Hold Steady frontman (and longtime MAGNET fave) Craig Finn has a great new solo album out, Faith In The Future (Partisan). Do yourself a favor: Buy it immediately. Knowing what an insightful music nerd that Finn has been his whole life, we thought, “Who better to get feedback from on these 10 songs?” There are some classics and some soon-to-be-classics. Read all about them.
Cheap Trick, “Tonight It’s You” from Standing On The Edge
People think of mid-’80s Cheap Trick as being past their glory period, but they continued to release amazing rock songs, and this is one of them. Just like “Surrender,” the end chorus here goes on forever and somehow keeps getting better. The thing is, you need a really great singer like Robin Zander to pull these songs o ff. I know because I’ve tried to take part in Cheap Trick covers. It’s a dangerous business for a limited singer. I especially love One On One, the record before this one. Despite the fact that they have a ton of big hits, I still think Cheap Trick is an underrated band. They are certainly one of the only bands that every person in the Hold Steady actively loves.
Drive-By Truckers, “This Fucking Job” from The Big To-Do
Patterson Hood is a master of telling stories of the people on the fringes and how economics and politics actually a ffect them. Nearly every day, the front page of the New York Times has stories about minimum wage and a disappearing middle class, but Patterson brings it life here in a haunting song disguised as a sing-along rocker. I think the big takeaway here is the character wanting to accept doing what his dad did before him, only to find that it’s not available anymore. I admired Patterson’s songs greatly long before he became a good friend.
Father John Misty, “I Love You, Honeybear” from I Love You, Honeybear
I love both FJM records a ton. I think it’s fascinating how he blurs the place between his real person and this character. It’s amazing how often his songs are both tender and honest while still being funny on some level. And sexy. The line that kills me most here is the nod to genetics and mental health, right in the middle of an (admittedly twisted) love song: “I’ve brought my mother’s depression/ You’ve got your father’s scorn and a wayward aunt’s schizophrenia.”
Heartless Bastards, “Black Cloud” from Restless Ones
Erika Wennerstrom’s voice is, to me, one of the most awesome and unique instruments out there. I just got o tour with them and had the pleasure of hearing the Heartless Bastards play this song every night. I’ve known them for a while now, and they just keep getting better and better. This song is a great example of what they do best: a soulful hook that just stays with me for days. I love the fuzzy bass on this, and it works within more of a classic pop structure than some of their bluesier songs. But in the end, it’s Erika’s voice that takes it over the top, especially in the chorus, which has such a fantastic melody.
Hüsker Dü, “Green Eyes” from Flip Your Wig
I have this song on my mix for the gym, so I hear it a few times a week. Hüsker Dü really had two incredible songwriters in one band, and this is one of Grant Hart’s classic pop songs, which seemed to really hit their peak around Flip Your Wig. I think if you took the distortion off of this, it would sound right at home on ’60s AM radio alongside the Association or something like that. It sort of has a spooky California vibe, too, like a lot of great songs from that era. I never get tired of this band.
The Replacements, “Unsatisfied” from Let It Be
I got into the Replacements after they put out their Hootenanny record, so this is the first record I remember waiting on release with bated breath. I was only in eighth grade, but I could tell this was a special record. Or maybe it was so special to me because I was in eighth grade and having a di fficult time. Both “Unsatisfied” and “Sixteen Blue” are like tender asides to a troubled kid, which I really needed then. But maybe the most amazing thing is that those songs co-exist on the second side of Let It Be with “Gary’s Got A Boner.” In that dichotomy lies the ragged genius of my favorite band.
Spoon, “The Agony Of La ffitte” from A Series Of Sneaks
Britt Daniel brings such an elegance to all of his songs; I’m always in awe of him. This is obviously a harsh song about their A&R guy, but it’s also beautifully rendered and works whether you know the story or not. In fact, in 2015, this era of the music business is so far gone, it’s hard to imagine it existing. Perhaps the lesson is that great songs live on, while expense accounts get shut down. The whole thing comes off as a monument to artistry and persistence.
Strand Of Oaks, “Goshen 97” from Heal
This band’s Heal was one of my very favorite records of the last year. It has all this kick-ass guitar playing alongside really great songs with honest—almost jarring—lyrics. This is one of the more rousing songs on the album, but still has some sadness in there. I like how Tim Showalter goes back to capture what music meant to him as a kid, and how it seemingly saved him, but then let him go. “Before I got fat, drunk and mean/Everything was still ahead” is a pretty incredible line. Somehow, in acknowledging his adult pitfalls, he takes back the hope he once had and makes it his own again.
Bruce Springsteen, “The River” from Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Live 1975-1985
This is one of the peak songs for me as a lifetime Springsteen fan. I love the story here before the song starts about how he deals with his draft notice, and how complex the whole thing is regarding the war and fi ghting with his father and confusion and fear. I can tear up listening to it still, and I’ve heard it a million times. And then he gets to the song, which is crushing in itself. I really love songs that are able to move the story forward quickly. Bruce does that in this song so well: “Then I got Mary pregnant /And man, it was all she wrote/And for my 19th birthday /I got a union card and a wedding coat.” In one stanza he bridges childhood to adulthood with all the detail the audience needs.
Velvet Underground, “We’re Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together” from 1969: The Velvet Underground Live
A few years back, I got really into the version of this on Lou Reed’s Street Hassle LP. I ended up chopping it up and turning it into walk-on music for the Hold Steady. I had to chop it up because I wanted to come onstage at the big drum fill, and it sort of comes later in the song. When I made my first solo record, Clear Heart Full Eyes, producer Mike McCarthy and I were listening to a lot of solo Lou Reed. There are a number of songs that were recorded by both VU and Lou as a solo artist. Listening to both versions helped me grasp the di fferences between songs, instrumentation, arrangement and production. Those run together in a lot of rock situations. This is just one of the many ways Lou Reed has helped me out over the years.
