Kooly

https://www.nfl.com/news/former-raiders-coach-jon-gruden-files-lawsuit-vs-nfl-commissioner-goodell Bravo!

What will become of that lonely orphan, the full-band version of Born in the USA? So misunderstood. Perhaps it will find a better home, where it will be more dearly loved.

Exactly. Especially if you consider that one of the main talking points and slogans of the racially engaged protest groups is "If you don't speak up you are part of the problem." A wise man once said, "No one wins unless everyone wins." Now it appears to be "No one wins unless ********s win."

The "offending" Obama comment comes around the 7:20 mark of this video. Bruce does sort of sell his fanbase down the river with his nod and affirmation of Obama's supposition. I don't know, maybe an event like that actually happened before. Only Bruce knows. But to throw his white fanbase under the bus there for Obama's theoretical race-baiting is insulting to me. If Bruce is now so offended by his white constituency, he should consider returning the money he earned from them or donate it to charity. The money that now allows him to hob-nob with career politicians. He seems to be something of a spineless jellyfish in Obama's presence. It sickens me.

I wish I were blind when I see Boss nod his head.

This book is a lazy piece of crap, with no meat on the bones. You can't even begin to list how many times he takes credit for others' works, such as Bruce's home recordings becoming the Nebraska release, or Bob Dylan's early nineties folk/blues cover releases of Good As I Been To You and World Gone wrong. Not to mention him citing himself as the influence for Prince wearing jackets and Jimmy Buffett wearing Hawaiian shirts. Oh sure, like a mosquito at sunset he'll occasionally fly in and zap you with a zinger, but these instances are few and far between. The devil is in the details, folks, and, sorry for your luck, but there aren't many details here about anything. For being the second banana to Bruce and the supposed leader of the E St. Band, there's literally nothing said about the members of the E St. Band, except that they were at this or that recording. Nothing about The River album, co-producer, except that he arranged the Hungry Heart song and sped up Bruce's voice. We already knew that, silly. Except for the arranging part. I never realized that Little Steven arranged so much of Bruce's music, while the Boss was off on another of his two-hour phone calls to Landau. Little Steven claims that his political consciousness was raised during the European leg of The River tour in 1981, but yet had never heard Peter Gabriel's Biko until a movie theater sojourn in 1983. Even though Dave Marsh reviewed the Gabriel album for Rolling Stone in 1980! Get out much, Steven? He'd never heard of Genesis, either, prog-rock, man, not his thing. He was so impressed by the Gabriel song that on three different occasions in the book he mentions conversations he had with "Peter Gabriel or Jim Kerr," he can't remember which. Hmm, Don't You Forget About Me or Biko, which one inspired your next career move? At least get his name right. But, alas, it's in the details. I could go on and on, but I think I've already given this tome too much of my time. Would have made a perfect infomercial release, where you're excited enough to purchase the item but then have no use for it once it arrives in the mail. I couldn't wait to finish it so I could throw it in the garbage. And I'm a fan.

You're right. When Doves Cry never sounded good live. Prince was a frustrating live artist with his songs, and he always seemed to rush through When Doves Cry. The best that can be said for the song is that at least it got a full treatment before he pulled it completely. So many of his classic songs became part of a greatest hits medley, which, again, was so frustrating because there were just songs in his catalog that he believed in and others that were given perfunctory performances, for whatever reason. When Doves Cry was always perfunctory. Additionally, When Doves Cry is a one-off, almost a novelty song, with no bass to carry it along. No bass = no party in a live setting.

Post Deleted by Kooly.

Ahh, nothing like some good old anti-establishment bad boys bending over so that the woke/cancel culture can shove the rod of decency up their a-hole without a fight. They've just opened the door for the W/CC crowd to pick through their catalog, now that it's been established that The Stones have "rabbit ears," (which is not a knock on Keith Richards' physical appearance ). If they're so agreeable to "retire" one of their signature songs, then it's only a matter of time until pressure is put on their record company to eliminate other songs from their official library. As the old adage goes, "Give an inch and they want a mile."

I saw the Darkness tour in 3 separate cities in 1978 and there was NO tour merchandise, except for bootlegged clothing sold in the parking lots. Everything about that t-shirt is fake. Most t-shirts with that label come from Walmart and Hot Topic.

Let's Turn It On Again.

Good song. Good video. It's interesting. Mellencamp faced a lot of hostility early in his career as a Springsteen-heartland-rocker-wannabe. Many people felt that Scarecrow was the logical extension to BITUSA, with Mellencamp trying to wrest the crown from the Boss. Mining the same trail. I think that all changed in 1987 with The Lonesome Jubilee, and its Appalachian mountain sound. How often has Bruce tried to replicate that sound with Soozie Tyrell? High marks.

What an odd choice for iconography for this tour, as Bob Dylan may very well look like the corpse in the top hat in 2024. I'm a fan.

The top 50 song list was so ridiculous that I didn't even bother with the rest. For instance, I think they have the Beach Boys God Only Knows in the top 10 or 20, when that song didn't even make their most famous retrospective compilation, Endless Summer. And why such love for Strawberry Fields Forever? I don't know, there might be like 200 better Beatles songs than that. Maybe it's for the backwards Paul is dead/Strawberry Jam controversy.

I always hated that song. The video is cringe-inducing.

Bossy and Mellencamp together.

Maybe it's not a coincidence that Bossy never released the BITUSA box set. He's pretty much admitted that he hates the full-band arrangement of the title song because it's "misunderstood." Told us how terrible the song and image was once he cashed all the checks. He gave My Hometown to Joe Biden for his presidential campaign, sullying the song to a certain percentage of his fan-base. Those two songs were the artistic bookends to his most popular album, said Jimmy Iovine, and now the legs have been cut out from both of them. Not to mention that one of the most popular songs on the album begins with "Hey little girl is your daddy home," which doesn't play in the "woke" era. Bruce became so fascinated with wanting to become the dearest "Father Knows Best" of our country that he failed to protect the legacy of his recorded work and allowed it to be manipulated I might have to fine-tooth scan the lyrics to the rest of the songs on the album, see if there's anymore grist for the mill.

That's just a dopey list.

Without getting political, I find his appearance and performance offensive to the tragedy of 9-11. Why does he feel the need to bookend the 20 year anniversary of this event? Yes, The Rising was interesting for what it was, maybe even healing for many people, and I get that. I loved it. But this appearance is unnecessary and self-serving in my opinion. Since when did Bruce Springsteen become pallbearer to a nation? There's so much more I could say, but this is where I'll let it lay.

I'm sure that Bruce couldn't have approved of that misunderstood magazine cover.

The intro to Downbound Train is very similar to Let It Bleed.

I no longer buy anything Bruce-related, so I'll skip this one unless my local library gets it in.

The guy ought to sue his father if the picture is so offensive to him now, but I'm sure his old man isn't rolling around in Nirvana money.

On Street Fightin' Man, Charlie Watts is playing a 1930s toy drum kit. Keith Richards on bass.