Indie Rockers Hang Out On E Street
In case you didn't know: Many bands have been influenced by Bruce Springsteen. Not Superbowl crotch-shot Bruce, but the guy who put together Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, Born To Run, Nebraska, Darkness On The Edge of Town, Born in the U.S.A., etc. He's released a lot of great fucking records. To make note of the influence during the Working On A Dream promo swing, various "up-and-coming" youngsters -- including Jersey guys the Gaslight Anthem and Ted Leo and non-Jersey gal Juliana Hatfield -- are doing brief interviews about why they like Springsteen and performing one of his songs. The series is called "Hangin' Out On E Street." That is not the best name for a series.
Ted Leo - "Dancing In The Dark"
Against Me! - "Reason To Believe"
Juliana Hatfield - "Cover Me"
The Gaslight Anthem - "Backstreets"
As might be expected, Ted Leo gives a good interview straight from the Market Hotel. Coming soon: Calexico, Tegan & Sara, Nicole Atkins. You can see clips by other Jersey dudes the Bouncing Souls, among others, at www.brucespringsteen.net. No sign of the Hold Steady, but the paint hasn't dried on their cover of "Atlantic City."
Posted at 11:10 AM by brandon in Video
Tags: Against Me! | Bruce Springsteen | Juliana Hatfield | Ted Leo | The Gaslight Anthem
Hey... you know for some reason I had the impression that "indie rockers" would bash Bruce Springteen at any chance they had (not hip enough) ...then The Hold Steady came along and now everyone loves Bruce.
Probably just me.
Score = -6
Springsteen is the biggest phony in music. Can't stand him.
Score = -21
I think he's pretty awesome, influential and one of my favorite musicians. What confuses me is how he's so anti-machine, anti-corporate, liberal, pro-blue collar, man's man normal guy-- yet has no problem charging $100+fees for a ticket in the last row to a concert held at a very big commercial venue with a merchandise booth charging skyrocket prices for a cheap tshirt. Perhaps its label intervention, but if Neil Young can make The Forum in LA cover their ads for his concerts and if Radiohead can charge $50 total for a ticket at a stadium, I don't get why The Boss continues to burn fans' money. Sure he can get away with it easily, good for him making a living, etc. but the condescending principals is what I'm trying to figure out if anyone wants to fill me in.
Score = 7
Maybe, just maybe, the ticket prices correspond to the number of the people in the band? Radiohead has four mouths to feed. There are five thousand people in the E Street Band. And Bruce isn't playing stadiums, which means fewer people can attend, which means to finance the show...$100 as opposed to $50. Coincidentally, I saw him on his solo acoustic tour a few years back and tickets were $38. Imagine that? When it comes to ticket prices, the Boss ain't the enemy. $100 is damn near average these days. It's not like it's just him and two other dudes charging well over $100 for tickets (looking at you, The Police). Just saying, he puts on a bigger show. It probably has something to do with the ticket prices.
Score = 1
"And Bruce isn't playing stadiums, which means fewer people can attend."
Wait, what? I get the number of people in the band thing but all his tour dates have quite consistently been at arenas and stadiums that hold tens of thousands for quite some time. Some have even been at huge football stadiums (Giants Stadium and Gillette Stadium which are exponentially larger than most indoor arenas come to mind.) His 2005 acoustic solo tour was held at the same arena in Boston that the Celtics play at and ticket prices were right up there with the rest of his band tours. Maybe it depends on what city he's hitting, but The Boss makes a killing in major cities and that's usually over the course of more than one date on his tour.
Score = 2
sparks!
Score = 1
oh, and no love for The River?
Score = 2
I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Tegan & Sara play. I know they've covered "Dancing In The Dark" before, but in at least one radio interview they specifically mentioned the version of "The River" that's on Live/1975-85.
Score = 0
You know who I bet is really pissed about this indie-approved Springsteen resurgence? Brandon Flowers. Maybe if "Sam's Town" comes out in '09 instead of '06 critics don't crucify it. I hope that doesn't mean we'll all be debating whether we're human or dancer in 3 years.
Score = 0
these are interesting, but I'm amazed at how low the recording quality is on most of them. you'd the think the people at thebossnet or whatever would be able to do a better job of quality control.
Score = 1
Bruce Springsteen can sell out a stadium two nights in a row charging $100 a ticket. If he charged $50, it would sell out even faster to scalpers, and your only option for getting in would be paying even more than that.
Radiohead can't sell out stadiums charging $50 a ticket, and they certainly couldn't if they charged $100. They aren't nearly as popular.
In 1984, a Springsteen ticket cost $30, and a Born in the USA cost $12, if you adjust for inflation.
Today a ticket costs $100, and Working on a Dream costs $10.
In 1997 a Radiohead ticket cost $15, and today a ticket costs $50.
Give it another fifteen years, and you'll have a bunch of middle aged dudes shelling out stupid money for Radiohead tickets and buying overpriced crap at the merch table.
Score = -1
maybe one of them can explain the appeal of springsteen. i still dont get whats so special about him.
Score = -2
Listen to "The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle". If you don't get it after that you should start worrying.
Score = 2
I'm not a huge fan of the Atlantic City cover (and I thought that The Hold Steady would be Bruce naturals) , but it is any coincidence that he's starting to get a bigger lift in the community considering the message of his lyrics now that we're in a recession?
Score = 0
Sam's Town was poorly received because it wasn't a *good* record, even though it tried to sound like the Boss. Boys and Girls in America came out the same year and was much adored because it was a good record that happened to sound like the Boss. This Bruce-surgence has been going on for a while now.
Score = -2
brian's backstreets is OUT OF FUCKING CONTROL
Score = 0
Outside of the album Nebraska, I always got the vibe that Springsteen's work was despised publicly by the indie crowd ever since he started flexing his muscles and posing with his guitar on stage and MTV while wearing a headband around his head during the mid '80s. And Springsteen's general appeal to the mass populace (including frat jocks, 'rednecks', and Ronald Reagan) made him a fun and easy target of derision among the indie elite. Plus, straightforward, easy-to-understand 4-chord rock anthems in the perspective of struggling blue-collar communities trying to escape small-town life...were too corny and apple pie among the indie elite to take seriously as well.
Putting all of those things aside,
Greetings from Ashbury Park, NJ
The Wild, the Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle
Born to Run
Darkness on the Edge of Town
The River
Nebraska
Born in the U.S.A.
are all killer records if you're a fan of pop/rock/song-writing. And if you really want Springsteen when he was not faking it, watch any of his 1978 concert footage of his Darkness tour on youtube. He played all of his songs and concerts (each is 4-hours long) on 5th gear with as much passion and sincerity as anyone that I have ever seen on stage. If you give those records a chance, then you might be pleasantly surprised in what you find.
Score = 1