Bruce Springsteen, affectionately dubbed ‘The Boss’ by those who revere the potency of his blue-collar anthems, stands as a towering figure in the musical landscape. From nostalgic rock ‘n’ roll to bold acts of political defiance, the favourite son of New Jersey has cemented his status as a hero of the people through the authenticity and power of his musical endeavours.
Across his long career, initiated by watching The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Springsteen has seen many innovators come and go, and the zeitgeist continues to change like nothing more than the passing of a day. He might be most well-versed in the rock ‘n’ roll of the 1950s and the game-changing music of the British invasion, but Springsteen has always kept his finger on the pulse. This natural preference for new sounds has, in part, allowed him to keep his own music so relevant alongside the power of his lyrical flourishes.
One band that Springsteen has been full of praise for is the grunge vanguard Nirvana, who broke through with the single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ in September 1991, which reset the course of popular music and changed the complexion of rock music moving forward. Nevermind, the album boasting the aforementioned single, stands as one of the most significant of the 1990s, its influence extending far beyond its initial release. From the groundbreaking guitar tones and dynamic shifts to Cobain’s poignant and often dark lyrics, the impact of the album continues to reverberate in the music world today.
Even when the 1990s was still very much in full swing, Springsteen, like everyone who claimed to be a real fan of music, recognised the full consequence of Nirvana. Speaking to Guitar World in 1995, he asserted that the Kurt Cobain-led outfit “reset the rules of the game”.
“Look at a band like Nirvana,” Springsteen added. “That’s a band that reset the rules of the game. They changed everything, they opened a vein of freedom that didn’t exist previously. The singer did something very similar to what Dylan did in the ’60s, which was to sound different and get on the radio. Your guitarist could sound different and get heard. So there are a lot of very fundamental rules that they reset, and that type of band is very few and far between.”
He continued: “The same with a lot of early rap stuff, which was a return of the rawness of the ’50s’ records, direct from the street. And it changed the conventional ideas of how drums should sound, how guitars should sound, how a singer should sound; even if you have to sing at all. So those are things that keep the music moving forward.”
Listen to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ below.