Hedley – Hedley

Let me start off my saying the following: I hate Hedley. I can’t stand them, I find them utterly annoying and I cringe at the thought of them. Most of theses feelings of hatred are misplaced though, because really, I don’t hate Hedley; I, in fact, hate Jacob Hoggard. He annoys the living hell out of me. His entire persona makes me crawl in my skin. The way he acts, the way he talks, the overall way he conducts himself is in an arrogantly obnoxious fashion and when it comes down to it, if it wasn’t for Canadian Idol he’s still be a nobody (another reason why that show is the fucking devil). I’ve sat through their live show twice, without leaving early even when I had the chance. I sat tight, toughed it out, and my feelings of dislike just got re-enforced (I mean, when you’re playing to a stadium full of tweens, do you really need all the sex jokes, humping motions and the never forgettable line “you guys can say you broke my stadium hymen“? No, no you don’t). So I can’t stand this band at all, thanks to Hoggard (which is a pity, because I had a conversation with drummer Chris Crippin once, and he was a normal, nice guy), and that’s why it pains me so much to say that their self-titled CD, no matter how hard I try to deny it, isn’t half-bad.

There really isn’t any hidden hooks or special power within the self-titled debut, it’s your classic radio-friendly rock. The music is good, well polished, well produced, nicely mixed – and they can pull it off live too. There’s some nice break-downs, and some melodies that get you tapping your foot, all with an oddly catchy harmony too. They aren’t afraid to strip it down to the basics either with the acoustic ballad Gunnin’and are able to follow it up with a heavier one easily too. The lyrics aren’t any worse than the dribble I listen to on an normal basis. Songs of love, relationships and broken hearts fill up most of this album, but they do switch it up a little bit with a few songs of struggling past troubles and battling on. I can’t help but snigger when he talks about his stint on Canadian Idol and how his 15 minutes of fame are done and he’s gonna make it on his own now.

So musically and lyrically, it’s not bad. Still, I can’t escape the nasally vocals of Hoggard that adorn every track on the album.They quickly scratch at your mind, slowly beating at your nervous system until you’re forced to skip over it. I instantly picture his odd stage presence and just can’t get over how incredibly annoying he is, and that feeling really hurts the album’s flow.

When it comes down to it, the album isn’t bad. It’s generic, it’s forgettable, but it’s marginally entertaining too. But for me, Hoggard ruins this album.