News item:
“Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen team up for new podcast: Former president talks with rock legend about their backgrounds and vision of America in Renegades: Born in the USA”
News item:
“Bruce Springsteen faces backlash over Super Bowl Jeep commercial in which he appears to be urging Trump supporters to ‘heal’ by coming together under Biden”
In the late ’70s and early ’80s, I was a big Bruce Springsteen fan. No, I wasn’t obsessed, he wasn’t even my favorite music in those days, as Little Feat probably would hold that distinction. But Springsteen was among my favorites. I saw him and the E Street Band live three different times between 1979 and 1982, with those amazing four-hour shows. And in the handful of garage bands I was lead singer for, we always had at least a couple of Springsteen tunes in our repertoire for local pub shows. I will say, back in my young and full-throated days, I could perform a version of “Meeting Across the River” that might even choke you up a bit.
Even today I still might put on one of Springsteen’s first five albums, which I think are all brilliant and have held up exceptionally well. “Born in the USA” is not one of those albums, it’s when Bruce and I started to part company, but I appreciated his success and didn’t hold it against him; as a good libertarian I respect and admire success, and believe people are entitled to the spoils of their accomplishments.
In those first five albums you will find some amazing and evocative poetry in the lyrics. For example, there’s one particular Springsteen song I still love to listen to, “Jungleland”, on the “Born to Run” album. I close my eyes when I hear these lyrics and I’m back there in high school, parked with some friends and some six-packs, like it was yesterday:
Barefoot girls sittin’ on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
And I can honestly say that there was a time that a Springsteen song made a big difference in my life:
It’s December 1982. We’ve just finished the last final of first semester of medical school, Gross Anatomy. A grueling, extremely difficult course that mostly involved dissecting your own personal cadaver with three other classmates for hours on end, every day of the week, every day of the month, for four long months. We’d come back to the dorm even on weekend nights reeking of formaldehyde, a stench that wouldn’t go away no matter how much you showered and scrubbed or what kind of soap you used. The law students used to pass on taking the same elevator with us, we smelled so bad.
The punishing course took its toll. It really made you question if you wanted to continue in medicine, if this was what your life would be like from now on. Several in our class quit school outright. I know of a couple who got hospitalized in psychiatric facilities that semester. I can even recall sitting on the open window ledge of the 7th-floor cadaver lab, looking down and thinking how easy it would be to just tumble out and everything would be over. Luckily, that thought was only fleeting for me, but I know such things were much more deliberated by some of my colleagues.
So it was right after that asskicking final, where we went from dead body to dead body with pins stuck somewhere deep beneath multiple layers of cadaver tissue, all on a timer giving you only a few moments at each station — and test questions asked about each pin you’d find, not something you’d hoped, like ‘what is this?’, no, no, it was some intricate question on what the physics of some process might be at this pinpoint, so requiring you not to just know what it was the pin was in (which was hard enough in itself) but also to know unbelievable aspects, as if knowing what it was, was already a given. Yikes. Toughest test I ever had.
And so we lumbered back to our dorms afterwards, reeking of formaldehyde, and a classmate who lived on my floor said come down to his dorm room, we’ll toast that the class is over with a beer. So a handful of guys and gals filed into his room and crowded on to the bed and chairs as he passed us all a Bud. And then our host put on an album to make some noise in the room, as we were all still speechless, morose, ruminating on what had just happened. And then the music started, it was the beginning of the “Born to Run” album, the opening harmonica strains of “Thunder Road”.
And without any prompting, each of us started to sing along, first in a whisper:
The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey, that’s me, and I want you only
Don’t turn me home again
I just can’t face myself alone again
Don’t run back inside
Darling, you know just what I’m here for
So you’re scared and you’re thinking
That maybe we ain’t that young anymore
Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night
You ain’t a beauty, but, hey, you’re alright
Oh, and that’s alright with me
And we started looking at each other and grinning, and now sang much louder for the next part:
You can hide ‘neath your covers and study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a savior to rise from these streets
Well now I’m no hero that’s understood
All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey what else can we do now?
And finally we all screamed this part at the top of our lungs:
Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair
Well the night’s busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back, heaven’s waiting down on the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
We’re riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh-oh Thunder Road oh Thunder Road oh Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey, I know it’s late, we can make it if we run
Oh, Thunder Road, sit tight, take hold
Thunder Road!!!!
And we all laughed and smiled at each other. And we all knew then, yes, the worst part was over, we’d made it. And we had.
________________
I think one of the things that made Springsteen so accessible to everyone was that we’d all been on that date in “Thunder Road”. He could sing as the Everyman we could all relate to and empathize with, a part of our shared American experience. Bruce wasn’t some far-away superstar we could never imagine meeting or hanging around with, like Elton John or Paul McCartney or Diana Ross. He was one of us. He knew what it was like to be one of us. Dammit, he sang about us.
In this regard, I thought the song “The River” was really poignant. It came out a few years after “Born to Run” and Bruce had definitely aged, shaved his beard, and become much more of a grown-up. I always assumed that the Mary in “The River” is the same Mary from “Thunder Road”, but the teenage carefree exuberance has been replaced by reality and disillusionment:
Then I got Mary pregnant
And man, that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
And the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle
No flowers, no wedding dress
That night we went down to the river
And into the river we’d dive
Oh, down to the river we did ride
Ah-yah
I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain’t been much work on account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well, mister, they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don’t remember
And Mary acts like she don’t care
But I remember us riding in my brother’s car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I’d lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she’d take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true
Or is it something worse
That sends me down to the river
Though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Is there any doubt that the guy supposedly the protagonist in this song would today be anything but a Trump supporter? You can practically see him in a MAGA hat, hoping to get the Rust Belt economy moving again, so he can get some work, some money, maybe make things at home better as well. That’s why it’s so strange right now, that the same Bruce Springsteen who could understand a middle-class American life like this so well, is now a member of the smug elites, and an Obama fellator.
Sorry, Bruce, you need to turn in your Real American card. You’re now just another entitled Atlantic Magazine-type celebrity who does the voiceover on a commercial, and tells all those John and Jane Does in flyover country that believed in you that their worries and desires and fears and dreams are all wrong, it’s time to heal, and the only way to do that is not just to accept or tolerate Big Brother, you must love Big Brother, too, and forget everything you knew otherwise.
