damn, this used to seem like grammar
The music of middle America: this is a topic that seems to be debated as often as it is generalized. We as “refined music listeners” or critics have come to align the sound with the likes of Springsteen, Petty, and Fogerty; we see the torch passed on to the jam bands left behind by the Grateful Dead. Phish, Widespread Panic, and much to our critical delight, My Morning Jacket have filled this passionate niche; elsewhere, we find ourselves getting behind The Drive-by Truckers (we have a Lynyrd Skynyrd! And it’s okay!), Kings of Leon (they’ve toured with Bob Dylan! And it’s okay!), or the Arcade Fire (They’re Canadian! But so is Neil Young, so it’s okay!). And of course, somewhere in that category comes the notorious Hold Steady.
At the same time, there’s something else going on in middle America, something that we might call “reality.” We have a completely distorted view of how much times have changed; somewhat unconsciously, we seem to equate the implosion of the music industry and the rise of the digital age with the advent of a more interesting and varied equation where now the fringe has become the mainstream. What we seem to have forgotten, however, is that the implosion we’re seeing is in part nothing more than an ebb and fall much like that of the stock market. Just like the stock market, the majors were invested in some overblown lending, some overblown spending, and that led to some fucking crazy sales numbers. Things were bound to fall, only when they did, we seemed somehow surprised.
Cut back to middle America. Cut to the Billboard top rock charts, where only one of the aforementioned “new rock” artists (Kings of Leon, whose success we all seem mildly surprised at) is in the running. Here, we’re met with a fairly accurate account of what the masses are really listening to: Nickelback, Staind, Theory of a Deadman, Seether. I know how these charts vary, and I know which artists are omnipresent on them; it’s a part of my day job to look at these singles and see how they translate digitally. One thing that stands out is the simple fact that, in this digital age, these rock radio bands have generally small digital percentages. Week after week, their fans are still buying their CDs.
Whatever the reason, I respect it, because it’s more than I can say for a great many of my Arcade Fire-loving peers. And as with all things labelled “middle American”, I know that it is true not only because I’m secretly obsessive about SoundScan numbers, but also because I’ve seen my mother’s CD collection, and it’s full of Creed, Nickelback, and 3 Doors Down albums. What got me thinking about all of this is the interesting dialogue in music blog-land wherein Mike comments on other Mike comments on Marc comments on Ann. It’s a topic I think about often, and at the end of the day I sort of feel like if you’re the kind of person who spends most of your time writing about music, you’re already so far removed from the kind of person who listens to modern rock radio that you’re pretty much doomed when you open your mouth to talk about it because you’re going to sound like an elitist, like a doofus, or like an elitist doofus.
As long as you continue the conversation, I think that’s all okay. Just don’t ask me, as a critic, to explain why I sometimes get tears in my eyes when I listen to the Foo Fighter’s “Everlong.”
And so, my tried and true test for finding out whether or not I can continue to refer to The Hold Steady as a good old middle American rock and roll band: I am going to take one of their records to the Midwest for Christmas, and I am going to ask my mom if she likes it.
[Just for the record, she also likes My Morning Jacket and The Drive-By Truckers. She does not, however, own a single Springsteen album.]
365 days with the hold steady 