Hey Monday- Hold On Tight

Hey, y'all! It's time for me to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: October 7, 2008

Genre: Alternative, Pop Punk

When I bought the CD: Sometime in the fall of 2008. When I saw that they were opening for The Academy Is... and We The Kings (two of my FAVORITE bands at that time), my interest was peaked and I wanted to see if they were any good. I listened to some music and fell in love.

Track Listing

1. Set Off
2. How You Love Me Now
3. Homecoming
4. Obvious
5. Candles
6. Run, Don't Walk
7. Josey
8. Hurricane Streets
9. Arizona
10. Should've Tried Harder
11. 6 Months

(Also, side note- I just listed off the track listing perfectly without looking at my iTunes. Clearly, I've listened to this CD a lot)

Hey Monday lineup on this CD:
Cassadee Pope- vocals, guitar
Mike Gentile- guitar
Alex Lipshaw- guitar
Jersey Moriarty- bass
Elliot James- Drums

L-R: Alex, Elliot, Cassadee, Mike, Jersey

About Hey Monday: 
Hey Monday formed in early 2008. Pete Wentz actually discovered one of their demos and that's how they really got their name out there. In fall of 2008, they were touring with well-known pop punk bands like The Academy Is..., We The Kings, and All Time Low. They only released one CD, followed by an EP called Beneath It All in 2010, and a Christmas EP in 2011. In their short history, they've had a few line-up changes. Elliot left the band in 2009, and Jersey left the following year. They've since been replaced with Chris Gentile on bass and Patrick McKenzie on drums. In 2011, Hey Monday announced that they were going on hiatus. Since then, Cassadee started a solo career. Now, she's best known for being the season 3 winner of The Voice, and is currently pursuing a solo career in country music. Although the band claims to not be broken up, unfortunately, I'm pretty sure we've seen the last of Hey Monday.

My Opinion about Hey Monday:
Although they only released one CD and a couple EPs, I count Hey Monday among my favorite bands. Hold On Tight is one of my favorite CDs, and I also really like their Beneath It All EP. I don't listen to them as much as I used to, but I do really enjoy their music. I really wish they would get back together and continue to make music, because I know I'd love it.

About the CD:  

As I said, it's their debut and only CD. Unlike a lot of these CDs, I don't really have much of a story about this CD. One tidbit of info that I do find interesting is that the lead single off the CD, Homecoming, was co-written by William Beckett, who at the time was the lead singer of The Academy Is... and is also one of my absolute favorite musicians.

IMHO: 
I really love this CD. All of the songs are really good, and I think it's a really strong debut!

As always, I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

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Set Off- 10/10. This is a really great CD opener. It's really fun and exciting, especially the chorus. I really like this one.

How You Love Me Now- 9/10. I really love Cassadee's vocals on the chorus. The music video is really funny too. 

Homecoming- 10/10. This was the song that started my love of Hey Monday, and I still absolutely love this song. Once again, Cassadee's vocals in the chorus are what especially shine. But I also love the guitar hook. 

Obvious- 9.5/10. I hate to talk about the same thing on all of these, but it's the standout- Cassadee on the chorus. Maybe it's just that Hey Monday is really good at awesome choruses. Who knows.

Candles- 9/10. We're talking about the original version here. Not the Glee version (ew) or the over-produced EP version. This original CD version is really pretty. 

Run, Don't Walk- 8.5/10. As usual with Hey Monday, the chorus is really great. Although this time, it's the combination of the music and Cassadee's voice that makes it good.

Josey- 10/10. I absolutely love the guitar in this one. This is also one of the only songs written by just band members, and it's one of their strongest. The music and vocals are just spot on. It's one that I like to blast.

Hurricane Streets- 7.5/10. This one has always been my least favorite on the CD. I'm not quite sure why I don't like it as much, but it's just not as exciting for me for some reason.

Arizona- 8/10. This one has always been a pretty average Hey Monday song for me. I don't like the guitar part quite as much as on some of the other songs, and although the chorus is again the best part of the song, I don't like it as much as I do on other songs.

Should've Tried Harder- 8.5/10. I like the juxtaposition of the guitar and vocal parts, especially in the verses. This may be the only song where I like the verses better than the chorus. 

6 Months- 10/10. I had a hard time figuring out what to give this one. This has always been one of my favorites and I really love it and think it's really sweet. But when I was dating my ex, I always associated this song with our relationship and since we broke up, I've never been able to love it as much as I used to. But it's a really great song and deserves all the stars. 

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Favorite Songs: Josey, Homecoming, Set Off, 6 Months, and Obvious.

Least Favorite Songs: Hurricane Streets, for sure.

Video! 

Homecoming music video

How You Love Me Now music video

Rating: 9.5/10. I struggled with what to give this, but I decided that it wasn't quite good enough to get the full 10/10. Part of my reasoning was that I didn't give Motion in the Ocean a full 10/10, I couldn't give this one 10/10.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Have any questions? What are your opinions on Hey Monda? Let me know in the comments. If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow, because it lets me know y'all are liking them! Hope you enjoyed! Comment, comment, comment! I love feedback! Thanks for reading!