Radio Deliver Me From Nowhere

I’ve been listening to the radio for the first time in years. Specifically, I’ve been playing New York’s new rock station, 101.9 WRXP. It’s a reasonably interesting concept – a mixture of classic rock and indie rock/alternative. (Thankfully, the classic rock played so far hasn’t been that predictable.) Certainly, it’s the only station I’ve ever heard where the Hold Steady follows Billy Joel and Ra Ra Riot follows the Rolling Stones. It’s not a Jack-FM concept (radio as iPod) – it’s a simply a station that makes the claim that rock is a long continuum, one in which pre-punk and post-punk rock can live harmoniously with one another.

Unfortunately, it’s a continuum that excludes great soul and r&b. Following a decades old tradition, the number of black artists recurrently played on rock radio amounts to one – Jimi Hendrix. It’s too predictable to be dispiriting – but the station would sound a hell of a lot better with some James Brown, P-Funk, Marvin Gaye and Al Green.

That being said, I’ve been enjoying hearing the juxtaposition of newer artists next to the classic rockers. What jumps out at me when listening to the new stuff is that they don’t seem to be writing singles. Perhaps it is because for most of the indie bands (American ones more so than British ones), being on commercial radio is never even seen as a possibility. But while most of the new stuff sounds good and has a cool vibe, it doesn’t leap out of the speakers, make you stop what you’re doing and wonder, “Who IS that?”

There’s one exception: The Hold Steady’s “Sequestered In Memphis.” I’m still not quite sold like others are on their new album, but the vibrancy of the song jumps out of the radio and has me turn it up every time. In a never-ending era of detachment and cool, Craig Finn and company’s passion remind that there’s still a vociferous crew of people out there that still feel about music the way I do.

Rock N' Roll True Believing With The Hold Steady

I’ve ceased to be a true believer in rock n’ roll. It’s happened mainly because of a couple of factors. Of course, there’s my ever deepening love of soul, r&b and more recently, jazz, which has taken my ears in new and different directions. The other thing is that I’ve found very little rock in the past 10-15 years that’s I’ve connected to. Alt-rock, in the abstract, has bored me to tears for years. (To listen to modern rock radio is an exercise in self-flagellation) Emo and post-hardcore strikes me less as coherent genres then persistent and long winded complaints. And indie-rock, despite providing many fine albums that I’ve enjoyed over the years, has a certain joylessness; operating under a constraint of studied indifference that while perennially in fashion to the eternally cool everywhere, leaves me more than a little cold. And the rock vanguard's obsession with texture at the expense of song craft has alienated me from the most heralded bands of the day (Wilco, Radiohead, etc).

So I want to love a band like the Hold Steady, a band that’s courageous enough to wear their heart and vulnerabilities on their collective sleeve and smart enough to know the very-fine-line they need to walk if they’re going to pull off being a band of rock n’ roll true believers in 2008. I’ve spent the last couple of days listening non-stop to their new album, Stay Positive, hoping to be inspired by it; enjoying it and even admiring it; but more often than not, wanting more, feeling like this is a good band who have the best of intentions, but are in search of great songs.

But I have to give credit where credit is due. “Sequestered in Memphis” and “Joke About Jamaica” are both excellent, and if the other tracks don’t always reach the level of the sublime, there aren’t any outright clunkers either. Craig Finn’s vocals may be an acquired taste, but in a world of vocalists who don’t even pretend to mean what they sing, I have to recognize. The piano arpeggios are reminiscent of E Street without being a direct rip and the guitars and drums crash and roar in the best way.

It’s hard to fight a battle when the war was lost a long time ago. But what can a rock n’ roll true believer do but sing for a rock n’ roll band? There’s a nobility in the Hold Steady’s music and in their willingness to put passion over smarts, they occasionally, dare I say it, are a soulful rock n' roll band.