Hump Day Artist of the Week X

Well, we're here! Ten weeks of the Hump Day Artist series! Make sure you check out all of the artists over at the mini Amazon Store at K107.com. You can download a few songs from each artist to your iPod, computer or whatever you like for only 89 to 99 cents each!

This week, I'm featuring not just one artist, but a whole mess of 'em! It's because I am recommending you check out a compilation album. It's one that I think you could really get a kick out of. "Punk Goes Pop" is a beautifully crafted project from the fine folks at Fearless Records. If you're not a fan of punk music, don't get scared off by the title. This is a collection of punk and pop-punk bands covering sugar-coated songs from Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys, Madonna, Pink, Destiny's Child and more. It's sometimes funny, sometimes serious, and always enjoyable!

The record opens with Dynamite Boy's rendition of "I Want it That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. While I think that there are better songs on the CD, this is a great opening song for the compilation. It's incredibly accessible, they don't throw you to the wolves just yet, and it isn't too much of a stretch to have Dynamite Boy covering The Backstreet Boys. From there, we get to a couple of my favorites on this disc. Slick Shoes covers Mandy Moore's "Candy" and Yellowcard plays "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch. These two are such fun, and you can tell that each band took some time with the song they're playing. Great stuff.

Punk Goes Pop then takes a bit of a turn and brings out the heaviest of the songs on the CD. It's from Stretch Arm Strong and they take on Pink's hit "Get This Party Started." I find this song absolutely hilarious. The ability to take Pink's urban sound and put it into a hardcore song should not be overlooked. Even if you don't care for that sort of style, I strongly encourage you to just give it one listen and sing along. I can pretty much guarantee you'll have a smile on your face by the end of it, even if you decide to never listen to it again!

The CD goes on for 17 songs of varying quality, but ends on a couple of stellar tunes. Two of my favorites are most certainly Thrice's cover of Real Life's "Send Me an Angel" and Student Rick's rendition of "Heaven is a Place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle. They are faithful enough to the source material that it isn't sooo different, but they still put their own styles into each song. In my humble opinion, covers shouldn't be exact replicas of the original song and they should have something added to them that the original artist didn't put into the mix. These two songs match perfectly with that.

Other songs that are worth noting here are "I'm Real" by Jennifer Lopez covered by The Starting Line, Rufio's take on Madonna's "Like a Prayer," Fake ID's cover of "All or Nothing" by O-Town, and Knockout's try at Destiny Child's "Survivor."

Happy listening!