Millennials Hate Bruce Springsteen

Salon ^ | FRIDAY, AUG 30, 2013 | EJ Dickson

[nickcarraway]

An entire generation has dismissed The Boss' music as lame "dad rock." Here's why they're all wrong

Every few weeks or so, I’ll be talking to someone at a bar or club or house party, and the conversation will inevitably turn toward Bruce Springsteen. The exchange is usually as follows:

BAR PATRON/PARTY GUEST: So, what kind of music do you listen to?

ME: Oh, a little bit of everything … blues, jazz, funk, Bruce Springsteen (brief pause) … you know, my tastes are super eclectic.

BAR PATRON/PARTY GUEST: Um, why do you like Springsteen?

ME: So, you don’t like Bruce Springsteen?

BAR PATRON/PARTY GUEST: Ugh. No.

(Long pause)

ME: (Shuffling away while muttering angrily, like an elderly woman being chastised for feeding pigeons) Well, you should.

This person will then enumerate the list of reasons why he dislikes Bruce Springsteen, usually employing four out of six of the following arguments:

He’s old. He sucks. He sucks because he’s old. He’s old because he sucks. He sings about being a member of the working class even though he’s made millions and millions of dollars over the past 30 years “Born in the USA” sucks. In my 24 years as a die-hard Bruce fan, I have had this conversation approximately eight or nine hundred thousand times. While the people on the other end tend to skew toward a specific demographic — white, male, in a creative profession, dating someone with bangs and an Egon Schiele tattoo — they come from a wide range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, from Bushwick installation artists to a bouncer I met in Ireland, who used his loathing for “Born in the USA”

[Lancey Howard]

Springsteen had a heck of a network working for him back in the olden days. He sent people out to bring music fans in the door. Circa 1972, me and a buddy were having some beers at the Causeway bar in Shipbottom (Long Beach Island, NJ) when a couple of guys came in and started striking up conversations with patrons. “There’s this guy and his band playing down in Beach Haven and you should really check them out if you like good rock and roll.”

Springsteen worked hard to market himself. I spend a lot of time at Wiki reading biographies of rock stars, and most of the time I come away very impressed at how hard these people worked to market themselves. The effort put forth is truly extraordinary.

The histories of Stevie Winwood and Jewel (Kilcher), for example, floored me.

[riri]

I hate him too for all those reasons and I am a Gen xer.

[cardinal4]

I love Dylan as well. If you listen to one of his live albums, "Hard Rain"(recorded in '76) you can understand why some don't like his voice. I love it.

Some of my favorite Dylan songs; "Black Diamond Bay", "Visions of Johanna", and "She belongs to me"..

[Fiji Hill]

Did you know that Ted Nugent is sometimes referred to as, “The Motor City Madman”?

The Motor City--The Satintones (1960)
To hear this, you have to first listen to "Going to the Hop."

[Elle Bee]

don't know I've moved away

.

[SunkenCiv]

except perhaps for BS’s politics.

sidebars:

Frankie Valli and The Four Season - Candy Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRTkgicMbQk

Candy Girl - Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyqMNcFIljs

Candy’s Room With Lyrics - Bruce Springsteen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx1N3Kjx1OU

[SamAdams76]

The author was referring to “Born In The USA” - which came out in 1984.

[Baynative]

"Hated Born in the U.S.A. His other hit songs were unremarkable."

I have always wondered about the seemingly mindless crowds that waved their arms and screamed along with "Born in the USA". Did they like it because it was knocking America, or did they not know what it is about?

[Baynative]

Sometime when you are on a keyboard, I’d like to hear your experience.

[Albion Wilde]

Oh that ain’t all, he had some torrid affair with some dame who “lost” her husband in 9-11 and left Patty Scialfa at that point, he is a d8ckhead

I did not know about that; as you see, I have stopped even glancing at any news about him.

