70s crap

[RICHARD ROMEO]

Andrew wrote:  One thing which amazed me at the time was the presentation 
of Bruce
Springsteen as a US punk equivalent. Patti Smith, Television, the New
York Dolls, etc I could understand, but Springsteen? At best he was a
washed out good old boy manque. And he was still the guitar-wielding
hero everyone was supposed to look up to and emulate. No one wanted to
emulate Johnny Rotten, at least not per se. What they took from him
was his iconoclasm, his full-frontal attack on convention and
pretension, his smash-it-all-up-and-lets-start-again nihilism. For us
it was no more heroes. Obviously you folks just didn't get it.
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Andrew, I wouldn't put Bruce in the punk camp.  At his most relevant, 
78-82, his songs were often poignant accounts of working class life in 
recession-laden USA.  Critics put so much emphasis on Born to Run and 
Born in the USA which bookend this period that they forget the pages in 
between.  'Racing in the Street', 'Adam Raised A Cain', 'The River', 
'Atlantic City', 'My Father's House' are songs far from  rock god 
emulation picked up by everyone on Born to Run/Born in the USA.  I was 
glad to see him do another acoustic album with Ghost of Tom Joad--songs 
like 'Youngstown' reestablish his 78-82 credentials.  Steve Erickson has 
a nice summary of BS's career in American Nomad.
We all love Neil Young but the guy was a Reaganite in the early 80s.  
Nebraska which was released in 82 firmy showed where Bruce stood.

Richard Romeo
Coordinator of Cooperating Collections
The Foundation Center-NYC
212-807-2417
rromeo at fdncenter.org