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Eminentoes
The Boss’s Governor Groupie
Bruce Springsteen has lost touch with his audience.
(Page 2 of 2)
Granting a marketing monopoly on a recent collection to Walmart, dodging millions in property taxes by classifying land surrounding his residence as a farm, and closing in at a net worth of a quarter-billion by the end of the current tour (cheapest ticket in my town: $125), Springsteen has lost touch with his roots. The party he supports has too.
Thomas Edsall of The New York Times reported late last year that Campaign Obama “will explicitly abandon the white working class” in its reelection strategy. “All pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned in favor of cementing a center-left coalition” of “professors, artists, designers, editors, human resources managers, lawyers, librarians, social workers, teachers and therapists,” as well as a secondary group comprised of racial minorities.
When the Boss last answered to bosses, Democrats represented blue-collar workers. Nearly a half-century later, Democrats write off the white working class to guys like Chris Christie. Even Springsteen recently conceded that Obama has been “more friendly to corporations” and “there’s not as many middle-class or working-class voices heard in the administration” as he had imagined when campaigning for him in 2008. He will be touring for dollars rather than trolling for votes this year.
In mocking Christie’s love of Springsteen, Alternet’s Sara Jaffe claims that unlike the rich Republican “Bruce is the ultimate populist artist.” Brand Bruce, with its blue jeans and flannel chic, makes populism its business. Chris Christie does too.
It’s not just that they share energy, charisma, and a home state. The governor and the Boss share a profession, too. It’s called show business. And the love of New Jersey’s governor for its favorite son, like the love of this Boss — but only this one — for the workingman, is a show that’s good for business. What part of the spectacle is genuine and what part is contrived is for the spectator to determine.
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (57) | Leave a comment
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btims86| 6.29.12 @ 6:19AM
Ever hear Springsteen "try" to talk about serious, political things?
He sounds like he's in junior high.
A word of advice: Don't listen to "artists" when it comes to serious things. They are unstable, emotional airheads.
Brooksifier | 6.29.12 @ 1:34PM
"Isn't this a microcosm of our fractured times?"
Would you rather have a Dem-GOP alliance? You want that polarization--
but you're a bit fickle.
PaVa| 7.3.12 @ 1:40PM
Have you ever listened to Sarah Palin or Michele Bachman or Rick Santorum???
StanAmSpec| 7.20.12 @ 6:44PM
Yes, and your point? Have you ever heard Obama away from a telepromter? Springsteen's phony working man schtick is a joke, I admit I was hard rock/progressive rock and was never a fan except for a few songs. But, he does sound like a junior higher, but for many musicians and actors education effectively stops in Jr. High.
Kitty | 6.29.12 @ 6:20AM
most rockers lean left. They don't like authority
And yet they vote for the people who want to wield as much power over their personal lives as possible.
Albertus Magnus| 6.29.12 @ 9:32AM
Exactly. I think rockers really object to things and people who are "un-cool." Of course defining "cool" and "un-cool" is is an unsatisfying enterprise, as people have different ideas of what these mean. But for a rocker, "un-cool" is death, and according to popular myth, Democrats are "cool." Don't expect great thinking from rockers.
Occam's Tool| 6.29.12 @ 2:48PM
Well, if they are leaning left, they are embracing state authority. More accurately, most heavy rockers described in the article are high.
George Harrison, in his more lucid moments, wrote "Taxman." And John Lennon was apparently fond of RN. Even Elton John is leaning more Conservative these days.
TinaB| 6.29.12 @ 5:08PM
Check.
JmsA| 6.30.12 @ 2:19AM
Not so much wielding of power over those such Springteen, I fear, for they're not only of part of the chic elite, but also useful idiot messengers to the dupe masses.
JmsA| 6.30.12 @ 2:21AM
Meant to write: for they're not only part of...
StanAmSpec| 7.20.12 @ 6:45PM
The press, academia, TV, Movies, all leftists. To rage against the machine is to be a Conservative Christian!
