The Hold Steady - Constructive Summer

[psychophilly]

On this anniversary of Joe Strummer's death today, "Raise a toast for St. Joe Strummer, he might have been our only decent teacher"

[uvebeentagged]

@psychophilly finally someone else who recognized him! everyone of my friends "who the hells joe strummer?"

[GJ3200]

I'm envisioning a video with blue collar guys who work at mills coming home to huge homes, exotic cars, etc. kisses his huge fat wife, sits down drinks his beer and watches tv all night. make it a statement about the classes, the masses and the asses.

[uvebeentagged]

@GJ3200 its a hold steady vid...it will bbe nothing relating to that lol

[Dyingworld666]

this was a bit low energy for them but it is my fav song of theirs

[Megadethrocks2018]

Anyone going to LOUFest?

[RiseToOffend]

low energy :l

[nillaice1]

Husker Du?



[ferret12]

I love them to bits, but fuck they look bored here.

[yaisum]

@ferret12 Probably the result of 6 straight hours in the studio and the 24th take of this song. They're properly amazing though huh?

[ferret12]

@yaisum As a musician that should have been my first or second thought :P I saw them in in Melbourne not long ago and they tore the roof off of the place. Beautiful :)

[helmet959]

HELLO THERE. i love the hold steady. but SERIOUSLY guys.... how can you not hear Cheap Trick in this song? Craig has always stated Cheap Trick was a major influence. the opening riff, snare intro, it's a direct rip. it's not an issue, i love both bands. but i'm AMAZED no one has noticed this.

[justsixstrings]

the pianist doesnt look like Mario anymore :'(

[HurricaneTBag]

893TheCurrent gets a lot of really good artists, I've gotta start checking them out more.

[mkpenny]

"Raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer"

Friday Night @ the Diamond...

[strat338]

Double whiskey coke no ice is that name of a 1998 song by minneapolis band dillinger four. Is this some kind of reference to the band? Well, i bet us Minnesotans just have the common love for hard liquor.

[RadicalBrian]

@strat338 yeah, it is a reference to that band. the hold steady's craig finn (singer/guitarist/songwriter) is from the twin cities and a lot of their songs reference that. They also reference D4 on Almost Killed Me in the track "Certain Songs".

[trollfinger]

@strat338

I just thought they loved their whiskey. I have my double/tripple whiskey to this now. If you buy a whiskey here in Ireland in a bar, it costs too much and it's only about 20 ml high in the glass. So a double is only the size of a normal free pour measure. It sickens me, so now we bring our bottle of Jameson to our local bar.

[gleeproductionsus]

nice! this song screams Dinosaur Jr. and Fugazi. never thought they would throw some vintage emo into this album.

[gleeproductionsus]

@gleeproductionsus correction... Jawbreaker, not Fugazi.

[5556665012008]

dont like this one... not very musical & quite tuneless :( ...oh well... plus he drinnks whiskey with COKE!?! blaghhhh lol :P

[drumczarcool]

Dinosaur Jr is Boston!!

[escalatorkid01]

Yeah Dinosaur Jr and Husker Du's influence both are evident. The lead singer is from Minneapolis so that makes sense.

[londoncallingpwns]

I see the Replacements/Springsteen influence more. Let it Be is Finn's favorite album, after all.

[mikeellert]

I love these guys

[radlicious666]

sounds like Dinosaur Jr.

[imenseness]

they once said that D Jr was one of their major influences. Hold Steady are new yorkers and i think D Jr are too...? not sure tho

[Sakh8472]

D Jr from Seattle

[bondpaulbond]

@Sakh8472 nope. amerherst, mass.

[inputmodule]

husker du meets bruce springsteen... fukkin awesome!!

[eszettfromhell]

Love that, never thought of it that way before!

[certificate18flix]

I heard this song on Wings For Wheels podcast. Great track.

[Creepybabies]

Reminds me a bit of IRS era R.E.M. which is weird because Hold Steady has reminded me of lots of things, but never early R.E.M..... I guess that's what you get from an ecclectic band.

[andrewforlife]

I agree, sounds a lot like R.E.M. mixed with the counting crow's newer stuff

[Coalkey23]

Craig sounds REALLY tired, man...

[dackattac]

That's been the consensus I've been hearing recently, the band's been doing a shitload of touring and they're starting to feel it. I've always liked how THS never makes us wait too long between albums, but if it would mean a better concert, I wouldn't mind them taking some time off to recharge their batteries.

[imenseness]

becuase of the cult following they are used to they didnt tour much but since the festival season in 2008 they have finally been noticed and they just havent stoped touring (unless they are in the studio).

[supersmoothpunk]

Its so good to see a band like this, that have experience to right some decent rock songs and lyrics without the hair straighteners and bullshit hype.

[scarbunk]

@thePeaceTrain1: The fill at 0:56 is a series of harmonics played on the low string at these frets: 9 5 7 5 9 5 7

[thePeacetrain1]

scar bunk! You're the hit bro! Thanks!

[thePeacetrain1]

0:56 the guitar player does this really cool litlle fill. does anybody know how to do that?

[rockislife999]

do you mean the natural harmonics bit that is also repeated at 1:10 and other points?

[thePeacetrain1]

best song ever, man!

wooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

[KChez17]

Man you people are clueless-this is a live radio performance NOT a recording session. Big difference.

[rhinorocks]

They are clueless! Internet know it alls, educated by wikipedia. Let them never crawl out of their gramma's basement!!!!!

89.3 rocks my world!!!!!!!!!!!

[sosoamerica]

AWFUL!

[nick666theman]

we are our only saviours, were gonna build something this summer.

[tallpaddy]

Raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer-

I think he might have been our only decent teacher...

[sosoamerica]

You are a jackass for even making a statement like that. These guys SUCK.

