Tynan's Anger

SONGS OF THE DECADE #20

[For more info, read the Ground Rules of The Song of The Decade List]

The Hold Steady- Stuck Between Stations (2006)





Quoting Kerouac was the easiest stunt the Hold Steady pulled off on their remarkable third album. What took Boys and Girls of America to another level was the way both singer Craig Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler successfully used that quote to make "Stuck Between Stations" a thesis statement for the most literate concept album the  21st century has yet to produce. Boys and Girls is what happens when Zen Arcade-style ambition mixes with Paul Westerberg's honesty and Bruce Springsteen's musical vitality. In other words, it exists at the nexus of everything great about post-baby boomer rock 'n' roll. Vaguely alluding to the crushing effects of mixing good sex with good life and good music, "Stuck Between Stations" raised rock to the poetic level it has lacked at least since Nick Drake.

What separates the Hold Steady from even rock's greatest poetic acts is the way Finn and Kubler find the pathos in rock 'n' roll without sacrificing it for logorrhea. Finn's ingenious wordplay on "Stuck Between Stations" complements the music rather than detracts from it; as a man who would later toast Saint Joe Strummer, it's not surprising that Finn's poetic apex would be more "Death Or Glory" than "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." All of this is made even more remarkable by the fact that Finn is reading more than he's singing. The Hold Steady is the only band to emerge this decade that I could see playing halftime at the Super Bowl one day, and I love them all the more for it.

Labels: 2000s, lists, pop music, songs of the decade, stuck between stations, the hold steady