''Stay Positive'' is the fourth studio album by
the Hold Steady
The Hold Steady is an American rock band formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 2003. The band consists of Craig Finn (vocals, guitar), Tad Kubler (guitar), Galen Polivka (bass), Bobby Drake (drums), Franz Nicolay (keyboards) and Steve Selvidge (g ...
, 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 music, rock, but features artists in a variety of other genres including folk music, folk, soul music, so ...
. Vocalist/guitarist
Craig Finn
Craig A. 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 nine studio albums. Prior to forming the Hold Steady, ...
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 for eleven years, until 2019's ''
Thrashing Thru the Passion''. Nicolay 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
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page and on
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
. 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
''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...
(via the
Rock Band Network) on March 4, 2010.
The record entered the
UK Album Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Offici ...
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 ...
. In the U.S. it entered at #30 on the
''Billboard'' 200.
The album was
Alex Zane
Alex Zane (born Faris Alexander L. Albayaty) is an English television presenter and DJ.
Early and personal life
Zane was born in Leeds and attended Boston Spa School before going on to study Medicine at University College London, a course wh ...
'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. The station launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station named Q102, before being renamed Xfm in 1992. The station b ...
breakfast show. The song "Constructive Summer" was number 56 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
''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'',
Craig Finn
Craig A. 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 nine studio albums. Prior to forming the Hold Steady, ...
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 (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
bands
Youth of Today,
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 v ...
.
Accolades
Track listing
All songs written by
Craig Finn
Craig A. 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 nine studio albums. Prior to forming the Hold Steady, ...
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):
#
"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"
Deluxe Edition
A deluxe edition, released on October 15, 2018, includes demo recordings of many of the original release's tracks as well as previously unreleased tracks: "This Isn't Enough", "You Tremble", and "The Ballad of the Midnight Hauler". "Spectres" and "40 Bucks" were previously released as downloadable bonus content from the live album A Positive Rage
''A Positive Rage'' is a live album and documentary double-disc set by the Brooklyn-based rock band The Hold Steady, released on April 7, 2009 by Vagrant Records. The documentary DVD features backstage interviews, fan commentary and live foot ...
.
#"Constructive Summer" – 2:56
#"Sequestered in Memphis" - 03:32
#"One For the Cutters" - 04:41
#"Navy Sheets" - 03:21
#"Lord, I'm Discouraged" - 05:08
#"Yeah Sapphire" - 03:36
#"Both Crosses" - 04:35
#"Stay Positive" - 02:58
#"Magazines" - 03:08
#"Joke About Jamaica" - 04:35
#"Slapped Actress" - 05:17
#"Ask Her For Adderall" - 02:48
#"Two Handed Handshake" - 04:13
#"Cheyenne Sunrise" - 04:12
#"Spectres" - 03:42
#"40 Bucks" - 03:54
#"This Isn't Enough" - 03:31
#"You Tremble" - 02:19
#"The Ballad of the Midnight Hauler" - 03:10
#"Sequestered in Memphis (Demo)" - 02:46
#"Yeah Sapphire (Demo)" - 03:57
#"Stay Positive (Demo)" - 02:45
#"Lord, I'm Discouraged (Demo)" - 05:14
#"Magazines (Demo)" - 02:41
#"Ask Her For Adderall (Demo)" - 02:44
#"Two Handed Handshake (Demo)" - 05:04
#"Joke About Jamaica (Demo)" - 05:31
#"Creepy Harpsichord Jam (One for the Cutters) (Demo)" - 04:40
#"40 Bucks (Demo)" - 03:58
#"Phil Spector (Spectres) (Demo)" - 03:52
References
{{Authority control
2008 albums
The Hold Steady albums
Vagrant Records albums
Albums produced by John Agnello