Saturday, February 25, 2012

I hear it on my Stereo but can't remember the Screen?

So last night I decided to relisten to New Found Glory's From Your Screen to Your Stereo Part 2. I hadn't listened to it since it first came out (except for King of Wishful Thinking occasionally popping up on my iPod), not surprisingly my biggest issue with the album remained. I have no clue what movies half the songs are from without the assistance of liner notes or wikipedia.

From The Screen To Your Stereo (2000)

Alright now the original EP is a classic. I remember when I was in high school my old band 'Off the Wall' (don't bother looking for us online but if you want to hear 3 high school sophomores trying and failing to sound like NFG and Relient K contact me and I'll email you our only album) would constantly cover songs from this album, specifically My Heart Will Go On and The Glory of Love. It was their last album before they exploded the next year with the hit single Hit & Miss. Every song on the album you distinctly remember the movie it was in. That Thing You Do!, The Goonies R Good Enough, The Neverending Story and the other 4 songs on the album were all written specifically FOR the movies that they appeared in.

From the Screen to Your Stereo Part 2 (2007)

Okay so right off the bat (and this is being nit-picky) but the original had a better album cover. Just saying. Anyway of 11 songs appearing on this album only 5 were written specifically for a movie (King of Wishful Thinking, Iris, Crazy For You, J'y suis jamais allé and Don't You Forget about me). Out of those 5 only two I think people distinctly connect them with their respective movies (Pretty Woman & The Breakfast Club). A song like Iris you just think of Goo Goo Dolls before you think of City of Angels and most people haven't ever seen Amelie' or Vision Quest.

But that doesn't matter, I mean the other 6 songs even if they were written before the movie could still make me remember the movie that they're from right? Well let's go through the remaining tracks.

Kiss Me - While it was written and released a year before She's All That was released, I think most people still connect it with the iconic stair sequence.

It Aint Me Babe - I challenge most of you to tell me what movie this is from without cheating. Because for some reason NFG covered a non-Johnny Cash song for Walk The Line. To be fair if they picked any J.C. song it'd be a Johnny Cash cover way quicker before it'd be a cover of a song from Walk the Line

The Promise - This is from Napoleon Dynamite and since it's an obscure 80's song, I suppose people might only connect it with N.D.

Stay - Lisa Loeb's breakthrough hit appeared in the movie Reality Bites, during the closing credits. No I'm sorry I'm not counting this one at all.

Lovefool - This was already a hit single before it appeared in Romeo & Juliet. Again not going to count that one either.

Head Over Heels - Is from Donnie Darko. Does anyone remember this song over Mad World when they think of Donnie Darko? I didn't think so.

I want to clarify that I actually think this is a good album. New Found Glory really had a good time making this record and it shows. But part of the fun of 2000 EP was that hearing those songs immediately brought nostalgic memories to your mind. You saw the sequences where the songs appeared or remembered their iconic music videos (filled with clips of the movie). Part 2 just feels like a cover album that's trying REALLY HARD to have a 'songs from soundtracks' theme.

From the Screen to Your Stereo Part 3?

No there are no intentions of a Part 3 as far as I know. But perhaps in another two years NFG will hit the studio and do it. I know I'll buy it and you will too. Here's some songs I'd like to hear them play (on the very off shot chance they find this blog one day)

1. Sugarhigh - Empire Records
2. After Today - A Goofy Movie
3. The Man in Me - Big Lebowski
4. 3 Small Words - Josie and the Pussycats
5. You're the Best - Karate Kid

Honestly, I'll be happy if they just cover one of those 5 suggestions

When Matt Kelly's not bitching about New Found Glory he's tweeting, writing for Geekscape.net and producing his podcast The Saint Mort Show


1 comment:

  1. completely agree with everything here. This rules. All I want is a Sugarhigh cover and I will be sooooo stoked.

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