Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

I do not think that the existence of Parliament-Funkadelic meant that you couldn't or shouldn't like Bruce Springsteen. Plenty of people like more than one band. At one point I suspect I might even have liked three (3) different bands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8lRKCw2_Pk

xpost you are missing the point slightly
also dude just passed away & it’s a great piece!

"Since I accepted my editor’s offer of a fool’s mission to write about some cat I’d barely paid attention to in 30 years of record buying, all I can offer by way of apology is that I’m now catching up on my homework."

Hah, nice!

Maybe Jon Bon Jovi finally got through to him, because Bruce has apparently allowed himself to go grey!

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/263409066_270088391825896_7104403400672515086_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=UxINKshyOhcAX96Wa4b&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=9a6cde27305882491015d99496cf744a&oe=61B78CD0

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/dec/16/bruce-springsteen-sells-entire-back-catalogue-of-music-to-sony-for-500m-report

Meanwhile, Bruce appeared at a Steve Earle benefit show the other night for his first electric (mini) set since I think 2016 (SNL aside), and he sounded good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyR_VpBTWA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOGg6IluugY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jVltfkL-xo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evOJmE2OCXM

Jesus I was not prepared for how big mad online people were going to get for Springsteen's catalog sale. Jesus some people are furious that he's not like, giving the songs away for free because he's already too rich?

I guess people are just mad that Bruce managed a (relatively) rare feat in the music biz, being able to hold onto the rights for an impressively large and fruitful catalog long enough to cash out on his hard work. Good for him, tbh, I mean isn't that what every songwriter would want to do?

Yeah, especially since Bruce is otherwise such a relative purist. No endorsements, not even a Bruce-model Tele, only that one (shitty) commercial that got pulled so fast it almost makes me think it was a stunt, doesn't typically license songs for TV or movies, certainly usually not for commercials, Jeep-ad exception aside, keeps concert ticket prices modest (by major artist standards). Probably better to sell the rights now and pocket the money than die and let people squabble (and sell/license your shit, anyway).

Let him sell his music and tax the shit out of it is the actual answer here imo. Anyway yeah, it's a dumb windmill to joust with. You're not going to persuade Bruce fans to be mad at him for being rich, that ship has long sailed.

He wrote actual songs about that ship sailing iirc.

Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny.

Your papa says he knows that I'm a filthy capitalist

Everybody sells out
Baby that's a fact

Adam raised a bitcoin

57 Channels and Jim Cramer's On

the record company, rosie, just gave me HALF A BILLION DOLLARS

Glory Pays

the river OF CASH

He ain't gonna ride in no used car again, that's for sure.

Getting made at any artist past 70 for selling their catalog is idiotic. Robbie Robertson talked about this in his Rolling Stone interview when they discussed similar sales by guys like Dylan - to put it succinctly:

"I certainly understand, seeing when some people pass away, like Prince or Tom Petty, and then the families are stuck with a mess and everybody hates one another and all of that shit. It’s not a bad idea to get this shit sorted out while you’re still around."

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/robbie-robertson-interview-the-band-the-weight-stage-fright-bob-dylan-1122213/

I guess he could leave it to specific family members and hope they don't license his stuff (and also be okay with administering his catalog as another job - even then that on its own won't last), but regardless, he can't live forever and has to relinquish control eventually.

Wasn't there also something about the economics of the value of catalogues changing because of streaming, not sure.

Let's go easy on Bruce. His daughter needs a reserve horse to augment her backup horse in case something is wrong with her main horse

Wasn't there also something about the economics of the value of catalogues changing because of streaming, not sure.

Yeah Robertson mentioned that. Basically, publishing was the most valuable bond in the music business - he said he learned from the start NEVER sell your publishing, but that's longer the case as the economics have changed so much.

*no longer the case

I guess the alternative is throwing it all into the public domain or setting up some kind of charity, but I would not be surprised at all if he does some *major* donations in the next few years.

