The Hold Steady
O.K. can anyone on the scrabbled make one last ditch attempt to convince me to give this band another shot?
I’m of the same camp as John on them (or at least where John was as of their last album). They do nothing for me. But in theory I should probably love them. I like Springsteen…..I’m all in favor of awkward looking, portly older dudes with bad eyesight getting famous playing in rock bands…….and unlike John I’m a sucker for good lyrics, and my understanding is that Craig Finn is pretty good in this department.
But every time I’ve tried to listen to them I’m left with a shrugged shoulders, blank stare reaction.
Am I listening to the wrong songs? Do I need to be drunk when I listen? Am I just jealous that they’ve already filled this decade’s quota of awkward looking, portly older dudes with bad eyesight getting big in the world of indie rock?
What say you Scrabbled? Or do you all agree with John and I?
Comments
I’ve tried so many times with this band. A few songs aren’t terrible, but they just sound so goddam generic. If you put the dude from counting crows or some 90’s alternative band singer in front of them instead of their dude, they’d be totally indistinguishable.
Further proof that lyrics do NOT make the band. The music does. And the music is boring without Springsteen-like energy and hugeness leading it.
So I’m not the only one! I see this band on top lists all the time and I just don’t get it. I don’t hate what I hear, but I don’t like it either. It’s just mediocrity, really. I say don’t bother, Kevin.
See for me it’s not even that they’re generic because I think compared to a lot of indie rock blog darling bands just being a straight forward bar rock band is actually somewhat refreshing. I think what loses me is the total lack of hook or melody or big choruses or any of the stuff that makes someone like Springsteen so epic and stick with you. The dude’s talk/sing thing just isn’t compelling enough on it’s own to carry full albums worth of tunage, let alone to warrant all the praise.
i’ve said this a few music posts ago as you guys probably know, but the hold steady are what modern rock should be. i can’t think of a “rock and roll” band out right now that are making this type of music. i don’t, by any means, love it, but there’s something about it that gets me going.
listen to the songs “sequestered in memphis” or “constructive summer” both off the new record. i have it ftp’ed if you need it.
I’ll definitely check out the new one when I get home. I’m definitely coming at it from a place where I should like it because I am a sucker for straight forward rootsy Rock and Roll with capital R’s. So any band mining that territory rather is better for me than a bunch of too skinny guys in girl jeans playing glockenspiels over shaggy folk music or bands with tap dancers or cheerleaders on stage. I just need some hooks and if this new one is the same as the last, they just don’t bring it. But I’m glad it’s in there for me to check out.
their live show is just so fun too. i saw them at club koko in camdentown when i went to england last year and it realllly made me like them.
You’re about the 4,000th person I’ve heard say that so possibly that’s the key here. I’d be curious if anyone loves them on record without having seen them live.
I think the perfect example of why they’re boring comes at 2:39 on Stuck Between Stations. It’s right out of Born to Run. THere’s so much potential there. And then this dude comes and talks over it. Yaaawwwwn. Now imagine the same lyrics, same melodies, and have it sung in that gritty, quivering Springsteen yawlp and you’ve got something.
Perfect assesement.
I’m cracking up imagining what half the songs on Born to Run would sound like with this asshole talking over them.
“What else can we do now. Except. Roll down the window and let the wind blow back your yawwwwn hair.”
I’ve heard that Craig Finn was a powerful sorcerer that was sealed away 1,000 years ago by seven wise sages. They sealed his dark power into seven shiny baubles and then hid them in seven increasingly convoluted dungeons. Some guy braved the traps and nabbed ’em, freeing Craig Finn from his exile.
Finn used darkest alchemy to magically steal the voices of The Spin Doctors, Del Amitri, Deep Blue Something, and all the other middling acts of the mid-1990’s. He used all his unholy talents to wring out some music. Surprisingly few of those songs were about being bald.
But there’s still hope. I’ve heard if you make Craig Finn sing notes greater than an octave apart in a four minute span, it will unleash a magical vortex that will suck him back to his prison dimension.
Heh, it sounds like the main criticism you guys are levying is that they’re not Springsteen. And yeah, you’re right.
I’ve liked the hold steady because they’re unique in the rock landscape right now as christina pointed out. They do draw on springsteen a lot but they have their own identity as well. Finn’s got solid lyrics and a unique delivery.
I don’t think a band has to be instrumentally provocative to be good.
i have tried many times to listen to this band. NOT BACKED.
Steve: No, I’m criticizing them because in order to pull off what they’re trying to pull off you’d have to have the energy of someone like Springsteen. Instead it completely falls flat. If he wants to do his talky thing, write some folk music. If he wants to make soaring rock ballads, sing like he means it.
Justin: hAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
What are they trying to pull off exactly? I’ve never gotten the impression from interviews with them I’ve read or their music itself that they’re striving to be these iconic rock balladeers.
I can completely see why you guys don’t like them, they definitely have a sound that turns a lot of people off. But I think that because Finn doesn’t fall into either of those categories you mentioned Hutch, that they are unique.
Otherwise, I’d certainly have never heard them. They’d be just another band, which would be a shame because I think Finn’s got something to say that should be heard.
Again, not to make the same point as I did earlier in the thread but I don’t like them because their songs aren’t catchy. They have no hooks. I totally don’t think a band has to be epic or provocative at all. Perfect example is the Old 97’s. Totally nothing more than a catchy, roots rock bar band. But the songs are monumentally catchy.
bird in the hand is worth bird in a cage is worth bird on a telephone wire
come ahn this is fuckin awesome!
What’re you, my dad? Are you a secret baby boomer? What was exciting or remotely interesting about that?!
Seriously. I mean was it horrible or offensive? Not at all. But there was also nothing even close to resembling awesomeness about it beyond the novelty of “Hey those guys look like accountants and they’re on the tv playing rock and roll….hehehehe.”
they are fun and the song is catchy and the handclapping and the horns. oh, the horns. it’s FUN. it’s not groundbreaking. it’s not exceptional. but it’s good modern rock ‘n’ roll. and that’s that.
and hutch, i hear your dad is pretty cool.
If it weren’t for glasses dad and his boring delivery, I’d have thought this was a house band for some late night show. So dull.
I’ve always wondered who ate those bland sugar cookies. Those boring yellow discs with granulated sugar sullenly dumped across the top, blindingly safe and dull when set beside its more dynamic chocolate chipped brethren. The sort of thing they’d put on a plate as a palate cleanser when they didn’t want to threaten the turgid solemnity of a blood drive or church basement support group meeting. Now I know. Hold Steady fans eat them.
Don’t worry, Hold Steady! When you discover that your talent for looking square is no longer distracting people from an output that’s become increasingly lifeless, you can reinvigorate your fanbase with ironic facial hair!
HAHAHAHAHhhahahahhahahahahahah! It’s true. It’s all so true.
Oh man. Phenomenal post.
go listen to NAS
OooooOOOOooOOOoo.