A Punk Tribute To Punk Tribute Albums

 

Hello, fiends!  As we approach Halloween, there will be more holiday themed posts, but this one was ready to roll.  Continuing an informal survey of tribute albums today with a punk themed compilation.  

Specifically, I've been listening to various artists paying tribute to a single artist.  One enjoyable thing about a various artists' album is the variety of sounds and styles, which creates a more diverse listening experience (rather than an entire album by the same artist).  

It's also interesting to think about why a performer chose a specific song, and what they chose to do with it (stylistically speaking).  Some are faithful to the originals, and others are more creative in their interpretations.

The downside of a compilation is that not all of the artists are equally talented or equally compelling as performers.  If you're particularly fond of the original artist, you might be unimpressed by the remakes.  Various artist tribute albums make for an uneven listening experience, but hopefully this compilation of highlights will entertain you from start to finish.  I tried to choose standout performances from each of the tribute albums.

Some of the artists who are the subjects of tributes in today's collection are less familiar to me than others.  A tribute album can serve the purpose of introducing listeners to an artist via a cover song by a performer already familiar to the listener.  Maybe a Teengenerate fan (for example) will go back and listen to the Pretty Things.  Tributes can also introduce new performers to fans of the original artist.  A fan of Husker Du might be inspired to delve into Motorpsycho's discography.

Not all of the subjects of these tributes are punk bands.  Some of them predate punk (Pretty Things, Hawkwind, Iggy, The Dictators, the Dolls).  Some exist alongside punk as part of other scenes, such as new wave (Go-Go's, Duran Duran) and metal (AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Motorhead).  But there's a punk energy in the performances that perhaps was latent in some of the original recordings.  Please enjoy!