My wife showed me a picture on Twitter awhile back of a man and a woman in a selfie and asked if I recognized him. I said “Yeah, it’s Woody Allen” then took a closer look and said “Holy shit, is that Springsteen?” He’s really starting to show his age.
Well, he is 74 after all.
Cox is just a has-been TV star from ensemble comedies. Springsteen is Springsteen. Cox has zero major awards to her credit. Springsteen is just an Emmy short of EGOT status, and he just missed one of those.
50 years removed from being a teenager, but I could easily rattle off a hundred of Bruce’s songs without really trying. But then, I’ve been to dozens of his shows over the years (second only to the late Jimmy Buffett. I’ve lost count how many times I saw him.)
Not everyone actively listens to music, checking out the artists etc. In that cohort, Cox would win hands down. ‘Friends’ is one of the most-watched TV series today, also among young people.
To music lovers, Springsteen is infinitely more famous. He is one of the most important musical figures of the later 20th century, with a very visible career.
Within her field, Cox isn’t one of the most important actors of recent times, not even close. Even though fame and importance aren’t synonomous, there’s quite a bit of overlap there.
Well first of it is “Courteney”, the fact that no one has caught that since this was posted kinda answers that. Seriously though Cox is currently a lot more relevant than Springsteen, who is just coasting on fame that peaked 40 years ago. Courteney has been working steadily since the 80s without really stopping, Friends is one of the most popular sit coms of all time, the Scream franchise is suddenly relevant again. Currently I’d say she’s more famous, in 20 more years Bruce might be back on top.
And my 23 year old daughter has watched the entire run of Friends multiple times. It is still very popular on streaming and not just with those who were around for the first run.
FWIW, Springsteen isn’t just a classic-rock act who still tours and “coasts” on past success, and who hasn’t recorded anything new in decades; he’s recorded and released five studio albums in the last 11 years, all of which made the top 10 in the U.S. and numerous other countries.
As I noted upthread, I’m not sure how relevant he, or his music, is to younger people at this point in his career, but I think “coasting on fame that peaked 40 years ago” isn’t a fair assessment.
My 37 year old daughter says Cox and explained to me that she was on Friends— which I wouldn’t have known except by reading the thread. I came into the thread because I had no idea who she was.
I asked her who Springsteen was, if she knew, and she said she thought he had something to do with music. When I hummed a few bars of Born to Run, she said that sounded familiar!
Fair enough, but I can’t imagine anyone but a big Springsteen fan being able to name a single song of his from after the 80s.
Tried Friends and found it stupid and the characters annoying. I know who Courtney Cox is. I’m just not impressed by her. Though I might not be able to recognize her today since she’s sliced and diced her face so much.
Springteen, of course. I still listen to his music on occasion. He’s been making new music for decades.
Likely so. I’m not a particular fan of his, and the only post-'80s songs of his I can easily name are “Human Touch” (1992) and “The Rising” (2002), which was written about 9/11.
He won an Oscar in 1994 for “Streets of Philadelphia”
My daughter (18) watches Friends. As in, has seen every episode, and has the Central Perk Lego set.
I’m reasonably sure she has no idea who Bruce Springsteen is.
ETA; Also, I think people are underestimating how popular the Scream franchise is.
I would bet a lot of money the modal answer is 1 (Born in the USA) and the mean being ~2 (Born to Run and Dancing in the Dark being most of the rest).
It might be just because I’ve lived in Asia but I’d say Courtney hands down.
Its not a value judgment, I’m not saying one is better than the other.
But friends was an international smash hit. It’s arguably what helped Starbucks spread around the world so quickly. And it’s the most common answer IME to the question: “how did you learn English?”
Whereas, you’d be surprised how few Western artists are well known to the average chinese youngster, for example. They have a pretty big selection of Chinese artists who are their first preference.
I’d estimate maybe 1 in 10 would recognize the song “born in the USA” from ktv (karaoke), and of those, maybe 1 in 10 would know the artist.
I think this is pretty reasonable.
There’s a polling system that asks people (in the U.S.) who they know of and who they like. It’s called YouGov. For Courtney Cox, they say that 87% know who she is, 54% like her, 9% dislike her, and 24% are neutral in liking or disliking her. For Bruce Springsteen, 91% know who she is, 62% like him, 11% dislike him, and 17% are neutral in liking or disliking him. Clearly, each of those percentages are rounded to the nearest percentage among those polled:
Digging into the numbers at YouGov (linked below), I see some not-surprising things:
- Springsteen is known by 99% of Boomers, 97% of GenX, but only 88% of Millennials
- Cox is known by 93% of Boomers, 96% of GenX, and 89% of Millennials
So, Springsteen’s best-known among Boomers, while Cox is best-known among GenX (who likely were watching Friends when it was first running).
Note that they don’t include information for GenZ (which is anyone born after ~1997, to around 2012). It wouldn’t surprise me if Springsteen’s awareness is substantially lower among GenZers; I’m not as sure about Cox, as I keep reading about young people who enjoy watching Friends.
Springsteen sold the rights to his music last year for $500 million. I’d be very surprised to hear that anything identifiable to CC alone would be worth anywhere near that.
Springsteen is one of the biggest names in rock music over the past 50 years. CC was part of an ensemble cast for one popular show that ended how many decades ago? I mean, she has had pretty considerable success as an actor, but I think it ludicrous to suggest she is as high up in her profession as Bruce is in his.
I don’t see how it is even a close question.
The OP’s question was about relative fame and popularity, not necessarily artistic achievement.
I didn’t realize I was not addressing that.
IMO, the biggest few music stars are probably roughly equivalent to the biggest few TV stars. I’d suggest movie stars are roughly similar, but I don’t know how the worldwide film market works. So in my calculation - which you can disagree with - Springsteen is one of the very top music acts - and has been for the past several decades. CC is no higher than upper middle fame level among TV stars. So unless you are saying that mid-level TV stars are more famous and popular than top-tier musicians…
Having said that, I wonder how many TV stars are as famous as Springsteen, Dylan, The Stones, Beyonce, Taylor Swift… And how long does their peak fame last? Alan Alda? Mary Tyler Moore? Bryan Cranston? William Shatner? Andy Griffith? …