More than any other track on the album, “Knuckles” shows what makes the Hold Steady different. The one liners, the pop culture references, the crunchy guitars. The quips and the catalog of missed expectations are enough to fill a couple podcast episodes.
But there’s more to the song than Craig Finn’s comedy routine. Matt Brooks rejoins co-hosts Mike Taylor and Daniel Shvartsman, to discuss key themes – Knuckles’ political context and whether this is a protest song; the dissonance between the narrator’s view of himself and what other people think; Craig Finn’s lyrical techniques; and the jagged synth lines that fall alongside the lyrics like bits of confetti.
Most importantly, we take a beat to consider the classic Sunny D commercial and how that puts The Hold Steady on the map.
Here’s the episode itself.
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Here are a few categories and things to listen for, in the song itself and in our podcast:
Best Freds or Freddies in this song:
- Freddie Mercury
- Freddy Fresh
- Right Said Fred
Political or Protest: We kicked the episode off by talking about whether the song is a protest song; it’s a bit of a weird angle (blame Daniel), but we thrashed out a distinction. Political songs come steeped in the context of the world around them – wars going down in the Middle East and the Middle West, flakes cooking up batches of crystal meth – while protest songs are more didactic and blunt. Protest songs can still be effective, timeless pieces, but it’s tougher given their nature. We think Knuckles is ultimately a political song, and even more a song about posing and trying to strive for something you’re not reaching.
What happened to Minnesota nice: The midwest is known for its friendly people, flat accents, and the decay of its industry, among other things. In this song, Finn and co. focus on the damage being wrought in the midwest from drugs and heavy-handed authority. We may be imposing our view from 16 years on, and the beat in this song obscures the darkness, but it is a grim picture of the middle western states, nevertheless. In 2020, we can’t help but see some elements of prophecy in this grim vision.
Most brutal moment: A nickname like ‘The Cool Guy’, which guest Matt Brooks confessed to being tagged with, that is a tough nickname to live down. We’ve all been hit with a bad nickname or two, but, man.
Billy Joel/Bruce Springsteen or AC/DC/Thin Lizzy?: Every Hold Steady track seems to exist on this spectrum. It’s a contrast between loud, guitar-driven rock that takes no prisoners and more of a soulful, troubadour lyricism both in the melody and the lyrics themselves. Like any band, the Hold Steady is at their best when they forge their influences into a unique sound. But it’s still fun to try to rank their songs by which side of the line they’re closer to, so we do that frequently on our podcast’s episodes. And even if we don’t remember to do so live, we can revisit here thanks to our handy graphics department.
“Knuckles” is the song that least fits on this spectrum. It’s a harder-edged song, so we position it closer to the AC/DC side, but it’s really as close to a punk song as any on the album. We talk about the punk/hardcore third dimension for the Hold Steady on the next episode, but for now, Knuckles drifts closer to hard rock than classic rock, in our book.
Biggest question: What to make of the chintzy keyboard flourishes that hang out on the far edges of the verse? Proof that this narrator isn’t as tough as he thinks he is, or just an odd touch?
Pop culture and nostalgia: The Pitchfork review at the time called out Finn’s classic Sunny D breakdown as ‘instantly tiring’. We’re fans of Amanda Petrusich, the author of that review, but any line that goes so far as to weave a Sunny D and Five Alive combo into the plot of the song, to time it with the instruments dropping out, and to evoke a key piece of 90s nostalgia like the Sunny D skaters commercial, it’s so bad its good and then some.
Review of the week:
Key Episode Insight: It’s fun to aspire for a libertine lifestyle, to imagine brawling and living outside the law. But when you get down to it, maybe it’s for the best that those guys didn’t really die, and maybe it’s ok to be a clever kid instead of Johnny Rotten.