The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady didn't sound like any other band who emerged from Brooklyn in the 2000s. While upholding the values and integrity of indie and punk rock, they were not afraid to embrace rock classicism, fusing the bar band vigor of the Replacements with the epic-scale musical backdrops of Bruce Springsteen. Meanwhile, vocalist Craig Finn spilled out stories that were as impassioned as they were unpretentiously literate. The group's beery, anthemic style appeared fully formed on their debut album, 2004's Almost Killed Me. They later refined their music and their lyrical stance on 2006's Boys and Girls in America, increased their guitar firepower on 2014's Teeth Dreams (the third of a trio of consecutive U.S. Top 30 albums), and explored an alienated culture with a near-operatic sweep on 2021's Open Door Policy.