Posted on 10/08/2007 7:24:26 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
(CBS) It's hard to picture, but Bruce Springsteen turned 58 last month. His breakout hit, "Born to Run," is 32 years old. While rock stars his age are content to tour with their greatest hits, Springsteen launched, last week, what may become his most controversial work as a songwriter.
Even now, Springsteen is an artist in progress, having moved from stories about girls and cars to populist ballads that echo the dust bowl days of Woody Guthrie. Springsteen has put all that together now in his first tour with the E Street Band in four years. As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, he has returned to full-throated rock and roll, and a message that's sharper than ever, damning the war in Iraq, and questioning whether America has lost its way at home.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
That's hilarious. And I dare anyone to call Dylan some kind of rightwing Republican.
The thing about this is that Springsteen doesn't seem to have Dylan's experience and vision of what rock can and cannot do. Rock music cannot change the world; heck, art cannot change the world. Those who make it seem to think they are somehow lesser beings because they've spent so much of their lives HAVING FUN! So they have to claim it's to "make change" or "speak truth to power".
Zzzzzzz...
Can rock bring up issues? Sure. But you can't change someone's mind in three and a half minutes. In the case of the sixties, and the most overtly political music, it was all about preaching to the converted. Now, does anyone think there is a single pro-war person out there who's going to hear Springsteen caterwauling about Iraq and change his mind?
No. Rock is fun music, and when it gets pretentious it makes the listener who already believes in the message think he's doing something noble just by listening to music--thus, he's better than those others who are "just" listening to "fun" music. And these listeners never seem to notice that the same people are liking the same music AND the same politics. Gee, ya think?
Bruce--you are in your fifties playing teen music. Get over yourself--you're not changing the world. You wanna do that, sell all your equipment and houses and take all your money and set up food banks in New Jersey and Iraq. Until then, you're not just a simple entertainer, you're a pretentious simple entertainer, and nothing else.
He’s really horrible. I listen to an internet western music station, and they cycled in his folk album a year or so ago. It’s almost enough to get me to drop the station. Tuneless garbage. The only one of his songs I really like is “I’m On Fire.”
Bruce Springsteen is a man who truly understands the vital importance of,,,,,,,,,Bruce Springsteen.
I’m not going to get my knickers in a bunch over the slavish media fawning of a mental midget. He’s just another dumb celebritycritter.
Bruce played Cincinnati a few years ago and the local post-2001 riots rabble rousers here in town tried to talk Bruce out of performing in our city due to their imposed “boycott”. (Cosby, Whoopi, Marsalis and others honored it)
He did not honor the boycott, tellin the rabble rousers he could use the stage to say a message, which he did just before the concert began. In his message he empathized with the city boycotters, and rhyming reverands and he was SOUNDLY BOOED. Proof of this is on the bootleg DVD, “Cincinnati Lights”.
Then the music played and everybody had a good time.
Bruce, like I always say, dance with who brought you. In this case stick to great songs about cars and jersey girls on the beach. Leave the politics out of it please.
(anybody ever see the catering list for Bruce & The E Street Band at smoking gun? caviar, imported wine and cheese, etc... great for the blue collar image.)
Well said!
If this is what you want, you should definitely check out Billy Joe Shaver. He is positively enthusiastic about his faith and patriotism. I saw him at a small club in Northern Virginia on 09/11/07 (coincidentally, the anniversary of 911). He began the show with one of his songs called "Freedom's Child" in honor of the troops, which reduced himself and much of the audience to tears. My wife and our guests left saying it was the best show we've ever seen - and we've seen a lot.
“Why did he change his name to appear less Jewish? Has anyone asked him that?”
Not Jewish, Catholic.
http://www.adherents.com/people/ps/Bruce_Springsteen.html
I once heard he ducked off to Canada during Vietnam.....
RLTW
http://boards.aetv.com/thread.jspa?threadID=800003662
Like his music or hate it,
No One Ever Paid a Nickle To Hear This Man’s Simplistic, Incoherent, Political Ramblings.
Why is it these performers, who view themselves as the “Poet/Philosophers” of our Age, never get that?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.