Item: 1 cassette tape - Born in the USA, by Bruce Springsteen
This is, I believe, the first album of any kind that I ever bought, and the plastic case is cracked and chipped, but the tape still works. Now I will try to say why it is that this was so important, and I will fail. Even in a more appropriate forum, with unlimited time and pages, I would fail. I will be stubborn, and emotional, and make hyperbolic statements, and it will all sound very corny and immature, but I'm saying it anyway.
When this string of singles came out in 1984-5, there was "Dancing in the Dark," and then there was "Cover Me," but what pushed me over the edge was "Born in the USA," and what sealed it forever was "I'm on Fire." By the time "Glory Days" came out (and I remember it being around for a long time) I had become a diehard. I loved hearing him laugh at the end of that song. These eventually passed off of the radio and then I felt it necessary to buy the tape, to have these songs to keep. I had no interest in the boys of Wham! or Duran Duran, but this guy, as they say, spoke my language.
Way back then, when I was 14, I thought I must have discovered Bruce Springsteen at the high point of his career, which of course it wasn't. Starting then, I worked both backwards and forwards, discovering what had come before and following everything from that point on. In the succession of albums it's impossible not to trace the presence of someone who has changed, grown, suffered, had a good time, and doesn't ever seem to get stagnant. Every album comes out of a different place, and yet every one sounds exactly like him. There are those fans who only like the early stuff, which is of course untouchable, but I'm pretty sure it would be ringing hollow by now if he were still doing the same things he did at 21. Devils and Dust, which came out last year, is better than even I imagined it could be. This is one of the best things I could envision for anybody's life, by the way, including mine: always to become the best version of yourself.
At a concert in Indianapolis on the Rising tour, there was a guy in the same row who had seen Bruce Springsteen back in the 1970s, but not any time since. About halfway through the concert, he turned to me with his jaw dropped in disbelief. "He's like wine!" he said. "He just gets better!"
Yeah. Happy Birthday, Boss-man.
When this string of singles came out in 1984-5, there was "Dancing in the Dark," and then there was "Cover Me," but what pushed me over the edge was "Born in the USA," and what sealed it forever was "I'm on Fire." By the time "Glory Days" came out (and I remember it being around for a long time) I had become a diehard. I loved hearing him laugh at the end of that song. These eventually passed off of the radio and then I felt it necessary to buy the tape, to have these songs to keep. I had no interest in the boys of Wham! or Duran Duran, but this guy, as they say, spoke my language.
Way back then, when I was 14, I thought I must have discovered Bruce Springsteen at the high point of his career, which of course it wasn't. Starting then, I worked both backwards and forwards, discovering what had come before and following everything from that point on. In the succession of albums it's impossible not to trace the presence of someone who has changed, grown, suffered, had a good time, and doesn't ever seem to get stagnant. Every album comes out of a different place, and yet every one sounds exactly like him. There are those fans who only like the early stuff, which is of course untouchable, but I'm pretty sure it would be ringing hollow by now if he were still doing the same things he did at 21. Devils and Dust, which came out last year, is better than even I imagined it could be. This is one of the best things I could envision for anybody's life, by the way, including mine: always to become the best version of yourself.
At a concert in Indianapolis on the Rising tour, there was a guy in the same row who had seen Bruce Springsteen back in the 1970s, but not any time since. About halfway through the concert, he turned to me with his jaw dropped in disbelief. "He's like wine!" he said. "He just gets better!"
Yeah. Happy Birthday, Boss-man.
posted by Karen at 11:49 PM
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