Reviews

You know there is a good reason I got into independent music, and that is I hated - underline hated - hated all the other music that was out there.  Punk was created as an alternative to this awful music, and it pains me to hear a mind-blowing, genre-destroying band like BTBAM cover all these tunes that I sought so hard to avoid in my youth.  Motley Crue?  You know that Bane lyric where Aaron says, “How can I say this without sounding like some Motley Crue song?”  He says that because Motley Crue are awful and no one should sound like them, even by accident.  Soundgarden?  I’m not sure how much heroin they took while writing their ‘hits,’ but I sure wish it had been too much.  Metallica has just never done it for me although this cover is pretty rad, and the Queen track chosen (“Bicycle Race”) is not one of my favorites.  Counting Crows?  Smashing Pumpkins?  Do we really need to go over songs that I turn the radio off to avoid?
 
The only thing that BTBAM gets right is the Earth Crisis cover.  Yes, a song from a band that showed you never had to do what was popular to be successful.  I would love to see BTBAM cover underrated, overlooked, or just unpopular bands.  Maybe a disc of their favorite songs from classic punk albums?  I’d pay to hear BTBAM sonically assault Stretch Arm Strong, Saves The Day, Rites of Spring, Fugazi, Black Flag, NOFX, Converge, The Smiths, At The Drive-In, Pageninetynine, and/or Suicidal Tendencies.  What I can’t do is recommend BTBAM paying homage to Pink Floyd - a band that is so over represented on classic rock radio and college dorm room walls that any admiration from the underground just further serves to prop up the idea that keeps great indie bands down.
 
Points though for the awesome illustration of sperm swimming towards an anatomical drawing of a face on the inside CD tray.  That’s funny.