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ramalbumclub · 2 months

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20 Years of Almost Killed Me

Let me quickly run through the biography.

Craig Finn, future leader of The Hold Steady, was THAT kid in school - neither the first to be picked for the sports team, nor the last. A bespectacled adolescent navigating the school corridors, aware that there’s an “in-crowd” and he’s on the outs.

He's the kid in-between - like most of us. Like me.

So what's the plan? How does he get from there to here?

Does he settle or does he aspire?

He does neither, he retreats into a world of books and music and becomes an expert in HIS field. He learns how to play guitar, becomes a fan of local Minneapolis bands like The Replacements and Husker Du, and, even though he's still a kid, he goes to see them at the "all ages hardcore matinee shows" in town.

Just a quick aside here but "hardcore matinee shows" sound like the most fun in the world - something to really build a day around. I'd basically vote for any political party that introduced them into the U.K.

But back to the story....

In his early '20s, Finn forms a band called Lifter Puller who are simultaneously pretty good but also not quite right. What works, spectacularly, is Finn's lyrics about drugs and the shady characters that surround them but "the not quite right" bit is the music - a sort of '80s inspired synth overdose that, at its worst, sounds like the soundtrack to a Brian De Palma movie and, at its best, sounds like the soundtrack to a Brian De Palma movie.

After a few albums, a modicum of success, Lifter Puller split up and Finn becomes a financial broker for American Express before moving to New York to get a job at a digital webcasting company. At this stage in Finn's life it would appear that his brief flirtation with a career in music had ended and he was now on a course for a series of jobs in tech and finance. In fact, he doesn't do anything related to music for two whole years. He's just the guy at work, the one who used to be in a band called Lifter Puller.

And then it happens.

Craig Finn is watching Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz, the film of The Band's final concert, and he turns to his friend Tad Kubler, and says "Dude, why aren't there any bands like this anymore?"

Finn's observation is correct - there are no bands like that and I'm not sure there ever will be. But that's obvious, that's the bit we can all see. Even I've watched The Last Waltz and said to my mate Dan (I don't have a mate called Tad, I wish I did) - "Dude, why aren't there any bands like this anymore?"

No, what I love about this moment is what they did next. Finn and Kubler, there and then, decide to form a band like that. They took the completely mad decision in 2003, when everyone was still floored by that Neutral Milk Hotel album and everything it spawned, of creating a band with just guitar, bass, and drums.

They called themselves The Hold Steady and there wasn't a singing saw, a zanzithophone, or a wandering genie organ in sight.

What started out as an excuse for a bunch of guys in their '30s to hang out, drink, and play the occasional show, then becomes something of a going concern. Finn's lyrics, framed by Kubler's big riffs, created an unlikely breath of fresh air, a sense of celebration. Before long they're signed to Frenchkiss, the best name for a record label ever, and they release their first album - Almost Killed Me.

The album, in fact their career, opens with A Positive Jam, a song which tells the history of 20th Century America in 171 words. In the background, a lazy guitar struggles to wake up as the events are passed like road signs. It's their first song, on their first album, and after 90 seconds there's been a stock market crash, a World War, and 3 Kennedys are dead. The lyrical economy is remarkable, the way he deals with each decade precisely and definitively in one sentence.

This is how he nails the '50s -

"We got shiftless in the '50s, holding hands and going steady, twisting into dark parts of the large Midwestern cities"

No need for the white picket fence trope, no need for Ike or Truman to co-star. Post war America perfectly reduced to "Holding hands and going steady". And then The Twist tells you the ‘60s are coming. I got it straight away.

And this is how he nails the '70s -

"We woke up on bloody carpets, got tangled up in gas lines and I guess that's where it started"

He rhymed "carpets" with "started" and reduced the long term economic and political effects of the 1973 Oil Crisis to a line. What's not to like? I can still vividly remember my first listen now - the time, the place, and an album cover of blacked out faces. It was immediate. I was in.

And I didn't even know then what I know now, that he was providing context - that he was explicitly saying "We have shared history." Because at the end of the song, he brings us up to date, the guitar does wake up and the band kicks in. It's then that he tells us that he was bored so he started a band, it's then that he tells us that he wants to start it off with a positive jam.

The first time I heard Almost Killed Me I rewound the opening song again and again. I guess the "positive jam" that the song was trailing was The Swish, the second song on the album. But I couldn't get to it, I couldn't get past how good the opener was. I listened to it five times on the spin – by the time I was finished 15 Kennedys had died.

But then I did I get past it. I got to The Swish and my head fell off. Honestly, I stood there laughing, air riffing and dancing, in thrall to my new favourite band after just two songs. The bridge from A Positive Jam to The Swish is one of THE moments in music for me. It simultaneously comes out of nowhere yet evokes a memory. I made it through the rest of the album, breathless and giddy.

