"Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen -- who really enjoys this overproduced crappy glop?

I'm curious how many people who don't like Bruce have been converted by seeing him live? Or perhaps the opposite scenario?

rolling stones, "happy"
rolling stones, "tumbling dice"
little willie john, "i'm shakin"

Is there a sax on "Rocks Off"?

But I harbor a nostalgic fondness for "Who Can it Be Now?" and thus we may have a winner in Men at Work.

(The corollary, however, is that I expect that Alex in NYC would Springsteen's British equivalent, if such a freak-of-nature existed.)

Just wanted to see that phrase again.

Rigorous scientific studies have determined that the right amount of glockenspiel is 23.7 milliglockens. Any less or more is, well, wrong.

Or "I've got a fever and the only prescription is... more glockenspiel!"

And if we're still talking saxophones, a special mention to Gil Bernal, whose slapstick-funny solos enlivened the early Coasters (and Robins) records. My favourite rock and roll sax playing on any non-Fun House record.

Love those Glockenspiel wisecracks! Now try "flugelhorn" or "BigMuff".

xpost.. (Ken L is one of my favorite ILM posters these days...)

Thanks, Dave. I hope you didn't read the rest of my posts to this thread. I think we first crossed paths with
this post

Elvis Costello, maybe, if you really want to stretch things ("British" possibly encompassing different ideas of fashion, pop romanticism, mixed-up-kid sentiment and bitterness). Or, for one album, the Clash ("The Card Cheat", anyone?)

- Yeah, i've heard that there's a huge amount of mutual love between Suicide and Springsteen...somewhat inexplicably. On an entirely unrelated note, I've read that the intro to "With Or Without You" by U2 is modelled after the intro to "Cheree" by Suicide.

- Why do I dislike Motown (I'd prefer not to waste the word "hate" on Motown. I don't think Berry Gordy et al. should be viciously maimed or anything, I just don't like the music). I don't know. Perhaps it's because it's so "steadfastly cannonical" (though, admittedly, I do have a great amount of love for certain other music that is equally cannonized, so go know). It just doesn't speak to me. Maybe it's "The Big Chill"'s fault. Whatever. Smokey Robinson's never done anything for me. I loathe everything about Dianna Ross. I suppose the Temptations were alright, but nothing I'd ever get excited about. Marvin Gaye is probably the only artist on the roster I'd ever actively choose to listen to (or, more likely, the one Motown artist I wouldn't actively turn off.) It's just not my music, that's all.

- This morning, the Springsteen tune in question -- as Q104 apparently must play at least one Bruce track every morning -- was "Thunder Road," the opening piano & harmonica intro of which made me sigh balefully.

The corollary, however, is that I expect that Alex in NYC would Springsteen's British equivalent, if such a freak-of-nature existed

Billy Bragg maybe? Yeah, he's alright....a bit more restrained in the studio than Bruce.

Sax solos I don't mind:
- "Urgent" by Foreigner
- "A Night Like This" by the Cure
- various bits of Wish You Were Here and Dark Side.. by the `Floyd
- Anything/everything by James Chance

WA-UH-EH-OH-EH-OO-OH!

Oh wrongity wrongy wrong.

my own answer is strongly implied in how i worded the above question, of course.

This is very interesting, on a number of other musically related levels I don't even feel like going into right now.

Early Billy Bragg ("Back To Basics" CD compilation of vinyl stuff is absolutely essential) is at least 7 times more brilliant than Springsteen. Just him and his guitar. He should have stuck with that formula, even if I appreciate a few things here and there of his later stuff.

I don't think Berry Gordy et al. should be viciously maimed or anything, I just don't like the music)

Well that's good. Because Berry Gordy's record label Qwest was the first record company in the U.S. to release New Order records.

Also, if you can't deal with Diana Ross, well, fair enough. But you must watch "Lady Sings The Blues" someday and tell me it's not a good movie, first. As for me, I'm still racked with guilt for not having Marvin Gaye's "What Goes On" album despite meaning to purchase it for years.

Confession: Strangely I always enjoyed Foreigner's "Urgent". I never bought the record, but it had a certain resonance. In fact, when I first discovered as a kid that there were big books about rock n'roll at the library, it seems to me that song was in my head looking through those books. They talked about the Knack in those books. Stuff like that.

Cure are very fine indeed on "A Night Like This", saxophones or no.

I thought Qwest was Quincy Jones' label.

the grimly station bar jukebox five (every fucken time, much to the old regulars' annoyance):

meat loaf: two out of three ain't bad OR dead ringer for love
brooce: born in the usa (why not born to run? i dunno)
simon and garfunkel: the boxer
bowie: heroes
neil diamond: forever in blue jeans

now that is music to drink to

All I'm saying is: think about it.

Same large-banded arena-concert ethos. Same playing of Greatest Hits to the diehard fans with their fists in the air. Same or similar poetic ambitions. Same level of bombast (even if it is a different flavor of bombast). Almost the same amount of faux populism, or rather the same gosh-gee-I'm-still-just-a-bloke-from-the-old-neighborhoodiness.

Bonus coincidence: They've both been known to have their wives on stage with them.

Special extra credit bonus coincidence: compare the letters in their most overblown material: "Band on the Run" ~ "Born to Run" = "B*n*n* RUN"

I do see some of the same stridency in Mr Hewson's work.

But U2 puts more focus on their status as a band qua band, rather than a solitary superstar with a rotating cast of backup guys.

And I think Springsteen has a capacity for irony that Bono frankly lacks. Some of the same quality can be seen in McCartney, a little bit of wink in the voice, a la "I know this is a bit corny but humor me." Bono seems to take his corn seriously, and always sings as though he believes it.

Has anyone ever wondered if the use of the name Wendy in BTR points to the Beach Boys somehow? I have, but aside from the common grounds of driving fast and Phil Spector I got nothing.

One more thing, Macca collaborator Elvis Costello dissed the Boss back in the day by saying "Springsteen writes about the street. I hate the fucking street" which all good EC fans bought into at the time. But the Boss's own piss-taking of his own myth-making in Darkness's "Racing In The Street" cured me of this.

MP, Bono got some irony around the time of Achtung, Baby, but it's not clear how well it stuck.

does he? springsteen has a bit of a sense of humor, but not a particularly ironic one. he takes himself pretty damn seriously.

and this...

"I know this is a bit corny but humor me."

...sounds exactly like bono to me!

Nevertheless, Bruce-as-ironist is an important part of my personal collection of half-baked ideas, and I'm reluctant to abandon it based on mere lack of evidence.

Someone above said that Buck and Mills were having a great time playing Born To Run with Springsteen at the pre-election concerts. I was at the first one, and that was true there, too, but the person who really went out of his gourd was Conor Oberst. He got so hyped up on the energy from the crowd and the band that I thought he was going to bounce off the ceiling. Everyone I was with was commenting on it -- Oberst must have played hundreds, and R.E.M. must have played thousands of gigs over the years, but I doubt they ever experienced anything like the audience response the Big Bruce Anthems evoke. For better or worse, they do admirable (or not) art songs; Bruce does the Nuremburg rally.

V. snotty post above, too, about people missing the poetry in Springsteen's lyrics. One of his strengths is how accessible his lyrics are. People aren't that dumb (OK, maybe Born in the USA got misheard somewhat). Born To Run and Thunder Road are like Like A Rolling Stone -- a huge range of people "got" them, and loved it.