So now whenever I pop on one of those first five albums, I always think I am listening to someone completely unrelated to the current guy named Springsteen, it’s much easier that way. I guess he probably believes he’s still the same person who could be our collective voice, but those days are long gone, and today he’s no better than any other major celebrity who hears nothing but praise from his surrounding lickspittle, and whose major impediments in life now are rarely more troublesome than when the Opus One arrives at the table a bit warmer than he’d like. So thanks for everything you once were, Bruce, I choose to remember you exactly that way. But that Bruce no longer exists, he’s dead to me.
I can’t be arsed to find it but I saw an article a while back detailing how Bruce has always been an elite and the image was a facade, or at the very least had been since the late 70s or so. And the author was a fan.
I’m not a fan so it’s no skin off my back.
Great article, C. Anacreon!
“That’s why it’s so strange right now, that the same Bruce Springsteen who could understand a middle-class American life like this so well, is now a member of the smug elites, and an Obama fellator.”
Money and popularity changes a lot of people and not for the better.
I’m a huge fan of this indie lo-fi band Best Coast and jammed out to their shit in the car. I went to a concert of theirs when they came to Chicago and the lead singer went on this tirade about her love for Bernie. My friend who I brought with me ( a super duper socialist) was clapping like a gotdamn seal and it took all of me to not roll my eyes.
Thanks, Ed Wuncler!
Why, there is Ed.
I posted this in the last article. You said keep them coming….
https://postimg.cc/gwsbv3sW – 1975
I think posted in the previous thread that my Dad who is an old school Democrat is confused at the Left’s attempts to make gun ownership illegal. He grew up in Mississippi where everyone’s parent kept a rifle in the house.
Even that picture looks like it was a Southern hot day.
I think posted in the previous thread that my Dad who is an old school Democrat is confused at the Left’s attempts to make gun ownership illegal.
This reminds me of that Orwell quote:
Sorry – going OT right away. Never listened to Springsteen. Good piece though.
Of course…I jump into projects again without proper preparation ;p I have some really weird tendencies prioritizing (or not) things that may deserve it more than lesser things I agonize over.
Hence…after milling my 80% lower just over a year ago, after a couple chats with my buddy who helped me with that (he’s moved out west), I ordered a couple tools (armorers hammer, punches) and started assembling my kit.
I could have watched any number of vids or looked up some articles – but no…that would have been too easy (and I probably would have been distracted trying to watch vids like that before actually starting).
So now I’ve got the trigger assembled and installed, and just figured out that not only do I need an armorer’s wrench, but I also need an extended allen wrench for the screw inside the grip….
Any suggestions for additional tools? – I want to try and get everything ordered this weekend so I can finish next week. Can I finish this without a vice clamp?
You can, but it’ll be a lot easier with a vice and lower block.
If you haven’t installed the bolt catch paddle yet, you’ll probably want a set of roll pin punches and starters. You’ll also want an automatic center punch, to stake the castle nut.
I have a full set of punches – already needed them to get the trigger pins set after my shitty painting job last week.
Automatics are better for that kind of stuff. They tend to put the divot right where you want, without jumping around as much. Staking a pin is much easier with a spring loaded C/P.
What’s the one for rotating and getting the takedown springs in place?
I’ve never done one of these. I have staked a vast multitude of pins, though. It sounds like maybe a special tool?
Ah this one. https://youtu.be/z7MGhlwkLk4?t=423
Gonna go ahead and get a few things from Brownells – this tool, the block, allen wrench (5/32) and an armorers wrench. I’ll look at the spring loaded punch going forward, but my set is working ok for the moment.
Will need to get vise from lowes.
If you haven’t installed the bolt catch paddle yet, you’ll probably want a set of roll pin punches and starters. You’ll also want an automatic center punch, to stake the castle nut.
To me, that all sounds like “Using a field of half-C sprats, and brass-fitted nickel slits, our bracketed caps, and splay-flexed brace columns vent dampers to dampening hatch depths of one half meter from the damper crown to the spurve plinths. How? Well, we bolster twelve husk nuts to each girldle-jerry, while flex tandems press a task apparatus of ten vertically composited patch-hamplers. Then, pin-flam-fastened pan traps at both maiden-apexes of the jim-joist.”
*hands slumbrew a beer while marveling at builder Glibs*
Right there with you buddy.
Well… the turbo-encabulator, while not revolutionary, *is* an advanced
application of existing technology, so it’s going to take some effort
to explain…
Really cool trip down your memory lane. But I’m not a big Springsteen fan so it’s easy for me to just say “fuckem”.
Thanks, SandMan!
I completely understand. Everyone’s music tastes are different. But I hoped most people can relate to how certain songs have made an impact in their lives, regardless of the artist.
Yep ?
I like this story. It’s good you got through that hell of a class.
That’s why it’s so strange right now, that the same Bruce Springsteen who could understand a middle-class American life like this so well, is now a member of the smug elites, and an Obama fellator.
I think Springsteen never understood middle-class America.
Thanks DEG! I’m glad I got through that class, too — and that I never had to take it again.
It sounds like it was designed to weed out the weaklings. I had a similar, if less pungent, class that is the reason I am not an architect today.
It is always good to see you around C.
I was never a Springsteen fan. The was just something off about him I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
I like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpq35wyDi7I
I think I like it more for the performers than the writer. His other work and his personality was just slightly off-putting to me somehow.
I am not surprised at all that he and Obumbles are yukking it up. Obumbles never hid his hatred for the ideas the country is founded on and people like Springsteen seem to always gravitate in that direction. My personal theory: Most famous performers, actors or singers, seem to crave attention because of a serious deficit in self-image. The majority of them seem to be black sheep with serious family issues. They end up hating all humanity.
Thanks, Suthen! I do like the Springsteen original version of Blinded by the Light. That first album of his is probably the one I am most likely to put on when I am up for his music. “Its Hard to be a Saint in the City” from that album remains a favorite.
