Pitchfork still sucks. Most of today's music writing sucks, mainly because most of the writers sound like they'd rather be mingling at some afterparty somewhere rather than listening to music.

But if her middle name is Ursula and her last name is Motherfuckers, think how trippingly it will roll off the tongue.

Hi, Brucespringsteenfuckingrocks U. Motherfuckers! How's it going?

I can take Bruce Springsteen or leave him, so I guess I "sort of" suck, huh.

I do think he is very very hot though.

I too find it unacceptable that people have opinions that do not agree with mine. For shame.

There are those who read record reviews to affirm their taste, and those who read them to expand it. Pitchfork caters to the former, but that's neither a surprise nor a shame. The listening public is a posturing self-conscious nerd in dire need of a backrub and someone to whisper in their ear, "You're cool, okay?"

Just like Springsteen at 19.

I still think that gang over at Pitchfork need to have their asses kicked by the ghost of Lester Bangs, assisted by Dave Marsh, Legs McNeil and Chuck Klosterman, all of whom write better and have better taste.

Springsteen would be awesome if he covered this.

And you know what? We need a verb for when you don't really care about a band one way or another. For example, I don't dislike Springsteen, I don't think he sucks, I don't say oh yuck and change the station when his songs come on, but on the other hand I'm not going out to the record store and buying his stuff either, so I can't really say I *like* Springsteen. English needs a simple verb to express all that.

Indifferent? Not a verb, I know.

Bruce has a very well maintained and micro-groomed soul patch, if I tried to have a soul patch like Bruce without the million dollar support staff and the finest South East Asian beard plucking special forces teams Rumsen, NJ has to offer I'd look like someone shot me in the upper chin with a wad of chewing gum that had been rolling around a shower drain.

I never understood the music too well, but if it makes you happy to think I suck and it empowers Jon to learn voodoo and bring Bangs back from the grave, rock.. rock on babes.

I "meh" Springsteen. I hope that conveys the essence of what JanetLand said above.

Janetland,
Verbs are mostly for doing, but I hear ya kid.

Liking or not liking Springsteen's music is a matter of taste. But he's definitely one of the good guys.

(and Wino, I'd offer myself as the reincarnation of Bangs, but my writing is actually more like McNeil's, but he's not dead yet.)

I don't know if Bruce's music translates so well for a British audience. He certainly has his fans over here (I understand Badly Drawn Boy felt inspired by him to get into music) but amongst music nuts you'll find far fewer fans in Britain than I think you would in America.

But yeah, I can take him or leave him too.

When he does the pared down thing, he's more likely to win me over. When he does the rock band thing, sometimes good sometimes dull. When I've seen clips of his big fuck off showbiz live thing - bleugh.

Odd that you say that dodgy, since on his first couple albums, his producers seemed determined to try and make him into Jackson Browne*, when it was obvious that he needed to be playing full-on rock-and-roll since that's where his roots were.Jon Landau understood this and so did the original E Streeters and we got Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town and The River. Huzzah.

(and I like his acoustic stuff just fine, but if I hear one more doofus answer "Do you like Springsteen?' with "well, I like Nebraska," I will strangle them with Miami Steve's do-rag)

*I actually like a lot of Browne's stuff too, at least the old stuff, but y'all know what I'm getting at

I like Springsteen more as I get older, but I'm still not a huge fan. I used to HATE him back in the Born in the USA days, but that was because I really didn't like the Springsteen fans in my high school. They had this idea that blue-collar folk and farmers were the REAL Americans and those of us who were college-bound were a bunch of pussies.

They had this idea that blue-collar folk and farmers were the REAL Americans and those of us who were college-bound were a bunch of pussies.

That kind of stance has always struck me as an understandable defensiveness in a world where people like the characters as often used as political pawns, but in reality are little valued themselves.

Also, Born In The USA may be the most misunderstood album, ever. Many people took it as jingoistic or blindly patriotic, when it was anything but if you actually listen.

That kind of stance has always struck me as an understandable defensiveness

Given, jonmc. But only about 30 percent of my graduating class went on to higher education, and that stat includes trade schools. It was more anti-intellectualism than defensiveness. Plus, we were all teenagers looking to draw the easiest lines possible. We know better now.

there's some cat who was a rookie for the pirates in 2001, and just after sept. 11 he insisted that his at-bat music be changed to 'born in the usa.' i mean, he insisted that for all the wrong reasons.

oh, it's patriotic, sure, but not like he thought it was. him and reagan both, i guess.

My at bat music would be a medley of "Born in East LA" by Cheech Marin and "When 2 R in Luv" by Prince.

Hey, I love Springsteen, but I don't mind if anyone else doesn't.

