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Born in the U.S.A.

Certain Songs #143: Bruce Springsteen – “Glory Days”

March 25, 2015 by Jim Connelly

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Album: Born in the U.S.A.

Year: 1984

Oh no no no no no no no. Fuck this song. Just fuck this song. Fuck this song for its dumbass keyboard part. Fuck this song for its video that proves that as a pitcher, Bruce Springsteen is a great guitar player. Fuck this song for that chorus that sticks in your head forever. But most of all, fuck this song for being right.

The official song of Throwback Thursday, “Glory Days” boozy depiction of getting older was of course lost on me as a dumbass 21-year-old, but three decades down the line I’m just oh fuck you, Bruce for nailing it so much.

Back in 1993, Bruce played this song during the very last episode of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Late Night With David Letterman.  Of course, even during my glory days, I almost never watched Dave live, relying on the magic of videotape to get my daily fix. My theory was that if I was awake at 12:35AM, it was because I had much better things to do than to watch TV.

Anyways, I came home after a long night of drinking at Livingstones the night of Dave’s very last show – which I knew would feature Bruce – only to find out that something had happened and it didn’t record. Either the cable went out or the VCR didn’t record or something. In any event, I was so pissed I threw the VCR remote against the wall, smashing it to pieces. Because I was a fucking idiot.

Anyways, I never did see that performance until I started looking for a video to out at the end of this post in addition to the famous video.

“Glory Days” live on Late Night With David Letterman, 1993

“Glory Days” official music video

My Certain Songs Spotify Playlist:

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Filed Under: Certain Songs, Hot Topics, Music Tagged With: Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen, Glory Days

Certain Songs #142: Bruce Springsteen – “Born in the U.S.A”

March 24, 2015 by Jim Connelly

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Album: Born in the U.S.A.

Year: 1984.

It was weird, loving this album and loving Bruce Springsteen in the mid-1980s. At that time, of course, I was fully ensconced with the alt/indie-rock aesthetic of KFSR, which automatically looked upon anything as massively popular as Springsteen (or Prince) (or Madonna) (or Michael Jackson) as suspicious. I got that: a lot of time what was popular was crap.

On the other hand, it was impossible for me to hate somebody simply because they were popular. That made no fucking sense: quality and popularity are not diametrically opposed. Not everything that is popular is crap. Never has been, never will be. It would be insane to ignore somebody simply because a lot of other folks whom maybe aren’t as snobby as I am like them.

I mean, the fact that The Kinks weren’t as popular as The Rolling Stones in 1969 didn’t mean that The Kinks were great and the Stones sucked, it meant that circumstances and market forces beyond either band’s control meant that Let it Bleed resonated while Arthur didn’t. In an ideal world, of course, both albums (to say nothing of The Velvet Underground) would have been massively popular.

In my ideal word, as a matter of fact, quality and popularity aren’t so much diametrically opposed as they are in lockstep.  Which is, of course, equally insane. But I truly want as many people to hear as much great music as I can foist at them. What I consider great music, of course, heh-heh. Your mileage will vary.

Of course, in the mid-1980s, there was no need whatsoever for me to play Bruce Springsteen on the radio as a DJ at KFSR. At least not anything from Born in the U.S.A., which had seven Top Ten singles, and certainly didn’t need my help. Clearly Bruce had figured out how to take his music to the next level commercially while not sacrificing his artistic soul.

Which was fine: as far as I was concerned, it meant that I could instead play Husker Du and R.E.M. and The Replacements etc. while still totally enjoying Springsteen’s success.  In fact, I even saw him in concert for the second time on that tour – at the Oakland Coliseum with Tim & Larry & Debbie (Tim & I also saw The Church put on a performance for the ages at Wolfgang’s in SF on that road trip) – where he always added extra heft to “Born in the U.S.A. by adding a killer guitar solo at the end.

Not that “Born in the U.S.A.” needed that extra heft. It sounded amazing. I have a simple rule: if a song sounds good enough, I really don’t give a fuck what the lyrics are. So even if the folks who have been willfully mishearing this song for 30 years happened to be correct – and they’re not, as even a cursory look at the verses would confirm – I’d still love it. I’d love it that big dumb beat. I’d love it for the even bigger and dumber keyboard hook. I’d love it for the utter passion that Bruce invests every single shout-sung “Born in the U.S.A.” 

“Born in the U.S.A”. performed live in Paris, 1985

My Certain Songs Spotify Playlist:

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Filed Under: Certain Songs, Hot Topics, Music Tagged With: Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2042: The Rolling Stones – “Jigsaw Puzzle”
  • Certain Songs #2041: The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy For The Devil”
  • Certain Songs #2040: The Rolling Stones – “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
  • Certain Songs #2039: The Rolling Stones – “Child of The Moon”
  • Certain Songs #2038: The Rolling Stones – “She’s A Rainbow”

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