Online Editorial: "It's Time to Fire the Boss" (Springsteen)

My sentiments exactly! Magic has been in my player for months,so it's NOT "forgettable".

 

While I think that The Rising and Magic are both terrific albums, they both pale in comparison to Springsteen's 70's output. But the above quote refers to just about every artist that had significant success prior to 1990... save maybe Dylan and Waits.

Yes, it's easy to dump on Wal-Mart and this Wal-Mart only release seems to have a bit of unpleasant odor about it, but if he's the voice of the working man, shouldn't he sell his record where the working man shops?

 

As soon as he wrote "through his masterpiece, Born in the USA..." I knew this wasn't someone with much perspective on Bruuuce.

 

Wow, you're a riot!

Are you a maverick?

 

I'm assuming you get Comcast cable internet. How else would one even find such an obscure thing?

 

My bad...nevermind.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by MusicFan76
It's Time to Fire the Boss
By JT Ramsay
Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:29:45 GMT

Everyone loves Bruce Springsteen. Well, maybe not everyone, but a lot of people do, and with good reason. He became the voice of the post-Vietnam generation. His music spoke to the hardworking men and women trying to get by as a new day dawned in Reagan's America. He took the world by storm with a string of critically acclaimed records from his 1973 debut to his masterpiece, "Born in the U.S.A."

At his creative and commercial peak, he rebuked Ronald Reagan. It was the courageous and right thing to do. But, oh, how the mighty have fallen. He may still rank right up there with Dylan as a great American songwriter for his past work, but unlike Dylan, he's no longer making music that means anything, maybe not even to himself. The Boss has become a populist caricature, unable to speak cogently about the problems Americans face today. Listen to his new music and tell me he's not simply going through the motions.

It may not look like it, but Bruce Springsteen is a man undone by his own success. No, his isn't the cliched story of so many rock stars, brought low by partying to excess. For Bruce, it was something more personal. He threw away his identity, his most prized possession, the thing that made it possible for people to believe in him. It all ended when he walked away from the E Street Band, married an actress, divorced her, and moved to Hollywood, then moved back, hoping that his problems were simply a matter of geography.

What we see now is a shell of his former self. There's no denying that his tours still sell out to a throng of absolutely rabid fans, but they don't go to hear his new music. They want to hear the songs he wrote twenty to thirty years ago. He may still be an electrifying performer, but he's clutching to his audience's nostalgia now. It may be a living, but what has he done lately that's really moved you? Isn't that what made his music so special?

Once the voice of the working man, Bruce is now selling his Greatest Hits at Wal-Mart. His new album, "Working on a Dream," will be as forgettable as his last, although "The Wrestler" has its moments. Instead of being an exciting musician, he's become the Willie Loman of Americana, covering the same ground joylessly with every successive album. Whatever fire was in his belly when he wrote "Born to Run" burnt out long ago. Sad though it may be, it's time for change: we need to fire the Boss.

This "editorial's" title is quite the masterful pun, isn't it? The "writer" seems to have put about as much thought and effort into the rest of his few paragraphs.

If you already know this "editorial" is lame, why would you bother posting it/wasting everybody's time?

Because you don't like the new Springsteen song, came across this thing, and thought it would make for a good thread?

If that's the case, and you suddenly decided you really felt a need for this board to know your personal opinion about this subject, why start a new thread? I'm sure there's already plenty of threads here about this song/album/etc.

Sorry if I'm picking on you, but I don't understand why so many create threads with no apparent rhyme nor reason...

 

Oh, I get it. If Bruce doesn't have the same political beleifs as Nixon Jr. here then he has contempt for his country. Well, that is one way of looking at it.

 

You know what?

I think this guy wrote this "editorial" based on the fact that he thought the title "It's time to fire the Boss" was clever.

He failed on both counts.

 

I've only really gotten into Bruce over the past couple of years. I spent many years resisting his music, from the outside it just seemed too overblown and I couldnt understand the blind worship from his hardcore fans.

THEN I sat down and actually listened and I was slowly pulled in. I like most of his albums, not all. Born In The USA is not a big fave of mine but I do like most of Magic, saw him twice on the last tour and after hearing that new single 2 or 3 times now, I really like it.

I don't know if anyone can be expected to continue at the same rate of knocking out classics. He is nearly 60 after all. I'd hardly describe him as washed up. He's still playing and like most artists his best work is obviously behind him but hasnt decended into writing schlock and releasing bad albums. Lets cut the guy some slack.

The editorial is a load of rubbish

 

Just like most people are at 60. They tend to slow down a little. It's a little thing called..................getting old.

 

Have you even considered the possibility that he may just eat too much refined white flour and cheese??

 

That was the worst thing I read on the internet today.

 

Must admit i don't particularly enjoy or listen to the most recent stuff , i like the old stuff best , and i think he tours too frequently these days .

Where's the 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' anniversary edition ?

Hope it hasn't been shelved .

 

If you are going to knock Bruce you should at least do it with a bit of wit. I would recommend 'You and the Boss', a story in Slaves of New York by Tama Janowitz, for those that insist on this sort of thing.

 

This kind of flawed logic makes me nuts. Wouldn't it be hypocritical if his greatest hits was only available at Cartier stores? Isn't Walmart the store of the working class?

Anyway, it's been said already in this thread...you can take any subject and twist it to your logic..just look at that Hendrix thread!

 

The other day i was in Newbury Comics and they were playing Born in the USA cd and to be honest some of those songs sound like half baked rockabilly.
Damn if ELVIS recorded that stuff everyone would say he lost it .....and its Springsteens masterpiece?

 

I don't think anyone would call that album his masterpiece. It's just his biggest seller.

 

Lets not get political. Bruce LOVES his country, otherwise he wouldn't want to change it.

 

I was trying to stay out of this discussion,because as most of you already know i'm not exactly the biggest Boss fan ''and some of my favorite forum members are'' but i feel i had to chime in.

I think the point the guy's trying to make is that Bruce has been cut too much slack over the years,it seems all he has to do is release something and it's treated as an event,gets 5 stars reviews in Rolling Stone, or an award of some kind, regardless of weather he actually deserves it or not,and i think that he many others see through this.

 

I can understand where you're coming from because I feel that way about Neil Young. But both of our opinions are swayed by the fact that we're not big fans of the artists in question.

 

I agree. Springsteen hasn't done anything good in ten years.

Evan

 

Anniversary has passed, it's 2009 now

 

So the people that enjoyed his last few albums are wrong?