll Up,” which features one of my favorite rappers MOD SUN. If he wasn’t on the track, it wouldn’t be worth listening to. After some dreadful covers by SLEEPING WITH SIRENS and GO RADIO, FOR ALL THOSE SLEEPING completely slaughters TAYLOR SWIFT’S “You Belong With Me.” To be honest, the rest of the album is terrible, except for A SKYLIT DRIVE’S cover of “Love the Way You Lie.” It’s not half bad, actually. After a few more awful tracks, SILVERSTEIN also have a rather entertaining cover of KANYE WEST’S “Runaway.” The album ends with THE DOWNTOWN FICTION’S cover of NICKI MINAJ’S “Super Bass,” and it’s very enjoyable. That might even be my favorite track. Thankfully, the album does end nicely. — by Bradley Christensen
> Recommend Listening: “Super Bass” by The Downtown Fiction, “Love the Way You Lie” by A Skylit Drive, and “Roll Up” by The Ready Set.
> Release date: November 22nd, 2011
> In Conclusion… This should be named Pop Goes Pop simply because this is 13 tracks of pop bands covering pop songs. A lot of kids will love this, but if you’re like me and are hard to impress, you surely won’t like this. It seemed very rushed and poorly put together. I also hope that this is the last Punk Goes Pop album. I really do.