"I Didn’t Know Anyone Who Looked Like Steven Tyler"

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn remembers record store trips with his dad, punk rock vulnerability, selective KISS fandom, and the songs that remind him of autumn in Minneapolis

In this edition of “WHAT’S IN YOUR TAPE DECK,” I talked to Craig Finn, the frontman for The Hold Steady, the world’s most literate bar band. His sing-along narratives about drug dealers, Twin Cities malls, Catholicism, self-destruction, and salvation inspired NPR to dub him “one of the most eloquent storytellers in music.” His latest solo album, Always Been, is out April 4th.

ERIC SPITZNAGEL: Let’s talk about the Replacements.

CRAIG FINN: [Laughs.] Nothing would make me happier.

ES: When Let It Be came out, how old were you?

CF: It was the fall of my eighth-grade year. I had heard the Replacements the summer before. My older sister apparently knew the bass player, Tommy Stinson, who was just a few years older than me. I’d gotten the Hootenanny album, which is the album before that, and they’d become my favorite band. This is the first record I ever remember waiting for it to come out. 

ES: Was there a local record store where you got all your music?

CF: Well, there were places near me like Musicland or a Sam Goody or whatever. But this was 1984 and you couldn’t buy a Replacements record in anything but an independent record store. You’d have to get into the city. I lived in Edina, which was a close-by suburb to Minneapolis, but it was still a forty-five-minute bus ride, which was kinda a hassle. So, I made a deal with my dad. He’d pay me to mow the lawn and I said to him, “I don't need the money, I just need a ride to the record store.” And he agreed to it. We went down on a Saturday, and he had just come off the golf course, so he was wearing pants that had little whales all over them. 

ES: Oh, no.

CF: And he’s like, “Okay, get in the car.” And I was like, “Um…don't you want to change?” It just didn’t seem that cool.