Who here was a childhood friend of someone who is now famous? Someone that you use to hang out with and is now a celebrity. I was thinking about this yesterday....
I saw a commercial for New Found Glory's new album yesterday and I was floored by how successful they've become. It was only 8 years ago that I met Steve Klein (guitars) in my Geometry class. He was good friends with my best friend, Kristy, but I hadn't really gotten to know him until then. Because of alphabetical order seating, I ended up sitting behind him in class. We became friends. I even watched his little garage band practice on a few occasions. Who would've thought.....
He passed Geometry because I let him borrow my homework everyday and he cheated off me on the tests (he would pretend to yawn and stretch back and would check out all my answers....slick). I like to think he may never have graduated from high school without my help in Geometry thus causing NFG to never come into existence.
During my Junior year (spring '98), they came out with their first album which consisted of 5 songs ("It's All About the Girls"). I don't think it can found in record stores. They passed around free copies to any student at the high school who wanted it. I still have my copy.
The production of the CD was poor; nobody would have thought in a million years that NFG would become a popular. Admittedly, I didn't really like the album. I'm not sure if it was because the album wasn't good or my musical tastes. I'd go with the later of the two since that album made them one of the most popular bands in South Florida. I remember when Steve asked me if I liked their album and I lied and told him "yes".
After he graduated, they began touring to small bars around the country. During my freshman year in college, I realized that had really become big. My friend was attending school at the University of Pennsylvania. He called me at 2am one night to tell me that NFG had played at concert hall by him and that the place was packed with screaming girls. Within 2 years, they were everywhere. Their video for "My Friends Over You" was on constant rotation on MTV2. They were one of the headliners for the 2002 Warped Tour. My friend and I went to the tour when it stopped in Orlando. We tried to push our way to the front of the stage so we could say hello to Steve but the crowds of screaming girls blocked us.
Now, I see commercials for them everywhere and I always hear people talking about them. It's so weird to me that the little garage band Steve would always tell me about is now selling thousands of album copies.
Sorry that my post was so long. I guess I'm just in awe of how their persistence really paid off. I'm so glad that they've become so successful. They're a really great group of guys and I'm so happy that I got a chance to know them.
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