Springsteen’s mistake

A couple of friends have mentioned this to me, on Facebook and other areas, so I figured I should blog about my reaction to Springsteen’s mistake.

First, some history: I’ve been a Bruce fan since 1981.Senior year in high school, I was driving myself around… and I remember getting up at 3 or 4 AM to get dressed and go stand in line at the Carolina Colisseum for tickets to my very first rock concert – Bruce Springsteen’s tour for “The River.”

The concert was on a Sunday night. I had to sneak out of church to meet my friends and take my seat for the show. I did not stay in my seat once the show started, and I came home hoarse from singing along to ‘Hungry Heart,’ ‘Independence Day’ (which resonated thru my teenaged heart and my relationship with my father), and, of course, ‘Born To Run.’ Actually, hoarse is not quite right – I couldn’t talk for a couple of days afterwards, simply because I blew my voice out singing along with Broooooce!

Fast forward a few years – I take my best girl (whom I’m still friends with, I’m glad to say) to see Bruce’s ‘Born In the USA’ tour. We had nosebleed seats. It was awesome. My ears rang for days!

In the years since I last saw Bruce live, I’ve had about eight different jobs, most of which at the same company, moved to northwest Arkansas, gotten married to my best friend (and the most patient woman I know), had major open-heart surgery, gained fifty pounds, owned my first dog, got older, lost dogs and cats to illness and old age, listened to a lot of music, and continued to admire and support Mr. Springsteen thru his music.

Now, I don’t know how I compare to other fans; I love Bruce for all the music and I’ve read a lot about him, trying to understand the motivations, the mystery, and the man behind the music. I like to think I have somewhat of a grip on his background and his understandably liberal politics; his family life, his two marriages, etc. I’m not saying I’m any kind of expert, but I’d like to think I know a little of the man behind the guitar.

So when it was announced that Springsteen had a new greatest hits package that was going to be exclusively at Walmart, I was surprised. Didn’t think Bruce would be doing exclusive deals, but I guess I really didn’t know what to think. (Long time readers, i.e. my close friends, already know that WM saved my life, so I’m pretty biased about the company and the people in it. Just so ya know – full disclosure, eh?) I was not surprised that there was some fan backlash on that.

Now, I’ll be the first to tell you, there’s nothing special about the greatest hits package. In fact, it looks like a record company kinda thing -  a quickie package (no unreleased tunes, no demos, nothing special about it at all) that’s for the folks who see Bruce on the Superbowl and want a single disc of his hits. (My inner Lewis Black is screaming at this – “WHAT!?!?!? YOU WANNA DISTILL BRUCE TO ONE DISC? YOU MIGHT AS WELL DO A READER’S DIGEST VERSION OF THE BIBLE! OR MAKE A RINGTONE OUT OF DVORAK’S NEW WORLD SYMPHONY! OR MAYBE BAKE A FOURTEEN COURSE MEAL INTO A HOT POCKET!”)

So I’m not surprised that Bruce distanced himself from the package in a recent interview. He’s been a friend of the unions and working people for a long time, and he’s got a rep to protect. That, and WM’s rep in that area could use some improvement, which I know they’re working on. (I’m not saying that they don’t do most of their people a solid, but the rest of the world doesn’t realize it. Then again, there are some folks who have a vested interest in stirring up trouble, but theirs is a different agenda, and that would be a whole ‘nother discussion.)

Basically, Bruce said he made a mistake with the exclusive package. He implied that the mistake was with the venue, not the product (though, truth be told, it could be both). I can understand that, given what I know of the man.

So, what does this come down to? I think that Bruce signed off on something he really didn’t understand – and find me a rock star that hasn’t done that. (Again, I'm willing to bet it was some half-assed idea that the record company came up with rather than Bruce.) A certain group of fans took him to task for that, but the majority of America could care less. Bruce realized his mistake, too late to do anything about it. Instead of denouncing it or getting up in the record company’s face (or WM’s face) about it, he answered as honestly as he knew how when the question was put to him. No love lost, but nothing said that he’d regret in the morning.

Some have asked me how I felt about all this, since they know about my longtime fandom of both Bruce and Walmart. Well, the product disappoints me – the greatest hits package, as I’ve said, is nothing to write home about. I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with the venue; I suspect most of Bruce’s problem with Walmart comes from what he’s been told about the company (most likely by folks who are biased against Walmart). Then again, Bruce isn’t pulling any of his music out of Walmart, so I don’t think he’s hatin’ the place. The rest of it is kinda like ‘inside baseball’ – only of a concern to a handful of the truly obsessed (fans of Bruce or otherwise).

Meanwhile, tickets for the Bruce’s Tulsa visit go on sale February 7th, and I’m taking my Sweetie to her first Springsteen concert. I can’t wait! And if you’ve never seen Bruce in concert, put it on your to-do list this year; it’s the complete spirit of rock and roll, a revival of optimism and positivism, and one of the most joyous events you’ll ever experience.

And the new record is really quite wonderful. It’s a product of the road, a more unfocused work than the previous “Magic,” full of energy and life and a bit more wildness and unpredictability, and not without some blemishes and flaws. It's real and it breathes. Also, Bruce has taken to doing some crooning (that’s what I’m callin’ it – I know, some folks don’t like his voice, big deal) and here he’s singing more fully than just yellin’ and hollerin’ (as my dad would say). You really oughta check it out.

And that's all I've got to say 'bout that.