Decoding the Hold Steady: Thematic Representations
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Number of References Party and Repent Local Haunts Decoding The Hold Steady: Album characters are always struggling to stike a balance From the now defunt Rainbow Foods in Substance Abuse between good and evil. Often hitting Church on Saturday South Minneapolis–the city referenced over Thematic Representations 100% night to rack-up credits before spending the weekend 40x in the bands first five records–to the succumbing to bad habits. Spirtual imagry plays Tampa Bay waterfront, Finn’s characters run at the center of their stories and songwriting push-and-pull with hedonistic tendencies. The band’s amock across the USA. While his 1 50% 2005 concept album Separation Sunday ran towards players haven’t hit all 50-states, they’ve Founded in 2003, The Hold Steady(THS) boast a prolific career as cult alternative rock trend 2-3 redemption. Only to be quickly followed by champagne gotten further than Sufjan Stevens, who setters. The group is steered by the lyrical visions of songwriter Craig Finn–who channels 4-5 and confetti in 2006’s Boys and Girls in America. never really made it out of the upper midwest. “cinematic” storytelling into mosh pit punk Norman Rockwell–level paintings of everyday American 5-10 life. These graphics unravel the story within the story as they extract the themes, places and 3250Words on Average 11+ Per Album 0% Minneapolis/St. Paul people that inhabit the early discography of The Hold Steady. 2004 2005 2006 2008 2010 Spiritual Resolve Conclusion Almost Killed Me Separation Sunday Boys and Girls in America Stay Positive Heaven Is Whenever Upacking The Hold Steady is a tedious process. The people, Words Count: 10 Track Count: 11 Track Count: 11 Track Count: 11 Track Count: 11 Boston places and things create a lively canvas and Finn is a playful puppeteer. Building this dataset was an undertaking. (selected) New York City Keyword searches failed to yield satisfactory results. Ultimately, People, Place, Thing Sacramento I created a system and worked through it manually. While the band was formed in Brooklyn, Finn’s characters frequently inhabit his 2004 2005 2006 2008 2010 hometown of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Their descriptions account for the bulk of the 2 3 4 5 8 Run Time 42:51 42:11 40:07 43:48 41:21 Dredging up double, triple, and even quadruple-entres posed a Albums lyrical content and typically employ delightfully precise pop-culture references to Los Angelas significant challenge in making sense of what I had to work with. celebrites, bands and plain-old stuff. It’s never ending, erily on-point, location and Big thanks to all the contributors at genuis.com who helped unravel (2004) (2005) name dropping at it’s best. For listeners and newcomers alike, here are a few. Almost Killed Me Separation Sunday the riddles with the assistance of veteran rock journalists. Hopefully, Character Description Religion these graphics allow listeners to more fully comprehend the world Themes Pop Culture Character Description Tales from THS revolve around spiritual Character Description As the band gained more mainstream success in the late-aughts, these references Ybor City Location Substance Use that The Hold Steady are weaving. If not, encourage newcomers to Pop Culture took a signficant dip. We see that reflected in Stay Positive and Heaven is Whenever. conflict, excessive partying and the music Substance Use Mortality Location give the group a spin. scene. Finn frequently references real-world Mortality Location Pop Culture Locals locations and pop-culture in order to form Religion Number of References Romance Romance 50 50 overly specific illustrations of his characters. Elisabeth Shue, White Rayon Humbert Humbert, Holly, Mary Sal Pardise, John Berryman, Slacks, Nina Symone, Steve Tyler Moore, Jackie Onassis, Pringles, Tennyson, Sabbath Joe Strummer,Keds, Youth Of 0 Count 100 0 Count 100 25 Perry, Billy Joel, Right Said Fred, Gideon,Charlemagne, Kennedy, Bloody Sabbath, Izzy Stradlin, Today, Houses of The Holy, Ben Boys and Girls in America (2006) Stay Positive (2008) Heaven Is Whenever (2010) Freddy Mercury, Knock-off Nelson Algren, William Butler Black Buckled Shoes, Golden Gazzara, Gena Rowlands, John Shelter, Hüsker Dü, Banderolero 0 Necktie, Jada Pinkett Yeats, William Blake Gophers, Chips Ahoy 0 Cassavettes Belt, Youth of Today, Hare Krishna Character Description Character Description Religion Substance Use Mortality Character Description Count Almost Killed Me (2004) Separation Sunday (2005) Boys and Girls in America (2006) Stay Positive (2008) Heaven Is Whenever (2010) Location Religion Location 0 0 Ybor City, Yukon Club, Denver, Chicago, Edina High, Crystal Court, Twin Cities,Rainbow Memphis, Texas, Cheyenne, 7th Street Entry, Cedar Riverside, Religion Substance Use Substance Use Beverley Hills, Shaker Heights, Osseo, The Thunderbird, East Foods, Northtown Mall, Party City, Aberdeen, Ybor City, Tampa, Sacramento, Minnesota 25 Romance Location Pop Culture Payne Avenue, Newport News, 13th, Massachusettes, Rt. 169, Southtown, Lyndale, Penn Ave., Sacramento, St. Paul Pop Culture Pop Culture Romance South Minneapolis, Back Bay, Nicollette and 66th, Sonoma, Grain Belt Bridge,Bowdoin, Boulder Mortality Romance Mortality 50 Pensecola, Twin Cities, Bay City Western Massachusettes 50 Locations 0 Count 100 0 Count 100 0 Count 100 All data gathered, coded and designed by Andrew Stephens for HCI 512, DePaul University, Winter 2021. .