The Hold Steady

[RobMoney$]

The lead singer's voice takes some getting used to, but the lyrics are absolute genius!
I've been asking everyone I know if they've heard of them and have been unsucessful so far.


Your Little Hoodrat Friend (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qaX6EBmDJc&feature=related)

[yeahwho]

I am a big fan of the band, they've played the NW a few times and "Stay Positive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK8xUNMF9Zo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Felbo.ws%2Fvideo%2FhK8xUNMF9Zo%2F&feature=player_embedded)" was one of my favorite songs, if not my favorite of 2008.

Great live show.

[RobMoney$]

Every song's like a literary masterpiece.

[DipDipDive]

I fucking hate them. Holy shit. Fuck. :mad:

[yeahwho]

The awkwardness of the bands appearance and "tone deaf" vocals usually kill any further investigation into the writing and energy this band is ultimately conveying, especially the live shows.

There is really no middle ground and I doubt they survive because the "shout out anthem" style they excel at needs kids, and no kids dig 'em.

The writing is stellar though.

[Rock]

I fucking hate them. Holy shit. Fuck. :mad:
I wouldn't say hate. I just don't understand people's fascination with them. I've tried and tried listening to them but just can't get into it.

I think I realized they were just another hyped up band was when my ex told me they were awesome.

I don't see how they sold out two nights at a local venue here.

[jabumbo]

i tried to get into them a couple years ago. i had come across a track that was fairly decent. i attempted to watch their show live at a festival and it just wasn't doing it for me.

i haven't considered them since.

[Dorothy Wood]

I think they suck. I was willing to give them a shot because a couple of my friends love the crap out the band. and the older stuff isn't unbearable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-0fb-DhYh0

but then they came out with a new album and this was the first single:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjDI1oouS8w

and I wanted to run screaming for the hills every time it came on the radio. it just sounds so fucking awful.

they turned into intensely shitty bruce springsteen wannabes.

I really have no problem with the lyrics, they're clever enough I guess. but I'd rather stab myself in the face than listen to their new stuff.

[EN[i]GMA]

Yeah.

You guys don't know shit, The Hold Steady are awesome.

[Dorothy Wood]

GMA;1680188']Yeah.

You guys don't know shit, The Hold Steady are awesome.

why? do you have an explanation?

[paul jones]

I haven't heard them.they're not on my radar

same as fleet foxes.

I get put off by media hype a lot.

[jabumbo]

I think they suck. I was willing to give them a shot because a couple of my friends love the crap out the band. and the older stuff isn't unbearable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-0fb-DhYh0

but then they came out with a new album and this was the first single:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjDI1oouS8w

and I wanted to run screaming for the hills every time it came on the radio. it just sounds so fucking awful.

they turned into intensely shitty bruce springsteen wannabes.

I really have no problem with the lyrics, they're clever enough I guess. but I'd rather stab myself in the face than listen to their new stuff.


those are the songs that did me (in) as well. coincidence?

[RobMoney$]

but then they came out with a new album and this was the first single:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjDI1oouS8w

and I wanted to run screaming for the hills every time it came on the radio. it just sounds so fucking awful.

they turned into intensely shitty bruce springsteen wannabes.

I really have no problem with the lyrics, they're clever enough I guess. but I'd rather stab myself in the face than listen to their new stuff.


Yeah, that song is cool.

Constructive Summer

Me and my friends are like
the drums on "Lust for Life”
We pound it out on floor toms
Our psalms are sing-along songs

And this whole town is like this
Been that way our whole lives
Just work at the mill until you die
Work at the mill, and then you die

We’re gonna build something, this summer
We’re gonna build something, this summer
We’ll put it back together- raise up a giant ladder
With love, and trust, and friends, and hammers (This summer!)
We’re gonna lean this ladder up against the water tower
Climb up to the top, and drink and talk (This summer!)

Me and my friends are like “Double-whiskey-coke-no-ice.”
We drink along in double time; might drink too much, but we feel fine
We’re gonna build something, this summer.
Gonna build something, this summer.

