If It's Too Loud...

In 2021, no self respecting music journalist is still covering mash ups. Those went out of style at least five years ago, but probably more like ten. But here at If It's too Loud... we're old enough to not care about being hip like those whippersnapper music blogs, so we can't resist Rocket to Kingston . Billed to Bobby Ramone, Rocket to Kingston takes the vocals of Bob Marley and the music of the Ramones! If that sounds like fun to you, I can guarantee it's even more fun. Plus, it gives the protest message of Bob Marley songs the punk edge they're lacking. The song titles alone make this mash up worth it. My personal favorites are "I Don't Wanna Stand Up," "Today One Love, Tomorrow the World," and "Three Surfin' Little Birds." If you're still digging mash ups, this one is a must listen. You can listen to "Today One Love, Tomorrow the World" below. Rocket to Kingston is available for the "name your price"...

I had made an agreement with myself that I wasn't going to post any more Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but I couldn't wait with this one. Alex Lahey has been a blog favorite since her 2017 album I Love You Like a Brother. When I first saw she was covering the Ramones' classic holiday song "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)," I knew it would be good. But, this cover? It's so good! Lahey has always skirted the line between pop and alternative/pop punk, and her cover definitely goes on the side of pop, but the Ramones were always a pop band, just faster and heavier. This cover is an absolute delight, and the perfect choice for Lahey! In a Facebook post, Alex Lahey explains her choice of covering this Ramones' Christmas classic: "A fun fact about me is that I love Christmas songs. I’ve always wanted to do one and I’m pleased to say that I’ve finally dipped my toe into the pool of yule and have created my very own version of t...

Back in 2014, Eddie Spaghetti was diagnosed with throat cancer while on tour with the Supersuckers. On June 19, the band closed out the tour in Seattle. In attendance that night were Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) and Blind Marky Felchtone (Zeke). At the end of the show, Vedder and Felchtone joined Supersuckers for a rendition of the Ramones's classic "I Believe in Miracles." It's exactly as fantastic as you'd expect. It's just a straight up rock version of the punk epic, with a little grunge and garage tossed in. It was obviously an inspired choice, seeing how Spaghetti was staring down cancer, which he eventually beat. You can listen to Supersuckers's version of "I Believe in Miracles" with Eddie Vedder and Blind Marky Felchtone below. The song is available now via Supersuckers's Bandcamp . For more on Supersuckers, check out their website . I Believe In Miracles by Supersuckers feat. Eddie Vedder

Photo via Facebook In a case of worlds colliding for me, here's "Weird Al" Yankovic covering the Ramones' classic "Beat On the Brat." I was definitely more than a little worried that it would be an accordion heavy polka, like his covers tend to be. ("Worried" might not be the best choice of words, since I would have been just as happy with that.) However, this is a completely faithful cover of a legendary punk song, and you'd never know it was "Weird Al" if it wasn't for his distinctive voice. This version of the song will be available on Dr. Demento Covered in Punk , which features punk artists covering novelty songs and novelty artists covering punk songs. It will also feature covers by William Shatner, Colleen Green, Nobunny, Rasputina, and more! You can listen to "Weird Al" Yankovic's version of "Beat On the Brat" below. Dr. Demento Covered in Punk will be available on January 12. You can pre-orde...

Halloween is my favorite time of the year. It's the only time of the year when visiting old cemeteries isn't "weird." It's "festive." That also means it's time for our annual Halloween playlist. Every year we try to avoid the usual "Monster Mash" and "Thriller," and instead bring you a playlist reflective of the kind of music we listen to all year round. We have classic alternative (Beat Happening, Dinosaur Jr, Tori Amos), neo-folk/country (Jason Isbell, David Wax Museum, Marlon Williams), classic rock (Bob Dylan, The Jam), some hip hop (Ghostface Killah, Swet Shop Boys), old school punk (The Cramps, Dead Milkmen, Ramones), and even some metal with Dead Cross. At just over two hours, it's perfect for Halloween parties, to put on during trick or treating, or to play during work to drown out your co-workers playing "Wereworlf of London." Happy Halloween!

I prefer Halloween over Christmas. Christmas music is pretty much unavoidable, and most of it is pretty awful. It's either the same songs over and over every year or just top 40 pop crap you'll hopefully forget next year. That's why we bring you the If It's Too Loud... 2016 Holiday playlist. This is the second we've done (for some reason we skipped last year), and we've tried hard to not repeat from the last one. We tried to include a wide mix of everything we cover from classic country (Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn), 90s favorites (Jennifer Trynin, Letters to Cleo), classic punk (The Ramones, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Bad Religion), classic rockers (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Chuck Berry), soul (James Brown, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings), current favorites (Courtney Barnett, Matt Pond PA, Sallie Ford), and, of course, "Christmas in Hollis" from Run DMC. No Christmas playlist is complete without it.

We've been digging Bleached here at If It's Too Loud..., so we're pretty excited that Jennifer from Bleached has released two acoustic covers to benefit Planned Parenthood. Here is Jennifer's explanation of her idea behind the covers from a Facebook post: After the election, I went to the desert with an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, sadness, and anger. I decided to record covers of 2 songs that perfectly capture my feelings regarding our political state. Barry McGuire's ‘Eve of Destruction’ was written in 1965, and 50 years later could not be more relevant. It’s a warning of the fascist, racist, violent and unjust world we were living in then, and are living in now. Ramones' ‘Bonzo Goes To Bitburg’ shares the embarrass ed, offended, and disgusted feeling a lot of us have every time we see Trump on our television. We are living in a time where we can anticipate federal funding to public health resources terminated. I have been using Planned Parenthood...

Forgotten Fridays is a weekly feature here at If It’s Too Loud.. where we go back and find the lost records of our glory days. We played these on our college radio shows, put them on countless mixtapes, and then forgot they existed. Once a week we go back and remind you, and help decide if they were any good. Cashing in on the 70s nostalgia kick of the mid 90s, Saturday Morning Cartoon’s Greatest Hits features 19 cartoon classics as performed by bands of the moment. It’s a pure novelty album that made perfect sense then, but just feels silly now. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The quality varies wildly between songs, with perfectly fun, infectious tracks right next to one of the worst things you will ever hear in your life. One of the most fun qualities of the album is hearing acts that are normally considered serious artists letting loose and having fun. Right off the heels of Whipsmart, Liz Phair teams with Material Issue for “The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Ban...