Rant #2,498: Born To Run

Today is September 23, and it is a day of celebration for so many people who simply love rock ‘n roll music.

Today is Bruce Springsteen’s birthday, and he turns 71 years of age today.

Even though I am a big rock ‘n roll fan, I am not a Bruce Springsteen fan. Never have been, and never will be.

I simply cannot get into his music at all, and I know that a lot of people would knock me for that … they would say, “How can you say that you love rock ‘n roll music but you don’t like Bruce?”

Well, I don’t, so there.

Since bursting on the scene in the early to mid-1970s, Springsteen has become a musical icon in some people’s minds, the guy who has kept the rock ‘n roll flame burning brightly through all the changes and trends in popular music.

He has been there through disco, through punk and new wave, through techno and hip hop and rap and anything else that has come our way during the past nearly 50 years.

He burst onto the scene with “Born To Run”—the only song of his that I actually kind of like—but his story actually started years earlier, in the Asbury Park section of New Jersey.

Due to contractual conflicts, although he was a much sought after artist by record companies, he could not sign with them until some things had to be worked out, but once Columbia Records got him, there was no stopping him.

He received tremendous airplay on FM radio, in particular in the New York City area, where he was looked at as something of a rock god by radio stations like WNEW-FM, a station that played his music incessantly at times.

During the MTV era, he broke through on Top 40 radio, too, with songs like “Dancing In the Dark,” but although his career paralleled that of Billy Joel, their directions were really quite different.

Joel—beloved in his native Long Island, and like Springsteen, adopted by New York City radio stations as something of a savior—went the sort of rock ‘n roll/Tin Pan Alley route with his music, but Springsteen mixed grit and grime with his mix of folk and rock ‘n roll, polishing up his music at times to reach more of the masses.

Funny, I have never been much of a Billy Joel fan, either, but with Joel, there are some songs of his that I really like.

Springsteen, I don’t know, I just never got into his music at all.

Maybe you have to see Springsteen live in concert to truly appreciate him.

Backed by the E Street Band, his concerts are legendary three-hour-plus exercises, and I have heard that even if you aren’t a fan of his, once you go to a Springsteen concert, you become a fan for life.

I give him all the credit that should be coming to him, because even in his early 70s, he shows no sign of slowing down at all, still releasing new product every few years.

And after a stint on Broadway, of all places, you can bet that if he could tour right now, he would, but the pandemic has put a hold on any live concerts at least for now.

I still haven’t said specifically why I don’t like Bruce Springsteen’s music, simply because I cannot accurately pinpoint a reason why.

Some things in music I immediately attach onto—the Beatles would be an example of that—and some things I have to hear again and again and again to fully appreciate them.

But with Springsteen, the interest at least for me has been somewhat elusive, and I just cannot pinpoint exactly why I am not a fan, but I’m not.

I know that what I am saying might be looked at as sacrilegious by some, but I have to be honest about it.

If you are a fan, today is a day to rejoice.

If you are not a fan, it’s just another day on the calendar.

But happy birthday to “The Boss,” and I wish him many, many more years of good health and, I guess, good music.

Now, about Billy Joel … .