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I was raised on The Boss. Being born and raised in north Jersey in the 80s he was inescapable. My mother and her entire family are die-hard fans so anywhere I went growing up I was hit with The Boss and I cannot thank them enough for that. I consider Bruce to be one of the top 3 greatest songwriters in the history of rock music and one of the greatest performers alive. Bruce has this amazing ability to capture emotion and convey it via song like very few people in existence. Each album captures exactly what was happening in his heart, his life, his town, and his world while remaining amazingly concise. He manages to do all of this and writs in a way that makes it all relate-able to every single person who hears it. I wasn’t alive in the 70s, let alone alive and living in Asbury Park, but I get a feel for the climate of that time and place through his music. When you combine this with the amazing E Street Band you get something rarely seen in music: the whole package.
So I pose the question: Where have all the Bruce Springsteens gone? Is he such a rare treasure we can never realistically expect to see another like him? Or has the music industry changed and the great songwriters of our time are overshadowed by manufactured and/or generic rock and pop music? I find myself having to look to indie and underground artists to find songwriting that even approached Bruce Springsteen‘s caliber. They’re out there and I have found one group the approaches and even touches on Bruce in Arcade Fire but despite their popularity they aren’t quite what I am referring to in this article. I am looking for an artist with the skills of Bruce that takes over the world in a sense. I want someone to come out of nowhere and give a musical voice to the events of out time while somehow managing to top all of the charts. Sadly I don’t think the music industry is built for that anymore. The art of the album is lost in mainstream music. In the end though, I think I’m just chasing a ghost.
Disclaimer: I am hardly and expert nor am I aware of every chart-topping album from the past 20 years or so. Though I am referring to someone who hits the mainstream and is Bruce-level of talented I would gladly take lesser known recommendations. Like I said, I am hardly a reliable source and I most likely missing a lot of good music in my collection. I was just pondering Bruce on the way to work and wondered why popular music can’t seem to life up someone similar to him these days.
Related Articles
- Bruce Springsteen: The Promise – review (guardian.co.uk)
- Bruce Springsteen Keeps His Promise By Embracing The Darkness (blogcritics.org)