I’ve loved that song since I was a little kid. Never heard the original, and in fact, was unaware of it until a couple years ago.
+1 wrapped up like a douche!
Yep, that’s exactly what I grew up singing.
Same here. I first heard it on The Midnight Special on a Saturday night in my youth. We never missed The Midnight Special.
Yeah, I am old.
This is more my style for the last couple of decades. I think someone posted this one recently but it was already on my play list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9jwGansp1E
W. Axl Rose approvingly nods.
The best Bruce Springsteen song was done by Manfred Mann: https://youtu.be/lcWVL4B-4pI Go-cart Mozart!
The second best Bruce Springsteen song: Rosalita https://youtu.be/30F7j9mVrO0
There is also some ethereal shit on Nebraska which fucks with your mind as you ride a motorcycle alone at a high rate of speed through the Nebraska night trying to get home to your baby.
He lost me with Born in the USA.
The Super bowel commercial nearly made me shoot the TV.
I agree. It was the insulting Super Bowl commercial that drove me to write this, my first-ever article contribution to Glibs. Fortunately for our neighbors, I didn’t smash their television.
Third: Born to Run: https://youtu.be/IxuThNgl3YA
I have to admit I won’t turn that off if I hear it. If anything, it sends me back to my childhood when that shit ruled the airwaves, at least in my house.
For a long time I thought The Band wrote “Atlantic City”.
Then I found out Springsteen wrote the song and listened to the Springsteen version. Yuck.
The Band made that song good.
The Band, Levon, made every song good. They could have read an algebra textbook to music and it would be great.
I miss Levon. At least we still have Lou Reed.
I’d agree with that, although I’d put Because The Night in the first position. Of course, Patti Smith gets 1/2 credit for that.
Glad you’re still feeling okay, doc.
Jeebus, he wrote that too?! I had no idea.
Most excellent post C! Thanks. Springsteen never hit my clans radar as we were into the cool grooves of 80’s alt rock/punkish tunes so we could be as cool as the kids in CA. Whats her face number one cured that because she went to college on that side of the Rockies and ya, early Bruce is good stuff. I have some memories there. She was fun.
A grueling, extremely difficult course that mostly involved dissecting your own personal cadaver with three other classmates for hours on end…..
My family has standing orders that I will become one of those cadavers. I feel it is my duty to offend young want to be doctors with my stench.
Thanks for being one Doc!
Thanks westernsloper!
Never was much of a fan. I did learn this way early on, do not look into the politics of performers or anyone else providing you with a service. If I boycotted everyone who has politics I abhor, I’d have to convert to the Amish religion. There’s not many people who have beliefs I can even stand, much less agree with. Even less in rock and roll. I just ignore them and listen to the music.
Great submission, though. Thanks!
Thanks blackjack!
Just slip out the blackjack,
Make a new plan, Stan.
It’s the only way unless you’re a government knob slobbing idiot.
The politics of the left, which is no longer counter-cultural, and hasn’t been since at least the mid-90s, has been the mainstay of musicians. The left won. They control every meaningful institution outside of (most of) the church, yet still somehow try and pretend they’re edgy and countercultural.
Even Extreme Metal groups, and even bands, are full of SJW enforcers, which is anathema to extreme metal as a concept. Just shut the fuck up and shred some shit, dude.
It’s frustrating. But if you just ignore it, it’s mostly fine. Being a connoisseur of foreign prog rock/metal sung in other languages makes it easier. My collection is full of foreign language records.
That said, I stay away from open commies like Rage. The hypocrisy of multi-millionaires who became rich from capitalism railing against capitalism is bullshit, and I won’t have any part of that shit.
Being that I love synth pop like Duran Duran, I never got into Bruce (or any classic rock for the most part). It’s interesting how music and certain songs can form such strong associations. It really sucks when someone you admired proves to be a shit person.
I knew you were a good egg.
I’m not biased or anything because Simon Lebon is my first love, but they’re an extremely underrated band. And John Taylor is an even more extremely underrated bassist.
I never followed them beyond their greatest hits, but man those are some great hits.
If you like their hits, their B sides are even better, IMO. They did some experimental shit back in the day, as well as some covers (Bowie’s “Fame” was a good one, but not too different than the original). I loooooove “Late Bar”. And “The Man Who Stole a Leopard”
As a big believer in… that, in general, I should check them out.
“There’s an all-night party in Room 7609″…how much more Duran Duran could you get? None. None more Duran Duran.
Also, check out “Secret Oktober” – that’s probably in my top 3 favorite songs of theirs.
I put on one of their albums I hadn’t listened to in decades and realized just that. Taylor is damn good.
I think MTV warped my perception of them.
If John Taylor, Bootsy Collins, and Sam Bolle were on a stage together I’d have to leave to go to my bunk
+1 Girls on Film. That song was not easy to learn, but fun to play. Especially playing along to the video.
Snork!
Here is a great piece of synth pop from the 80’s that I heard today. It’s the tune that John Lithgow turns off in the diner scene in Footloose. Hadn’t heard it in a while.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fZmHu1t_5X0
I would turn that off too.
Ha! No love for Shalamar?
As a musical person, I too find it exceptionally frustrating how the arts are completely filled with leftist, government fellating assholes. To find an artist who isn’t is rare.
Even great bands with a strong message of individual liberty like Rush have come out and gone full leftard. Peart essentially disowned his own lyrics, and talked shit about Rand despite their early work using Rand’s themes as a staple.
The trend of (particularly) rock musicians openly bending the knee is likely a large contributing factor to the decent of rock as a large cultural factor. No one wants to rock out to a theme that essentially says the state is the answer.
You don’t want to listen to State-sponsored rock and/or roll??????
“What’re you rebelling against, Johnny?”
Liberty, man, liberty.
“What’re you rebelling against, Johnny?”
Whaddaya got?
+1 Rage Advocating The Machine
LOL good one
Twisted Sister would like a word.
How’s your health, doc?
Still fighting the pain from the unexpected abdominal surgery on top of my normal pain from the crushed spine, but getting a little better every day. Thanks for asking!
Glad to hear it!! Here’s to minimal pain ASAP!
