Is Everything A Lie?

A very interesting question. I think it is because his songs accurately depict the plight of the average working person, and he was once that; a struggling artist from a poor family. His songs about relationships and family also seem genuine. He has lived through all the pain and suffering and is able to convey that through music.

And also, he is the American Dream. From someone who had nothing, in the material sense, to someone with enormous. People love a winner. We are hero worshippers.

So I don't think he is a hypocrite. He has a gift. He made a lot of money from it. I don't know how anyone can judge his religious beliefs and practices unless they know him.

I also have read, but cannot verify that he gives a lot of money to charities, but anonymously.

In the early nineties He tried to write about stuff he was living. And like he says "People hated it."
57 channels is just horrible in my opinion.

I think it doesn't matter how he's living, did it matter about Charles Dickens when he wrote some the best of his work about the working classes?. Springsteen approaches his subjects in a caring, respectful and considerate manner. It's not like when Phil Collins did that awful song about homeless people that was just patronising.

This is one of those situations where an artist is screwed no matter what he does. If he's too successful, he's a hypocrite. But if he stopped writing about these topics, everyone would say he's forgotten where he's from. It's similar to the politics thread from a few weeks back.

Robert DeNiro's not in the mob, Kevin Costner doesn't play baseball, and Bruce Springsteen doesn't work at a car wash for a living. That doesn't mean that these people can't use these settings to deliver the ideas they care about and questions they want to understand.

For Bruce, it's emotional autobiography. This is the language he knows.

By all accounts, Bruce was relatively poor until about 1979. That means he was poor for 30-odd years. He's lived it. Not a hypocrite.

I'm guessing he's enjoyed the last 28 years of being rich more than those years in poverty.

one would think...

I should hope so.

Like I said tongue-in-cheek in my Magic review, he took the nation's worst tragedy and turned it into a mega-million dollar tour and windfall for him, and, he allegedly snaked a 9-11 widow while doing so.

But hey, Joad says the Euros are creating spawn to pass the torch of worship to.

I think the perception problem is that he is differnt things to different factions of fans, so none of those things seem 100% "authentic."

I remember that when I went to the Reunion shows, the thing that surprised me the most, the thing I had most forgotten, is how gloriously fun, funny, silly and happy he could be on stage. For so long I had had this image in my mind of Bruce as 'Streets of Philadelphia Man' - Bruce as Christ-figure; the sorrows of the world deeply weighing down on him. If I, a hardcore fan, had forgotten all about the sheer joy he projects along with the sensitivity, then a casual fan has had to have an even more polarized view.

Obviously he's fully aware of the dicotomy; things like that bizarre yee-ha version of Johnny 99 from the tail end of the Rising shows, the 'we're gonna SING about it; we're musicians, that's what we do' preamble to Living in the Future (and hell, Living in the Future itself.) He's said in interviews that he wears a number of masks, and I think he's said something like he often wears more than one at any time. It's absolutely calculated but also very real somehow. He's.... human, and he's doing his best to avoid being Bono. Or Jon Bon Jovi.

I think astrology is complete and utter bullshit, but boy is he a Pisces.

I don't know about the voice of the common man, but the thing I respect the most is his ability to stay true to himself. He knows where the line is in regards to selling out, hell, he has pushed right up against it at times (The Rising PR and Today show appearance) but when you think of the ways he hasn't sold out, commercials, ipods, half time of the Super Bowl, American Idol, endorsing products (besides presidential candidates), it's commendable.

How is appearing somewhere and performing your songs close to selling out?

Appearing on a morning show is close to a sell out, I said pushing the line, not complete sell out. He worked his ass off on those morning shows giving interviews along with his song and dance.

Why is appearing on a morning show close to selling out? Is it any different than Letterman or SNL or having a video shown on some channel?

I see where PhillyCalling is coming from, although Smokey is probably technically right.

However, shows like Letterman and SNL have built-in slots for musicians. I don't watch the Today Show enough to say for sure (read: never), so maybe someone else here knows, but are musical acts an everyday occurence on that show?

They usually have the summer concert series if I remember correctly.

Historically speaking, morning shows weren't used to push product. Once they started having music "series" and such, it became another venue for PR. The only reason to appear on them is to sell.

SNL and other late night venues are different, there has always been musical guests and at times, it has even been considered an honor to play such shows. Yeah, they're both PR vehicles, along with videos, but the morning show has more of a prostitute feel.

I think I can go with this explanation. I think Bruce knows full well that what he's doing is an act, but like any great stage actor, he believes in the role and so he performs it 100%. Whether it's the "savior of rock 'n' roll", or the "voice of the common man", he believes in what he's saying. Even though he hasn't lived it, the emotional aspect of it is what's important to him, and that is what's 100% authentic about him.

Well, the thing is, he did live it. Up 'til mid 1975, Bruce didn't know he'd one day be 'BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'...he was just a guy with a shit record deal playing wherever they'd take him. He had no dough, he had nowhere to live. By his own account, he was begging his own mother to wire him money when her and Doug were out in California.

Even after '75 and the lawsuit, he had to prove himself all over again. He was in debt up to his ears in legal fees... he still wouldn't have any cash even after Darkness sold a ton of records.

The guy has earned it.

Even though he may have been poor, he wasn't no working man. He's always been able to make a living off his music, even if it was barely scratching by. Go talk to the protagonist of "Factory" and ask him if Bruce was a working man, and I bet he'd say no.

Maybe this is as good an explanation as any:

"What matters in this post-modern era is not whether Bruce Springsteen is the real thing, but how he sustains the belief that there are somehow, somewhere, real things to be." (Simon Frith in the Bruce Springsteen Reader)

My favorite moment of all time was the Christic Benefit where some Woman yelled, "I love you, Bruce!!" He smiled and then said wryly. "...but you don't really know me." To me that just shows that at some points we feel as though we know "him". We don't know him, but we know the feelings he's investigating in the course of his life's work. We feel like we know him because the songs make so much sense.

That's quite the hyperbole. My favorite moments involve the birth of my kids, not some wisecrack remark during a Springsteen concert. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, our dog will die and I can add another favorite moment.

But back on topic... I don't feel like we need to "know" Bruce. What makes his music appealing to me is that the stories he tells resonate with many of the experiences and feelings I've had. While it might be a bonus, of sorts, that Bruce also went through the same things as me, or even if he actually went through the stuff that's in his songs, that's not as important.

Nearly spit my coffee out on that line. Bravo!!

A lie? It may seem like that sometimes, i know. When mr Springsteen spits out the water on stage, when he kisses Clarence like he did during the Born in the USA tour. Ofcourse it is an act, no more, no less. But most of the time it has been great fun.

Also: i'm really, really glad that the man wrote some songs that say exactly what i feel. I can't write, i can't sing, i can't even play music, so i won't ever be able to compose songs like Streets of Fire, Promised Land, the Iceman or The Way just to name a few. I lived those songs and love every second of them. If it wasn't for mr. Springsteen those moments of joy or happiness but also of compassion, anger or disappointment wouldn't be there.

Sure he has earned a lot of money. We gave it to him. Just like we give it to footballplayers.