The Nicsperiment Can't Listen To Billionaire Musicians Lecture Him in Songs Anymore
It started with a line from a Springsteen song that weaseled into my brain
years ago:
I had a friend who was a big baseball player
Back in high school
He could throw that speedball by you
Make you look like a fool
Baseball was always my worst sport. I got my nose busted by a fastball when I was young, and afterward, I was scared of the ball for years, though some time late in junior high, I grew out of my fear. However, by that time I had already played a year of football, and was even more into basketball, which became my main sport. But...I am a normal American male, who grew up in a normal, working class household, and even though I put more energy into other sports, even I, as a young child, knew it was a FASTBALL that hit me in the face, and not a "speedball." A "speedball" according to addictioncenter.com is "a dangerous mix of a stimulant (most often cocaine) and a depressant (most often heroin or another opioid). This combination is especially risky because the opposing drugs can mask each other’s effects, increasing the chance of overdose, respiratory failure, or heart problems." This is also something I knew by junior high. Unfortunately, like many people, I have lost friends to drug overdoses. I am a normal person.
The lyric I listed above is from the 1984 Bruce Springsteen song, "Glory Days," from his album Born in the U.S.A. Springsteen released this song when he was 34 years old. How the hell do you not know what a fastball is? How the hell do you say "speedball" instead of "fastball?" as a 34 year-old American man in 1984? How out of touch do you have to be to
I had a friend who was a big baseball player
Back in high school
He could throw that speedball by you
Make you look like a fool
Baseball was always my worst sport. I got my nose busted by a fastball when I was young, and afterward, I was scared of the ball for years, though some time late in junior high, I grew out of my fear. However, by that time I had already played a year of football, and was even more into basketball, which became my main sport. But...I am a normal American male, who grew up in a normal, working class household, and even though I put more energy into other sports, even I, as a young child, knew it was a FASTBALL that hit me in the face, and not a "speedball." A "speedball" according to addictioncenter.com is "a dangerous mix of a stimulant (most often cocaine) and a depressant (most often heroin or another opioid). This combination is especially risky because the opposing drugs can mask each other’s effects, increasing the chance of overdose, respiratory failure, or heart problems." This is also something I knew by junior high. Unfortunately, like many people, I have lost friends to drug overdoses. I am a normal person.
The lyric I listed above is from the 1984 Bruce Springsteen song, "Glory Days," from his album Born in the U.S.A. Springsteen released this song when he was 34 years old. How the hell do you not know what a fastball is? How the hell do you say "speedball" instead of "fastball?" as a 34 year-old American man in 1984? How out of touch do you have to be to
a.
write that lyric,
b. record that lyric, and
c. release the song with that lyric?
At first, I just thought it was funny. I loved the literary edge to some of Springsteen's work, particularly his Nebraska and Ghost of Tom Joad albums, and no one can argue that the guy isn't a talented musician and performer--just watch some of his late 70s concerts on YouTube. However, at a certain point, it wasn't as funny. I think it stopped being funny about a decade ago. when Springsteen, who had been political before, became a lot more political. Sure, he sang about disaffected Vietnam vets and the like before, but it seemed more generally humanistic, and when there was an event like 9/11, he seemed liked the ultimate musical uniter. Yes, he turned on the Bush administration, but even this felt like he was more directly opposed to things like the Iraq War, as opposed to say, being opposed to over half of Americans. The 2008 election and even a lingering malaise into 2012, proved that the majority of Americans were directly opposed to things like the Iraq War...and crushing financial depressions too. But now...now it feels like Springsteen has authoritatively picked a side, not that he is fighting for or against a cause, but that he has " us and them"d his audience and his apparent foes...only now this "them" is a large portion of his audience. His music isn't fun anymore. It is preachy...and it makes his previous music sound preachy.
U2's music has not been enjoyable in quite some time. The last album that I enjoyed from them was released well over a decade ago. For quite a while, I considered them to be my favorite band (I guess I am just not very cool). I feel though, that once it's been over a decade since I've enjoyed new music from a band, I probably shouldn't say they are my favorite band anymore. I don't even know if I have a favorite band now.
At first, I just thought it was funny. I loved the literary edge to some of Springsteen's work, particularly his Nebraska and Ghost of Tom Joad albums, and no one can argue that the guy isn't a talented musician and performer--just watch some of his late 70s concerts on YouTube. However, at a certain point, it wasn't as funny. I think it stopped being funny about a decade ago. when Springsteen, who had been political before, became a lot more political. Sure, he sang about disaffected Vietnam vets and the like before, but it seemed more generally humanistic, and when there was an event like 9/11, he seemed liked the ultimate musical uniter. Yes, he turned on the Bush administration, but even this felt like he was more directly opposed to things like the Iraq War, as opposed to say, being opposed to over half of Americans. The 2008 election and even a lingering malaise into 2012, proved that the majority of Americans were directly opposed to things like the Iraq War...and crushing financial depressions too. But now...now it feels like Springsteen has authoritatively picked a side, not that he is fighting for or against a cause, but that he has " us and them"d his audience and his apparent foes...only now this "them" is a large portion of his audience. His music isn't fun anymore. It is preachy...and it makes his previous music sound preachy.
