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.

Yeah he was going for more of a "Rising" vibe.

So it's actually good and not embarrassing? I am scared to listen.

I'm not really a Bruce fan and I enjoyed.

There's something reassuring in "the winter of '26," marking this time in Minneapolis as an anomaly instead of the new normal.

Also, even though I know songs can come quickly, it's startling that one of the subjects of this song was alive a week ago.

What it most reminds me of (and probably what he was going for) are the Woody Guthrie songs that talk about current events.

"bloody mist" is a really jarring, disturbing image to have in the chorus, did not expect the song to go there (in a good way, i like the song)

Yeah people are saying Dylan because that's just what people think of with "protest song" — even though he didn't write many! — but my first thought was Guthrie as well.

+ Pete Seeger.

Dylan's last protest song was before most of were born, and his contempt for requests for him to reenter the fray is well-known.

My first thoughts were Dylan, Woody and Pete as well, because Bruce, like them, was not afraid to name-names and be specific with place/time/action. Though as a specific song the first thing that came to mind was Steve Earle's "Christmas in Washington."

It's admittedly too early to tell, but I do think one of the strengths of a truly gifted songwriter is creating new songs that sound like they have been around for years.

Official video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDaPdpwA4Iw

Curious whether classic rock stations are playing this. Looks like KQ92 in Minneapolis played it once yesterday and not since. Thinking of classic rock radio as still the background music that could reach people at work.

No way classic rock plays this; they're all pretty conservative (in every sense). But I could see a station akin to Chicago's XRT playing it, maybe. Or at least someone slipping it in. In fact, our big classic rock station has this shadow station a hair over on the dial that plays "deep cuts," and a few times I've heard something on there I'd consider subversive (as far as classic rock goes). Not just songs like "Ohio" (which counts as a deep cut on any station that limits its Neil Young or CSNY to a handful of other songs), but more than once I heard Randy Newman's "Political Science."

It sounds like "Desolation Row", musically, just not acoustic obvs

Looks like KQ92 in Minneapolis played it once yesterday and not since

KQ92 isn't really classic rock anymore, at least not "classic rock", they are fully "Gen X" 90s alt-rock (RHCP, Foos, Nirvana, Offspring, Sublime, G'N'R) with a feint toward MN music (well, some MN music) I heard Bob Dylan and "Makes No Sense At All"! The guy from Black Crowes is the morning DJ, it's bad but I find it oddly fascinating. Sometimes.

My take on the song is...I feel like we've suffered enough, but thanks

Some of the KQ playlist seemed odd (Alanis, Offspring), so that description of what they're doing now definitely makes sense!

I wish he would do a protest song that doesn't try to evoke aspects of Woody Guthrie's style

Wellll, that would be "Streets of Philadelphia."

Ghost of Tom Joad is his best political song

I am on record here as being pro-Bruce, and anti-murder. The song is a positive gesture, I applaud the intentions, it is in a rich tradition. Bruce understands his job.

But how shall I say this delicately?

I don't see that song becoming a beloved concert staple. In two or five or ten years, will you listen to it admiringly? Put it on a mixtape?

I don't mean to suggest that those are the only measures of worth, or that it needed to be catchy or danceable or a banger. Perhaps it's more like "it had to be done."

I think that when you do Ripped From The Headlines stuff it's kind of understood that it probably won't become a timeless classic, it's like journalism, tomorrow's fish and chips wrapping paper.

I'm guessing Springsteen doesn't pull out "American Skin" too often either?

Some protest folk songs _do_ endure, though, and outlive their original impetus.

Perhaps I'm merely saying that I doubt this will be one of them; fine. It doesn't have to be.

Protest songs, sure, but I'd argue the more specific they are the less likely that is. There are exceptions of course, "Free Nelson Mandela" is pretty specific, but most of the protest evergreens are more vague and adaptable.

Wrote and recorded in a day and released to the internet. It doesn’t seem like he’s going for ‘timeless classic’ anyway. More like a rapper dropping a diss track.