Patricia Valese| 6.29.12 @ 7:01AM
So how come NJ voted Christie?....he lied, like most politicians, especially Republicans - ever read his pre-election letter to the teacher's union?
You act as if it's 'politics' between Springsteen & the Puff-Bully - do you live in Jersey? perhaps you're well off. Anyway, Bruce loves his country, especially his state, especially NJ, especially his 'hometown'
"Now get yourself a song to sing and sing it ’til you’re done - Yeah, sing it hard and sing it well
Send the robber baron’s straight to hell
The greedy thieves that came around
And ate the flesh of everything they’ve found
Whose crimes have gone unpunished now
Walk the streets as free men now...
And they brought death to our hometown, boys"
Doctor Right| 6.29.12 @ 7:34AM
"Bruce" loves his image as the self-appointed hero of the working man.
Another millionaire, left-wing, Democrat hypocrite.
And dumb, too.
Moe Blotz| 6.29.12 @ 11:57AM
Spot on, Doc. The very song Mr. Flynn mentions above, Racing in the Street, contains evidence of how out of touch The Boss has always been with the rest of us. The line,"I've got a 396 with fuelie heads, etc." was never vetted before recording the song. The 396 cubic inch Chevrolet engine referred to was known as the porcupine head and never produced with fuel injection.
Occam's Tool| 6.29.12 @ 2:50PM
Dr. R's comment below yours referred to Patricia.
Dr. R is also correct in his other comment---why my kids are home schooled.
Dr. R is also going to have a wonderful 4th because he deserves it, as a Righteous one. G-d Bless, sir.
Doctor Right| 6.29.12 @ 7:35AM
Oh, I get it.
You must be a teacher.
No wonder our kids don't learn...
Le Cracquere| 6.29.12 @ 7:55AM
You appear to be implying there was once a time when living in New Jersey would have been considered fortunate.
Regardless, if Christie ever said anything remotely obliging to the teachers' union, that's a damned shame. But his subsequent conduct is enough to make such a lapse forgivable.
Doctor Right| 6.29.12 @ 9:26AM
New Jersey is a GREAT state!
I've been living here for 17 years, and I love it.
It's one hour to the mountains, the beach, or the greatest city in the world.
Occam's Tool| 6.29.12 @ 2:51PM
Dr. R: you are certainly a saving grace of the State, sir.
Stephanie| 6.29.12 @ 8:01AM
Right. Democrats never lie. Especially obama.
GIVE ME A BREAK PATRICIA! IF HIS MOUTH IS MOVING, HE'S LYING!
Doctor Right| 6.29.12 @ 7:32AM
The reason most rockers "lean left" is because most rockers are as dumb as rocks.
And Springsteen?
Please.
He's an utter irrelevancy. He stopped being interesting in 1985. His music is boring, his lyrics derivative and tedious ("America sucks...workin' man can't get a break...the man is out to get us...yeah, yeah, America sucks").
What a tool.
Stephanie| 6.29.12 @ 8:02AM
And it all sounds the same anymore.
OP4| 6.29.12 @ 8:35AM
That - and they were never middle class. Springsteen, like lots of them, went from dirt poor to multi-millionaire almost instantly. Yet somehow, he knows all about working for a living in your thirties and forties.
Le Cracquere| 6.29.12 @ 7:55AM
"I have seen the past of rock n' roll..."
OP4| 6.29.12 @ 7:59AM
Springsteen's audience has been ignoring his "message" for decades. Whether they work with their hands, drive a truck, or use a computer, Bruce's fans are often culturally and fiscally conservative.
The biggest complaint I hear about Bruce concerts is his babbling between songs.
StanAmSpec| 7.20.12 @ 6:47PM
It's their fault, they need to yell at him to shut up. Silence won't work. How about "We didn't pay to hear you talk!"
