Two Visions of America; Bruce Springsteen and Chuck Berry
I was introduced to Dave Morrison by someone in this forum. He a licensed contractor in California who started a VLOG. He’s pragmatic, articulate, optimistic, patriotic and conservative—otherwise not much to recommend
I’ve never cared for Springsteen. Dave explains why, better than I ever could. I admit that I never looked at Chuck Berry’s song like Dave does, I mostly just appreciated his guitar playing.
_______________________________________________________ despite them
April 22, 2019, 09:41 AM
Sig209
Bruce has always had a 'glass half empty' mindset.
Looking at the darker side of Americana - but in many cases with a pretty good beat...
Not 'wrong' -- but definitely not celebrating the good.
Proverbs 27:17 - As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
April 22, 2019, 09:52 AM
oddball
My true first distaste of Springsteen was purely musical; I did not like his songwriting, the singing, the sax, the grinding sludge of his band. They just didn't swing, and I did not like like the sound. By the mid 80s, I saw him as one of the biggest hypocrites in rock n roll, along with John Lennon. I actually went to see his Born in the USA tour just to see what the hype was all about, and I couldn't wait to get back in the car and go home.
Chuck Berry is Mozart compared to Springsteen. Just completely blows him away musically and lyrically, of course.
"I’m not going to read Time Magazine, I’m not going to read Newsweek, I’m not going to read any of these magazines; I mean, because they have too much to lose by printing the truth"- Bob Dylan, 1965
April 22, 2019, 10:22 AM
fpuhan
Springsteen was over-hyped from the beginning. I remember hearing stuff like, "Frank Sinatra may be the Chairman of the Board, but Bruce Springsteen is The BOSS." Yuck.
People were comparing him to the likes of Bob Dylan, due to his "poetry" and story-telling. Yuck.
And then he put his hypocrisy on full display when he lobbied hard for tax breaks on his 200 acre "farm" because paying more than $5K a year in taxes is just too much for the guy.
He was also a tax-dodger early in his career. When he made the cover of TIME magazine in 1975, the IRS started coming after him.
You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.
NRA Benefactor/Patriot Member
April 22, 2019, 01:13 PM
Ryanp225
Bruce mumbles his songs and people call it "singing". At least his mumbling drowns out most of his incredibly shitty guitar playing.
April 22, 2019, 01:16 PM
Gustofer
I like story telling lyrics/songs, which might explain why I'm the biggest fan of the likes of Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, and many others...including Springsteen.
From someone who spent too long in (while not NJ) the rust belt, working shit jobs for shit wages in run down towns and factories and having friends who are still stuck there, I get his lyrics and I get the storytelling. They make sense to me and they do hit home. Music should do that...if you like it.
Do I care for his politics? Fuck no. But, he has/had a gift for connecting with those people. And, he made millions doing so. Good for him.
Now, if he'd just STFU, live off of his royalties, and not subject the rest of us to his twisted liberal values, all would be good.
________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton.
April 22, 2019, 02:25 PM
downtownv
Around these parts he's God-Like To me he can't sing, a pompous, property tax evader (Along w/Jon Bongovi) He espouses his politics throughout his concerts and they are diametrically opposed to mine. NYPD were comped tickets to his concert and he highlighted police brutality and shooting of minorities, they all walked out, in protest.
over-hyped and doesn't have the talent to back it up
and what he calls 'singing' is pretty close to crap rap
[B] Against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC
April 22, 2019, 02:45 PM
apf383
quote:
Originally posted by Gustofer: I like story telling lyrics/songs, which might explain why I'm the biggest fan of the likes of Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, and many others...including Springsteen.
From someone who spent too long in (while not NJ) the rust belt, working shit jobs for shit wages in run down towns and factories and having friends who are still stuck there, I get his lyrics and I get the storytelling. They make sense to me and they do hit home. Music should do that...if you like it.
Do I care for his politics? Fuck no. But, he has/had a gift for connecting with those people. And, he made millions doing so. Good for him.
Now, if he'd just STFU, live off of his royalties, and not subject the rest of us to his twisted liberal values, all would be good.
Gustofer, I am exactly on the same page as you here. Love the earlier “working class” lyrics, racing cars, working tough jobs, broads, etc. its the political shit I cant stand. Still listen to the music though. Like your other choices as well, Chapin & Croche.
Foster's, Australian for Bud
April 22, 2019, 03:07 PM
az4783054
I don't like Springsteen or his politics since he thought Obama walked on water. We have a sizeable collection of CDs in which I found a half dozen of his early CDs. I threw them away.
Beware of a man whose only pistol is a 1911, he's probably very good with it.
April 22, 2019, 03:10 PM
justjoe
quote:
Originally posted by oddball: My true first distaste of Springsteen was purely musical; I did not like his songwriting, the singing, the sax, the grinding sludge of his band. They just didn't swing, and I did not like like the sound. By the mid 80s, I saw him as one of the biggest hypocrites in rock n roll, along with John Lennon. I actually went to see his Born in the USA tour just to see what the hype was all about, and I couldn't wait to get back in the car and go home.
Chuck Berry is Mozart compared to Springsteen. Just completely blows him away musically and lyrically, of course.
Originally posted by Ryanp225: Bruce mumbles his songs and people call it "singing". At least his mumbling drowns out most of his incredibly shitty guitar playing.
I am hesitate to comment because I have to admit being a huge Springteen fan back in the day.
But, after cleaning off my monitor, I have to say that this comment made my day.
_____________________________________________________________________ “Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again." - Will Durant
April 22, 2019, 05:08 PM
gw3971
I couldn't agree more with Dave's thoughts on Springsteen. Springsteen couldn't be happy with all of his success. Leaves me wondering what Dave thinks of John Cougar/Mellencamp? His songs and his vision of America changed quickly and went to the same place as Springsteen.
April 22, 2019, 05:59 PM
Blackmore
I liked Springsteen's first three albums but IMHO things went steadily downhill after that. I admit to seeing him live once - in 1977 - in a <7000 seat civic center. He played for over 3.5 hours and enough was from the aforementioned first three, I thought it was a great show. Little interest since then.
Truth: The New Hate Speech
April 22, 2019, 09:17 PM
CoolRich59
quote:
Originally posted by TMats: Just curious, did anybody listen to Dave Morrison’s VLOG?
I did and thought he had a spot on commentary.
The only quibble I have with Morrison's VLOG is that I interpreted Springsteen's earlier music as more 'teen angst' and not so much politics. It was later on when he and his music got overtly political that I stopped listening.
_____________________________________________________________________ “Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again." - Will Durant
April 23, 2019, 04:16 AM
Micropterus
I thought I was the only one who not only didn't like his politics, but didn't like his music.
_____________ "I enter a swamp as a sacred place—a sanctum sanctorum. There is the strength—the marrow of Nature." - Henry David Thoreau
April 23, 2019, 08:06 AM
chellim1
Thanks for posting the video. Dave Morrison makes a good argument about Two Visions of America. Springsteen's is definitely the darker and more depressing vision.
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
April 23, 2019, 08:48 AM
erj_pilot
That big vein in Springsteen's neck that juts out when he screeches? That Carotid Artery? Yeah...I wish he had blown that YEARS ago and just bled out right there on the spot. Can't stand that jack-hole.
"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24