I'd never heard anything like it, despite having heard things like it.

Does that make sense? That bit really needs to make sense.

You know when The Sopranos came out and you thought "Jesus, not another story about Italian American Gangsters. Surely not THAT again." But then you watched it and saw that the characters were immersed in that culture as much as the viewer. They existed within their own context and couldn't move without referencing it.

And that was the difference. It was derivative but it was spun, from an angle so it wasn't head on.

That's The Hold Steady. That's Almost Killed Me.

It would be easy to say it's my favourite album of the 21st Century if only it didn't have to compete with what they did next - Separation Sunday, Boys and Girls in America and, finally, the hangover, Stay Positive. Finn had done it, with his friends they'd made one of the greatest runs of albums ever - an aggregate score of at least 36 out of 40.

At least.

Yes, there were comparisons to things you'd heard before, a familiarity, but for me it was almost entirely different. People screamed Springsteen, people screamed The E Street Band but I never really knew why. These weren't stories about open roads, about making love to the interstate. These were stories about the claustrophobia of community, about the kids in between - confined by drugs and religion. And you know what? Springsteen never swished through the city centre to do a couple of favours for some guys who looked like Tusken Raiders did he? No he didn't, he was probably driving somewhere.

The Hold Steady wore their influences on their sleeve but they spun them. They humoured them. They said "Tramps like us and we like Tramps" and told stories about people who looked like people - people who looked like Rocco Siffredi, Elisabeth Shue, Izzy Stradlin, Alice Cooper, Mickey Mantle, and, of course, Tusken Raiders. They were doing that thing again - they were saying "We know you know. Because we have shared history"

But this analysis, my attempt at explanation, is nothing compared to the visceral triumph and joy of a Hold Steady show - the pleasure of watching this band that had been plucked from their own lives and were creating anew. I used to spend hours looking at the bass player, I'd never seen anyone work so hard whilst standing still - a man who started the night dry and ended it dripping in sweat and smiles.

And then there was Finn - the inbetweener, the most generous of front men. He was always so warm and inclusive to his audience, so glad that they're there with him. Yet he never forgets the band. Never. And for someone so wordy it's remarkable the gaps he leaves for them - the gaps for them to play and for him to admire. Often he’d be clapping, dancing, and having so much fun in admiration, that I’d worry he’d forget to join in again – that he’d forget that the moment after the gaps were his.

But he never did.

Fast forward to 2014 - to the Holiday Inn, in Brighton, a few hours after a Hold Steady show.

I'd probably had my back to him for about 10 minutes, having a night cap at the hotel bar and thinking about what had come before. But then I turned around and there he was - Craig Finn, sitting alone, a hero rather than a star. I decided to say hello and he gestured for me to sit down. We talked about The Last Waltz. I asked him if it was true, whether that's really how it started, and he said it was. We talked about the rest of the film, all those conversations, you know where they go - Joni Mitchell and all her chords; Van Morrison and that ridiculous high kick. And somewhere in the drink and The Last Waltz I lost the memory of the night, other than to say he was good company and he paid his way.

And if I met him now?

If I met him now, I'd probably get lost down another rabbit hole - about how we're the same age and how I wasn't picked first for the sports team either. I'd ask him how he feels now, at 44, about the start he gave himself at 33 - whether that still surprises him, whether it ever did. Whether he knows, REALLY knows, that for about four years The Hold Steady were the best band in the world. But more than that I'd tell him about how HE influenced, how HE inspired, about how Ruth and I always used to say this album club was about spinning familiar stories, about telling them from an angle rather than head on - just like The Hold Steady.

Because that's what we used to say. When we wanted to avoid nostalgia and reheating the past , we used to say it should be "JUST LIKE THE HOLD STEADY".

And before I lost another evening, and its fluid memory, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank him for that.

Martin Fitzgerald (2014)

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riseofthecommonwoodpile · 1 year

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These English majors want to be some super genius novelists. They end up music journalists.

#ok i'll stop now

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incorrectapus · 1 year

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Tagged by @fearofpop ✨

"Put your playlist on shuffle and post the first ten songs, then tag ten people. No skipping!"

But i am also just doing my whole library (all my playlists are pretty same-y tbh)

1) massive nights - the hold steady

2) the last place i saw you alive - mountain goats

3) incandescent ruins - mountain goats

4) lake street is for lovers - lifter puller

5) carry on (live) - fun.

6) sell, sell, sell - barenaked ladies

7) slow descent into alcoholism - new pornographers

8) great american sharpshooter - less than jake

9) i wanna be the one - fun.

