Bruce Springsteen

I feel weird about Springsteen's music; I don't hate it, but I'm not wildly enthusiastic.  This is strange, as everyone else I know feels one of the two.  He's not a musician you're supposed to be able to have mixed feelings about, supposedly.

I was in a band with a guy who fell into the maniacal fan camp.  He had every "Official Release" as I discovered when I tried to show him the Japanese single import (I don't even remember which song) with the live version of "Chimes of Freedom: as a B-side.  Oh, yeah, already had it.  Being in a band with a self-confessed Springsteen fanatic was trying occasionally.  We almost became a Springsteen cover band on one or two occasions, and had a strict one song by the Boss per set-list rule that I credit with keeping us together.


I am, like I said, lukewarm on the Boss.  I love about four songs, and enjoy dozen others.  I hate "Born in the USA" even though I know it's about a Vietnam vet.  Partly I'm not wild about Clarence Clemons.  Partly I'm not wild about the E street Band's ten minute extended versions of mediocre songs ("Tenth Avenue Freezeout").  But I will admit there's a passion for Rock and Roll in Springsteen that comes through even at the worst of times - it's basically all he's got going for him as a front man, but he's got it in spades.

So why are my favorite bands clearly made up of people like my old bandmate?

I've been listening to Arcade Fire a lot recently, and was tracking down videos of them performing on Youtube.  Live on letterman, live on Conan, live on obscure Canadian shows that are clearly only a few years old, but also probably cancelled.  For the record, I'm not positive I'm a real Arcade Fire fan, but I did buy Neon Bible twice, when I lost the first copy.

I basically bought that album for four songs, but it was worth the price for "Keep the Car Running," which might go down as the best indie rock song of the decade.  And it's also a song with Springsteen's prints all over it.  It's one of those upper mid-tempo songs with a drumbeat and bassline that propel things along, as the song builds and builds and builds until the finale where it just crashes to a halt.  It's a little paranoid, but the most Springsteen thing about it, for me, is the Car, the Car as escape, as a stand in for everything else in life you haven't got.  Of course you have to keep the engine running - you're going to come out that screen door, leap in, and strap your hands across my engines as we go flying down the highway.  So it was something of a find to come across the Youtube video of Bruce playing the song with Arcade Fire, at a concert somewhere.

This led me to search for other bands performing with Bruce in the Special Guest Star role.  Sure enough, here's the Gaslight Anthem playing "The '59 Sound" with the Boss.

The Gaslight anthem are Springsteen distilled.  They're from Jersey, so it's 30% either genetic or the water (which also explains the occasional good Bon Jovi song).  They clearly decided to be the punk version of the E street band - huge choruses, "We Gotta Get Out of this Place" lyrics, wistful at 25 aesthetic.  I will say, they are stunning live - even in video, which is all I've ever seen.  They've got that same passion for music that comes through, and they play their hearts out, all the time.  They aren't a band that'll ever drop a truly classic album, but they have a classic sound, which is serving them fine for now. 

And when they sing "You ain't supposed to die on a Saturday night" you sing along - especially if you're the Boss.