The Cult of Bruce: The fawning over Springsteen is now officially nauseating

Opinion Journal ^ | 08/23/2002 | MARK GAUVREAU JUDGE

[Pokey78]

Bruce Springsteen, the man who almost got me assaulted in 1984, is once again topping the pop music charts with a new album, "The Rising," written as a response to Sept. 11. He's the subject of hagiographies in Time and Rolling Stone and was interviewed by Ted Koppel and entertained by Katie Couric, who genuflected (rhetorically) before his greatness on "Today."

[BADROTOFINGER]

The great thing about some American music is that it just screams, and sometimes whispers, the American experience. Some perfomers have it, guys like CCR, Lynard Skynard, and John Cougar Mellencamp, while others only wish they had it, like Bruce Springsteen...JFK

[Cap'n Crunch]

Springsteen and Elvis. I'm sick of hearing about both of them.

I used to like Springsteen until I figured out he was a liberal.

[Paul Atreides]

Indeed, religion is the only way to explain the Pauline tone of the Return of the Boss.

Just try criticizing David Lynch's version of Dune, and see what grief you'll get. Some people get attached to one person and can see no wrong in anything that person does.

[BADROTOFINGER]

I watched a David Lynch movie called Lost Highway, I thought that they should have called it Lost Movie Viewer. I had a friend explain it to me (3 times, even) and I still dont get it. Have never read Dune or watched the movies however, that and the Wheel of Time series are some books that I am saving as a treat for myself when the urge to read some loooong fiction returns...JFK

[Paul Atreides]

Dune is excellent. However, there are some cop-outs in the sequels. The Lynch movie is visually beautiful, but sorely lacking in content and coherence. The miniseries is very good, IMHO. It is not perfect, but it gets a great deal of the actual story on film. Back when we Dune fans were first hearing about the miniseries, there were people who wanted the original cast of the movie to be cast in the miniseries. They wanted actors in their 40s to be cast as teens! After the cast of the mini was revealed, they criticized the fact that a 24 year old actor looked too old to portray a teen. It was pathetic.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I've never been fond of Bruce's whiny crap. Kurt Loder's taste is all in his mouth, he should be covering politics instead of music.

[GATOR NAVY]

I thought he was overrated in the '70s and still think he is.

There is no reasoning with Springsteen fans. They form their own religion, or rather their own cult. Bruce's return is their Second Coming, and third and fourth, depending on how you count

I remember in 1979 or 80 I worked with some people who were happy to pay scalpers over $100 to see "The Boss". This was back when an arena concert was probably about $10-$15. I thought they were crazy.

[Paul Atreides]

Bruce really got off track when he did that song about AIDS for the movie Philadelphia. I liked Born in the USA, for the most part.

[Mr. Mojo]

Last good album by BS? The River, 1980

Last great album by BS? Darkness on the Edge of Town, 1978

[shaggy eel]

,,, when "Born in the USA" hit around 1984, TIME magazine had Bruceee on the cover of an issue. If I remember rightly, it had the comment "he was going to take the US by storm overnight - it took him ten years to do it." Something like that. Is he doing much different to what he did then?

[clintonh8r]

Bruce's stuff is mostly crap. The cult of Bruce gives me a pain. I'll give him this...he has great publicity and PR. Not a lot of talent, but good promotion.

[HHFi]

I used to like Bruce, back in the period from "Darkness on the Edge of Town" through "The River" and parts of "Born in the USA," but then he lost me. Sadly, he started listening to all the worshipful "intellectuals" writing the gas bag pieces about how he was the bard of the poor, oppressed common man, and he fired the E Street Band and turned out a string of mumbling, tuneless ballads about how tough it is to live in Amurikah, hoboin' around and sleepin' under train trestles (apparently, from his $10 million mansion, America in the 1980s was indistinguishable from America during the Depression).

One thing these stories never mention is that all those albums like "Nebraska" that were supposed to encapsulate the experiences of the downtrodden workers (according to the rave reviews from the effite, Ivy League magazine writers) were his worst sellers because the average American didn't buy them. For some reason, when Joe and Jane Sixpack forked over their hard-earned money for concert tickets or CDs, they didn't want to hear draggy ballads about how badly their lives suck. They wanted to hear "Pink Cadillac" and "Rosalita." So if Bruce really gave a damn about helping and uplifting the masses, he'd give them some songs they could dance to.

It all reminds me of the scene in "Stardust Memories" when Woody Allen asks some space aliens what he should to do to help mankind. They reply, "You're a comedian. If you want to help mankind, tell funnier jokes."

[drjimmy]

Had I only realized then what I do now: There is no reasoning with Springsteen fans. They form their own religion, or rather their own cult.
There is also no reasoning with Springsteen haters. They are flip sides of the same coin. I'm a Springsteen semi-fan. I saw him twice back in 1978 and he gave the most amazing live show I've ever experienced. The hype surrounding his new album is ridiculous, but the album itself is great. Mark Gauvreau Judge is pissed that his idols don't get the same attention Springsteen does. Get over it, and get over yourself.

[LenS]

My teen years coincided with the rise of Bruce. He bored me then. He bores me now. The only song that he did that I liked was Blinded by the Light. I didn't like his version, but I loved the Manfred Mann version. That's about as close as I got to liking a song of his.

[TheSpottedOwl]

That's kind of what I mean. He always sounded "packaged" to me. If I want to hear real honesty and working class values, I'll listen to the Ramones ;-)

Ok, Born In The USA wasn't too bad...

[Trailerpark Badass]

Last good album by BS? The River, 1980 Last great album by BS? Darkness on the Edge of Town, 1978

Only good album by BS? Nebraska, 1982

[two23]

"I thought he was overrated in the '70s and still think he is.

The dude grates my nerves even worse than Billy Joel

[Mr. Mojo]

Great post, and I completely concur.

[BlazingArizona]

The Lynch movie is visually beautiful, but sorely lacking in content and coherence. Crucial content like the Harkonnnen dinner scene had to be left out.

Not even David Lynch could cram that large a story into the run-time of a movie. The miniseries may have been amateurish in comparison to the film, but it was the only form with time to tell the whole story.