Bob Seger vs. Bruce Springsteen

xpost I can see that, but that's sort of how I feel more about bands like, I dunno, the Strokes, who are ten times the poseur than Springsteen ever was. I believe (foolishly?) in the myth of Bruce's man of the people authenticity, because that has overwhelmingly been what people have claimed and reported of him.

I know by now his schtick definitely scans as conservative, but I've always thought his dedication to that particular aesthetic sort of rebellious, the same way punks worshiped girl group sounds and rockabilly. Or at least far more rebellious than any other multi-millionaire legacy act these days. He's still engaged and pushing hard without losing his innate Bruce-ness.

Regardless, Springsteen has multiple great albums post-70s, so not much need to cherry pick!

fair enough, although Brooce's authenticity is not the issue for me. While I unreservedly love a lot of his sources - Dylan, Spector, Motown, etc. - he slots them into a framework that just has zero appeal to me. He strips out the otherness and odd edges of those sources and makes them into an all-american muscle car. And as much as I respect and am sympathetic to his blue-collar-lefty bona fides, as music it just seems like he took a bunch of interesting stuff and made it boring/safe(r).

I'm sure I've said all this before on some other Bruce vs. somebody thread...

makes them into an all-american muscle car

listen harder.

I've tried, but even the hits don't hit me. I can't even remember how Born to Run goes, and I must've heard it a hundred times.

WTF

Let's rank Seeg's top forty singles.

yeah idk I find his whole blue-collar-manly-man-playing-REAL-rock-n-roll-with-the-gang schtick just totally unappealing. almost offended by the reactionary conservatism of the aesthetic tbh, there's just no way into that for me.

I got a really nice copy of Nebraska today, great album. Love love love “highway patrolman”

One thing I will say for Bob Seger, he's surprisingly good at/interested in writing from a female perspective. My favorite is "The Fire Inside," where "you" go out to a club, pick up a guy, bring him home, and then lie awake waiting for him to leave so you can lock the door behind him. That detail of the door impresses me every time.

That said, though, Bruce all the way. I like Seger just fine, but Springsteen is just on another level as a writer and artist.

Nebraska was the album that converted me from casual fandom to full-on Bruce insanity.

I love them both and will never choose between them

It seems that there should be some type of late 70s LA crime love triangle movie that uses "Hollywood Nights" as the big theme tune.

"I'm just another consensus on the street."