« My Favorite Radio Station's Top Albums of 2008 | Main
February 25, 2009
Bruce Springsteen A "Sell-Out?"
This was written in response to some negative writing regarding Bruce's supposed selling out by taking $100,000,000 from Columbia, making a so called "mediocre" album, doing an exclusive deal with Walmart for a greatest hits album, and playing the Super Bowl to sell it all.
Thought I'd share. Your comments are welcomed!
I grew up with Bruce Springsteen at Columbia Records. We're the same age. I spent a fare amount of time with him and the gang, especially in those early years. I can assure you he is a most sincere fellow (nobody could write those songs if they weren't), and furthermore a very down to earth guy. If you went to dinner with him you wouldn't believe it was him--he'd be telling you stories about living part of his life in the back of a surfboard shop and having a laugh about how the fumes may have affected his writing! Ha,ha!
In all my years in the business I never saw a guy work harder than him. Ran all his own sound checks, did the show (4 hours every night), toweled down, and then took the time to say hello to everyone who waited backstage until the wee hours of the morning, and then got up and did it all again.
One of the problems with the music business is that it IS a business and artists are expected to produce X amount of records in X amount of years whether those songs are in them organically or not. And, to make matters more complex, unlike a painter, let's say, part of the process is live performance. That is both an art form and a drug in and of itself. Some people just HAVE to be on that big stage, they just NEED it to complete themselves. Both of these endeavors are surrounded with so many trappings it's a wonder how so many even survive.
The thing that happened to Bruce is the same thing that happened to us all--he grew up. And as he did, he, like most of us, he changed with that growth (BTW I think that's what a lot of "growth" is). The challenge is, people want him to be the "old" Bruce, but he can't because he's the "new" Bruce and he has to be, and HE SHOULD BE, to remain true to himself. I remember my surprise 30th birthday party when my dad showed up wearing one of my old college denim work shirts with a big red fist on the back. Right in front of everybody he asked in his big, booming Brooklyn voice, "Hey Paul, I see that Cadillac you rent when on the road--what happened to the revolution?!!! Well, of course, everyone laughed like crazy--BUSTED! The American dream plays tricks on you--you have ideas and ideals and you try your best, but capitalism will bite you on the ass--it comes with the territory. I had a great career at Columbia and I got to keep my integrity, but I found myself in some places I never thought I'd be, and bending a few rules I never thought I'd bend. The trouble is, when you're a celebrity EVERYONE sees your mistakes and the rules that you bend for yourself.
Part of Bruce is poet, but part of Bruce is show-off, that's for sure, but that's why he has so much fun on stage and that's why we have just as much fun watching him. Also, make no mistake, even Bob Dylan, THE POET of our generation and ultimate anti-sell out, still wants (read, NEEDS) as many people listening to his works as possible. In fact, it used to really piss him off that bands like Fleetwood Mac would sell 6 million albums and no matter what he did he could only sell a million. He used to ask me if he was so great, where are the other 5 million? Of course that was a long answer and I don't want to stray from my point.
The point is, I believe Bruce finds himself in these trappings and does the best he can. Let's not forget all the causes he supports and all the concerts he's done: for a candidate, veterans issues, hunger, etc., etc.. Some of these have been unpopular with certain segments of his audience, yet he does them anyway because he believes in these causes and walks the walk.
In a recent article in the Washing Post ("He's The One" , which I highly recommend reading), the author reminds us of a lyric that Bruce wrote some years ago. A song called "I'm Turning Into Elvis (And There's Nothing I Can Do)".
Well he came to me last night in a dream looking just like he did in '57/He said, "Son, that guitar is a wonderful thing, but it can be the living devil's friend/On the other hand there's sex-starved women, millions of dollars, and anything you want to do."/I'm turning into Elvis and there's nothing I can do.
When someone offers you 100 million dollars reflecting the greatness of a lifetime of work and worth, and work yet to come--literally everything you've believed in for yourself, for your whole life, mistakes and all,...well I think that's pretty hard to turn down.
Yep, when you play the big game not every album is gonna be a gem, and there will be some clunker songs along the way, and yes, you will at times become a parody of yourself. But then a masterpiece like "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" will emerge, or "The Seeger Sessions" which brings back that live spontaneity we all crave from Bruce.
As far as the Superbowl? You gotta move ahead in this world or you're just standing still. If you know Bruce he just can't stand still, and you know what? Neither can a lot of us. And, if part of you is a show off--well, that's one of the biggest stages in history. But as we're all watching him shake his booty on this most commercial of broadcasts, let's not forget that just a few weeks ago he was a very meaningful part of the some of the most amazing history of our country. And, as commercial as he's capable of being, he's still the guy who wrote "Thunder Road" and "Badlands," and so many more. I just heard "Brilliant Disguise" on the radio the other day and it took my breath away. "God have mercy on the man who doubts what he's sure of." Wow, come on, who writes that?!! We should look to Bruce's greater songs to find his total credibility, not his every "human" action or decision.
So yeah, he'll continue to grow and move forward and yes he'll continue to make some mistakes, and also have to continually fight those demons which want to turn him into Elvis. But I suspect if we all hang in there with him, that there is more great art yet to be heard from him. And that will come when it comes (remember it took a while for "Blood On The Tracks" to emerge and remind us all of how great Bob Dylan was and is--not to mention "Time Out Of Mind" after a long drought of greatness). This kind of art doesn't grow on trees and cannot be forced when trying to fulfill a record company contract. It shows up like magic for those few who are capable of receiving those kinds of messages.
And when those songs show up (hopefully on a complete inspired album), let's remember one of my all time favorite quotes--yes, one from the Boss himself: "Trust the art, not the artist."
Paul Rappaport
Posted by msrap at February 25, 2009 4:35 PM