Von Mises Jr| 6.29.12 @ 8:31AM
Mr. Flynn is correct that Springsteen and Bon Jovi are hypocrites that have mansions in the Sea Bright area where taxes should be well over $25K per year, but they plant a garden and pay $500. Excuse me for being jaded. And besides, I think Springsteen music sucks. If you heard one song, you heard them all.
But the writer does not have a clue about the Governor. Frank Gaffney has chastised Christie for appointing an Islamic Judge that promotes Sharia. But it looks like it may get much worse. The Legislature just passed a "Foreclosure Bill." This legislation sets up a $1 Billion dollar bond issue to buy foreclosed homes across the state. Liberals should love this since it
a) Bails out banks
b) Will create another local Sub-prime meltdown
c) Provide "affordable housing"
d) Provide rent subsidies for ex-convicts, drug addicts, sexual predators and child molesters
Then his great idea is to pass by Executive Order a Development and Redevelopment Plan that is Agenda21. So Bruce should be nice to Christie since Christie can have his land declared wetlands for the birds, and if Bruce wants to remain in New Jersey, he can live in a "stack and pack" apartment in Asbury.
So the author wasted our time talking about a liberal that wants to redistribute wealth while he pays perhaps 1-2% of his true property tax and a RINO that is about to destroy the state and surrender to the United Nations.
Maxwell| 6.29.12 @ 9:58AM
Von, thank you for saying it better than I could. I'm a better at programming than English comp. Please don't forget the new bonding / debt to be issued to fund the Transportation Trust Fund so Christie could offer his tax cuts. Peter to pay Paul at its best.
Occam's Tool| 6.29.12 @ 2:52PM
Christie has annoyed me for a while, Von. As usual, you are dead on.
Von Mises Jr| 6.30.12 @ 6:33AM
Update: Governor Chris Christie is reported to have vetoed the Foreclosure Bill. Kudos Governor.
Now if he takes the Agenda21 Development and Redevelopment Plan and makes it a distributive decision process rather than a top down land grab, perhaps he will get some TEA Party love.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 6.29.12 @ 9:06AM
Chris Christie was a couple of years behind me at the University of Delaware. I was friends with at least one fellow alum who has worked with him in the US Attorney’s Office and in his administration. While the majority of the cohort of students at U of D from Jersey were all Springsteen fans, I also remember these guys drinking Old Milwaukee and blasting Waylon, Willie and Jimmy Buffett, as well. More importantly, they were the only people there I knew besides me and a contingent from the ROTC program on campus who admitted to voting for Reagan in 1980. That credential, along with the fact I saw the Boss in concert on “The River” tour a month later was my admission ticket to that crews’ parties.
Anyone who has ever listened to the lyrics of a Springsteen song, or has heard him babble in a concert between tunes is aware of the toxic left mix of his politics. Doctor Right also accurately posits that the Boss lost his supervisory position in 1985, and hasn’t put out anything memorable since Born in the USA. His lyrics have always held law enforcement in contempt and seen soldiers as victims yet he continues to have a strong fan base in these professions.
It might be that there is a certain cognitive dissonance that occurs when one is attracted to a certain musical tune or beat and the legend of the Pied Piper was an early acknowledgement of this phenomenon.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 6.29.12 @ 9:06AM
Nonetheless, I believe it bears mentioning that while Mr. Flynn might be accurate that most rockers lean left, Ted Nugent has long been consistent in his right wing views, and Vincent Furnier has been quite active in Arizona Republican politics, when not performing as Alice Cooper.
Doctor Right| 6.29.12 @ 9:34AM
Oddly enough, Nikki Six of Motley Crue recently came-out and said he deeply regrets supporting Obama in '08, and he won't do so in '12.
There ARE other Conservative rockers besides Ted Nugent:
Kid Rock
Joe Perry
Sammy Hagar
Alice Cooper
Dave Mustaine
Gene Simmons
Meat Loaf
Billy Gibbons
Older, sure, but definitely wiser.