? A little better is always better. Join us again on a Zoom Happy Hour. They are fun if you can get a word in edgewise between the beer nerds.
Fuckin beer nerds
Goddamn those beer nerds.
It’s good that you’re getting better.
Good article, CA!
Thanks Spud!
Great article. I was a fan for many of the same reasons. Also, the E Street Band had some very good players. He also played great shows where he played for hours, which sort of tied in with what I believed at the time was his working class ethic of giving his fans their money’s worth.
Thanks Count Potato!
I can’t help myself.
Right, “I am no longer going to listen to this guy’s work” is exactly the same thing as “that person should lose their job for their wrongthink and I will take steps to ensure that happens”.
You really can’t help yourself sometimes.
That took me back C, thanks for the article. I took a gross anatomy class in high school. It was nothing at like what you went through, but it was held in the cadaver lab at the medical school. We didn’t do any dissections but just kept pace exploring the bodies as the med student dissected over the semester.
It’s been about 2 decades and I’ll never forget the smell of that place. This was my first class of the day so I had to go back to the regular high school after reeking of cadaver. Not exactly attractive to the gals so I’d bring a change of clothes. I think I broke out one of those cheap emergency plastic ponchos more than once if I forgot an extra shirt.
I would wager that the mop buckets at the trash truck repair shop smell worse. It was astounding that anything could stink worse than actual trash,
I have great respect for garbagemen. I couldn’t do that.
The worst I have ever smelled was after cleaning the grease trap in the kitchen of a YMCA Camp.
We stripped to shorts and laid on our bellies to scoop out the vile shit that got caught in the trap. It was a 3X per summer ordeal.
I still remember that smell.
You know who else had to scrape shit out of the Y?
My wife’s doctor after her episiotomy?
Taint no joke.
Kurt Cobain?
The Y Hole.
Yikes! We didn’t have that. Not that I would have taken it if we did.
Thanks Semi-Spartan Dad! IIRC, they at least gave us a huge hamper at the end of the semester to dispose of all our garb. Hopefully it all went straight into the incinerator. Nasty stuff.
I had to drop out of cadaver anatomy. The smell of formaldehyde made me retch. After the third time running to the sink to puke I gave up. The cadavers didn’t bother me but that smell….I had the same trouble in organic lab with hexane which we used for a solvent. Holy Gods, that smell would get in my nose and stay for days making me right on the edge of puking. I managed to stick that one out somehow.
The closest we got in high school advanced biology was dissection of cats. The formaldehyde smell was there too.
We’d done sharks and other critters, but the cats were the closest thing to people (anatomy-wise) and the bio teacher treated the class like it were a medical course. If we made a nick somewhere wrong with the scalpel, we got docked for it.
Pretty sure the goal was to challenge dozens of high school gals wanting to be a pediatrician because they loved kids with what it was actually going to take.
If they couldn’t bear to dissect a cat, dissecting a human and later treating kids with terrible medical afflictions was probably not their cup of tea.
A good deal al around, I’d say. I’m glad that medical schools still have Gross Anatomy early in the course work so that people can find out if they can handle it before they spend too many years at med school.
OH god, you reminded me. My adv bio class in high school we did the dissection thing (IIRC fetal pigs were the most advanced) but the sharks… I don’t know if they weren’t pickled enough or pickled in something else, but I just remember those were the ones where the smell made me want to puke.
OT: Thomas Massie’s kid is about to go into the 2nd round of the Battlebots tourney, after this word from our sponsors.
?
??
Holding onto the image of a person you once respected while accepting the reality of what they’ve become is tricky. We are going to be tempted to revise the past and say “In retrospect, he was always an asshole.” Love the way you refuse to fall into that trap because even if you’re wrong and he always was douche, you’d be erring on the side of decency.
I am decent. I also happen to be naked.
Instead of clicking your links, I just imagine what was playing in Macy’s 1965.
Can’t stand Bruce. I’ve broken fingernails trying to change the station when one of his songs came on.
Manfred Mann made Bruce sound good just like Jimi Hendrix made Dylan sound good.
“Glory Days” is to The Boss as “Jump” is to VH, an absolutely horrendous song in an otherwise very respectable Oeuvre.
You probably don’t even like “We Built This City”. SMDH.
Yeah, but I don’t much care for any Jefferson Airplane/starship/whatever song.
Also, Bernie Taupin and Peter Wolf have writing credits on that fucking monstrosity? The eighties truly were the dark ages.
No way…
You were listening to the wrong station.
Not me I was listening to WMMS, but I was aware of the shite other stations were playing.
KROQ. I apologize for the 90s with Jimmy Kimmel. Hopefully Adam Carolla makes up for that.
You could’ve said “I don’t like Jump”. Or is it important that I come to realize it’s horrendous, too?
Yes?
? You make me hate things I used to love.
Yeah, but in its defense, “Jump” is so bad it’s good.
Might as well. Go ahead and..
I like Jump because it’s still a lot better than the ballad-y Van Hagar crap that came after. And Eddie’s keyboard work is pretty damn good.
Outstanding. And Springsteen’s music has been totally lost on me, but you made me understand why it wasn’t lost on so many others. Thank you.
And I picked up a tidbit here I hadn’t known. And that will be in Sunday’s Old Guy Music, with a mask-tip to you.
Thanks OMWC!
Looking forward to Sunday’s selection.
A good article. I’ve never listened to Springsteen but now I’m even entertaining the idea of listening to his first albums that you like. No, probably not. But at least I read the lyrics of his songs in your article.
Being NJ born and raised and not a Bruce fan did not make for fun times. That said I agree with just about everything you wrote. I also prefer the earlier albums and generally covers of his work.
His voice just doesn’t work for me.
Same….Frankie Goes to Hollywood did “Born to Run” LOL
I feel the same about Dylan. His songs as covers are so much better
+ 1 Hendrix.
Dick Dale did an insanely beautiful cover of “Third Stone From the Sun”. It’s barely recognizable from the original.
Thanks. You articulated exactly how I fee about Bruce, except that I came to this realization about 20 years ago when I was at a concert and he went all BushHitler on the audience.
