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The“X-Games,” ESPN’s alternative sports program, combines coverage of “extreme” sports — like snowboarding, skateboarding and skydiving — with popular music. ESPN selected music to create three volumes of X-Games soundtracks. The third release brings music from bands as varied as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Days of the New, The Crystal Method, and Pantera. All the songs have a common thread, though: they aren’t exactly the kind of music that you would want to relax to. The whole mood of the CD hovers somewhere between enthusiastic and homicidal. Pantera wails, “I’m broken,” Coal Chamber screams, “Mi loco,” and Pennywise bemoans “Society” by screaming it repeatedly.
The CD begins with “The Impression That I Get,” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Those of you who haven’t heard enough of these ska sellouts on MTV and the radio can get plenty in this CD by listening to this overplayed track.
Next, the Descendents’ lead singer attempts to bolster his self-esteem in “I’m the One,” a messy, hyperactive, song that doesn’t offer anything new or exciting — it sounds just like one of the numerous three-chord, four-piece bands with a dependance on loud electric guitar chords. The CD continues through Fatboy Slim’s “Going Out of My Head,” which ignoring its rip-off of a sample from “I Can’t Explain” by Pete Townsend of the Who, is a decent remix.
Fu Manchu drags through a horrific remake of AC/DC’s 1976 “Jailbreak.” Luckily, 311’s “All Mixed Up,” is a more-than-welcome reprieve from the madness, as their laid-back combination of rap, ska and funk is a stark and innovative contrast to most of the album.
Pantera, meanwhile, is as angry as ever in their 1993 release, “I’m Broken.” This band fails to show as much musical ability in this song as would normally be expected from “Dimebag” Darrel and his fellow band members, even ignoring the unintelligible lyrics.
Days of the New gives us “Touch, Peel and Stand,” one of those songs we’ve heard on the radio a lot, but never seem to know exactly who it’s by. That haunting feeling that you should know this band is hard to escape, mainly because they sound like every other grunge rock, Nirvana/Pearl Jam/Bush like band that appeared during the ‘90s.
The Crystal Method is responsible for “Busy Child,” a fast paced techno-dance tune that, while not particularly cutting-edge, isn’t musically offensive like several other tracks on the CD. The Charlatans UK, meanwhile, give us “Toothache (Chemical Brothers Remix),” a melodically challenged song spruced up by intense remixing and various sound effects.
Next to last, the Dropkick Murphys’ “Road of the Righteous,” is a song distinguished by its lyrics. The problem with those lyrics is that they are shouted out in a style that can’t help but remind one of boot camp. Coal Chamber is shouting, too, “Loco,” the final track on the X-Games CD.
At best, X-Games Volume Three is a fairly lukewarm album. This CD can put you in a state anywhere from mildly irritated to psychotically enraged, especially after considering how much you paid for it.
The decent tracks on this CD aren’t, in general, the best these bands have produced. Unless you absolutely love several of the bands on this album, you are better off buying individual CDs and not being stuck with the other schlok on this album.
Take note, ESPN — some of us would probably enjoy the ESPN’s X-Games more with the volume off.
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