This summer, grant us all the power to drink on top of water towers,
With love, and trust, and shows, all summer (Get hammered!)
Let this be my annual reminder that we can all be something bigger

I went to your schools, I did my detention
But the walls are so gray, I couldn’t pay attention
I heard your gospel- it moved me to tears,
But I couldn’t find the hate, and I couldn’t find the fear
I met your Savior, I knelt at his feet,
And he took my ten bucks, and he went down the street
I tried to believe all the things that you said,
But my friends that aren’t dying are already dead.

Raise a toast to St. Joe Strummer
I think he might’ve been our only decent teacher
Getting older makes it harder to remember…we are our only saviors
We’re gonna build something, this summer


Any song that talks about Iggy and the Stooges, Joe Strummer being a saint,
and summer drinking on top of water towers has no choice but to be pure awesomeness.


As for them being Springsteen wannabe's,
I like to think of them as Elvis Costello on mescaline.

[DipDipDive]

Their lyrics may very well be incredible but I can't get past the lead singer's voice. He sounds partially retarded. I compare it to Keanu Reeves being cast to play Hamlet - brilliant story that no one can pay attention to because of the tool making a complete mockery of the beauty of the writing.

[Laserface]

^ agreed.

i appreciate good lyrics as much as the next man, but the sound of the song is most important - if it's got good lyrics but sounds like shit, why bother?

that's probably why i think bob dylan is overrated (not that i don't like him, but i never thought many of his acclaimed songs were that sonically innovative and great).

[RobMoney$]

I think you can say the same thing about the Counting Crows.

Some people just can't take Adam Duritz's whiny style, while others find charm in it.

[yeahwho]

^ agreed.

i appreciate good lyrics as much as the next man, but the sound of the song is most important - if it's got good lyrics but sounds like shit, why bother?

that's probably why i think bob dylan is overrated (not that i don't like him, but i never thought many of his acclaimed songs were that sonically innovative and great).

Don't even tell me Bob Dylan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxYnlUX-Ovc&feature=PlayList&p=C1D265423D9DC5FB&index=4) is being criticized here.

[Caribou]

*yawn*

[yeahwho]

She was a really cool kisser and she wasn’t all that strict of a Christian.
She was a damn good dancer but she wasn’t all that great of a girlfriend.
(The Hold Steady: stuck between stations)

Just the fact this band has any recognition of any sort gives me hope

[Drederick Tatum]

Massive Nights has got a good drunken chorus. I'm backing that track.

[funk63]

Holy shit yeah, I really like them. I started listening to them after that song on the Aqua teen movie. Unique sound.

[Documad]

I think you can say the same thing about the Counting Crows.

Some people just can't take Adam Duritz's whiny style, while others find charm in it.

That comparison works for me. I was never able to listen to Counting Crows, but I had friends who thought that guy was a genius.

The Hold Steady has had a massive local following for a long time. Some people at work (who don't share my taste in music at all) made fun of me several years ago for not being a fan. Jaws dropped open: "You're not a fan of the band!!! But you like all kinds of bands!!!!" It pissed me off and to be honest, I'll never give them a chance because their local fans are assholes as far as I'm concerned. :p

[yeahwho]

That comparison works for me. I was never able to listen to Counting Crows, but I had friends who thought that guy was a genius.

The Hold Steady has had a massive local following for a long time. Some people at work (who don't share my taste in music at all) made fun of me several years ago for not being a fan. Jaws dropped open: "You're not a fan of the band!!! But you like all kinds of bands!!!!" It pissed me off and to be honest, I'll never give them a chance because their local fans are assholes as far as I'm concerned. :p

Sounds like your going to "Hold Steady" to your resolve.

[Drederick Tatum]

Counting Crows are the worst band in the world.

[Caribou]

She was a really cool kisser and she wasn’t all that strict of a Christian.
She was a damn good dancer but she wasn’t all that great of a girlfriend.
(The Hold Steady: stuck between stations)

Just the fact this band has any recognition of any sort gives me hope

*yawn*

Listening to music just for the lyrics is like reading poetry because you want to dance.

[yeahwho]

Listening to music just for the lyrics is like reading poetry because you want to dance.

Which is true to some extent, but writing, good writing is what draws me to music. The Hold Steady are admittedly "tone deaf" as far as vocals go, but the theme, music and vision is there.

