we were 17 and stuck up in osseo
i've binged on local music posts lately, but couldn't resist a clever application of showmewhere googlemapping to a substantive problem of real importance. more cowbell offers this interactive map and guide to just some of the twin cities mentions in the hold steady’s lyrics.in concert, craig finn drops twins references like batgirl. in song, he provides a specific sense of place -- lowertown, france avenue, edina high, lyndale, 169, thunderbird, lowry east, penn ave -- while evoking a universal sense of adolescent wanderlust that could come from anywhere (e.g., what suburban kid couldn't have been involved up at the northtown mall?).
novelists do this all the time (faulkner, updike, et al.), but how many other songwriters take local references to such extremes? aside from bruce from asbury park, that is. one could accuse mr. finn of pandering to the locals, but, truth be told, the hold steady is (mostly) a new york band.
like all good minnesotans, mr. finn vows to return to twins territory upon completion of the outdoor ballpark in 2010, though i'm not holding my breath. in the meantime, the band just released boys and girls in america today. i can't offer a review yet, but can tell you that your little hoodrat friend provides a very nice soundtrack to the hold steady guide to the twin cities.
posted by christopher uggen @ 8:56 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
You're probably right--The Hold Steady does take local references a little too seriously.
Other songwriters aren't so persistent, which sometimes makes their "local" songs that much better. How about Tom Waits' own tributes to the Twin Cities (i.e, "Ninth & Hennepin," "A Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis")? Then there are Dylan's New York references, the intense attachment to place in most hip-hop (check out Murs' recent song about L.A.), and, of course, the man from Asbury Park.
Alas, Sufjan Stevens has taken the "local" to a whole new level, promising a record for each of the 50 states. I guess I won't know how I much I appreciate his "local-ness" until he writes the Kansas record. I am sure it is low on his list, but I do know this--we will take whatever shout-outs we can get.
-- Wes
I couldn't be more puzzled about the outpouring of rockcrit love for THS.
(Actually, I have an explanation: it says more about the sad state of new straight-ahead rock than it does the quality of THS. This reminds me of the rush to annoint Marah as The Next Great Thing. I jokingly accused Peter Jesperson of trying to fill the Replacements void in his life, like a smack junkie on methadone.)
But it's still puzzling. I can't get past the lead singer's bleating, as if The Fall's Mark E. Smith were from the midwest. Best negative description I've seen of The Hold Steady: "latter period Soul Asylum fronted by Charles Nelson Reilly." Ouch!
on balance i like the specificity of folks like tom waits and THS. why make a lyrical reference to, say, "the corner bar" when something like "black bear lounge" or "ray's stardust inn" would have worked much better?
newport, i dunno why the hold steady gets so much love from the critics, either. i think it has something to do with a perceived lack of pretension and a very good live show. your "midwestern mark e. smith" reference gave me a nice chuckle...
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