you should give "highway patrolman" another listen.

great song, and i almost included it too.

its not that i dont like Nebraska, i just think its subpar.

He wrote it for the Ramones but Landau convinced him to keep. The recording is obviously sped up on the theory that it sounded more "up" for radio play.

I can't explain Lay Lady Lay.

I'm still dying to know what made him write a song for the Ramones. That's so fucking awesome.

Well, he did write "Because The Night" for Patti Smith, right?

I'd honestly never heard that Ramones story before this thread.

yeah, but Patti Smith sucks. and the Ramones are awesome, as well as being the anti-Bruce.

POST OF THE MILLENIUM

this part im not so sure about...when i saw bruce and steve doing "london calling" (with dave grohl and elvis costello) after joe strummer died, it kinda struck me that they were a little bit punk in a weird sorta way...

Isn't there a story about Clemmons throwing Mad Dog out a 2nd floor window to let him know he was out of the band? I swear that sticks in my memory from some dark corner of time.

And for my money, with the exception of Nebraska, all the earlier stuff is essential. Nebraska makes me want to gash my wrists with jaggedy-edged things- most depressing music I know, and I know a BUNCH of depressing music.

I also like the story of Springsteen asking Warren Zevon what he thought of a new song title, "Jeannie Needs A Shooter". Zevon filled in the lyrics for Springsteen to sing, even though Springsteen was working on writing the song himself. Zevon ended up recording it, with Springsteen getting a co-writer credit.

Jeez... I always feel like the old man saying "you kids don't know what the fuck you are talking about..." Bruce walked on my hand and spilled my drink when he walked down the table at the Roxy in 1975. A show in a club with Bruce and the band at that time WAS THE POWER of rock and roll... much more than poseurs like the Pistols or calculatedly dumb downs like Joey and the boys. That he became a centrist icon later distorts what he was in the 70's and early 80's.

"I swear I'd drive all night just to buy you some shoes..." Almost made me stay heterosexual.

You dont always have to be such a pompous fucking ass about things you know? I'm fully aware of the difference between Bruce and the Sex Pistols, ok? I thought I'd just throw it out there for those who might not.

I might need to take my own reading comprehension course, but I thought he was agreeing with you.

How do y'all that just LURV Nebraska feel about The Ghost of Tom Joad (aka an openly better album)?

i hear that marah like bruce.

Did I already post that song or something? Dont make me post the whole damned show.




I still think they're very different, despite the stark production and less-than-cheerful stories contained therein. I mean, there's like 15 musicians on Tom Joad for one.

Proly why I like it better

They usually get lumped together, and GOTJ is usually overlooked when doing any kind of Springsteen retrospective. Its usually E-Street years, Meh Years, and the E-Street/now resurgence.

I think Lucky Town has some good songs, Human Touch is not an album I have ever really delved into, owing mostly to the absolute horridness of the title track, but GOTJ is just pure mouth-full-of-shotgun-toe-on-the-trigger awesomeness.

Two things contributed to Lay Lady Lay and Nashville Skyline. When Dylan was teenager and rock fan, he sang in a voice very similar to the sound of Lay Lady Lay. After going to the University of Minnesota and discovering Woody Gutherie among other Folk artists, he wanted a dirtier gritter sound plus he started smoking.

For Nashville Skyline, he quit smoking and made a return to a voice that he hadn't used since he was 17 in the spirit of mixing up his sound to keep progressing.

that's true. GOTJ is usually vastly underrated (except, strangely, by Rage Against hte Machine) and Nebraska is always fawned over...

list good bruce covers:

"it's so hard to be a saint in the city" - david bowie
"highway patrolman" - johnny cash
"mansion on the hill" - crooked fingers

I like old Springsteen, but I wouldn't automatically put him above the punk stuff in the late 70s and early 80s for the power of rock and all that jazz. He was great, but he was more of a traditionalist and I can't say that he moved things forward in nearly the dramatic way punk did, so its a mixed bag there. I guess if you wanted rock to progress slowly and with reverence for the past, Bruce is clearly the superior choice, but if you see the value of dramatic political/social statements and the value of art commenting upon itself, he's pretty far behind.

Oh...and anyone else think of his voice popping up on Lou Reed's Street Hassle...speaking of odd places for Bruce to pop up.

what about him playing guitar on a Donna Summer album?

Could be my favorite Lou Reed song ever. When I first heard Buce's voice on it I nearly fell off of my chair.

To the subject of the thread; my favorite of the early Bruce albums is Darkness on the Edge of Town. Then...

Born to Run
The River
The Wild The Innocent...
Greetings...

I don't have Nebraska

I thought we had agreed elsewhere that Kicks is probably the best Lou Reed solo song?