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The Last Rock Star

Springsteen's music does more than just force us to think and motivate our dancin' feet at the same time--it teaches us to care.
By David Lifton

In 1984, I was 15 years old. Had I discovered Bruce Springsteen a year or two earlier, it wouldn't have had nearly the same effect. I had known a couple of songs, that one that started out with "Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack" and the one about the Yankees--you know, "Champs like us." Like most young music fans, I liked the songs because they were on the radio, not because I could relate to them. But that year, I received a copy of Born in the U.S.A. as a present. The sound that came out of my turntable when I first put it on was, quite possibly, the most liberating sound I've ever heard.

Within weeks my life began to revolve around Bruce Springsteen. I stood in front of the mirror for hours trying to pose just like him. I would spend hours in the record store debating which album I should absorb next. I bought every magazine that had his face on the cover, needing to know everything there was to know about him. My obsession was so great that one time, during dinner, I pointed to my father and shouted "The Big Man, take it!" My father, who has been mistaken for Clarence Clemons by nobody, immediately disavowed any prior knowledge of me.

It's hard to recall specifically what it was that drew me to him. The mid-80's was a particularly good time for pop music, probably the last time Top 40 had diversity. There was the strong group of American rockers (Bruce, Petty, Mellencamp), some good dance music (Madonna, Thriller--admit it, we all liked it), the "college" bands that were able to break into the mainstream (U2, Talking Heads), and, of course, Prince (all of the above). Even though I didn't know it, R.E.M., Husker Du, and the Replacements were releasing albums which, when I discovered them a few years later, would have similar effects on me. So it wasn't like he was the only thing good out there, standing out among a boatload of crap.

I guess what I liked was his lyrics. His characters all seemed so realistic. They were always getting laid off at their jobs, breaking up with their girlfriends, taking long drives through the night, or any combination of the three. But how could I relate to any of that? I had a paper route, but you could hardly call that a job; girls didn't talk to me (many still don't); and I was too young to have a driver's license. But somehow I understood what his songs were about.

As the years have passed, I have come to realize that on the whole, his songs are about the choices that people have to make when placed in difficult situations, and how they live with the consequences of their actions. By focusing on personal emotions rather than dealing in universal truisms, his songs resonate long after their life span on the charts.

And of course there is that VOICE. So passionate, despite a limited range. It was like Bob Dylan crossed with a half-dozen 60's one-hit R&B singers. "That's not singing," my parents used to say. "That's constipation." But, naturally, I knew better. The pre-Born To Run records showed a singer a bit too quick to go over the top, but the youthful energy within was part of the charm.

After Born To Run, though, the voice matured a bit, no doubt a result of his legal problems, and grew as dark as his songs. The live shows, though, are what made Bruce Springsteen the biggest rock act on the planet during the 80's. He has often said that his shows are "part circus, part political rally, part dance party, and part spiritual revival." By acknowledging that a rock n' roll show can provide something for everybody, he understands that rock music should be used to bring people together. And that's why Bruce is The Last Rock Star; the only person still standing who remembers that rock can make you dance while you think.

I don't listen to Bruce's music that much anymore, though the release of Tracks last fall made me go back and listen to them all again. For starters, my girlfriend doesn't like him (see my parents' comments regarding his voice). Secondly, my own musical restlessness continues to lead me towards other artists. But I think about him a lot. In these days of self-conscious whiners, sound-and-fury-signifying-nothing screamers, and by-the-numbers teen idols, Bruce Springsteen's music reminds us of what it is like to care.