Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

I can't get worked up and annoyed about Bruce in the way I can about some other rockers. He has an ear for a great line (the opening of "Hungry Heart" for instance) and I can forgive him a lot for that. He doesn't resonate with me and like the Replacements I think that's a cultural thing.

I also - and this is totally subjective - never get the impression Bruce ever thinks he's particularly cool. Which is not something I can say of most other 'real rock'n'roller' types, mainstream or otherwise.

File under yet to be discovered. I was listening to an apologetic defence of his work from Sean Rowley on the radio the other day, and it got me wondering again. People of my generation's first real exposure to him was the 'Born in the USA' air-punching era and that obviously wasn't likely to engender much interest. Yes, I know it was all ironic.

What I have heard of his 70's stuff sounds like I might grow to love it. That midwest blue-collar world his songs inhabit seems harder to relate to than any other, but even in 1988, I had the feeling Paddy McAloon was missing the point with the song 'Cars & Girls'.

At the moment, I'm afraid the song of his I like best is a 90s one - 'If I Should Fall Behind', which I only know from the Grant McLellan cover version.

Badly Drawn Boy is a Springsteen obsessive, which I thought was quite cute.

N.

And yes, Tom, he's got a very good ear for a line.

I heard the version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" when I was young and that is pretty spiff, I freely agree. Circa 1984, liking El Bruce was unsurprising for me as that was a pretty damn good radio year -- Chuck Eddy specifically called it as such in _Stairway to Hell_, and he was goddamn right. Thus liking all that stuff he made was a matter of course alongside all those singles from _Purple Rain_ and _Like A Virgin_ and etc.

Time went on and I proceeded to not care. I never cared enough to buy an album anyway, and the 'classic early singles' only made sense in my classic rock phase, which lasted about nine months in senior year.

Then I ended up in LA and encountered the first of Robert Hilburn's 345,234,843 printed sermons on How Bruce Springsteen Heals the Sick, Raises the Dead and Means More to Human Existence Than the Combined Efforts of Louis Pasteur, Billie Holiday and Charles Schulz. I encountered other blowhards. The music touched me with the impact of a dying flea. A roommate was obsessed with him to the point of near mania. I cried.

The end.

Frankly, the Walkabouts any day of the goddamn week, month, year, decade, century, etc. If the relative fame levels were reversed, I would cling to this assumption with even more deep, abiding passion because then I would have The People on my side. Even alone, though, it's comfy. And Frankie Goes to Hollywood's version of "Born to Run" is my fave.

i actually liked born_in_the_u.s.a when it came out at age 7, but later, i found it to be an obstacle in getting to love bruce, and i'm sure there are a ton of artists out there whose work at that time has kept people away from them.

as sterling said, it's funny what driving a car can do, especially when it's another dark and lonely night out on an empty anonymous new jersey highway and "born to run" comes on the highway. but i've been there, so i'll move on.

you can get by on the first five or so albums on the music and production alone -- unless of course you hate phil spector and are, therefore, destined to spend eternity in hell -- and the later stuff will stick if you find something in the lyrics that rings far too true. sure, he mines the same territory in a lot of his songs, but so do belle & sebastian and so did the smiths; except the kids in bruce's songs could kick the ass of their counterparts in the aforementioned.

ned, i think you have the same problem as tom: it's a cultural thing. ;)

It's not a cultural thing; I mean for god's sake Motorcycle Emptiness might as well be Bruce Springsteen on a literacy trip in terms of subject, and I know Tom likes the song, and I believe Ned does too. Whether that particular statement was tongue in cheek or not, it's a tired excuse and reasoning, one usually used by the saddest of Bruce Springsteen fans, the ones who "identify" with his sentiments, seemingly losing track of the fact that BRUCE'S CHARACTERS NEVER ACTUALLY MAKE IT OUT. Some positive role models to rock out to.

The thing is, I think it's the voice and the earnestness, which was already said. The stylistic values of it....the basic cultural and escape sentiments, lyrically, of Motorcycle Emptiness and Born to Run might be very similar in tone, but the style and vocalisings are entirely, 100% different. Bruce has a very sarcastic bent, a very dark bent, lyrically, but his style of music softens the blow and sometimes people just don't like it.

