Posted on 09/01/2013 4:19:27 PM PDT by nickcarraway
An entire generation has dismissed The Boss' music as lame "dad rock." Here's why they're all wrong
Every few weeks or so, I’ll be talking to someone at a bar or club or house party, and the conversation will inevitably turn toward Bruce Springsteen. The exchange is usually as follows:
BAR PATRON/PARTY GUEST: So, what kind of music do you listen to?
ME: Oh, a little bit of everything … blues, jazz, funk, Bruce Springsteen (brief pause) … you know, my tastes are super eclectic.
BAR PATRON/PARTY GUEST: Um, why do you like Springsteen?
ME: So, you don’t like Bruce Springsteen?
BAR PATRON/PARTY GUEST: Ugh. No.
(Long pause)
ME: (Shuffling away while muttering angrily, like an elderly woman being chastised for feeding pigeons) Well, you should.
This person will then enumerate the list of reasons why he dislikes Bruce Springsteen, usually employing four out of six of the following arguments:
He’s old. He sucks. He sucks because he’s old. He’s old because he sucks. He sings about being a member of the working class even though he’s made millions and millions of dollars over the past 30 years “Born in the USA” sucks. In my 24 years as a die-hard Bruce fan, I have had this conversation approximately eight or nine hundred thousand times. While the people on the other end tend to skew toward a specific demographic — white, male, in a creative profession, dating someone with bangs and an Egon Schiele tattoo — they come from a wide range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, from Bushwick installation artists to a bouncer I met in Ireland, who used his loathing for “Born in the USA”
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
The average waiter in the average restaurant has a modicum of class.
The funny thing about “Born in the USA” was that it criticized the treatment of our veterans returning from Viet Nam by Liberal Hippies. That’s one of the reasons it resonated with Americans, particularly during the Reagan years!
I’m with you. Used to really like him and his music. As a Jersey shore teenager and in my young 20’s, I thought he was a regular working class guy who made it big, but didn’t let it go to his head. I think that was true then, but along the way, it did go to his head and he became a jerk. Now despise him for his politics. The real break came when he did “41 shots” and took sides against the NYPD.
I don’t hate Springsteen. His music is honest, but of mediocre quality.
He always seemed to fake being “Down to Earth.” Either you’re “Down to Earth” or you’re not. You can’t fake it.
It’s like he was Milli Vanilli before Milli Vanilli were Milli Vanilli except that (as far as I know) he sang his own stuff.
I hope that makes sense.
I always felt like the media were trying to convince me that I like U2. That crap never worked on me. Dittos with “Green Day.”
Nothing personal, I just like good music.
You!
Are!
Awesome!
The was a Bloom County comic strip featuring a pimply faced adolescent who adored the nihilistic music of the imaginary punk band Billy and the Boingers. Mostly because his parents were great fans of Bruce Springsteen, dressing like middle aged 1980s hippies.
(a small, low resolution version of the comic.)
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_meb59g9OAY1r3yxp8o1_400.jpg
I think the 4 seasons were jersey boys.
They weren’t half bad.
Ditto and ditto.
I have to break it very slowly and carefully to people from New Jersey that Springsteen’s music sucks. It usually comes as a huge shock, with traumatic consequences.
But hey, someone has to do the difficult things in life.
His voice was irritating. He sung like he was constipated.
Actually, he’s not constipated. He’s just full of sh*t.
What really drives me nuts is when he sings in the faux-Woody Guthrie drawl.
There was a better song on that subject, "Remember the Heroes" by Sammy Hagar.
Listen to the Springsteen versions of “Blinded by the Light,” “Spirits in the Night,” and “For You,” and then listen the Manfred Mann versions. Manfred Mann’s versions blow the Springsteen’s versions to heck and back.
” “Born in the USA” sucks.”
Yup. There may be hope for these kids yet!
Hate hate HATE that vile collection of notes and words that some call a song. And it REALLY chaps my arse when some dipwad plays it as some kind of patriotic song. Don’t the idiots know the words?
Can’t stand Springteen at all.
I was always more of a Clash fan!
Stopped reading right there. This is not a fan writing this article. Any fan would know that "Born In U.S.A." is an anti-American, anti-Reagan song. Hell, Springsteen was pissing on the American Flag on that album's cover.
Springsteen may have a musical legacy but he is an extremely ignorant person, a knee-jerk liberal, who doesn't have a clue with respect to how the world works.
I love my story about BS. I was working the polls at the Republican HQ in Columbus OH, days before the Bush vs Kerry election. We had been there all day, very electric. Patrick Bush stopped in at the end of the day to thank the workers. Media was everywhere. Springsteen was also in town doing a concert for Kerry. I was standing next to Bush who was thanking us and a reporter asked if he could interview me. Oh yeah......as usual he could have cared less about GWB and asked me what I thought about Bruce Sprinsteen being there for Kerry......I expressed my support for GWB and then said, “what could a “has-been” rockstar possibly do to advance a presidential candidate. He has never been vetted, has never been elected for a public office and sings out of tune”. Two of the three local stations used it.!!!
Liberal commentary throughout his career has made him a "non-desirable" performer. Kind of like the Dixie Chicks.
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