Ace| 6.29.12 @ 2:42PM
I'm not entirely sure about some on your list, but one definite conservative you missed is the late Johnny Ramone.
Occam's Tool| 6.29.12 @ 2:54PM
You know, my best friend knew the Ramones personally, and never told me that, Ace. That is really cool.
Gene Simmons is a great Capitalist.
Ace| 6.29.12 @ 3:34PM
Yep, it was discussed in the DVD "End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones." Here's an interview with Linda Ramone: http://www.billboard.com/news/.....3762.story
PaVa| 7.3.12 @ 1:48PM
Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, Kid Rock, Gene Simmons - more mature??? You must be smoking something !!
Albertus Magnus| 6.29.12 @ 9:35AM
I have never liked Springsteen, Indeed, that voice makes my skin crawl. His material is no better than your average rock and roll junk, so I really don't get the appeal.
JmsA| 6.30.12 @ 2:25AM
Darn, I thought I was the only one, AB.
Crassus| 6.29.12 @ 9:37AM
Bruce Springsteen is no Bob Seger. Never has been and never will be. And Seger never has done political. His career took a dive when he refused to play at No Nuke rallies in the late 70's.
Occam's Tool| 6.29.12 @ 2:55PM
Seger is awesome; truly, truly a great rocker.
Doctor Right| 6.29.12 @ 10:51AM
There was a time, way back in the early 70's, when Springsteen's rock-jazz sound seemed fresh and new, especially during the era of BIG arena rock and "experimental" bands like Pink Floyd, ELP, and others were getting lots of airplay and alienating straight-rock fans.
But that time has come and gone. People forget that Springsteen's first album came out in '73, and his best album ("Born to Run") was released in 1975(!).
His signature sound - which included heavy backbeats and lots of saxophone - was co-opted ad-nausea in the 80's, when every band had a black saxophone player. And frankly, it became a real bore.
I lost all interest in him after he dissed President Reagan for quoting from "Born in the USA." Ya' just gotta' love it when guys who didn't serve in Vietnam get all faux-patriotic and take up the mantle (unasked) of guys who did.
"The Boss" is now a tired old cliche trading on his Glory Days (pun intended) to act relevant. The fact that so many people still buy into his crap is stunning to me.
My fave recent Springsteen story is this:
It's been rumoured that Springsteen got the inspiration for the album "The Rising" a few days after the 9/11 attacks, when a stranger in a car stopped next to him, rolled down his window and said: "We need you now."
Yeah...right.
Tom Kyba| 6.29.12 @ 12:07PM
I think Springsteen is actually purp.
Hardcard| 6.29.12 @ 12:41PM
brucie is a dwarflike has been with very little real talent, a lot of noise and jumping around, a front man for per diem musicians. chris fats is an overstuffed calzone with too much cheese.
StanAmSpec| 7.20.12 @ 6:54PM
Believe it or not he's on one of Rolling Stones (I realize this makes it somewhat irrelevant) list of top 100 guitarists! I have no idea why. And yet Alex Lifeson of Rush struggled to make the latest list!
http://www.rollingstone.com/mu.....n-19691231
Frederick Giannini| 6.29.12 @ 2:34PM
Tomasky's statement is not logical. If rockers truly hate authority, why do so many of them support statist government and all encompassing regulation? Many wealthy American rock stars are also big fans of just about every totalitarian Marxist regime that exists, such as Castro. The question should not be "Why are rockers left leaning?", but "Why aren't rockers Objectivists or at least libertarians?". I mean libertarians in the economic sense too; lots of them say they are libertarians,but that is only because they don't like drug laws. (Bill Maher is like that also.)
TinaB| 6.29.12 @ 5:27PM
I just want to say thanks, guys, it's been a fascinating read. You just taught me a good bit about rock and politics. Learning is always good.
