Happy birthday to Bruce Springsteen, who turns 75 today.
In honor of the Boss's birthday, I am stating to the world that I am reclaiming my fandom.
Anyone who knows me well knows my story: I first heard Bruce's music in the summer of 1978, at the age of 12, several weeks before my bar mitzvah, when I heard "Prove It All Night" on the radio and found it unlike anything else I had ever heard up to that point. I began considering myself a fan once I found out about his Asbury Park/Jersey Shore connection not long after that. And then in my mid-teens, I began considering him a musical big brother figure once I heard his songs about his relationship with his father, during a time in my life when my relationship with my own father was at its most volatile. His music subsequently became the soundtrack to my life in all its different stages. Listening to his songs would bring me back to where I was along my journey when I originally heard them.
But all this slowed down during the time I lived in Los Angeles, when my geographic connection to his music was turned upside down and I began attaching myself to different music, artists, and genres—and when Bruce himself began actively stumping for political candidates, something he had hitherto not done. It slammed to a halt in the wake of the podcasts he was doing with ex-president Obama. You may remember the blog I published at the time renouncing my appreciation of the man and his music. It had become all too much for me to handle—the collaboration itself with the president (and by extension, the Establishment) and the ceaseless fawning by his zealous fans, the so-called "tramps"—and it was like the vessel had filled to the brim and tipped over. I disconnected from him, his music, and his fan community, and remained that way for over three years. It didn't go as far as shutting the radio off whenever a song of his came on (the way it did for the likes of Roger Waters) but short of that, I was done. I gave away most of my CD collection, donated most of the books about him that I had accumulated over the years to the local library, and tried to step away as much as I could from his influence when recording and performing my music (needless to say, his influence on my songwriting and performance over the years was enormous, to say the least).
But I couldn't step away completely. After being in his musical orbit for so long, there was no way to completely purge that influence. Although I did make the conscious decision not to hitch my wagon as closely as I had in the past. Little by little I began listening again, and most recently I bought some new-used copies of his first seven albums (his "canon," or perhaps "heptateuch," lol). But I doubt I'll ever again be the zealot I had been once upon a time. And that's a good thing. One of my close friends in LA, someone who had been a musician in the city's legendary rock scene and later became a Torah scholar and teacher, once told me that when I lose the last of the Springsteen influence, that's when I'll become my own man. (And he did appreciate what Bruce did, musically.) So I've tried to remember those words and heed them.
So ... I'm a fan again. But not without qualifications. I don't buy every little thing he puts out anymore. I don't follow his every footstep (but I won't lie ... I do feel sorry that I missed him during his Sea.Hear.Now appearance in Asbury Park). I still do not like the fact that he has become part of the elite, which really cancels out any pretense toward being a working-class everyman (a stance I didn't always buy even during better days—I related more closely to the gypsy-troubadour phase of his earlier career). And I don't like his political posturing or preaching. I don't begrudge anyone their beliefs, but it's better for an artist to sing about the things that matter to them rather than harangue, condescend to, or alienate their audiences. So even though I'm listening to his music again, I'm listening to that which spoke to me during those times I appreciated him the most.
I know how some of my friends feel about him, particularly with regard to his politics, but if all these friends are going to do here is post some comments trashing him, I ask that they kindly spare themselves the energy. They are free to dislike him as much as they want ... but I won't be made to feel guilty for my appreciation of him because of anyone's dislike. And if anyone feels inclined to respect me less because I say I am once more a Springsteen fan ... well, I feel sorry for them, choosing and judging friends by such criteria. And it's a damn shame that I even have to make a disclaimer such as this.
So ... here's to the Boss. Meet the new Boss, not the same as the old Boss. Happy birthday all the same.
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