― sucka (sucka), Saturday, 22 November 2003 13:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Mark (MarkR), Saturday, 22 November 2003 13:56 (twenty years ago) link
He could have quite after Born to Run and still be classic classic classic. That album is one of the great moments in pop music history, and a cultural icon (in the States at least).
Even if you don't like his music, he's still classic.
― Debito (Debito), Saturday, 22 November 2003 16:18 (twenty years ago) link
And it is about time people start liking "Born In The USA" again. Just because the album sold zillions doesn't make it a bad album.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 22 November 2003 18:15 (twenty years ago) link
― maryann (maryann), Saturday, 22 November 2003 21:46 (twenty years ago) link
Of course the adulation is typically overboard. But what do you expect for someone who has had, at least at moments, near-Madonna-level pop smarts and still gets content, even poetry, into his lyrics?
One of the differences between him and "heartland rock" - r&b. A greater proportion of it, at least. Who else (besides the aforementioned Californians) has had such a sound during the same period at remotely similar levels of popularity?
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 November 2003 22:23 (twenty years ago) link
but he loses that card for this, the final page of the aforementioned document, in which mr. springsteen proves he can't spell "asbury park."
― fact checking cuz, Sunday, 23 November 2003 16:48 (twenty years ago) link
― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 23 November 2003 16:53 (twenty years ago) link
i otherwise kinda like springsteen, so perhaps i'm not the best to answer this, but i'd say his career mathematically boils down to this:
1. great singer2. damn good songwriter (despite a huge drop-off in the '90s)3. fair-to-average, overrated bar-band backing (playing mostly hackneyed arrangements)4. poor production (i like "born to run" just fine, but after that it's just so completely lacking in punch and warmth i can't believe he's ever been lauded for it)
"nebraska" discards with (3) and (4), leaving him playing entirely to his strengths. and as it happens his songwriting hit a peak at the same time. i'd say it's far and away his best.
― fact checking cuz, Sunday, 23 November 2003 17:16 (twenty years ago) link
i'd have to guess anyone owns the record knew, what with him screaming those lyrics out for the entire length of the song, not to mention the fact that he included a lyric sheet. that'd be 15 or 20 million people right there.
― fact checking cuz, Sunday, 23 November 2003 17:19 (twenty years ago) link
― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 23 November 2003 17:30 (twenty years ago) link
― fact checking cuz, Sunday, 23 November 2003 17:57 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 23 November 2003 18:05 (twenty years ago) link
Wonderful and glorious. No, no need to thank me.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 23 November 2003 19:35 (twenty years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 16 July 2004 13:57 (nineteen years ago) link
the 2nd verse of "41 shots" is heartbreaking, astonishing. the rest of the song doesn't quite live up to it.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 04:52 (nineteen years ago) link
also the man can sing. i don't like the way he pronounces "somewhere" (mumbled: "some-wahr") BUT: "lit-tle-world-fal-lin-apart"!!!
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 04:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― jack cole (jackcole), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 04:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 04:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 05:00 (nineteen years ago) link
My mom loved his music, and I think it has something of a sentimental value for me for that reason. But I think it's deserved. Perhaps this is a cheap shot (bcuz I know there are poor ppl who don't like him) but I think most people who have ever been on the underside of reaganomix will agree that he spoke for people who needed someone like him. I don't care how un-hip it is to say that I like his music because it speaks to me from a place that few kinds of music do - certainly moreso than Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
― djdee2005, Tuesday, 20 July 2004 05:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― djdee2005, Tuesday, 20 July 2004 05:21 (nineteen years ago) link
Favorite work of his: side two of Tunnel of Love. A perfect piece.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 05:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― djdee2005, Tuesday, 20 July 2004 05:47 (nineteen years ago) link
That embarrasment aside, I do still like Bruce, though. For one thing, I like that (apart from Nebraska), his most depressing songs are also his most clappy-singalong songs. "Hungry Heart," "Born in the USA," "Cadillac Ranch", etc.
― spittle (spittle), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 05:50 (nineteen years ago) link
The "heartleand" thing" is more complicated than people who live there are willing to admit -- that's the problem. They ought to be populist (if not leftist), but they're not. They have a habit of ignoring their own reality in favor of something that someone told them was "simple." They buy "simple" like it was bread, and swallow it whole, and don't even realize they're choking on it.
But anyway... you're right, Springsteen does not fit into that mold, not by a mile.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 05:58 (nineteen years ago) link
"Ought to be?" Nothing more amusing than someone who isn't part of a group dictating to them what their preferences and priorities should be, as if they're too stupid to figure it out for themselves.
Anyway, "Downbound Train" > "Dancing In The Dark" > "Born in the USA", as far as that album goes.
― phil dennison, Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:13 (nineteen years ago) link
Yeah, I like that one.
― spittle (spittle), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 15:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 15:33 (nineteen years ago) link
i agree. love for this song suddenly sprung upon me within the last four or five years. i was pretty indifferent to it, and then one day i was driving (naturally) and it came on the radio (of course) and that was it. i saw bruce last summer at meadowlands, and i cried twice (you want to hear atlantic city in a stadium in the dark with tens of thousands of people around you absolutely silent).
― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 15:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 15:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 16:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 16:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 16:07 (nineteen years ago) link
i sort of imagine springsteen has a randy old man album in him, but he'll have to get all the faith/hope/redemption metaphors out of his system first.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 16:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― phil dennison, Tuesday, 20 July 2004 16:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 16:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 16:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 16:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― cºzen (Cozen), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 16:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 17:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― cºzen (Cozen), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 17:15 (nineteen years ago) link
the river: i'm partial to "the ties that bind," "stolen car," "ramroad," "the price you pay" (not sure why i like this one so much). "wreck on the highway" is a really amazingly clear expression of a very simple and powerful idea, though i'm starting to like it a bit less than before. "hungry heart" i like, but i think i need to listen to it harder. (??)
i love "bobbie jean."
a lot of the now-officially-released-formerly-unreleased stuff is unspeakably bad. maybe 15% of it is good.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 17:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 17:36 (nineteen years ago) link
that makes (at least) two springsteen songs inspired by badlands, btw.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 17:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 17:53 (nineteen years ago) link
bruce actually has written some amazing lyrics post-1987, but in general he can't seem to get the balance of abstraction and the particular as right as he once had.
and something has gone off about his music, too. critics tend to be glib about this, but i think it's fairly complicated. his gift for melody has withered a bit. i would say his gift for instrumental texture too, but even something like "lucky town" has a nice feel for the basic rock setup.
his "simplicity" definitely has the feel of an *earned* simplicity, a paring down... which is exactly what it is, since his first records had fairly sprawling melodies and arrangements.
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 22:53 (nineteen years ago) link