And those people are wrong, incidentally :P

Nebraska is half good but doesn't deserve the plaudits it gets as the Springsteen album it's cool to like.

The rest is pretty much DUD.

Nevermind that Born in the USA was my first record not meant to be played on the Fisher Price record player (with the STEEL NEEDLE)

Nevermind Tracks Nevermind the fact that Born to Run is one of the best driving albums ever when your top is down and it's summer and the road between Ventura and home stretches out and empty at night with no cops...

Nevermind he has out Dylan-ed Dylan

Nevermind that he can outrage The Man as he pushes the dark side of life. (41 Shots)

Nevermind the line "The record company Rosie, JUST GAVE ME A BIG ADVANCE!"

Nevermind the Live box set, reminding us just how powerful he was

Nevermind Time and Newsweek

Nevermind Thunder-Fucking-Road

Nevermind The cover of Jersey Girl

Nevermind Tracks

Nevermind the MTV Unplugged set where he scrapped the entire notion of an acoustic show and just plugged in and tore down the house

Nevermind everyone on this list who called him a dud.

well, Bruce isn't *that* bad! ;)

La Bruce just collectively calls to my mind a stunted bastard vision of music that presumes he was the sole carrier of the 'spirit of rock and roll truth' that the Beatles and Stones 'started' in the sixties. A CLAIM I HAVE ENCOUNTERED MORE THAN ONCE, though thankfully not here, and happily never from the man's own lips either, at least to my knowledge. Without that rhetoric I would just shrug and ignore him for somebody more interesting, but with it, frankly, he becomes a very very useful target to kick against. Perhaps only a straw man, but one I wouldn't mind seeing go up in flames.

The boy has fallen off of late, but... I'm reminded of the Bangs article where he describes how he dismissed this Maoist band as sounding like Bruce, and the band replied "oh, good, the working class like that stuff" or something of the sort, and I'm reading this thinking -- no. no. no. The correct answer is "oh, good. Bruce fucking rocks!"

What I appreciate about Bruce is how he can capture the majesty of a major chord. How so many of his songs have the same progression, but you don't realize it 'till you try to play 'em yourself. How he can take gospel music and write it to a girl instead. And yes, more of them damn anthems.

I mean.. I know that anthems aren't an alien concept to the UK -- after all, The Who were full of them. But maybe British anthems are a different type a "get off of my cloud" or "sod off" type, more cynical and pissy than dreamy and wide-eyed. Maybe this is, after all, because America is The Big Country, The Great Bitch, et cet. Maybe to get America you have to get just how there's always somewhere you might go, maybe.

Along these lines, "Not Fade Away" which is a novel by Jim Dodge is a great rock road story, sort of like the lighter side of Richard Hell's "Go Now" or the more earnest(?) side of Bruce McCullough's "Doors Fan" sketch (on his album, Shame-Based Man). Yes. Get that spirit of the open highway.

I will say, though, that I do lack a car and have never had one. That might serve as a better explanation. ;-)

I wish I wasn't misinterpreting.

Inspirational in some ways. I have often felt that England needed a Springsteen, albeit not just a a copycat 'rocker'; I mean, someone who would write about all the lost and found small-town lives. But to be fair, I suppose there is already a UK tradition here: the probably Jarvis Cocker is a case in point.

1. they don't understand that he's actually not as "pro-america" as they might think he is

2. they don't have as close a connection to "old school" code (which includes "old school" rock)

3. they are mostly college kids on their way up to some office job or whatever that is removed (if not far removed) from the "underworld" (the "blue collar" or "real" world) to get the lyrical sentiments

4. well, and...sometimes people just don't like something 'cause they just don't like it

I, however, do not apply to any of those 4. For I actually do "get" some of the appeal of Bruce (albeit, it took my until my mid or late twenties to get there). Sure, his overly sentimental (downright broadway or maudlin) look at the working class can be a bit (or a bunch) too much. And sure, his music can be too simple and/or too derivitive. But, that's a part of the whole. Familiarity in both music and lyrics, is a large part of the appeal of his stuff (and those like him, ala Mellencamp, etc). He just had the concept to put nearly a whole career on the working class/blue collar life like no other has (not in such a wide reaching broad sense, at least - other than Mellencamp, but Bruce did it a bit better and first).

