Hostile, Mass is another quintessential Hold Steady track. A mix of punky snarl, classic guitar licks, and Springsteenian sax solos and hope, the track is a stand-out for Almost Killed Me and an ill omen for the band’s future at the same time.
To break it all down, we’re joined by Leon Neyfakh of Fiasco and Slow Burn fame. He explains why this is his favorite track on the album, as the conversation runs the gamut from NoFX to the persistence of high school drop-out fashion sensibilities to why Season 3 of A Positive Jam should be about the Smashing Pumpkins.
We also weigh whether the Hold Steady Universe plot line matters if you want to enjoy the music and break out another Map Corner.
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 wordplay in the song
- Charlemagne didn’t feel any pain / But he’s bleeding from the holes in his story
- “Hey, my name is Corey. I’m really into hardcore. People call me hard Corey.”
- Wandered out of mass one day and faded into the fog and love and faithless fear.
New perspective: Is the narrator in this song just a frustrated onlooker, angry he’s missing out on the girls and the fun, or a wiser head who knows what you’re supposed to do if you have track marks?
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.
Leon proposes that there is the third key axis to the Hold Steady, a hardcore branch which shows up mostly in lyrics and attitude. This is a fair point, though it poses challenges for our graphics team. Still, we took a crack at it.
The song is more punky than not, so we pulled on some Boston references to situate the band closer to Mission of Burma than The Cars. At the same time, that sax solo is about as Clarence Clemons/E Street Band/Bruce Springsteen as you can get, so that pushes an otherwise gritty song to the left side of the spectrum.
Biggest question: It’s all about the sax solo. Good or not? Bad for the future of the band or not?
Favorite Massachusetts towns that Hard Corey would be from instead of Lynn:
MA native Daniel argues that Lynn isn’t the right hometown for a clever kid like Corey. Here are six towns more representative of a clever kid who might still really be into hardcore.
- Reading
- Methuen
- Duxbury
- North Attleboro
- Needham
- Swampscott
Key Episode Insight: The early Hold Steady albums presented a lot of contrasts – major key, soaring melody and harmony set against violent, depressing lyrics. Hostile, MA may be the sharpest contrast – is this a hero’s journey out of the scene, or an abandonment of a burning building?