I bought this album, along with many others later. It was the beginning for a lifetime fan. Never knew Bruce had these problems. Glad he stuck it out and stuck to his convictions. A Legend!
Good eye. ... I recall in the late 70s, I was telling a new friend how great I thought Springsteen was and he told me that he thought some guy named Nils Lofgren was better. I bought "I Came to Dance" on his advice. It was an okay LP with fantastic guitar work. I was later pleased when Nils joined The E Street Band. By then, I was out of touch with that friend, but I wonder if he chuckled when his "headliner" went to work for my "headliner." ... For me, it was the best of both worlds.
Just listened to an audiobook on the making of Darkness. IIRC, the first decent sum of money Bruce got was $880,000, and he knew it had to go to Appel so he could get free of him.
My problem with Springsteen is that he was a creation of mass media as a counter to the rise of far more talented black and female artist in the late 1970s and 80s. Prince was far more talented and made a bigger impact in the mid 80s than Springsteen but no one ever compared Prince to Elvis. The myth of Bruce Springsteen was built on pure racism! The all American white kid who made it good at the expense of better black and female artist.
practically all white artist success is due to racism, not only from mass media but from white society. comparing prince or any other black artist to elvis would be a vile insult to that black artist, elvis was pure garbage!!!
I think Bruce does fit well as a literal poster boy for "small town white guy who does the right thing", but the difference was that he actually IS that guy. Bruce is a guy who voiced his opinion against Vietnam, against classism, and against any and all forms of xenophobia and systemic oppression. That's not an easy thing to do when everyone wants to buy you out. Also, he wrote Born to Run, Born in the USA, and Nebraska. Bruce wrote Nebraska, man. He wasn't just so-so, he was a transcendent talent with a work ethic to match, just like Prince. I'm not a Prince fan, I just can never figure out why people like him so much. IMO Prince's lyrics aren't very clever or emotional, and his music is just all right. I've listened to 3 Prince albums and didn't really enjoy any of them. Michael Jackson, however, is an impeccable talent IMO, but that's a different conversation.... Anyways my point is Bruce surely had it easy from the get-go, but he wasn't an industry plan,t and he worked really hard to earn the respect he was given, and he still uses his status for good to this day. There's a reason he's called the Boss. The younger generation still loves his timeless music, and connect with it more than other white male superstars like Neil Diamond, who don't actually have substantial ideas. Bruce had a lot of ideas that resonate with folks to this day.
Ridiculous. His first three records are some of the greatest records ever made by anyone. They’re unassailable. For you to make racist comments like you’ve done here shows what’s what. And for the record Prince was also a character like this, like Bruce, but black. A singular vision, that he put forth that “crafted” who “PRINCE” was. Always changing, moving to his own muse and vision. These better other black artist you speak of…who are they? I’ll tell you who they are. They’re the myth in your mind. They’re not real. Springsteen played bass and piano as well as all the guitars on his first record. He wrote most of Born To Run on piano. He sang all the parts on his first three records. And before all of this stuff, before getting signed, he was a guitar hero. That’s what he was known for. So the hogwash you’re pimpin here is just that. There’s Prince…then who? It’s a joke. I know the era. Those “better” artist…don’t exist. And as a final note…from Darkness forward…I found him less interesting. His work spoke less and less to me…but to the rest of the world…well it seems he was speaking to them. Good for them and good for him and his band.
