American Icon
Why Bruce Springsteen? Joey Sweeney, a rock critic for the Philadelphia Weekly, had a strong personal view of Springsteen's intro. Sweeney's recollections of his life in Philly growing up with Springsteen's music ( The Ghost of Bruce Springsteen) may have echoed the experiences of many in America. As his TV screen went from black to orange, Sweeney observed Springsteen, "surrounded by candles, black ladies and his wife," as he began his song. Listening to the first few bars of My City of Ruins Sweeney described himself as a "puddle."1
This emotion went against everything rock writing had taught Sweeney. Watching aging rock stars usually produced feelings bordering on comic relief or pathetic nostalgia. Sweeney described his reaction to his own tears.
But none of this matters because fuck you: Bruce Springsteen is healing a nation. Not the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Not Moby. Not even, since we are traveling in descending altitudes of coolness, the fucking Goo Goo Dolls. Bruce Springsteen is on the television -- every television -- and he is healing us. Because we have been hurt. And because Bruce Springsteen not only cares about America, he is America, and what's even better, he understands just how fucked up it is and has always been to be an American, the ridiculous mix of the grand and pathetic, the painfully self-aware and the mockworthy clueless spiritual state that has gotten us so far ahead and so sadly behind the rest of the world. Some sick mojo the man has is melting us on our couches, making us into puddles of microwave-popcorn butter and that nasty aloe shit they put on Kleenexes now. We are a tired, huddled mass, punch-drunk and lucky as fuck that it wasn't us. And as Bruce is so humbled to remind us, well, it wasn't us this time, at least. And hey, remember the mantra: It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive. 3It's rather obviousthat Sweeney's reaction to Springsteen was signigicantly colored by his prior experiences with the work of the rock star. The fact that Springsteen's song was viewed as a healing mechanism by Sweeney doesn't indicate that Springsteen was universally perceived as "the" spokesperson for a post 9-11 America." An assumption of that magnitude is not possible in the world of American pop culture. Our society is much too diverse and too demanding of its cultural heroes to reserve this distinction for any individual entertainer. The question then remains, "Why did Springsteen's music serve as the opening anthem for an American audience whose world had been rattled beyond belief?
Springsteen, involved in the popular music scene since the late 60's, began his career singing about his friends and experiences growing up in New Jersey. Born in Freehold, N.J. in 1949 his family later moved to California, but he remained behind and became associated with the town of Asbury Park, N.J. Despite poor album sales and initial struggles with recogition, he exploded upon the pop music scence in 1975 with the release of the ablum, Born to Run. Heralded as the "new Dylan" his music gained recognition, and he toured the country endlessly with his E Street Band.4 Rock Icon status came with his 1984-1985 "Born in the USA" tour," heralding an album that rocketed Springsteen and his band to the very heights of fame.
Throughout his career, Springteen's music has addressed just about every issue imaginable. In fact, one might be hard pressed to find a topic that has not been highlighted in his work. A narrative singer, his lyrics usually do not address great cosmic issues, but are steeped in the mundane and the trivial. His perspective lies with "everyman," and larger issues are almost always addressed by examining their impact on the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. Springsteen addresses war by showing its effect on families, relationships and the veterans who return home. Though he has denied it on occasion, much of his work can be viewed as auto-biographical. He has written songs about his mother, his father, his sister and his friends. He's addressed marriage, love, death, loneliness, desparation and oral sex. There are many continual themes in his work, including redemption, re-birth, searching and escape from despair and depression. One apparent reason for his success and longevity lies in the fact that his fans believe that his work reflects the lives of average Americans, the working class, the "American everyman."
Baby boomers have grown up with Springsteen. They have much in common, if not parallel lives, at least parallel concerns. An on-line poll related to Springsteen's music and responded to by 167 persons revealed that 60 percent saw their own lives in his work. When asked to explain their interest in his music they responded that "he provided the background music of my life," "he sings about things that are happening to me," "he must be living in my world," "his music penetrates my soul."
I recall a 1984 conversation with my brother who was at that time an avid fan, as opposed to me, who didn't see much value in what Springsteen had to say. After teasing him about his interest in a weight-lifting tight-jeaned pop star, he responded, "Shit, the guy sings about how Vietnam vets get screwed and how fucked up it is to go to work every day. He's thirty-five, and he's singing about things that happened to me. Is there anyone else out there singing about those things? He's not even calling for a revolution, he's just telling people to deal with it. He understands that people have to deal with it."
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1 Joey Sweeney, "The Ghost of Bruce Springsteen: My Parents Got Divorced, I Was High on Mushrooms,
My Country Was Attacked, Bruce Was There," Philadelphia Weekly, 31 August 2002.
2 Joey Sweeney, "The Ghost of Bruce Springsteen.
3 Bruce Springsteen, Badlands, Bruce Springsteen Official Web Site, available from
http://brucespringsteen.net/ ; Internet; accessed 29 August 2003.
4 Dave Marsh, Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story
(New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc, 1981) 28-38.
