I used to be a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. And I caught the bug before TIME and Newsweek magazines both featured him on their front covers in the same week. Along with Jon Landau, the Rolling Stone music critic and subsequent Springsteen producer, in the Boss, I thought I detected the future of rock and roll.
Springsteen's emotive vocals, which he said were inspired in part by Roy Orbison, and lyrics that were topical, timeless, and poetic, undoubtedly paved the way for U2 and a whole gamut of passion rockers.
But right around the release of Nebraska (1982), three decades ago, Bruce lost me. The passion seemed forced and instead of bravely scoping out new musical territory, as he had on The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle and Born to Run, Springsteen seemed bent on repeating other peoples' musical histories while trying to vivify his music with "conviction."
He's a massive talent and he's laid down some of the greatest rock and roll of all time, but I just haven't been into Springsteen for years.
I rarely buy music any more. I grow more frugal as I grow older. I bought one release in 2010, none in 2011.
But Springsteen has a new LP out. Should I give it a chance? Lady Gaga loves it (for its "passion"), while Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune pans Wrecking Ball, the title of Springsteen's newest studio release. Frankly, I couldn't care less about LG's musical tastes, though Kot's arguments, given Springsteen's decades-long track record, ring true.
What do you say? Have you bought Wrecking Ball? What do you think?
1 comment:
Post a Comment