Classics:

Having said all that, 'Nebraska' and 'Ghost of Tom Joad' are the only two full albums that I would declare anywhere near a "classic" state of existence (with 'Nebraska' being the one clear-cut vote). Many of the rest of his 70's and 80's albums have some good solid worthy singles on them, but. I can't go so far as to get 'The River' (for example) anywhere near a "classic" nod. That one, in particular, I find to be overrated (though still having the wonderful track "Stolen Car" and the title track deserving of 'Nebraska'-like attention).

Anyways, I forgot to mention to huge (to the point of shadowing) element as to one of the why's (or why not's) of enjoy/appreciating Bruce. Which is: DRIVING. Cars and driving is such a central and/or reoccuring figure/subject in his work that...I can't believe I forgot to touch upon that (only after reading some of the others posts, darn it). But yea, I do LOVE to drive. Which also helps to explain the appeal of Springsteen (to me, at least).

*By the way, I do own that McCulloch album 'Shame Based Man' and...love it (some really funny stuff and one of the very rare comedy albums worthy of many plays - if not it's own discussion here on "I Love Music"...anyone?). Every single one of my girlfriends (one present, others past) hated it. "And if (after torching the stolen car) you can still hear the Doors playing...then you have become...a DOORS...FAN!" I'm not a Doors fan, however.

I hadn't listened to this record in a couple of years, but god, it still sounded great. Actually, I kept getting shivers down my spine when it was playing and it had me close to tears a few times (mostly on "Thunder Road" and "Backstreets.") Listening to this today finally settled an ILM debate for me: Music can never affect me quite as much now as it did when I was a teenager. No record I've heard in the last few years, including Loveless, has had as much affect on me as Born to Run did this morning, and I know it's not just because Born to Run is such a great album. This is a record that got to me when I was young and emotionally vulnerable in a way that I'm not anymore, at the age of 32. I still feel music very deeply and appreciate and enjoy a wider range of music than ever, but music doesn’t completely overpower me the way it did when I was 15. Oh well.

Springsteen is still a big classic, by the way, despite all the incredibly corny lines on Born to Run.

"candy's room" is the grebtest song ever written about being in love w. a prostitute when you sound a bit like david bowie

Is this a new genre? Cos that'd be fucking incredible.

I still love Bruce Springsteen. Put on Rosalita and you will see me go insane.

heh

When I bust my Glock
M’fers take dirt naps

I come home in the morning
I go to bed glockenspielin’ the same way

Can’t start a fire
Sittin’ round glockenspielin’ with a broken heart

Hey little girl is your daddy home
Did he go and leave you all alone
I got a glockenspiel

lol

You say you dont like it
But girl I know you’re a liar
Cause when we kiss hmm
Glockenspiel

You ain’t a glockenspiel
But hey it’s alright

lmao ok winner

you ain't a glockenspiel but hey you're alright

-face checking cuz

Two face checks have I

Well, they blew up The Chicken Man in Philly last night
Now they blew up his house, too
Down on the boardwalk, they're getting ready for a fight
Gonna see what that glockenspiel can do

well there she sits buddy just a gleamin' in the sun
there to greet a working man when his day is done
i'm gonna pack my pa and i'm gonna pack my aunt
i'm gonna take 'em down to the glockenspiel ranch

So when you look at me
You better look hard and look twice
Is that me baby
Or just a glockenspiel disguise

I let her in a Kingstown bar
We fell in love I knew it had to end
We took what we had and we drifted apart
Now I here i am glockenspielin’ again

Then I got Mary pregnant
And, man, that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a glockenspiel

looool

I find this photo very funny, esp. Stiller
https://preview.redd.it/legends-of-springsteens-v0-me8n6tlgrznf1.jpeg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=282b9209d0debaddb2213339ad17c348d21e756e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CElhljmZaDw

Springsteen talking at NY Film Festival where new movie just showed ; and him doing Land of Hopes and Dreams with his guitar there

Early review from David Sims on Letterboxd:

bruce springsteen: *looks at a mansion on a hill*

CUT TO

bruce springsteen: *writes mansion on a hill*

That said, love the performance above.