In 1976 Tucson Bruce wasn’t a big name yet. I stopped into the climbing supply store and picked up a copy of the free weekly paper. In the personal ads there was one that simply said, “Bruce Springsteen is the next Richard Halley and Born to Run is his 5th Concerto.” That got me to borrow the album from a friend who was amused by the request. I was hooked by the opening of “Thunder Road”. He lost me with Born to Run.
I wonder what the person who placed the ad thinks of Bruce now?
I think Born to Run lost a lot of people. The first time I heard it I thought “Wait…wut? What a chickenshit SOB. If your word means nothing then you dont either.”
Good to know I wasn’t the only one.
As I said privately, we are just about contemporaries because I share those timelines and memories. Thanks for the article!
Thanks CA.
By the time I was old enough, it was all the Glory Days crap.
I was much more a fan of Dire Straits at the time and felt that they had their finger on the pulse of America. Brothers In Arms is still one of my favorite albums. I rarely pay attention to lyrics, but that set of songs requires it. And Mark Knopfler can play.
Brothers In Arms is on my short list of albums I use to evaluate hifi gear.
Remastered versions turned the compression up to 11 unfortunately.
“Remastered versions turned the compression up to 11 unfortunately.”
That’s true of way too much these days.
+ Death Magnetic the last Metallica album I bought.
Compression is crucial when mixing and mastering, especially in a day and age where people listen to music primarily in loud environments (walking, the subway/train, driving, etc).
But motherfuck the loudness wars and basically eviscerating dynamics in music.
Fortunately many artists are now re-releasing records from the heyday of the loudness wars (late 90s- 2012 or so) that aren’t brick walled to all shit.
And many of the artists I listen to have now gone back to 70s style mixing and mastering and leaving all manner of dynamic range in their records, even to the detriment of listening in places like the car where you have to turn it up ultra-loud to hear the quiet/less loud parts.
I stopped listening to most new music because of the loss of dynamic range.
It’s essentially back when we’re talking about musicians’ musicians.
The Pineapple Thief has deep dynamic range, as does Steven Wilson’s work.
Opeth left behind brick walling at least 10 years ago, maybe more.
Lots of artists have abandoned brick walling, which is nice.
Thank God!
Yes.
When shit is supposed to be quiet, I want it quiet.
I think I find it most annoying on percussion.
Also I listen to more jazz and a classical thanks to the loudness wars.
Mind you I’m listening to new J Pop as I’m typing…
As a guy who played in orchestras I’ve listened to classical music for a very long time.
And yes, the lack of compression is a treat.
Dire Straits was outstanding. Their song “Brothers in Arms” from that album is very poignant.
Enjoy this from On Every Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG5ghP8XLW8
Dire Straits’ album “Making Movies” is on my all-time top ten list.
Saw Knopfler sans his bands in concert about 20 years ago. Man can he play guitar. He only did a couple songs with lyrics, and the average song was over 20 minutes long and almost all improvisation, but it never got tedious for even a second. Instead, you were grabbing hold of the seatback in front of you because you needed something to grip and hold on to as some amazing notes were blasting.
He’s truly an underrated guitarist. Probably because of his understated style.
But he never fails to move me.
Agree with all y’all, but however much he’s underrated as a guitar picker it’s tripled in his song writing. His lyrics and composition, even if he couldn’t play worth a damn would put him in rarified air.
True
Ugh. Mom played the Mary Chapin Carpenter cover of that all the time. Didn’t know that was Dire Straits. Not gonna reevaluate it either, just gonna ignore that I know that now.
DON”T YOU DISS MCC! I will have to ask you to step outside, sir!
It was during and after the divorce, and she played it all the effing time…
though one of the most poignant memories I have from childhood is my brother and mom having an Intense Conversation in the other room while my sis and I watched some shit on TV… I don’t remember what we watched but I remember mom cranking up Dire Straits Romeo and Juliet on the CD player after my brother left the house and she was sobbing to it.
Mark Knopfler might be my favorite guitarist.
The line “I’ve got a right to go to work” ruins Telegraph Road for me.
Other than that, magnificent song on a magnificent album (by a magnificent group)
I became a Dire Straits fan with the lyric “two men say they’re Jesus, one of ’em must be wrong” from their song Industrial Disease.
In 1998, I went to the local dive bar to watch the NFC championship game. Some homeless guy kept playing Bon Jovi on the jukebox. “You turn that shit off and I’ll buy you a drink.” We sat at the bar and really started getting into the game. A woman who too young to already be mostly toothless slid up next to me and joined in the cheering. “Are you a Viking fan, too?” I asked her. “No. I don’t even like sports, but you guys are having so much fun!” The three of us sat in the empty bar high fiving each other until Morton missed. “Goddamn it! I’m out of here.” I invited them back to my apartment and got got shit faced drunk on vodka. The homeless dude and tooth challenged chick might have fucked in my kitchen. Don’t remember cuz I was passed out in my room. Point is: Bon Jovi sucks.
Cool story,
sloperstraffin.Not enough overthrowing or despot governments.
I’m more Kaczynski than Brzezinski.
Way to bury the lede.
I won’t say how much time I’ve spent watching “Minneapolis Miracle” reaction videos.
I don’t like to think about 1998.
(THIRD DOWN, MOTHERFUCKER?)
Living in Denver when they won their rings was torture. Bronco fans have a different type of cringe than even Packer fans.
Same here. Plus I bet a ton on GB in the 1998 game. I still have nightmares of those Terrell Davis sweeps that gutted the GB defense all game.
Davis was one of the few guys on that team I liked. He was a beast in his prime.
FUCK YEAH GO BRONCOS!
*gapes in awe*
I’ve probably posted this before, but it’s just worth it. The original metal.
https://youtu.be/o6rBK0BqL2w
From the comments:
‘I played guitar for 20 years, after watching this video i finally have the motivation to pursue career in accounting.’ and
‘Just imagine the poor kid that has to follow her in a talent show’
One of my favorite parts of playing guitar is that you can absolutely suck, but still have a fucking fantastic time tripping through songs.
Just turning on the delay and playing scales can make someone feel like fucking Merlin.
