David Bowie v. Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen rules!
A difficult choice. Bowie has shown the better songwriting chops, while Springsteen is a better lyricist. I went with Bowie because he’s not afraid to keep redefining himself.
Bowie flamed hot at his peak, but that peak was frustratingly short and aside from fun appearances in The Prestige or Extras, he’s been pretty irrelevant in the pop culture scene for ages.
Springsteen is a completely different animal, stylistically and aesthetically, so comparisons are largely apples and oranges. But he’s had more good albums over a much wider span of time, and he’s had a working class spirit that hasn’t really been diluted by fame and fortune, which speaks for a genuine integrity in his artistry. Plus he even has a well-deserved Oscar.
Bruce by a couple of lengths.
Let Bruce get a kewl knife named after him, then we’ll talk.
Ziggy all the way!
Difficult choice. I figured Bowie would be the obvious choice, but had to go with Springsteen, since he hits my heart more than Bowie. I think Bowie was the more interesting of the two, but I could just never quite get into his work.
I don’t know, Springsteen has a large body of work, and most albums are large departures from what came before. He’s in my top list of artists who release drastically different sounds from album to album.
These guys are both top notch in my mind, but since Springsteen is my all time #1 favorite, I’ve gotta go with him.
They’re roughly equal in my mind but Bowie has more songs I would deem “amazing” thus he wins.
“The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” is in my top 10 of albums. Springsteen wouldn’t make it into my top 30.
Easy. Mr. Bowie.
As a vocalist, Bowie kicks Springsteen’s ass to Mars and back.
On other criteria, I’m not fit to judge, since I can’t stand Springsteen’s singing enough to give him a fair listen.
If you ever got sick of Bowie’s shtick, he would change his persona at some point. Bruce is always blue-collar guy from New Jersey, who is having trouble getting by.
Conjecture: Bowie has greater international appeal.
My vote: Bowie.
I could never get past Springsteens voice enough to enjoy anything done by him…so I had to vote for Bowie.
This was the first one of these that was difficult. Two artists of almost equal stature. I went with Bowie in a photo finish.
Bruuuuuuuuuuuuce!
I loved him at seventeen and still do at forty-five. That doesn’t happen often.
You’ve chosen two artists who epitomize the different lyric styles of their times - Bowie, the enigmatic, deep, lyrics of the '70s, and Springsteen the straight-shooting, “everyman’s” poetry of the later '80s. Both are excellent at what they do.
But I’d have to go with Bowie for the aforesaid ability to re-invent himself.
Another vote for Bowie. His diversity makes him far more likely to have influenced more people than Springsteen ever could, especially musicians.
I’m not American. I think that might be why I actively dislike Bruce Springsteen’s music. He’s a brooding droning murmurer with a narrow style.
Bowie constantly re-creates himself, and sometimes hits it out of the park.