[AMil633]

its in ther fucking lyrics, dude ur a dumbshit the guy above u quoted them

[tms1337]

Great song, but it makes me FIEND summer.

[heythisisbert]

but this is some kind of recording session... its the sound of it that matters, not the energy... i think it sounds great, but visually is a different story

[mocarro]

Is it just me or does Craig not seem like he's into this? I mean I've seen this song live before and his vocals were a lot more energetic...

[markyv23]

if u try and tell me theres a better singer/songwriter than craig finn then u deserve to be hung!! x x

[heythisisbert]

there is a better singer/songwriter than craig finn... that doesnt mean the hold steady is bad... i love them, but if you think he's a demigod on the stage of robert plant or jim morrison, you clearly don't know anything about rock music at all... and mocarro, he doesnt ever really seem to be into anything... either the guy jumps around and looks like hes autistic, or he looks dead... there's no in between :-(

[PS3Dude223]

Go Da Hold Steady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[leaveitalone55]

it doesnt sound like punk but it is and damn am i happy i found it, true punk is a dying breed

[abluishrose]

you sound like funk

[baaman00]

This sounds so great live!

[whispers1111]

awesome song.

[IDrinkYoMilkshake]

Anybody know where I can find the piano chords of this song?

[AnimeBlowUpDolls]

It's A -> B for most of the song, with some C# and F# thrown in. Search for guitar tabs and you should come up with some hits that are just the chords.

[careerkuts]

" Raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer" Amen!

[WadeBlazingame34]

When's their next NYC show? (And/or, when will they hit anywhere from DC to Boston??)

[EatmorDiningHall]

the nintendo wii version of rock band 2 will hav this song in it exclusively

[djkikis]

they didn look they were enjoying that.

[rockislife999]

have you ever recorded in studio? Its a pretty boring business and its very hard not to tire of playing the same song again and again.

[sebastianr17]

it is simply not their atmosphere.

[tallpaddy]

Hold Steady play London 17th Dec 08 at the Roundhouse- I've only recently discovered them but I'm liking their sound- so I'm looking forward to seeing them live for my first time...

[martianshoes]

"My thoughts about dying are already dead." Anyone that hears this and remembers music from...oh, 1973 - 75; knows how significant this band is. They can play your boots full, rock like old Mott the Hoople and Craig Finn has got to have the balls of a burgler do what he does and his pacing and thematic sense are genius. If you don't hear it then you just don't get it, get yer Carrie Underwood CD and catch the plane home Friday.

[BrendanAlborough]

it's actually "my friends that aren't dying are already dead." but your description still stands true.

[martianshoes]

Mark it up to being audio challanged, lol. Thanks Brendan.

[BrendanAlborough]

let's be honest here.

i know because of the cd liner. :P

[IgWannA2]

sweet :D

[dyingstart]

St. Joe Strummer :D

[lukeashmoore]

hmmmm I think AMericans hold him up higher than English folks

[gtarluva]

Yeh I agree. I can understand why though. If I heard an Aussie band write cool songs like that with a very distinctive Aussie accent, I'd be an instant fan. It's mainly the voice/accent that makes the familiarity I reckon.

[lukeashmoore]

Yeah, thats part of it i think... They were a huge band too, Americans seem to ignore music unless its advertised in your face all the time... Plus London calling had lots of American influenced music, Rockabilly, American theems in the lyrics. Even though the title track was an anthem for England. ... Ill never properly understand hehe

[Vincelambargo]

The American music scene is notorious for ruining good music with cookie cutter imagery and song writing... look what they did to Rod Stewart for gods sake... the faces were better then the stones, and bam, you get strange Rod singin love ballads to fat house wives. Its not that we like it being this way, its just the way it is, easier to sell to the lowest common denominator i guess, that's capitalism baby.

[lukeashmoore]

Rod... STEWART?????????????????????? :-O

um... i dont want to start a war but... How on earth did you come to the conclusion that the faces were better than the stones? I hardly think that Rod was held hostage into having a bad career, it was his doing, his taste his stupididty. As much as i really dont rate the stones or listen to their music, even i can acknowledge their genius. :p

i mean ... come on! ROD FUCKING STEWART???????

[Vincelambargo]

dude the faces were better then the stones, they just didnt come out with as much music cause Stewart got on with his solo career. which sucked. but you know i doubt im gonna sway you, just do yourself a favor and listen to some faces either way

[lukeashmoore]

Well yes we should be respectful of each others opinions. thank you for being civil. BUT!: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction Get Off of My Cloud Paint It, Black Ruby Tuesday Jumpin' Jack Flash Street Fighting Man Brown Sugar You Can't Always Get What You Want "Sympathy for the Devil Gimme Shelter" Start Me Up and the entire 'Exile on Main St' album. The Faces released 4 albums and 10 singles. Come on, the stones invented the faces. even the 'small faces' beat 'the faces' :p

[foxcorepirate]

@Vincelambargo the faces probably were better than the stones. both are great though, and so are the hold steady :) x

[maciekomis]

wow, this is pretty awesome... :)

love those red labeled paistes ;)

[cbrown203]

I seriously fucking love this band but Craig sounds kinda bored when he's singing. Or maybe it's just me

[cfotoole]

No, what he sounds is drunk. Because he is. At all times.

[lepaul2002]

bruce hornsby meets husker du. raise a toast to joe

[charleswigglebum]

wow they look pissed

[ImaSmackYou]

Wow, sounds just like on the record.

[stealthyeros]

his voice is very distinctive. goes to show its authentic an not enhanced in any way.

great band!

[PandaStoleMyPuppies]

These guys are great

[musicisthegateway]

Craig sounds like Randy Newman with a guitar and a beer instead of a piano and scotch. And better.

[FWNiightmare]

nice ^^