Springsteen is a class a jerk off. However I will say this his first three albums were extremely good. And we saw him live in 1976 and the E Street Band was Top Notch. After album number three he went straight down the toilet
Pretty much agree. I’ll even take it as far as his fourth album “Dark Side of Town”. It’s not as good as the others, but it sort of completes a story-telling arc that I see in his early career. After that I lost all interest in him. But when he started out I think he was pretty good. I also saw him in concert in 1976. Hell of a show.
The band is good. Bruth? Not so much.
His earlier albums, while obviously much bigger sellers and more beloved of his fans, just sound kind of overwrought to me. I mean, I won't change the station when something like "Backstreets" come on but I'm definitely sick and tired of "Thunder Road", "Hungry Heart" and the other big radio hits he had during that time. And his overplayed Christmas cover of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" makes me want to run out of the room.
His live shows became way too predictable and his stage banter is so cliche and cringeworthy "Hey Cleveland, how are ya tonight! It's like zero degrees out there! You all feeling like rocking tonight or what? How about a hand for my big man Clarence! Ya know, I almost got drafted once but my old man told me he was glad I wasn't."
I agree with that assessment.
Anybody that wrote āborn in the USAā canāt be that bad.