Some of the KQ playlist seemed odd (Alanis, Offspring), so that description of what they're doing now definitely makes sense!

― Come On, (Eazy), Thursday, January 29, 2026 11:53 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

It is not uncommon to hear Depeche Mode, Sublime, Fleetwood Mac, and Bob Dylan all in a row.

I have seen people comparing it (The Minneapolis song) to "My Back Pages" in feel. Which I get.

Aspects of the vocal treatment and the relation of verse to chorus is similar.

*are

More like a rapper dropping a diss track.

Not comparing the two at all, but I can think of a rapper recently dropping a diss track that was also the song of the year and an instant classic that got performed at the Super Bowl.

Springsteen plays (or used to play) "American Skin" with some (relative) frequency. It's most-played-ever year was apparently 2021, actually. I saw him play it at Madison Square Garden, back when it was relatively hot off the presses, and got to see first-hand the people standing up and applauding vs. the people grumpily sitting down in counter-protest.

That said, "American Skin" is not a concert staple, and this one won't be, either, but Springsteen is at a point where there is not a lot of room for new songs in the live rotation, anyway. But I could see him, if inspiration (sadly) strikes, rapidly recording and releasing more songs in this vein, a protest EP or something.

It's most-played-ever year was apparently 2021, actually.

that's when he added it to "springsteen on broadway"

(post george floyd. still relevant and resonant a generation later.)

classic rock stations won't even play anything off Tunnel of Love. There was a time, like maybe Magic or Girls in their Summer Clothes or whatever where maybe one show would be like "hey a new springsteen single" and play it once but nothings getting added to the rotation post Born in the USA.

Tom Morello and Rise Against and AL DI MEOLA! are doing a concert tonight at First Ave with a "special surprise guest" and I'm just dropping this in this thread just cuz

Al "Kiss My Axe" Di Meola!

From "ToL" I sometimes hear "One Step Up," and very rarely the title track or "Brilliant Disguise," and those are glorious days.

Tom Morello and Rise Against and AL DI MEOLA! are doing a concert tonight at First Ave with a "special surprise guest" and I'm just dropping this in this thread just cuz

!!!!!

(SiriusXM host) Rotolo hinted at it last night, and Clinch posted some pics of Bruce and Tom together too. Sounds like Bruce will almost certainly be there.

I know! AL DI MEOLA!!

"This Flamenco Jazz Kills Fascists"

Just got banned from Hoffman forums for saying “Nazi audiophiles fuck off” during a Springsteen debate.

Saw this:

https://preview.redd.it/maga-logic-v0-7i18durl6hgg1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=a423ed9bb0276fc79c71b95c612e13bfaaf4f655

Just got banned from Hoffman forums for saying “Nazi audiophiles fuck off” during a Springsteen debate.

Did they ban the guy who wrote this: People who weren't born in America and don't speak the language should go.

Also meme Josh posted is otm, I've mentioned it myself going back to 2016, but it was also noticeable with George W. Bush's sycophants.

I accidentally read that as George W. Bush's psychopants

qu'est-ce que

Springsteen is going on in about forty minutes at First Avenue with Tom Morello from what I'm hearing

And indeed:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DUJd_KiCRsk/

Bruce rules. That "Ghost of Tom Joad" ruled, too. Goosebumps.

late to hearing Streets of Minneapolis —

for myself i love how he meets the moment directly & unflinchingly, and in that Woody Guthrie way of documenting the horror of injustice, taking it in and parsing it in song.

That’s about as pure as it gets. If Bruce is anything, he’s earnest & this is a document of my favorite carpenter picking up his tools and just straight-up building a pissed-off chair.

It's sad that his Magic album from 2007, a very political anti-Bush record, now sounds like a tribute to a great defender of democracy.

it doesn't though

xpost bad post

"Death to My Hometown" comes across in a similar anthemic way to the new one.

A different kind of response

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU6s6VEJxrU