"Have You Ever Seen A One Trick Pony... Then You've Seen Me"

The One Where Gray Finally Gives Something Back

Me and Bruce Springsteen by @diaryofaledger

Firstly, thanks to AT for letting me post here on Diary of a Maverick Ledger and returning the favour of his posts appearing on my site on a Monday evening.

Secondly, I’ll be writing about music.

I’m really open about what form these posts will take and if anyone has any thoughts about what they’d like to see here let me know.

AT though posed me a question.  Why don’t I love Bruce Springsteen?  So that seems like a good place to start.

Honestly me and Bruce have had a bumpy ride.  I can remember Born in the USA coming out in 1985, Dancing in the Dark was a ‘slowy’ at many a middle school disco and the title track would often cause a mild preteen ruckus at the end of these sweaty, often chaotic early evening shindigs.

But at 12 years old I was about as comfortable around girls as I was around tarantulas so Dancing in the Dark was often a sit down moment for me, watching some unrequited love dancing with a pratt that owned a Nike jacket called Allan.  Born in the USA was a tub thumper of a tune, or at least so I thought.  The lyrics to the verses passed me by at 12 and in all honesty as much as I know about that song now, I still love that chorus. 

Springsteen was briefly part of that mid eighties holy trinity of American music stars, along with Madonna and Michael Jackson, the fact that he was already 12 years into his album making career pretty much passed me by.  Sure I know some tunes, can appreciate the craft that goes into his music, I even own a Best Of, but I can pinpoint the moment when I started moving away from Springsteen.  I was in Australia when he released two albums simultaneously and it just felt like too much.  Guns n’ Roses did the same thing at around the same time and ended up with two bloated albums that fans lapped up before returning to previous releases.   Although there were fans that I’m sure love tracks from both of those Springsteen albums it’s a lot to ask of people to buy two on the same day of release.  And back in those days we really did ‘buy’ albums.

Australian radio loved Springsteen and Mellencamp, that whole Americana thing.  But I wasn’t American, I was into the Wonderstuff and the Smiths and so, sadly in some ways, I by passed Springsteen.  Aussie radio was a great mix of so many musical cultures, Triple M in Sydney in particular gave me the hit of British indie but I still got all this other stuff thrown into the mix including Springsteen.

I get why AT loves him.  I think it’s hugely tied into Ads love of films (mainly from America) and he gets that, culturally, far more than I do.  However my two favourite tracks of Springsteen are both from movies.  Philadelphia and The Wrestler both benefit hugely for having his songs within them.  There are American singers and bands that are amongst my favourite musicians and creative types, but for me Springsteen just doesn’t push the right buttons enough.  That MOR sound can work for me sometimes, one of my favourite songs of all time is Glenn Campbell’s take on Wichita Lineman, but I don’t own any Glenn Campbell album’s and probably never will.  Maybe that’s narrow, but I believe that I have a fairly broad musical spectrum and I do like some Springsteen songs hugely.  I just struggle to sit and listen to him for hours, I find it kind of dull.

Maybe I’d feel differently if I’d got that slow dance at 12.  Damn you Allan and that fricking Nike jacket.

Cheers for posting, Gray. Although it's "Springsteen and I". Just saying.

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