Me and her went for a ride, sir,
And 500 million dollars later…

Let's go easy on Bruce. His daughter needs a reserve horse to augment her backup horse in case something is wrong with her main horse

She's an easy target, but tbf one of his other kids is a firefighter, so maybe they balance out.

"what may be the biggest deal in music for an individual body of work"! That's really something.

I don't understand why I, as a fan of any of these people, would care if they decide to sell their catalog? It doesn't change anything about the delivery of that music or how I might hear it, aside from maybe hearing "State Trooper" in a Geico ad in five years.

I already suffered through this Volvo ad so I don't know that anything can be worse on that front.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FFCBAY4G-g

I hear Sony wouldn't sign on the publishing piece until Bruce resolved the "dress sways/waves" lyric issue.

lol morrisp

https://www.theonion.com/bruce-springsteen-relishes-finally-telling-off-foreman-1848228552

WELL IF SHE WANTS TO SEE MEAH
YOU CAN TELL HER THAT IM EASILY FOUUND

so they pulled the two No Nukes individual concerts (released December 24, 2018) from live.brucespringsteen.net to sell the film's soundtrack 2CD (with tracks from both nights) instead? Okay, there is some overlap, but still - both nights were great.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Springsteen_discography#Live_archive_releases -> "No Nukes 1979"
vs "The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts" https://live.brucespringsteen.net/searchRes.aspx?searchStr=Nukes

new remaster & mix though

Plus a film of the performance!

That is on its way, yes :-)

https://i.imgur.com/CvHJMtE.png

Omg Lionel’s teeth

Band photos where one member refuses to play along

Spotify (sorry Neil) doesn't have any of the many live releases, but it does have those weird thematically linked Live Series compilations. Love songs, covers, etc. They also have this one massive compendium that afaict includes, well, all the tracks on all those various Live Series albums. Fan made? Who knows. It's 105 songs and 10 hours long. Anyway, I decided to play that one, which is like in essence listening to the weirdest set list of all time, beginning with "Born to Run" and flouting expectations and flow at every turn. Still, it's a blast, and it reminded me that for all its innate corniness, I really like "Waitin' on a Sunny Day." I don't know why, but I've always thought the song just kind of ... profoundly sad. Which is odd for a song whose Genius entry doesn't have even a single footnote.

I have a migraine and am stuck in bed with nothing to do. Does anyone feel like giving me a Bruce-related writing prompt and/or discussion question to get my brain going?

it's bruce springsteen, and the year is ___. he can't sleep, so he decides to go on a drive. but his engine breaks down, way out there. a pair of headlights appear from around the curve.

oops, I should have specified no creative writing prompts. My brain doesn't do creative, only analytical. I'll see what I can do, though.

Does anyone remember Springsteen's first marriage? I'm betting he barely does.

Wasn’t he married to Elton John briefly in the 70s

LOL

Bruce-related writing prompt

what exactly are the roles of the two very good lead guitar players who've spent the better part of their lives in the backing band for a guy who's a pretty great lead guitarist on his own and seems to take most of the leads himself? how (and why) are parts divided among the three?

(my favorite non-bruce e street live lead: nils on "because the night")

fact checking cuz, you've neatly located the area of Springsteen's work that I have zero idea how to talk about, but I'd love to know the answer if anyone has it.

tbh, I really don't like the guitar solo on "Because the Night." Not the solo itself, exactly, more the fact that it exists. Every time Bruce writes one of his "please have sex with me because I am sad" songs, he slaps a big old showboating guitar solo on it to remind you that he's still a dude, and sometimes that works for me but in "Because the Night" it always takes me out of the song. There he is, undercutting traditional gender roles and ideas about working-class masculinity, showing us a blue-collar worker who is stressed and vulnerable and in need of refuge, and then he takes a three-minute break in the middle of the song for a guitar solo that is none of those things. I don't like it, even when it's Nils doing the playing. It feels like a cop-out.