Yes, as an album, We Will Overcome has its problems and only just about manages to dodge and weave through the many clichés it plays up to, but for addicts of the feel-good poppy hardcore genre then this is definitely worth a shot. I can't promise you a whole lot in the way of originality, but what's here works and works well. ... »»
Just in time for Christmas, here's a list of recent releases for those of you who are literally waiting until the last minute to finish up your holiday shopping. We'll cover a wide array of genres and artists, so soak it in, get off the damn computer, and finish up that shopping, procrastinator! ... »»
New Found Glory - Hits
Geffen (3/18/08)
Pop-punk / Alternative
Uh, miss.
Not popular for even ten years yet, New Found Glory are already getting the greatest-hits treatment from Universal. For those who don't shop at PacSun, NFG are a pop-punk band from Florida who were one of the earlier progenitors of the mall-emo trend. While they have quite a few loyal fans (when I used to live in Florida, it was a badge of distinction to have a shitty CD-R with a typewritten label for "A New Found Glory"), NFG were never quite the superstars that peers like Blink-182 or Good Charlotte managed to be. Plenty of teenage girls in the early part of this decade creamed up over them, and they have a wee smidgeon of hardcore credibility due to guitarist Chad Gilbert's past in Shai Hulud. Singer Jordan Pundik's airy whine and the paint-by-numbers inoffensive pop-punk they played drove them to modest success, scoring a radio hit in late-'02/early-'03 with "My Friends Over You", and recently their overproduced single "It's Not Your Fault" got some play.
NFG's problem really rested in their timing: they started out when teen-romance-obsessed pop-punk was still mainly an underground trend, but they started late and by the time the Madden twins and Blink-182 blew open the mainstream gates for the genre, NFG got lumped in with all the factory-setting emo posers. If they did more to distinguish themselves they'd be saved from that fate, but they've always been too powerfully average to really rise above. The fact that they even have a hits package is more a testament to their loyalist fanbase than any real achievements in their career.
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