''Stay Positive'' is the fourth studio album by The Hold Steady, released on July 15, 2008 through

Vagrant Records Vagrant Records is an American record label based in California. It was founded in 1995 by Rich Egan and Jon Cohen. The label focuses on rock, but features artists in a variety of other genres including folk, soul, electronic, and pop. It is h ...

. Vocalist/guitarist

Craig Finn Craig Finn (born August 22, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the frontman of the American indie rock band The Hold Steady, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums. Prior to forming The Hold Steady, Fi ...

notes that the album is about "the idea of ageing gracefully ..keeping going, perseverance ndhow to stay true to the ideals and ideas you had when you were younger." Keyboard player Franz Nicolay notes that the album is his favorite, stating that it features an "integrated, nuanced, less hectic distillation of heir earliersound." ''Stay Positive'' was the last studio album to feature Nicolay until 2019's ''Thrashing Thru the Passion'', who departed from the band in early 2010 but returned in 2016. On May 20, the album's first single, "Sequestered in Memphis", was released on the band's MySpace page and on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

. On June 9, the entire album was made available to stream on MySpace, and on June 18 the full album became available on iTunes. It was later released for the videogame

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two gui ...

(via the

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) on March 4, 2010. The record entered the

UK Album Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

at #15 on July 20, 2008, the third-highest new entry. It ranked #1 on the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the re ...

. In the U.S. it entered at #30 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album was Alex Zane's record of the week on the

XFM Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2 ...

breakfast show. The song "Constructive Summer" was number 56 on ''

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''s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008.The 100 Best Songs of 2008
. ''Rolling Stone'' (December 25, 2008). Retrieved 2009-01-12 ''Stay Positive'' has sold 88,000 copies as of April 2010

Lyrical content

In an interview with '' Uncut'',

notes that he thought the album "should maybe look at the characters I’d been writing about on the previous three albums as they got a bit older, more adult with more adult problems." The title track in particular references several Hold Steady songs and characters from the previous albums, such as "Hornets! Hornets!", "Positive Jam", "Massive Nights" and "Sweet Payne", while relating them to the common theme of believing in the ideals of youth as you get older. The title track references

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

bands

Youth of Today Youth of Today is an American hardcore punk band, initially active from 1985 to 1990 before reforming in 2010. The band played a major role in establishing the "Youth Crew" subculture of hardcore, both espousing and evolving the philosophies o ...

, 7 Seconds, and

Dillinger Four Dillinger Four, sometimes abbreviated as D4, is an American punk rock band formed in 1994 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have released four full-length studio albums. Since 1996, the band's lineup has been Patrick Costello on bass guitar and ...

Accolades

Bullying The Jukebox Radio Program (Australia) - Number 13

Track listing

All songs written by

and Tad Kubler, except where noted. #"Constructive Summer" – 2:56 #"Sequestered in Memphis" – 3:33 #"One for the Cutters" – 4:41 #"Navy Sheets" – 3:23 #"Lord, I'm Discouraged" – 5:08 #"Yeah Sapphire" (Finn, Franz Nicolay) – 3:37 #"Both Crosses" – 4:35 #"Stay Positive" – 2:59 #"Magazines" (Finn, Nicolay) – 3:09 #"Joke About Jamaica" (Finn, Kubler, Nicolay) – 4:36 #"Slapped Actress" – 5:19

CD bonus tracks

A "limited edition digipak" version of the album was released with three bonus tracks (however, they are uncut from one another and run continuous as track 12):The Hold Steady's official website
/ref> #

"Ask Her for Adderall" – 2:52 #"Cheyenne Sunrise" – 4:11 #"Two Handed Handshake" – 4:15

Vinyl edition

A double LP vinyl edition is also available, which includes the limited edition CD's bonus track "Ask Her for Adderall," as well as a slightly different track order. Disc 1 Side A: #"Constructive Summer" #"Sequestered in Memphis" #"One For The Cutters" Disc 1 Side B: #

"Navy Sheets" #"Yeah Sapphire" #"Lord, I'm Discouraged" Disc 2 Side A: #

"Both Crosses" #"Stay Positive" #"Joke About Jamaica" Disc 2 Side B: #

"Ask Her For Adderall" #"Magazines" #"Slapped Actress"

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums The Hold Steady albums Vagrant Records albums Albums produced by John Agnello