10) stop making this hurt - bleachers

#this made kind of a banger playlist tbh

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bonzatrading · 2 months

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don-dick1 · 9 months

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benjaminftw · 1 year

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youtube

Craig Finn has gone onto very justified critical praise and dedicated fandom for his work with The Hold Steady and solo, but I think a lot of people still sleep on how great Lifter Puller was. Finn was fully formed as a lyricist, spinning druggy tales of party people and the worlds they build and burn down around them full of pop and counter cultural references that only serve to more fully immerse yourself into the world of the Nice, Nice. I think this song is perhaps the greatest (non-country) break up song I have ever heard, and I literally struggle to go more than a week without listening to it. Especially great a few beers in, thought what isn't.

#craig finn #the hold steady #twin cities #Youtube

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eis123456 · 1 year

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simpledatainfo · 2 years

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fmsplrs · 2 years

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Chaos Mode

A hypothetical workout mix for myself, a guy who does not work out.

PART 1:

Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Fatboy Slim - Right Here Right Now

The Clash - This Is Radio Clash

Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

Korn - Got The Life

The Crystal Method - Busy Child

Soulwax - Teachers

Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye

Sophie - Vyzee

The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers

Carly Rae Jepsen - This Kiss

Phil Collins - Easy Lover

Incubus - Vitamin

The Cars - Just What I Needed

Nine Inch Nails - The Perfect Drug

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Mistakes & Regrets

Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights

Stereolab - French Disko

Static-X - Push It

Bloc Party - Banquet

Blondie - Hanging On The Telephone

Method Man - Judgement Day

White Zombie - Thunder Kiss 65

M83 - Midnight City

Annie Lennox - Walking On Broken Glass

The Dandy Warhols - Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth

Tom Petty - American Girl

Nsync - Pop

Orbital - Chime

LMFAO - I'm In Miami Bitch

Animal Collective - My Girls

Alien Ant Farm - Movies

Pretty Girls Make Graves - Speakers Push The Air

Touche Amore - Sesame

The Faint - Worked Up So Sexual

Elastica - Stutter

The Walkmen - The Rat

KMFDM - A Drug Against War

Two Shell - Home

Broken Social Scene - Do The 95

Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy

Sonic Youth - Purr

Brooklyn Bounce - Get Ready To Bounce

Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Date With The Night

Skrillex - Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites

Gigi D'Agonstino - L'Amour Toujours

Radiohead - Idioteque

Blink 182 - Feeling This

Hawthorne Heights - Ohio Is For Lovers

Elton John - I'm Still Standing

General Public - Tenderness

TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me

PART 2:

Foo Fighters - Everlong

Joe Jackson - Steppin Out

Mclusky - To Hell With Good Intentions

Rod Stewart - Young Turks

Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built

Slipknot - Wait And Bleed

Bartees Strange - Boomer

The Libertines - Up The Bracket

Less Than Jake - All My Best Friends Are Metalheads

Hoobastank - Crawling In The Dark

Squarepusher - Come On My Selector

Playahitty - 1 2 3 Train With Me

Cap'n Jazz - Little League

Them - Baby Please Don't Go

Sublime - Same In The End

Jimmy Eat World - Sweetness

Linkin Park - Faint

Hole - Celebrity Skin

Stars - Ageless Beauty

The Hives - Main Offender

Glenn Frey - The Heat Is On

Algernon Cadwallader - Some Kind Of Cadwallader

Nirvana - Very Ape

Wire - Mannequin

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - The Night

Q And Not U - So Many Animal Calls

Ministry - Stigmata

Billy Talent - Try Honesty

Girls - Lust For Life

Andrew WK - She Is Beautiful

The Strokes - Hard To Explain

Abe Vigoda - Crush

Aphex Twin - 4

Rancid - Time Bomb

Coheed & Cambria - A Favor House Atlantic

Taking Back Sunday - MakeDamnSure

Underworld - Moaner

Rustie - After Light

Quad City DJs - Come N Ride It (The Train)

AG Cook - Beautiful

Liars - Mr Your On Fire Mr

Interpol - PDA

Britney Spears - Toxic

Phoenix - 1901

The Breeders - Divine Hammer

Lifter Puller - Secret Santa Cruz

The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

The Killers - When You Were Young

Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye

Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone

System Of A Down - Sugar

Justin Bieber - Baby

Paul McCartney - Temporary Secretary

Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers

Fall Out Boy - A Little Less Sixteen Candles A Little More Touch Me

The Beatles - And Your Bird Can Sing

The Chemical Brothers - Elektrobank

Pixies - Debaser

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