The first trailer opens with Bruce in presumably a used car lot. They should cut to Bruce writing "Used Cars."

(that would be too simplistic though - the song is about him as a kid observing his Dad and even his Mom going through the indignity of buying a used car, with the implications of social and economic status underneath the surface)

Chickenman: (explodes)

Bruce: Hey, that gives me an idea...

In 1974 Bruce sees a baby running down the street.

"I can turn that into a song!"

Little Steven: Hey, look at that river over there!

Bruce: Hmmm

*passport application office*

"And where were you born, sir?"

Bruce thinks a bit.

"I sure love going to the county fair! Hey, Bruce, what's your favorite ride?"

[Little Steven in a Nixon mask]

“Whaddya think, Boss?”

Waking up next to a hooker, "WTF? Where am I?"

"Reno, honey."

"I guess i can write one on this too."

Max: You know how I can't get enough of roadside attractions. When we get to Amarillo, I hope we can squeeze in a trip to the Cadillac Ranch!

Bruce: They got any pink ones out there?

“Bruce, I just lost my job at the factory.”

“Jackpot! You didn’t tell anyone else about this, right?”

“Just Billy Joel and Johnny Cougar.”

“Shit, I gotta write fast.”

Bruce is like a therapist, except when he writes your shit down, he doesn't keep it a secret, he's gonna turn it into music and share it with the world.

*crashing noises*

"The hell was that?"

"I was trying to do my dance moves and hit the light switch!"

"...oh really?"

Bruce: Boys want to hop in my new cadillac and see how fast it goes?

Little Steven: You know it!

Bill Horton: Bit of a cautious man, so I'll pass.

*Bruce whips out his notebook*

So a friend has seen this movie and is very much in the 'it SUCKS' camp. I brought up the Sims comparison and our jokes and the response was "it's even worse than that."

If anyone deserves a Walk Hard of his very own, it's this guy.

If You Should Fall Behind---WALK HARDER

Scott Cooper is supposed to be a genuinely good and kind person, so I have no desire to dislike this movie, but everything I've heard so far suggests it's not the film for me. The ending alone sounds extremely on the nose, so much it's hard to imagine how that could play well.

FWIW, I think this is a terrible idea now, but when I was a kid learning about Springsteen and Prince at the same time (partly because I was fascinated how they both blew up into huge mega stars at the same time), I had this idea that a big but "gritty" musical fictionalizing and mythologizing their lives would be amazing. Not like Purple Rain, I mean something that would actually intertwine their lives together as if they grew up in the same town, and you'd basically have two working class individuals of different ethnicities in adjoining communities finding salvation in different parts of rock n' roll, and in the end there'd be some kind of battle of the bands where it's the stand in for Springsteen & the E Street band vs. the stand in for Prince & Revolution with the big schmaltzy finale being there is no loser and both halves of the world unite into some giant utopian vision of pop music.

Not terrible if done right!

Sounds a bit like Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas

But instead we got

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony_%26_Ivory_(film)

https://external-preview.redd.it/NFKE-eMy19k5PLhpqLo0t8_2W8foYrew3AsdfNtQ6HU.jpg?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=1271afe1187e4b800a3e788571c10867ab699350

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=judQBZgcOsQ

https://soundcloud.com/user-389440360/la-forum-baby-im-a-star-feat-madonna-bruce-springsteen

Bruce pops in on guitar around the 7 minute mark. (Madonna may be on tambourine.)

But instead we got

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony_%26_Ivory_(film)

LMAO I can't believe this exists

And that's not even the only Macca two-hander movie. There's also Two of Us.

Sounds a bit like Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas

I just read the plot summary on Wikipedia - yes it does, though tbf, I think that ending of "no one lost, we can all work/share/play together and be winners!" is a cliché, but it's a formula because it WORKS!

there is no loser

Except Morris Day