I will say this: I watched the Kennedy Center Honors when Bob Dylan received his, and they had Bruce sing one of Dylan's songs as a tribute to him. Never, ever, was the contrast between Dylan's utterly unique genius and Bruce's insufficiency so obvious. An embarrassment.

[Albion Wilde]

Ping to post 150.

[Lancey Howard]

Ooops. Got my “Borns” mixed up.

[a fool in paradise]

Here's why they're all wrong

Salon. Stuck on stupid as usual.

[a fool in paradise]

BAR PATRON/PARTY GUEST: Um, why do you like SpringsteenObama?

ME: So, you don’t like Bruce SpringsteenPresident Obama?

BAR PATRON/PARTY GUEST: Ugh. No.

(Long pause)

ME: (Shuffling away while muttering angrily, like an elderly woman being chastised for feeding pigeons) Well, you should.

DISSENT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED BY SALONITES!

[a fool in paradise]

Without a doubt, Bruce Springsteen is one of the most beloved American rock musicians of all time:

He’s won 20 Grammys,

President Obama has won 2, his wife was nominated for 1, Al Gore won 1, Al Franken has won 1, Mili Vannili each won one. It means NOTHING. The Beatles weren't so recognized by the Academy while they were a band.

has been inducted into the Hall of Fame

So have Abba, Chic, and a lot of other NON-ROCK acts while actual rock bands (lame and otherwise) have been passed over.

and has appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone enough that he’s probably single-handedly responsible for keeping it in circulation.

Jann Wener is a weenie. Obama has appeared on the cover just about as many times in under 8 years. New Kids on the Block have even been repeatedly on the cover of Rolling Stoned. NTOTB are NOT a "relevant" band in the history of music or even particularly good.

[a fool in paradise]

To a certain degree, this makes sense: Because Springsteen’s debut album, “Greetings From Asbury Park,” was released four decades ago, it’s reasonable to assume that those born between 1985 and 1995 (the “Tunnel of Love/Ghost of Tom Joad” demographic) would have less of an interest in him.

Next year is the 40th anniversday of the first Ramones concert. Four decades ago doesn't mean that kids today can't relate or enjoy something.

[a fool in paradise]

This probably stems at least in part from the fact that Bruce does not quite adhere to the hipster conception of an American rock hero: his sweat-drenched brand of earnest populism is at odds with Lou Reed’s chain-smoking nihilism, or Jagger’s strutting, high-cheekboned gender-f*ckery.

Bruuuuce is the bastard love child of Bob Dylan and Bob Seger. Ain't NOBODY got time for that.

[dfwgator]

Booooooring.

[Baynative]

So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A...

[a fool in paradise]

These dudes bear few, if any, artistic similarities to Springsteen, yet they all enjoy a certain type of indie cred that Bruce does not, in part because today, they don’t look like they’re working too hard (or at all, really). Working hard — to entertain and enlighten, to reach new fans and continue to rouse the passions of old ones — is what Bruce does best.

Bruuuuce tried to get "cred". He can be seen standing there with Link Wray and another band member in the sleeve art to a 70s Link Wray album. Link recorded Fire, which Bruuuce wrote for him. And then promptly took it back.

Bruuuce also wrote "Hungry Heart" for the Ramones. Then he took it back.

Bruuce also wrote some song for Joan Jett then took it back. He then had to cough up "Light of Day" for the movie she was in (I think it was some kind of contractual obligation thing). Again because he took a song he wrote for SOMEONE ELSE (trying to get cred) back.

BRUUUCE "won over" the masses because of King Biscuit broadcasts of his 3 hour concerts in the 1970s. You put on the album oriented rock station and instead of hearing 50 different acts in that time, you heard BRUUUUCE.

Then the bootleggers took to releasing their own versions of these concerts (without the King Biscuit chatter or ad bumps).

The listeners were beaten into submission. Familiarity makes hits. It also breeds contempt. I've long loathed Bruce. He was never the boss of me.