And check this out, guys: I can't fucking stand Lou Reed. I think he has a few good songs, but only because he hung around with the right people. Nothing he says speaks to me.

Big deal. Someone's gonna say, "but I love Lou Reed, you just ain't listening," and I'll say, yeah, not anymore, I tried. Maybe someday, but it's not gonna be because someone pounded him into my ears until I submitted.

It's pretty individual, and it changes throughout life. I mean, if somebody told me at age eighteen that my favorite Bruce song wouldn't always be "Jungleland," and that I might end up loving "Growing Up," I would have laughed.

But when a record review site gives an act a zero out of ten to take the wind out of his sails, I know not to visit it. Just not my kind of music writing.

And my AB music would be "Sell Your Body (to the Night)" by Turbonegro.

Mine would be 'Surfin' Bird.' Just because. and Hugh, we got your Bellrays ticket for you.

What's the date? I need to write it on the back of my hand again. Pencil just washes off too easily.

June 11th, man.

Well, you all know I'm a Springsteen acolyte. It's OK not to like him, though -- more tickets for me.

Springsteen's fans are no longer the contingent from the Born in the USA era. HIs political outspokenness has pretty much alienated anyone who was inclined to be unthinkingly jingoistic. If you attend shows, you'll find that the fans tend to be really solidly down-to-earth, earnestly good people. Many, many 'first-generation professionals' who identify with the characters who come from working-class roots.

And I agree with Jon -- even if I didn't like him, he'd have my profound respect. He's such a great person, generous with his time and attention and money, and he supports a huge number of vitally needed charities in his community with meaningful financial gifts. He plays benefits. He stays in touch with his audience and his peers, living a fairly regular-person's life despite his wealth. He shows up to play shows in small venues and doesn't run away from people who want to shake his hand. He writes introspectively and sensitively.

One thing that has stood out to me since watching "The Making of Born to Run" is that Bruce is an obsessive arranger. I was in awe of the amount of time he spent massaging and finessing the tiniest details of each track. What appears spontaneous isn't, at all; it's an outcome he achieves through hard work, planning, and mercilessly driving his band. The same is true of the live shows. It's not a bad thing, but it's made me take a new look at his artistry. Even the songs on "The Seeger Sessions," though they are meant to give the impression of a footloose jam session, are really carefully arranged. In this way, he's really sort of a Duke Ellington of rock-n-roll, not a Mingus or Parker.

He's like Sinatra in that regard, too, Miko. Also Mozart and Haydn.

Oh, I loves me some Springsteen. In my itinerary of music, I started with my parents' folk, and had a little pop bounce, and then I got into "roots rock" people like Dylan, Springsteen, and Petty for a long, long time.

The whole Born in the USA era was strange. Bruce went through this era of being known as "the last rock'n'roller" and when that album came out there were quite a few people who identified him as "the guy with the cowbell song" ("Hungry Heart").

But then he deliberately broke up the E Street Band, after a double world tour, a celebrity marriage, and his affair with Patti, and he began doing offbeat stuff again -- never seeking that Top 40 sweet spot, frankly. I think that confused and pissed off a lot of the fans from that period.

The cowbell song was "Cadillac Ranch". But whatever.

I think Springsteens's Born to Run is one of the top 5 rock albums of all time. He lost me with Ghost of Tom Joad and everything since has been sincere, but self-absorbed. He's doing the music he likes, the way he likes it. And the way he likes it makes it virtually impossible to listen to in a car (too much dynamic range)---- real, real quiet followed by way to loud followed by real quiet again. Great music for an intimate setting but hard to listen to a recording.

Also on my top 5 list is Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells a Story" and there's just a whole body of work he's done since that I mostly don't like.

It's funny how an artist can have such great creative and commercial success with an album, and if they try to keep that sound in subsequent albums we say they're "selling out" and if they get true creative control they seem to go off in the weeds and become niche artists. Either way, it's hard to win, isn't it?

Hells yeah on the Stewart, Doohickie. Ronnie Wood's all over that album. Great songs, great singer, rock and roll.

I blame all the young Turks.

they seem to go off in the weeds and become niche artists

I think Bruce is really happy with this. He doesn't seem to need to win.

Agreed with that. He's living out his dream. I just don't get into it.

I always stayed away from Springsteen for some reason. But, interestingly enough, dios' AskMe thread about Nebraska convinced me to give him a try. I bought Nebraska and the Ghost of Tom Joad and now I'm hooked to those albums.

I once did an impersonation of Springsteen in grade school as part of the (5 person) "drama club", in which I interviewed myself.

It was pretty lame. I still love the Boss, though.

i think if you think bruce sucks, you pretty much suck.
I concur.