Sunday, February 1, 2009

You Sure About That, Boss?

As I've mentioned before, I am a fan of Bruce Springsteen's music. I even like some of his newest album, although Working on a Dream is the most uneven record he's released in years, maybe ever. The title track could have been released by Generic Mid-Tempo Songwriter, and probably should have been.

One of the things that's always drawn me to his music is that even though he has always expressed which side he's on -- the side of the little guys and gals of the world -- he's most often made his stand clear through exploring their lives and stories. In other words, I know who and what Springsteen is for, rather than having to listen to an endless recitation of who and what he is against. Some folks are effective both as performers and as communicators at proclaiming what they are against. Something about their character or the characteristics of their work meshes well with the "anti-" message. Whether or not Springsteen would have been effective had he always aimed his career that way, who knows? He hasn't often done so, and he has had the career he's had.

It hasn't always worked out, of course. In 2004, Springsteen supported Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. By being very "pro-" on behalf of one of the emptiest suits ever to serve in the United States Senate, Springsteen steered uncomfortably close to the image of a millionaire rock star supporting the millionaire husband of a ketchup heiress. Kerry was born into privilege, married into some more of it, then divorced and remarried into even more of it. He was never a spare part and wouldn't have known the ghost of Tom Joad from the ghost of Tom Jones (who is, of course, not dead yet. I know). Kerry's opponent, President George W. Bush, may very well have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but Kerry started out with the whole place setting, and it's hard to maintain an image of being on the side of the little guy when you back the richest man in the running for a job.

Interviews here and there suggest that WOAD grew out of Springsteen's dislike for Bush and his policies. Fair enough. As I mentioned above, I think a lot of great music and art has come from those telling us what they're against and what they're fighting. And I don't know how much of that feeling influenced this album, but that attitude could be why it's so uneven -- Springsteen is more often better when he's outlining who and what he's for than when he works out of what he's against.

In any event, WOAD is not the only Springsteen release out right about now. A second greatest-hits album hit Wal-Mart shelves in January, and only Wal-Mart shelves. They have exclusive rights to sell it. Since Wal-Mart is anti-union in its workforce and Springsteen has always been very much a pro-union guy, a significant portion of his fan base has called him to task for the choice. In a recent interview, Springsteen said the decision to make an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart was a mistake. He suggested his business team didn't vet the issue like it should have, someone "dropped the ball."

Really? Someone "dropped the ball?" How? Did they think they were doing business with a different Wal-Mart: "You dummy, we wanted the pro-union multi-national, multi-billion-dollar retail chain recognizable in most every town in the nation, not the anti-union one. How could you mix those two up?" Buddy, when you try to cover a 35-plus-year career of more than 20 official albums with 12 songs, you ain't selling me a serious career retrospective. Add in that seven of those 12 were on the 1995 Greatest Hits album -- which also featured three previously unreleased tunes -- and any piety you may have about disagreeing with Wal-Mart stands on swiftly-eroding grounds. Maybe the mistake was judging how seriously some of those fans hold their opinions about Wal-Mart, justified or not.

So just go ahead and play the Super Bowl and hit the road for a tour, Boss. If it's not too much to ask, please put Oklahoma City on your itinerary. I promise I'll come to the show, which is still one of the best performances known to mankind. And if you play "No Surrender" at that concert, well, that would be really great.

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