The Byrds pushed Dylan music into the pop genre in the 60's

Manfred Mann pushed Dylans and Springsteens music onto the AM dial in the 70's

I'm sure Bernie Taupin is tone deaf, but Elton John knocked his vision out of the ballpark for millions...

I'm not trying to compare the Hold Steady to the above musicians I think they're much weaker, but I can see, hear and feel the vision and exuberance they want to convey and it's actually carried them far enough to get a thread here. Which is awesome enough for me. A year ago I never thought I'd ever hear about them anywhere.

Maybe Prince will do them a big like he did the Foo Fighters when he covered a bit of Best of You (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DKXGpMGY_o)during the Superbowl. It's all good, but it's even better if the writing is spot on.

[RobMoney$]

Also, I hear their live shows are like a religious experience,...spilling beer, singing with Finn, and relearning the lessons of youthful partying.

[DipDipDive]

...I'll never give them a chance because their local fans are assholes as far as I'm concerned. :p

Fuckin' a, you've never been more correct. This could be part of the reason for my disdain, as well.

[RobMoney$]

Crucifixtion Cruise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl8LTYTTcMM)
(pay no attention to the low-budget home-made video)

halleluiah came-to in a confession booth.
infested with infections.
smiling on an abcessed tooth.
running hard on residue.
crashing thru the vestibule.
the crucifixion cruise.
she climbed the cross and found she liked the view.
sat reflecting on the resurrection.
talking loud over lousy connections.
she put her mouth around a difficult question.
she said lord what do you recommend?
to a real sweet girl
who's made some not sweet friends.
lord what would you prescribe?
to a real soft girl
who's having real hard times.

[Dorothy Wood]

whatever, dude's too old to be singing about teenagers and getting hammered. It's cheap and easy to write songs about that shit. Small town working class earnestness has been done to death, I don't care how cleverly they can string together a phrase...it sounds like total crap.

I'd rather listen to Bruce Springsteen or the Ramones or Nirvana or Pavement.

[yeahwho]

I'd rather listen to Bruce Springsteen or the Ramones or Nirvana or Pavement.

All better live shows, I can attest to that. Springsteen is 59 now and I've seen him live 3 times in this past year, he's a bit long in the tooth but every show eventually breaks out into a party.

Lyrically the Ramones are hard to beat.

Nirvana made arenas into garages.

The Hold Steady didn't compare live, well worth checking out but not worth actually taking a few days off work, hitting the road and completely becoming involved.

Plus if your from their neck of the woods maybe their fans are idiots. When grunge hit Seattle there was excess of needy people at the shows. Luckily for Seattle a bunch of us are fucked up axe tossers in flannel who know how to loosen up the shoe gazers.

[kaiser soze]

oh wow, I have never heard of this band and now I know why

Anyways, I don't mind an "awkward" sounding lead singer (I'm a fan of Soul Coughing, Midnight Oil, Frank Black, Sonic Youth) but it sounds to me that this guy speaks his lyrics more than sings them. The writing is good the delivery doesn't make it any better in my eyes.

[yeahwho]

Anyways, I don't mind an "awkward" sounding lead singer (I'm a fan of Soul Coughing, Midnight Oil, Frank Black, Sonic Youth) but it sounds to me that this guy speaks his lyrics more than sings them. The writing is good the delivery doesn't make it any better in my eyes.

Which is the crux of this bands problem, all songs are shout out anthems.

It's like Randy Newman does AC/DC

[Michelle*s_Farm]

The lead singer's voice takes some getting used to, but the lyrics are absolute genius!
I've been asking everyone I know if they've heard of them and have been unsucessful so far.


Your Little Hoodrat Friend (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qaX6EBmDJc&feature=related)

Yes great band. I found the same thing (re: his voice).

[hpdrifter]

Finally got around to checking these guys out and I'm into it. The guy's voice doesn't bother me. It isn't any more dissonant or tone deaf than the guy from Social Distortion.

First Night (y)

[yeahwho]

Franz Nicolay (http://pitchfork.com/news/37645-franz-nicolay-leaves-the-hold-steady/) Leaves the Hold Steady

Makes it tough to Stay Positive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY3V4ObYRsA&feature=PlayList&p=52E6B8D07C31988E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=32) for this line up.