* * *
U2's music has not been enjoyable in quite some time. The last album that I enjoyed from them was released well over a decade ago. For quite a while, I considered them to be my favorite band (I guess I am just not very cool). I feel though, that once it's been over a decade since I've enjoyed new music from a band, I probably shouldn't say they are my favorite band anymore. I don't even know if I have a favorite band now.
U2 began
their career with pretty blatantly Christian lyrics, before seguing into a more
impressionistic style, then more politically-tinged lyrics. U2, more than
perhaps any band who has ever existed, have drawn on their listeners to support
their political causes. Most prominently, those causes have involved bettering
Africa, which, according to the last 30 years of history, hasn't exactly worked out. Yet the band member's financial fortunes continued to rise. U2's "When I Look at the World"
from 2001 is an immensely powerful song. It climaxes with the final verse, "I'm
in the waiting room/can't see for the smoke/I think of you and your Holy
Book/when the rest of us choke." There was a time where I felt like the "I" in that song. I am beginning to feel more like the "you."
* * *
According to Forbes Magazine, Bruce Springsteen is worth $1.2 billion dollars. The combined worth of U2, according to various sources, is $1.8 billion dollars, with frontman Bono alone maintaining a fortune nearing $1 billion.
Bruce Springsteen recently released a song called "The Streets of Minneapolis," about the death of Renee Good, at the hands of US ICE agents. Shortly afterward, U2 released a song called "American Obituary." Both decry Renee Good's death as a great tragedy, a murder. In Minneapolis, there were riots over her death. Other Americans believe that Good's own actions got her killed, that she was driven to rage by an extreme and vitriolic media, and essentially committed suicide by cop. I am not posting this to take a side or give my political views. I don't really do that here anymore.
I am here to say that Bruce
Springsteen and the four members of U2 (who are not Americans) have absolutely no
clue what the average American life is like. They cannot comprehend that the
majority of Americans democratically voted for the current President of the
United States, who touted all of his current policies on the campaign trail, and
that the vast majority of Americans who voted for the President still support
him. In their extreme out of touchness, all these musical performers know is that they are supposed
to protest whatever the current non-Progressive thing is. It completely went
over their heads that the vast majority of Americans who have to work 40+ hours
a week, who have mortgages, and car and student and Chase Bank loans, who can't evade taxes, and don't own
massive shares of real estate, or vacation homes around the world, or recreational ranches, do not currently support current Progressive
thing. These musical performers are so out of touch with the average American that their music,
which once felt so universal, even when it was politically charged, even when
it was driven by causes, no longer feels universal--it feels like the accusing
finger of a billionaire who has no idea what their former listeners' lives are
currently like.
In New Jersey, where Springsteen was once royalty, a cover band has found their show cancelled because even there, Springsteen is now too divisive. Ironically, I link to this story on Fox News, not to make a political statement, but because it is the only website featuring the story that doesn't have a paywall.
My favorite album was once (and may still be) U2's The Unforgettable Fire from 1984. The opening lyrics to that album, from the song "A Sort of Homecoming," are
In New Jersey, where Springsteen was once royalty, a cover band has found their show cancelled because even there, Springsteen is now too divisive. Ironically, I link to this story on Fox News, not to make a political statement, but because it is the only website featuring the story that doesn't have a paywall.
* * *
My favorite album was once (and may still be) U2's The Unforgettable Fire from 1984. The opening lyrics to that album, from the song "A Sort of Homecoming," are
And you know it's time to go
Through the sleet and driving snow
Across the
fields of mourning
To a light that's in the distance
And you hunger for the time
Time to heal, desire time
And your earth moves beneath
Your own dream landscape
These lyrics (and the backing music) are dreamy, impressionistic, emotional, universal, and easy to connect with. They remind me of walking the countryside where I live during a particularly harsh winter, and reaching my parents' aging home, where a fire burns in the hearth. That album also touches upon real world issues like drug addiction and the fallout of nuclear war, but it is a beautiful, imaginative album that I connect to easily.
A couple of months ago, U2 released their first new music in years, an EP called Days of Ash. "American Obituary" is the first song. When I reached the second verse's lyric
These lyrics (and the backing music) are dreamy, impressionistic, emotional, universal, and easy to connect with. They remind me of walking the countryside where I live during a particularly harsh winter, and reaching my parents' aging home, where a fire burns in the hearth. That album also touches upon real world issues like drug addiction and the fallout of nuclear war, but it is a beautiful, imaginative album that I connect to easily.
A couple of months ago, U2 released their first new music in years, an EP called Days of Ash. "American Obituary" is the first song. When I reached the second verse's lyric
930 Minneapolis
To desecrate domestic bliss
Three bullets
blast, three babies kissed
Renee, the domestic terrorist?
What you can't kill,
can't die
America will rise
Against the people of the lie
I immediately turned the EP off in disgust. What does U2 know about Renee Good? What does U2 know about the political nuances of Minneapolis? What does U2 know about the effects of illegal immigration on the average American? Nothing. They know absolutely nothing. Apropos, I will not voluntarily listen to anything they have to say about the subject.
I immediately turned the EP off in disgust. What does U2 know about Renee Good? What does U2 know about the political nuances of Minneapolis? What does U2 know about the effects of illegal immigration on the average American? Nothing. They know absolutely nothing. Apropos, I will not voluntarily listen to anything they have to say about the subject.
Go back to your mansions, ride your wild horses,
and get your fucking finger out my face.
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