Once upon a time, there was a brilliant but obscure Minneapolis band called Lifter Puller (or LFTR PLLR, if you prefer). The group's slightly trippy, slightly arty post-rock was pretty good, but it was vocalist Craig Finn's insanely imaginative spoken/sort-of rapped/almost-sung narratives about losers, drug dealers and kids looking for the bad kind of good time that really set the act apart.
Alas, Lifter Puller was misunderstood in its own time, and went the way of New Coke a long while back. Sometime after moving to New York City in 2000, Finn and Lifter Puller guitarist Tad Kubler decided to marry Finn's lyrics to a grittier, more bar/classic-rock-informed style, and The Hold Steady was born. Two albums, five years and a shitload of critics' Top 10 lists later, The Hold Steady and its infectious, insightful milieu are now incredibly hip, and seem poised to garner at least a minimum of mainstream attention any day now (but probably not until the third album, we're guessing).
They rule. They're genius. Go see them.
This article appears in Feb 15-21, 2006.