Interesting conversation on Howard Stern's show yesterday in which Bruce pretty much confirms what so many here are saying about rock, and popular music in general, in the 2020s.
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Bruce Springsteen on rock and today's musical landscape
- Thread starter CTListener
- Start date
two things in the universe I could not care less about, Howard Stern's opinion on anything and Bruce Springsteen's opinion on anything.
Hey Bruce I'm still waiting for you to tell me the casting numbers on those "Fuelie" heads on that 396 engine.
freakin poser
Hey Bruce I'm still waiting for you to tell me the casting numbers on those "Fuelie" heads on that 396 engine.
freakin poser
I can't stand Stern either, but Springsteen is in the music industry and his opinion on the state of the industry is just as valid as that of any folk singer who grew up dirt poor in rural West Virginia or rapper who ran with gang bangers in South Central LA. Yes, his blue collar credentials are fake, but he's in the musical entertainment business and you and I aren't, which means he probably has a sounder foundation to his evaluation of the state of rock than you or I do.
Bruce Springsteen has spent his whole career doing kayfabe. He pretends to champion the blue collar man but was never truly one of them and doesn’t understand them whatsoever. Maybe on a superficial level at best. And he sold out hard and never looked back. The Boss is moss.
Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, and Tom Petty did Springsteen’s themes and type of rock better than Bruce ever could hope to do.
Bruce Springsteen sucks, he always has sucked, and Sam Fender has come along and done his type of music better than him! He needed to go out to pasture back in the 90’s and the fact that we pretend that he still means something pisses me off to be honest.
Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, and Tom Petty did Springsteen’s themes and type of rock better than Bruce ever could hope to do.
Bruce Springsteen sucks, he always has sucked, and Sam Fender has come along and done his type of music better than him! He needed to go out to pasture back in the 90’s and the fact that we pretend that he still means something pisses me off to be honest.
You're way off dude. Springsteen is the consummate artist.
I'm guessing you've never been to one of his marathon concerts. He's legit. First class songwriter and performer.
Times have changed, but things are cyclical. Rock's halycon days may be gone, but it's not totally dead. Rock Radio is a different subject...
Petty was just as much a blue collar/heartland poseur as Springsteen. Suburban kid, son of a salesman and a tax preparer.
Aw, screw it. None of that matters if you like the music. That's why it's called show business, it's a show. That's why I don't give a crap what musicians have to say on anything other than the business they're in. My interest in them begins and ends when they start and stop singing and playing.
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Bruce's father was a bus driver who had trouble working due to mental health issues. His mother pretty much had to support the family while working as a legal secretary (not exactly a high-paying position), especially back then. She had to get a loan just to buy him a guitar. That sure sounds like a working-class background to me. Sorry if it didn't fit your stereotype of Daddy working 80 hours a week in a hard hat while Mommy was staying at home cooking and cleaning.
And to the other poster, I did not realize you had to have a blue-collar background to understand anything about cars. My Dad was a steelworker, yet somehow I am nowhere near an expert on cars. Baffling.
well I AM an expert on cars, I am ASE and ICAR certified, I am a licensed auto damage appraiser in 6 states, I do high value claims on cars worth in excess of a million dollars, I do theft investigations, I have current software for diagnosing 99% of cars and motorcycles. I am recognized as an expert witness in arbitration cases.
I am the guy people, shops and Insurance companies call in when they need someone who knows all aspects of the automobile since I can do body, frame, mechanical and the computer systems.
Now granted it took me a long time to accumulate the knowledge that is rattling around in my head... but even before I got to the point I am now, back when I was just a kid who read Motors Manuals for fun , Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines for tips, I knew there was no such thing as "Fuelie Heads" for a Chevrolet "Big Block" engine, as fuel injection was (in that era of manufacturing) not available for big blocks and was pretty much limited to early (1962) V8 327 Corvettes... with the 461 casting being the most popular.
When you do appraisals on vintage cars, you look for casting numbers and stampings to verify that things are correct, if you have ever watched "Graveyard Cars" Mark Worman and Tony D'Agostino are walking talking encyclopedias when it comes to MOPAR casting numbers and date codes.
I did a 66 Vette recently where the engine and transmission were stolen, they were "numbers matching" and although I could find the correct parts to re-assemble the car as far as the proper castings, date codes, etc., what I could not do was re-stamp the serial numbers on the block and transmission, so it was a battle with the Insurance company to determine the diminished value of the car because it was no longer "matching numbers" and what someone will pay for a car that has the original numbers matching engine and transmission vs replacement parts, even if they are period correct is easily into the tens of thousands of dollars on a 66 Vette.
but again, anyone who was a backyard gearhead in the 60's or 70's with basic knowledge of GM cars cringed every time they heard Can'tSingsteen belt out that tune
I don't care for Springsteen or his style, or Tom Petty, but I won't say that they are bad.
I don't like a lot of John Mellencamp's music either but there are a few songs.
Bob Seger I like.
Oh, and since this started out being about Taylor Swift, she's pretty to look at but I can't say I like most of her music. From what I've heard about her style, I probably wouldn't even if I tried it.
She's aiming at women in their 20s, which I'm pretty sure you are not.
That is opinion. To some... who like other forms of music... he is quite unremarkable.
Rock today is like the discounted 3-day-old-flowers at florist shops and stands in Manhattan.
It strikes me that had his daughter not played the TS record for him, he'd never have heard it. Which is what you'd expect. He's right about starting today. But I think today's artists understand that it's not the same as it was, and some of them are prepared for it. TS was. The first thing she did as a kid was set up a MySpace page, and use it to speak to her fans. I doubt Bruce has ever done social media.
Today's artists for the most part don't make music for the masses. That's not the goal, it's not what their labels are doing either. They make music for a specific demographic, just like radio.
I'm not referring to the bubble gum pop, but the serious folk music I've heard people like.
There is bubble gum that I like, but it's quite a bit older.
That opinion is backed up by millions of records and concert tickets sold. You probably also think that Shakespeare and Hemingway were hack writers. A baloney sandwich is your idea of a gourmet meal.
If a baseball pitcher makes the Hall of Fame based on his performance, that's backed up by stats. Maybe you don't have to like that player, but "facts are stubborn things".
One of the other posts complained about Springsteen not being "Blue Collar" enough. What the hell does that mean? Many(but not all) Blue Collar folks are ignorant slobs. Is ignorance a badge of honour in America? If a Blue Collar guy wins the lottery and gets rich, has he "sold out"? Springsteen came from a humble background and became an international success as an artist. He never compromised his integrity just to sell records...
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Fair enough, but artists are free to express their opinions. They do it in the songs they write. Some morons in this country have no idea what "Born In The USA" was about. Reptilian politicians used it at rallies without a clue or consent. You don't have to agree with an artists political views, but some of the greatest songs are "protest songs" with a political message...
If you get it at Kelly's Marathon it is quite good.
Sure, but if I don't like the melody or the vocals or the instrumentation, I'm not going to listen regardless of what the lyrics are saying. As a New England Democrat who enjoys country music, soul music, folk music, classical music and rock, there've been plenty of songs that don't mesh with my political outlook, by singers who are on the opposite end of the spectrum, that I still like because I'm a fan of the singer or band playing the songs and the way the songs sound. I have no problem with listening to U2 or Hank Williams Jr., Curtis Mayfield or Jason Aldean, Tchaikovsky or Wagner.
I happen to like music by Van Morrison and Eric Clapton in spite of their idiotic behaviour during the Pandemic. They both released downright embarrassing songs during the height of COVID. Even the greats have misfires and missteps along the way...
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