That’s great. I happen to have the headphones on at the moment. Backing guy is goo too, but the recording itself is mediocre sadly.
Yeah, a little overdriven.
Good god, that sucks. It’s worse than chops jazz, if such a thing is possible.
I’m not on a first name basis with Mr. Springsteen.
Just call him the boss. Sigh…
Boss Bootlicker.
I enjoyed when my friend explained “gomasuri” or sesame grinder to me.
The gesture for it is kind of confusing when you first see it.
Yes, she explained you need to make the gesture too for full effect.
I’LL WORSHIP MY BOSS PEDALS IF I WANT!!!
Nicely written, Doc.
People grow and change, not always for the better, sadly.
I saw Bruce once. Pretty good. It was after Clarence Clemons died, and his son had taken over on sax duties. He shreds a mean sax just like his old man. I don’t consider myself much of a Springsteen fan but he had some killer songs.
I think it’s his nephew on sax?
Tramps like him, maybe, he should Learn to Code.
*slow clap*
Strong article, C.A.
Fuckin’ A, Doc. I was prepared to savage BS, but that was beautiful. A great reminder that we should never learn too much about our heroes or expect them to live up to what we thought they were.
Fantastic article.
The only steen is Malmsteen.
https://youtu.be/n6kPfe9gVJk
+1 Rising Force
There’s Kevin Steen.
I am a little too old for Bruce and his E Street guys but I liked your explanation and now won’t have to seek him out.
s
U
C
K
A
What is, “Gonna git you, “?
I loved that movie.
you’ll need an orthopedic surgeon
Great piece C, thanks. Yes that Jeep ad also irked the shit out of me and I’m not even a big Springsteen fan. Hope you are well and on the mend.
I don’t understand the need to stick his dick in that particular hornets nest unless
A) he’s a true believer, which, for progressives, probably made it seem like NBD. Every facet of society except Youtube comments caters to their existence; or
B) he’s such a shill for his brand that, you know, whatever. In which case I have to wipe a tear from my eye for ol Bruce, as American as the Kardashians or Trump.
Excellent writing, and I don’t even like music!
Just because this an absolutely phenomenal performance.
https://youtu.be/LdH1hSWGFGU
Google Censorship Continues – RSBN Suspended for Carrying President Trump CPAC Speech
“misinformation”
LOL you idiots won – no need for this clown show anymore
BUT OMB LIE ABOUT ELECTION!!
How could we possibly allow 1/2 of America to obsess on how the election was stolen?
That’s UNPRECEDENTED!
Agreed, that was ridiculous. Censorship is way out of hand.
Late to the party.
Never much cared for Bruce, but The River is one of my all time favorite songs.
Was a huge Springsteen fan. Was in the audience for his first ever show in Oz which was also the first live concert for Born in the USA. Four hours on stage ending with a 30 minute cover of Twist and Shout. I do own Ghost of Tom Joad and The Rising but agree his best stuff ended with Nebraska.
Wow, that’s depressing, and I don’t even know much Springsteen.
Maybe John Greenleaf Whittier can make us…more depressed.
So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn
Which once he wore!
The glory from his gray hairs gone
Forevermore!
Revile him not, the Tempter hath
A snare for all;
And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath,
Befit his fall!
Oh, dumb be passion’s stormy rage,
When he who might
Have lighted up and led his age,
Falls back in night.
Scorn! would the angels laugh, to mark
A bright soul driven,
Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark,
From hope and heaven!
Let not the land once proud of him
Insult him now,
Nor brand with deeper shame his dim,
Dishonored brow.
But let its humbled sons, instead,
From sea to lake,
A long lament, as for the dead,
In sadness make.
Of all we loved and honored, naught
Save power remains;
A fallen angel’s pride of thought,
Still strong in chains.
All else is gone; from those great eyes
The soul has fled:
When faith is lost, when honor dies,
The man is dead!
Then, pay the reverence of old days
To his dead fame;
Walk backward, with averted gaze,
And hide the shame!
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45486/ichabod
That calls for some John Donne to lighten the mood.
Donne wrote that after the death of his beloved bride shortly after their last child was stillborn, and declaring that Death has no power after this life. He’d lost other children to early death and felt each loss profoundly.
It’s a poem about hope. Just not for this lifetime.
Wow, I had no idea he’d just gone through all that.
Of course, preaching hope was literally his job. But he stuck to it.
It’s crazy to think of now, but many families had lots of children and still only a few survived into adulthood.
Many women just kept having kid after kid until eventually one of the pregnancies killed her.
Life was nasty, brutish, and short.
But at least no one got offended by plastic potato toys.
I remember reading Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror and at first I really distanced myself from the people of the 14th century because it was so violent and tragic, even by medieval standards, so I imagined people as being a sort of different species passively undergoing suffering. Then Tuchman quoted from some 14th century description of mothers playing with their young children, and I came up short – you mean, people then still had normal reactions and real-people-type joys?
I don’t know where I’m going with this, maybe something about a common humanity in joy and sorrow.
I’m a firm believer in the human condition.
No matter when or where you’ve lived, we all share certain experiences. We all have relationships concerning power, love, hate, joy. We all experience those things, and we always have.
It’s why I’m loathe to erase the voices of the past. Just because one may have lived in the past, even long ago, doesn’t mean they don’t have anything meaningful and useful to say that’s applicable to everyone.
The past was racist. Therefore; cancelled.
True facts.
My aunt put together a family tree and mailed out copies to everyone a few years ago. My grandfather had 10 siblings – 3 of them have the same birth and death year.
I’m not in a morbid enough mood to link it, but in researching other topics I came across the cemetery records of a man and his wife whose eight children predeceased them, and they had a separate gravestone inscription – still visible – for each child.
Good article C.
I was never partial to Bruce , but his political activism turned me from “meh” to TURN THAT SHIT OFF!
I realize many actors and musicians I like are lefties, so mostly I avoid reading about their opinions so it won’t ruin the music.
But the ones who go out of their way to shove their politics into the spot light ruin it for me. Springsteen, Garth Brooks, Susan Sarandon, and the like will not get a penny from me if I can help it.
