Part of their flirtation with New Wave, Queen‘s “I Want to Break Free” was initially reviled by UK critics and criticized in America for its video. But it ended up as their biggest hit from its album and one of their biggest hits of the ’80s. It remains a Top 10 song in popularity based on streams. Among Queen songs, it’s instantly recognizable for its synthesizer opening, not a common trope for Queen. (Though that intro is missing on the album version.)
Liquids are a punk band from Indiana (northwest Indiana, specifically). And when I say punk I don’t mean pop punk or skate punk. Liquids are something closer to the hardest, wildest first wave British punk bands or to California or DC hardcore. So you’ve been warned.
There’s a long tradition of punk bands covering pop songs as punk songs, and this Liquids cover is no different. They dispense with the synthesizer opening, replacing it with driving drums and bass. They soon add distorted and extremely dirty guitar. Lead singer Mat Williams screams/whines the lyrics with a level of desperation and a lack of professionalism that very much embody the spirit of punk.
For the bridge, it barely feels like anything changes, beyond Williams screeching the new vocal melody rather than the verse melody. As with any good punk cover, they don’t repeat the verses and just end the song at slightly over two minutes. The end features a final shout that makes it sound like Williams can’t keep it up any more.
It’s ridiculous, but so many of the best punk covers have this very same combination of a ridiculous conceit – playing a professional pop song fast and poorly – with intense musical energy.
“poorly”?
They’re in time, and at a pretty rapid clip. I mean, they might not pass muster auditioning for to play on a Steely Dan record…but esp. given what they’re TRYING to do (not play with excessive polish) they do just fine.