Daniel| 6.29.12 @ 5:50PM
Add to the list of people that you wouldn't expect to be on the Right side of a political argument: Jack Kerouac, author of "On The Road"
Groucho Marx, hardly someone who bows to authority figures of any kind, and
Jerry Lee Lewis, the original wild-man.
AgEnders NJ | 6.30.12 @ 1:43PM
I've never listened to a Springsteen song since listening to Born in the USA's lyrics. His music is the same thing over and over. The guy is a one-trick pony. At least unintelligible Ozzy Osbourne modernized, branching out into a surprisingly successful TV show maximizing his marketable family. Springsteen lacks even that charm. He is, in fact, 100% elitist, like globalist Bono-Of-The-Yellow-Lenses who pretends to care about humanity but it's really all about hating the US.
Springsteen's daughter lately has decided to pursue success on the international equestrian circuit -- no cheap entertainment, and mummy and daddums are happy to oblige.... but what about the starving people in Africa?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-Show.html
Chris Christie also is a globalist, another point on which he agrees with Springsteen. Is he is better than Corzine? Maybe, but only marginally: do you want to die the death of 1000 cuts, or death of 500 cuts? Either way, you die. This is why NJ is hosed with the highest tax rate in the nation, a job-killing corporate tax, insufferable environmental rules, and politicians who are convinced you want to live in stack-n-pack housing 1/4 mile from rail. Christie, like Springsteen, is a one-trick pony politically and he should be replaced with a limited-government, free-market constitutionalist who will restore New Jersey to our state motto, "Liberty and Prosperity".
JimP| 7.1.12 @ 6:17AM
Wonderful comic irony going on here. "The Boss" [How does that nickname for a self styled 'rebel' grab you?] Meantime the so called "rebels against authority" want to impose total authority on everyone else. Only adolescents can be so self contradictory. Leftists truly are in states of suspended emotional developement.
Von Mises Jr| 7.1.12 @ 7:08AM
JimP
Here is my favorite recent quote from the real Von Mises
“The state is a human institution, not a superhuman being. He who says “state” means coercion and compulsion. He who says: There should be a law concerning this matter, means: The armed men of the government should force people to do what they do not want to do, or not to do what they like. He who says: This law should be better enforced, means: the police should force people to obey this law. He who says: The state is God, deified arms and prisons. The worship of the state is the worship of force.”
JimP| 7.1.12 @ 9:47PM
That is a great quote. Thank you for posting it, VMJr. Old Ludwig sure knew all about tyrants and the wannabes.
Kingofthenet| 7.3.12 @ 3:12AM
He's JUST a Big Dicked Multi-Million Dollar Rockstar.... What could ANYONE see in him?
PaVa| 7.3.12 @ 1:44PM
Real mature, Kingofthenet!!
PaVa| 7.3.12 @ 1:38PM
I have to smile at conservatives who criticize Springsteen for being wealthy and taking advantage of tax laws. As if he should remain poor and throw away money he makes in order to be "real". Is it not freedom of opportunity in this country that conservatives love so much? Why is it that a financially successful liberal gets pilloried but a successful conservative is to be admired? That's the real hypocrisy!
Note that Springsteen "leaves" millions of dollars "on the table" because he values his music. When Iacocca offered him millions for the rights to "Born in the USA" to use as a Chrysler ad, he turned him down. His concert tickets are generally much cheaper than other artists of his popularity. He NEVER has sponsors for his concerts and NEVER endorses products or does commercials. The closest he ever came to that was his Superbowl half-time show and I doubt he received any of that money. He recently performed a 3 hour 48 minute concert in Spain - no opening act, no intermission!! Name me any performer who gives more to his audience for the money - liberal or conservative!!
And the songs that you mention in your article are all old ones when he was much younger. As he matured, so did his songs and their stories.
StanAmSpec| 7.20.12 @ 6:59PM
Conservatives aren't against success. We're against a man like this succeeding and then using his bully pulpit to rail against the very system that he succeeded in! And I don't blame him for using a tax loophole, but don't then go off and complain about low taxes.