Being a lefty doesn’t bother me. The problem today is the average lefty accepts the bs totalitarian explanations given by “experts” on how to micromanage people’s lives. Now that type of lefty is enabling the destruction of my freedom and I’ve got a big problem with that.
Yep. As others here observed above, there’s nothing counter culture and edgy and bold about their political stance.
They’re afraid of even being exposed to ideas that challenge their own.
How pathetic is that? “La la la ! I can’t hear your opinion or reasoned arguments! Lalala!”
You hit the nail on the head Straff. I’ll just add I can live with actors and musicians having political opinions and discussing them, briefly, if asked in an interview. Someone here pointed out Anthony Hopkins always answers political questions by saying he doesn’t know much about it so let’s discuss something else. Brilliant advice that many could learn from.
What I can stand is when they jam their politics in my face. STFU. I came to see you to get away from politics.
I don’t get why people care what celebrities think anyway.
Just about everyone from a janitor to a CEO would have at least some unique insight to how a certain policy would affect people like them… But professional actors and musicians? Some tiny percentage of people living a highly irregular and privileged lifestyle? People who will be sitting in the lap of luxury pretty much no matter what political situation plays out? I really can’t think of anyone whose opinion is less valuable.
So much this.
I certainly agree with the listening to musicians part, but the vast majority of musicians don’t live that way, and aren’t rich or famous by any definition, yet they still have a voice and are largely progressive.
Yes, there are the select few, but that’s such a tiny percentage as to be negligible.
Their voice is outsized, but I honestly question whether people actually listen en masse, or whether those who do listen to them aren’t just basically on the margins.
Quite true. I guess I meant those who are world-famous superstars.
Exactly. I regard celebrity opinions pretty much the same as the opinions of the grocery cashier – I’m not here to hear that right now, I’m paying you for a service, and if you carry out that service we’ll have no issue. I don’t particularly care what causes you want to support in your private time with your own money. But if you preach to me about social justice when I’m trying to obtain that service, I might end up finding someone else who can provide it without the lecture.
Well said.
Unfortunately they won’t feel the pinch of a few of us going elsewhere for our entertainment.
Still, they’re trying to get rid of “elsewhere” so there must be some level of concern that some of have limits to what we’re willing to put up with.
Here’s Bruce pretending to lead the band in an impromptu performance of “You Never Can Tell” at the request of an audience member. https://youtu.be/L-Ds-FXGGQg
The whole thing is staged and just so awful and phony. It’s embarrassing for the band and insulting to the audience. I really don’t like Bruce Springsteen music. It’s so overwrought, melodramatic. Working class Jersey stuff; whatever. Also, he’s a New Jersey guy that has a Southern accent?!? Pick a region, guy. It’s all just terrible. Awful.
Jesus that was bad. I couldn’t sit through the whole thing.
OT: Well, think I might be newly single as of tonight. Honestly, it’s been happening in slow-motion for quite a while, but one little argument tonight seems to have broken the camel’s back.
But the objects, goddamn, the objects… Everything in this house going to remind me of her. That entertainment center that we bought and brought home in her van that one day. The watches she got me for our one year. That new hat for my birthday. The pictures of us all over the house. Every piece of clothing I bought with her. Even the things I cooked for her.
I’ve been at work all day so I think my mind numbed it out. Now I’m just kind of waiting for it to hit me.
I’ve ranted and raved about how Stoicism can help you in life, so I guess it’s my turn to put it to the test.
I’m sorry, Akira. Been there, done that. Even when you believe it’s the right thing to do, it hurts like a mofo.
Sure does. Never been in a relationship this long (about a year and 8 months) so I have no idea what I’m in for. Just have to face it with courage, though. If a friend of mine can be divorced after 20 years and come out OK, so can I.
Thanks for reading and replying.
Sorry you are going through that. Just know you will make it through.
Thanks dude, I appreciate it.
I think there’s a very popular book that says “This too shall pass”.
I don’t have any helpful words. But this site is full of people to “listen” when you want to talk.
I was able to keep most of the material items, but I had to get rid of the pictures. It was easier then because they were film negatives and weren’t online.
You can’t make it like it never happened, but you can learn to be glad for the aspects of the relationship that are part of who you are now, even while letting go.
Yea, I’ll just have to box everything up and stick it in a closet for a while. Maybe in a year or two the memory will be faded enough so that I can get them out again without hurting.
True. Even if it’s learning what not to do in a relationship, there are some ultimately good things I’ll take away from it.
Honestly, I just want her to be OK too. If there were any way to magically wipe away her pain and give her a fresh new start tomorrow, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
Thanks for listening and replying. Without this site, I’d have nobody to talk to at this hour.
“Even if it’s learning what not to do in a relationship, there are some ultimately good things I’ll take away from it.”
That’s how people grow. This is a good thing.
Sorry, bro. Short term; feel the pain. Mid term; you will get over it. Long term; you’ll forget the details, there is no more heartache, you’re in a better relationship.
Thanks.
I’m going to have to take some good cry sessions when I can so that I can function throughout the day… But I’m trying to look at it as a necessary step to a better future.
Sorry Akira.
I fucked up an argument with my wife tonight (again). Didn’t even realize it was one until I shanked myself. Kingdom for a do-over.
Thanks dude.
Arguing sucks. Sometimes I wish there were some entity that would do honest research into the psychological differences between men and women. Then maybe we could understand each other instead of expecting the other one to think/feel the same way and getting frustrated when they don’t.
Bummer, Akira. Fill your extra time up with stuff you put off on her behalf.
Thanks man. That’s going to be my therapy for sure. Woodworking, reading, and running… Hell, maybe take up something entirely new. Never hurts to have more places to channel energy (either negative or positive).
Sorry to hear it. BTDT a few times.
You will be alright once you find the “new” you – the guy you will become when you are through this transition, this passage. As bad as it can hurt you will be better for it.
If there’s any advice I would hope to give it would be to stay away from any new relationships until you are done healing. Rebound relationships rarely work out.
And I was the rebound for her – she left her husband a few months before we got together. Lesson learned, I guess. Thanks for replying.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JWdZEumNRmI
Obligatory music.
