“I always dream about a unified scene”

I once read an article about how the skinny, sensitive goth/punk kids who followed the Manic Street Preachers stopped attending their gigs soon after Everything Must Go became a  hit. The reason? They felt out-of-place next to the boistrous beer boys who became fans on the strength of that one record. Ever the musical snob, that’s kinda how I feel about the nation’s most venal right-wing papers gushing with praise for The Hold Steady. Much as I try to show love and tolerance for my fellow beings, I really don’t care for the idea of going to a gig stood next to some guy who voted ‘yes’ in an online poll asking ‘Are Speed Cameras Ruining The British Way Of Life?’ Sure, Rock & Roll is a broad church, but I hope it wouldn’t be quite so broad as to include people who hyperventilate with disgust every time they see Harriett Harman on TV.

I suspect I have only one recourse at this point: The Hold Steady now need to become so globe-straddlingly massive that their ambiguous tales of wayward teens doing far too much sex, drinking and drug use whips the Mail into such a frenzy that they start a moral panic on scale not seen since they wrung their worried hands over My Chemical Romance. They entered the UK album charts at #15 today, so we’ve still some way to go. May this post be the opening salvo:

The Hold Steady – Stay Positive

*The post title comes from a Hold Steady tune. I’m nothing if not predictable.