Sorry to slam “The Boss”, but are you a Springsteen fan? With a voice like sandpaper, an appearance like a vagabon, and lyrics stolen off the bathroom wall of his high school…what is there to like about him? He might be the boss, but as Alice had to remind Ralph Cramdon in the “Honeymooners”… Yeah, I get it, Ralph…you’re the boss of nothing!
And now he’s touring with his wife, Patti… Is she following Yoko Ono’s lead, perhaps? Maybe some fan could explain (a) Is this just a Philly/NJ thing? And, (b) please enlighten me about what there is to like about his music… - Jinx
Okay, you’re using american references so I’m guessing you’re american. How much of his stuff have you listened to? My husband could explain this better (actually almost anyone could) but he’s asleep.
Springsteen is a great story teller with song. People identify with the subject or emotions he puts on display.
I shouldn’t have tried explaining. Next!!!
As for his wife. He’s been married to Patti for a while, she was a back-up singer in his bandand I guess still is. I see no sign that she’s doing the Yoko thing.
Back in the 70’s he was hailed as “The Future of Rock’n’Roll” and sometimes as “The Saviour of R’n’R”.
This was a time when symphonic rock bands (Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Klatuu), Disco, Punk (to some extent), Jazz Rock (Herbie Mann, Santana, Herbie Hancock) was all over the place. Beatles was no more. The Stones were flirting with Disco. In the US, FM rock (Styx, Boston) were ruling the air waves. Along came Springsteen, a ‘working class hero’, singing about working in the steel mill, driving a beat up car, shotgun weddings, and doing it to music that was more connected to the original 50’s rock, than to the jazz scene.
Obviously, he was soon replaced with another “Future of Rock’n’Roll”, but his live acts (always four hours then) and (maybe staged) refusal to play along with the industry’s way of handling music, earned him a lot of credability and he slowly built a huge fan base. Basically by singing about things that the audience could connect to, instead of a fantasy world like “Tales from the topographic Ocean”, by Yes.
His best album, IMO, is Darkness on the Edge of Town, where you can find these lines:
But now there’s wrinkles around my baby’s eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs “Baby did you make it all right”
She sits on the porch of her daddy’s house
But all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born
Many many people (I don’t mean you specifically, Gaspode - mostly music reviewers) always say that Styx is somehow “corporate”, whatever that really means, when their background and lyrics are all about the middle income middle America working class guy. They’re from the south side of Chicago, their lyrics are full of the struggle and difficulties of tryin’ to make ends meet and get more for your kids than you ever had, and somehow this never gets across. I could pull quotes from a dozen songs, but I won’t bore all of you… unless someone really wants examples.
And just for the record: I’m from NJ and I don’t like Springsteen. I see how people can like him but his music just doesn’t do it for me. I like big, lush, full sound, I like harmonies and he just doesn’t do that.
Don’t tell anyone… they might make me sell my house and move if they find out I don’t like him.
Corporate music is basically pop music so to speak. Music written (usually not by the band themselves) so that people will like it. Music written to make money.
While I can’t make you like The Boss I can address a few of your points:
“Voice like sandpaper” - Last I checked you don’t need to have the voice of an angel to make it in the music biz. Bruce may have an aquired taste in his vocal capabilities but at least he is singing songs he wrote (like Dylan, Neil Young and Thom Yorke).
Vagabon appearance - Sorry, but that is quite a lame rant.
“lyrics stolen off the bathroom wall of his high school” - Have you ever read his lyrics?
As Catnoe pointed out, Patti was a back up singer in his band before they married. But he did have an affair with her while he was married to whats her name. But this marriage already has lasted much longer as the other did. She in no way is a Yoko.
Another vote for Springsteen. Can’t say that I’ve heard all his stuff, but of the ones I own I consider “Born to Run”, “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “Nebraska” to be classic albums. Hard to put a finger on exactly why, but at the very least the man is an wonderfully evocative lyricist.
Hey, don’t ask me. Last Springsteen album I bought was The River. And this owner of several bootlegs was quite disappointed at the live release. And realized my time had passed when folks went gaga over Born in the USA.
He sure used to put on a hell of a show. But I never saw him in a stadium.
Like I said, don’t know much about the last 15-20 years, but the lyrics on his 1st 4 albums compare to anybody’s.
When Born to Run came out, I figured, “That’s it. No one needs to record another rock album, cause it’s been done.”
Now I listen most to Greetings and The Wild, the Innocent.Kitty’s Back knocks me out.
The musical arrangements on those albums, thanks largely to Miami Steve, are tops.
I’m a fan of his older stuff- I like his voice- it’s not like he’s off-tune, just rough. I care little about his appearance and actually like his lyrics. You don’t find deep meaning in “madman’s drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat”?
(by the appearance & voice criteria then Justin Timberlake must be a much better musician, right?)
The thing I like about Bruce Sprinsteen is how he sings the blues, in a non-“blues-music” style. Most most his songs are about life’s struggles and disaapointments.
I like his voice, but then again, I also think Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan ares brilliant, so there. Guess I like that gritty, growly “I can’t sing” sort of sound.
Plus “Thunder Road” is the greatest song ever written.
I haven’t cared for much of his stuff, Jinx, since Born in the USA, but his early albums were fantastic. Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, and , yes, even Nebraska.
As for his lyrics being stolen off the high school wall, I highly recommend you listen to a song called Meeting Across the River off Born to Run. It never gets played on the radio, but the Boss sings, accompanied only by piano, acoustic bass and Randy Brecker’s trumpet, about a chronic loser and his friend who are trying to arrange for one last loan from the mob so they can bet on a sure thing, the implication being that if they blow it this time, the mobsters are going to inflict maximum damage.
The Gaspode quoted a long verse, but I can think of one line off The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle to show how poetic his lyrics are: “Spanish Johnny, you can leave me at night, just don’t leave me alone.”
I saw the Boss perform in 1981 and he was terrific in a 31/2-hour show.
Mmmm… No! I said it was FM rock, which is a musical style and I mentioned Styx as an example. There is also REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Chicago (after the first few albums). As you yourself said - “Lush, full sound and harmonies.” melodic r’n’r, right? For many, including myself, Springsteen was freedom from that.
I saw him in Copenhagen 1981, small indoor arena, only 2000 people. It was scheduled for 8 p.m. with no supporting act. Being in, basically, a big gym, there was a big clock on the wall, and the very second it hit 8, the band came in and started playing. We all came out at 11.45, feeling almost born again.
I pretty much agree with what Hello Again said. (Maybe it’s a Michigan thing, I grew up in the UP). Especially about Thunder Road.
It’s hard to explain, but I guess I just identify more with the Boss than other musicians. I also like most of his newer stuff, too. However, one of the best songs I’ve ever heard was the Boss singing This Land is Your Land on his live album.
The more I think about this, the more I think it might be a function of what was on the radio at the time and the age you came to it.
I’m guessing I’m a little younger than the majority of posters here (I was too young to go to any concerts in 1981) - when I really got into music in about 1983 the radio was saturated with Michael Jackson, early Madonna and stuff like Wham! and Depeche Mode. To me melodic & prog rock was the cure for that… organic sounding and full, not the sterile electronic sound. That’s what I wanted my freedom from. By the time I really got into bands like Styx, Journey, Boston, Triumph, and the like they were really on their way out of the limelight. Perhaps if I was a little older and I could not turn on a radio without hearing that kind of music I’d have turned elsewhere… but as it was I turned away from Haircut 100 to melodic rock.
On another note, the quality of the vocals in the music is extremely important to me. The bands I really love have lead singers that have really amazing voices: Steve Perry and Dennis DeYoung as two examples. Even when a song is well written and well performed, I find it really hard to listen to if the singer’s voice isn’t also very good. It’s a thing with me, I know…
I still love melodic rock, because once again its different than what you hear on the top 40. Luckily for me the net exists and I can find bands still producing this stuff - bands I’d NEVER hear on the radio but I can listen to and purchase online. It’s been my savior.
I just thought he was ok 'til I saw him in concert during the “Born in the USA” tour when I was in college. Then I became hooked. He (and the E Street Band) were tremendous in concert, even in a venue as large as Soldier Field.