*gets the good bourbon and pours a shot for Akira*
Sorry, dude. It gets better.
Dude! Airhead Supply?? Even I don’t like Air Supply, and my taste in music is about as schmaltzy as they come.
I would have gone with The Redhead covering The Browne One for the soundtrack to a good cry.
Another good one for that. Nobody sings a sad song like Bonnie Raitt, and I’m such a sucker for a sad song. Used to sing this one with the band that eventually fired me. Good times.
throw it all away, start fresh, you’ll never lose the memories though,
/Been there, doing that right now,
Great article CA. I grew up in a stone’s throw from New Jersey. If I walked about 300 yards I was in it. Springsteen was huge when I was growing up. I was never a fan and never understood the adoration. Having said that, I completely understand certain songs or albums are an indelible marker of important life events.
Oddly, much later in life I came to really enjoy Darkness On The Edge Of Town and two songs from Nebraska (57 Channels and Johnny 99). Go figure.
Must’ve been an east coast thing. To me, he was just another pop singer on the radio. Couldn’t tell Melloncamp from Springsteen.
Same here. Especially for me growing up on the border with a different language/culture woven into everything.
New Jersey music
Happy Friday, all you Glibbies out there, one more day then, Freedom!!!!!!
*rubs eyes*
How is it morning already?
Ugh. Single digit wind chills.
25 and no wind over here, looks to be a nice sunny day, if a bit cold,
Sup Sean?
17 and a wind chill of 0 degrees on the dot.
Yikes, 17 here in Scottville at work, no wind thankfully
Then stay off the dot – way too cold there!
At work now. Yay, Friday!
19 degrees that “feel like 19” and clear. Hmmm…. might mean frost on the windshield. I should plan accordingly.
Happy Friday, Yu! I think I’m getting paid today! Woo hoo!
Direct deposit, wake up Paid! Hope your day rocks, off to the mushroom mines!
Ciao kids!
And JUST as I was about to log in to check Online Banking (as much as I hate “the B word,” that’s what it’s called,) my boss texted me to tell me it hasn’t posted. Just squiffy.
#metoo
And I’m not even downtown.
Hey GT and Yusef! And the rest you reprobates.
Good morning, TARDy!
Following on the heels of the Peeps makeup story…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/03/04/chipotle-launching-its-own-makeup-line-help-elf/4579333001/
Da fuq?
Red and green – especially guac green – are quite possibly the worst possible colors in the visible spectrum for eye shadow.
Since it’s Chipotle, does it come with conjunctivitis?
::snaps fingers and sings:: “Conjunctivitis, what’s your function…”
“… making you itch with eye-arhea.”
Dammit…I really need to finish my article in the works.
You’re writing an article about conjunctivitis??
Not a Bruce fan, but I’m a fan of this article.
That’s a much more mature response than mine. I want to go on Twatter and tell him I want a refund on the CDs I own. I was never a big fan, but I I do like the early stuff. Like some other artists, some people should just write the lyrics and leave the music and singing to others. I’ll take 99cents for each there, Obama’s Bitch Boy.
Oh, and great write-up, C.
Also,
Dire Straits’ album “Making Movies” is on my all-time top ten list. Absolutely.
I saw Dire Straits for the Love Over Gold tour and then Knopfler with Clapton. Both shows were outstanding.
Springsteen used to have some poignant lyrics but they often contained an underlying theme of being fucked over by traditional society (some legitimate and some unfounded) along with the implications that flow from that. I’m not surprised that he ended up in his current political camp because he was always there, he just doesn’t feel he has to slather himself in working class hero affectations to be accepted now.
Notice He, got Mary pregnant,
But cant find work,
And its the economies fault,
Never his,
Yeah, this…if this was your buddy crying into his beer saying something like this you’d have some sympathy but eventually you’d get tired of hearing it and just tell him to get a damn job and maybe get a divorce if it’s that freaking bad.
Good write up – even if it’s almost entirely outside my experience.
I wrote Springsteen off when he did “Born in the USA”. Just when it was becoming cool to support Vietnam vets he jumped on the bandwagon – though he had dodged the draft.
I’m not saying he should have served and taken his chances. Just don’t avoid it then jump in to “represent” when there’s money to be made. I would have had mad respect for him had he written something similar back in the 70’s when it wasn’t popular yet.
Apparently he failed the physical.
And great writeup C!
http://thebrewermagazine.com/send-poop-get-six-pack-duclaw-new-give-crap-challenge/
Link says it all.
https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2173649924993/dad-caught-on-doorbell-camera-confronting-babysitter-after-son-6-steals-alcohol
Heh.
Nice Chet.
My cousin is a big music fan and has lamented about the fact how his favourite bands are suck rank tiresome hypocrites. He does – as I do – the same thing and just disassociates the music and lyrics from the signer/band.
The smart musicians steered clear from all this political nonsense. And the Obama fellators are the damn worse. ‘I thank you sir for all…’ Fack off. Nauseating bull shit. They all became preachy douche bags during the Trump years. Now they can all go back to bed with their thumbs up their noses and asses as they’re good hands now with their boy Biden.
Mellencamp is another one. Loves to yap about Republicans but keeps quiet when Democrats act like obvious dip shits. How is he – or ANY artist not screaming about the assault on free speech which obviously threatens their craft? Nah. Easier to stay in their elite bubble and sing for Obama and suck each other’s dicks pretending how great they all are.
Bill Gates apparently now is the biggest farm land owner in America. Where’s muh Farm Aid now? Again, how is it loud mouth’d shnooks are quiet about this?
Also, Springsteen. Love his albums right up to and including Nebraska and Born. Born to me is commercial but it’s good stuff. Bobby Jean is so wicked. I could do without his twang Guthrie shtick but I’ve seen him five times and consider Springsteen and the E Street Band an incredible live act.
I’m glad Dylan wisely avoided all this crap. He did play with The Band after all.
Anyway, for you guys who don’t see it, the Zevon doc featured Bruce. They hooked up to play Disorder in the House. Obviously the full doc is worth the viewing but the part is at the 36m mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIaOHkeQNMk