Nebraska = N/C
Happy Clappy Shit = C
Silvio from The Sopranos = N/C

I thought he was just another glorified bar band-types, but then I actually heard him for the first time on Nebraska.
He can be cheesy at times, but for whatever reason it doesn't bother me and I think he was being genuine.

Nebraska isn't crap, and neither are the songs Atlantic City and No Surrender.

not crap!

Not Crap.

Nebraska
The Wild, The Innocent, and the E-Street Shuffle

I guess I could mention a couple more albums, but that's pretty much all that needs to be said.

While I wouldn't say I love every note the man has recorded--except for perhaps Nebraska, even the best records have filler--when he succeeds, he accomplishes something that almost nobody else accomplishes. He can be both anthemic and subtle, melancholy and joyous, romantic and cynical. Furthermore, I can overlook the times when his lyrics fall into self-parody. There's plenty of great music for which you have to pretend you're not listening to what the singer is singing: the Zombies, Iggy Pop, etc. But almost nobody can reach the heights that he's reached.

"I take a look in the mirror / want to change my clothes, my hair, my face."

"For my 19th birthday / I got a union card and a wedding coat."

"Well, I'm tired of coming out on the losing end / So, honey, last night I met this guy / and I'm going to do a little favor for him."

I could go on.

What's interesting about that first line isn't (just) the content. It's the way in which the speaker's dissatisfaction moves from an item that's easy to change, to one that's more difficult to change, to one that can't be changed at all. I wouldn't call any of his lyrics poetry, but they pretty much hit the limit of what lyrics can do.

Springsteen = not crap.

Here are some more confessions:

"Glory Days"? Not crap. I love it.
"Dancing in the Dark"? Not crap. I love it just as much. The bridge rules.
"I'm on Fire"? "My Hometown"? Not crap.
"Tunnel of Love"? Not crap. Same for "Brilliant Disguise."
"Lonesome Day" from The Rising? Fucking fantastic!

NOT CRAP, WF 3

Incidentally, Brett, my wife despises Bruce Springsteen. I told her your anecdote about "the em-ploy-EE," which cracked her up.

Wood Goblin wrote:both anthemic and subtle

Read: Overblown and cheesy.

melancholy and joyous

Read: Cheesy and overblown.

If I want someone to tell a story I'll listen to Randy Newman, who actually knows what a person sounds like.

I'm thinking Bruce Springsteen would be bearable if you got rid of Bruce Springsteen.
In much the same way Garfield works, minus Garfield.

I love this album. Even though its easy to hate The Bruce, I prefer the lo-fi Nebraska material to the bombastic E-Street stuff. If you like Nebraska, try tracking down the bootleg of the entire Nebraska sessions.

I had pretty much written him off as a useless rock star until I read this interview a few years ago. There really are more than a few marbles banging around up there. One of the things he says is that he was reading a lot of Flannery O'Connor before he recorded Nebraska.

As far as the music goes, I'm really not a rabid fan. The only records I own are Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad.