Entertainment For Lively Minds
Rock's least influential megastar?
Is there any supernova in the rocular firmament who, despite almost universal admiration and acclaim, has had less influence on his peers and successors than Bruce Springsteen? I've been racking my brains (i.e. scouring Spotify) for "Bruce-ish" musical moments from other artists over the last 35 years, but I've only come up with one - Bob Seger's "Roll Me Away":
But not even that counts as a proper Springsteen influence, really - if you haul in Roy Bittan to play your piano part, you can hardly be accused of sly subterfuge, can you? And the only other instance of him being "homaged" I've come up with is again not so much influence per se as a naughty nod: Elvis Costello's swiping of the "uh-oh-oh" vocal outro of "Born To Run" for the end of "Oliver's Army":
If anything, Springsteen's musical credit is negative - he's more a net borrower than a lender. As an example, here's the intro of Mink DeVille's "Venus Of Avenue D" (1977) segueing into "Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978):
But lifting from others is a dangerous game, so he's not averse to turning to the one source of inspiration that's never going to come back to bite you in the arse: yourself. Here's one glaring - but far from the only - example of self-quotation: the triplet figure that he first used in "Backstreets" would reappear as a same-key photocopy in "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" (he seems to have been particularly stuck for ideas that day).
Springsteen is alleged to be the Boss, but is there anyone else of his import in the history of rock whose musical manual of procedures has been so roundly ignored by his underlings?
- More from Archie Valparaiso.
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I've not heard it but
"Sam's Town" by The Killers is a complete Bruce Springsteen homage.
You're right
A bloke in the pub told me exactly the same thing.
Meat Loaf
surely Bat Out of Hell is cod Springsteen the whole way through and that's not just because E-Streeters Roy Bittan and Nils Logfren play on it.
I did consider that...
but I've always seen Steinman as more Broadway than boardwalk.
Arcade Fire
by their own admission. I also understand The National and The Killers admit to a Springsteen influence but I'm less able to judge not being that familiar with their work.
A touch harsh, Arch.
A lot of Graham Parker, The National, The HoldSteady and current media spotlit The Gaslight Anthem have more than a tinge of Bruce. I will, as it is you, discount the Parkerilla given the presence of Mr Bittan and Bruce himself on his finest outing, The Up Escalator. Obviously the Bruce influence is also high on patronaged artists like Southside Johnny and Gary U.S. Bonds (late period). I would also timidly suggest there is quite a lot of Bruce influence in some of Warren Zevon, more than merely in their joint presence on "Disorder in the House" on his last LP while living, the Wind.
No harshness intended
He's ploughed his own furrow and others have chosen not to jump in, that's all. It wasn't my intention to belittle his achievement at all, particularly in terms of his arrangements. The combination of two twangy Fenders, piano, Farfisa/glockenspiel and tenor sax had never been done before, and maybe it's a sound that's become so his that nobody has had the nerve to violate his trademark. It just struck me as odd that someone so big should have been so, well, alone.
(And didn't we decide that Graham Parker was Elvis Costello in shades?)
I bet Graham Parker wishes he had some EC royalties.....
....every time he hears that, as he was ploughing his then idiosyncratic, give or take a touch of Bruce, long before Flip City folded to liberate EC on this world. I accept that Elvis has become a lot more mult-faceted than GP, who has stuck in his own little puddle. But for a few years, mainly needing the Rumour, he was a contender. Still some flashes of brilliance in his american exile, with product sneaking out on ever smaller labels. Lets celebrate when he was someone, ironically post Rumour:
What are the chances?
"current media spotlit The Gaslight Anthem"
Stumbled accross their album on eMusic on Saturday, liked the samples and downloaded the whole album. Never heard of them before. And now they get a mention here, and you say they have some hype behind them. As I said, never heard of them before. What are the chances?
Bear in mind my "media spotlight"
is this blog, where they have popped up about 3 times in passing, as well as the strand about "last years band this year":
"The Album I Missed Last Year But Discovered This Year
Posted by CharlieB on 7 February 2009 - 1:52pm."
Oh, and Slomo featured thenm on their cover disc and an article within. Unless it was Unshod.
Okay.
I've got the The Gaslight Anthem"
and it's all a bit knowing for my likeing.
How could it be
unknowing though?
Kerrang's
"One to Watch" in 2008, I believe. Also got a cover in Jan/Feb last year.
Similar to others, I found them whilst using up credits on eMusic. My find of last year definitely. Like Springsteen fronting The Clash....terrific
I thought
that The Hold Steady were the inheritors of the genre ... at least that's what I had read and why I have studiously avoided hearing them. What have I missed?
As for net borrower, well said. Faux Phil Spector production + Dylan lite lyric + early 70's Van Morrison sax arrangement = Bruce Springsteen.
Coat on, I know the drill ...
But before I go ... can I suggest Joni Mitchell as crtically lauded and not that influential. Yes her early albums have spawned a host of earnest, slightly twee, guitar toting songstresses. But her later, jazzier period seems to me unique. I'm not sure anyone (except Rickie Lee Jones?) has really tried to follow her down that road - although those albums remain critically acclaimed.
Knocked off Dylan lyrics?
"Faux Phil Spector production + Dylan lite lyric + early 70's Van Morrison sax arrangement = Bruce Springsteen."
I think that describes his first two albums to a tee, but I'm not sure if he was that Dylan influenced after that. His lyrical style seems quite unique/original to me.
Jon Bon Jovi
I wouldn't imagine his name gets mentioned round these parts very often but I believe his entire 'musical' output contains more than a nod to Brucie.
Wasn't his brother Tony Bongiovi...
...the owner of The Power Station studio in NYC (where Springsteen recorded).
Indeed......
I think young Jon plotted his route to 'success' quite meticulously....
80s Stadium(ish) Rock
U2, Big Country, Simple Minds, The Alarm, The Waterboys, all those bands doing a BIG sound were apparently fans. Admittedly it's not necessarily a musical influence, but it's there. (Openly too on The Alarm Spirit Of 76:)
Geldof and the Boomtown Rats were big fans too from what I remember...
Well this is definitely a bit...
..Bruuucey.
good catch
I'd forgotten that one - I think pre-Saint/Sir Bob was channelling Born to Run when he bashed out this gem.
..and these guys were..
..massive in Oz..
I think Steely Dan..
..would be better candidates, Archie. Their trail of influence is much more miniscule than Bruces.
I dunno...
...mid to late 80s there were a number of bands who were wearing their Steely Dan influences on their sleeves. Prefab Sprout for instance, Deacon Blue were big fans. Actually they had some Bruce influences going on too...
A couple more...
China Crisis (produced by Walter Becker) and Love and Money (produced by Dan man Gary Katz) made no secret of their admiration for that pristine late period Steely Dan sound.
takes deep breath....but Supertramp,
supertramp are just Steely Dan lite!
Neither Deacon Blue..
..or Prefab Sprout sound anything like Steely Dan, (Not clever enough by half)Infuence surely means more than Paddy McAloon dropping names in interviews.
Sir Mick Jagger.
'The most famous rock star in the world who no one cares about'.
Somebody said that. Can't remember who.
( Maybe it was Keith ).
Elvis Costello - where's the influence..
For all the knowing nods, warmly received write-ups and continuation of multi-genre journeyman, jumping in and jamming with the heaviest of hitters - I don't think I've ever heard one act or artist cite him as a source, reference or influence..
Apart from Pump It Up - he does nothing for me either..
A cautious suggestion of Thea Gilmore
Very Costello-esque barrage of words, crowded into staccato tunes. I like her very much.
And less an influence, more an obsession, the very reasonable Lou Dalgleish, singer and missus of Michael Weston King, took her love of Costello so far as to do a tribute album and tour some years ago. I caught it at Ronnie Scotts in Brum.She also did a degree in music, with her thesis being on EC..... Now it is a musical/play, but hardly in the West End.
More from the Tamworth Herald last week.
Tamworth are you ready to rock?
There's a thread waiting to happen - music news from regional papers...
The Jags
Back of My Hand was so EC that he used to introduce his own songs by that title. But that was a one hit wonder copy. Any Trouble (led by Cluve Gregson) had a similar sound but never really made it big. So perhaps you're right.
I think Joe Jackson
Might also owe him a bit.
And because I can't edit my comment above, that should of course be Clove Gregson - an early spice boy.
Joe Jackson
also owes Steely Dan a bit I think...
And John Wesley Harding is
a carbon copy I had forgotten about. Except the songs have no tune and the lyrics grate. Can't think why Dylan named an LP after him........
JJ and EC both emerged at roughly the same time
but he certainly owes a huge debt (as he would confirm himself) to Steely Dan. Live, he has covered 4 or 5 SD songs.
Spoon!
I have yet to see a mention of the fantastic US band Spoon anywhere in Word, but they definitely have an EC influence, as seen in the vid for Sister Jack which rips off the Oliver's Army vid:
Dear Jim, Please fix it for me for Word magazine and others to feature this mighty group somewhere in their pages. Jeremy Vine played them today and I almost drove off the A406 in shock.
Many people have cited Costello as a reference, although you wouldn't know it from their work. In the past year both Fallout Boy and the one of the Jonas Brothers have been pretty vocal of their EC love and to his credit he's collaborated with both as a result. I think in the last 10 years the first thing you think of when you think of EC has shifted from "spekky, revenge, guilt" to "eclectic, collaborations, genre-hopper" and it's to his credit that he's willing to forgo snobbery and find something worthwhile in collaboration with a Jonas Brother, even though he could just call up Burt Bacharach or Macca and do something more critically noted. The TV show spins out his collaborative streak to a nutty degree. It's a huge pity more artists don't have the foresight/interest/nerve/talent to do the broad spectrum of work as EC does, it would make things more interesting.
As the mighty book might say, "For where two or three come together to do some kind of slightly unusual collaboration, there Elvis Costello is with them."
Sorry
But are you suggesting Prefab Sprout weren't clever. I think you need to have a listen to Jordan The Comeback (in my opinion the great lost album of the 90s). As for Deacon Blue, they were merely pretenders with some of the worst lyrics ever (see Chocolate Girl - below)
Jordan The Comeback
has a track called Machine Gun Ibiza, which is quite possibly the biggest Steely Dan influenced track I've ever heard.
I got into Steely Dan because of Prefab Sprout.
Meanwhile, the title track of that particular Deacon Blue album is fairly Bruce influenced....
Meet Danny Wilson
When I first heard their debut I thought they were a Steely Dan tribute band. Except for "Mary's Prayer", which is a wonderful, perfect song.
Bob Seger
There was more than Roll Me Away. Night Moves was very Bruce influenced - I recall a Seger interview where he said he wrote that song after listening to Born To Run.
I also think that Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak album, especially Boys Are Back In Town owed a debt to Bruce.
Madge
OK, zillions have copied the look and the attitude (usually badly). But where's her musical influence? She strikes me as far more the borrower than borrowed from.
The English Springsteen
I remember a review for Dancing with Strangers (think it was in Q) citing Chris Rea as the English Bruce Springsteen.
Jesse malin
...would be another that copied Springsteen's tempelate, although maybe he is closer to Jon Bon Jovi, so he would be a third generation Bruce.
Erm, U2?
I don't agree with Archie's original point at all, really. Why then have we had 30 years of people being hailed as `the new Springsteen'?
You could also make the point that what has made Springsteen stand out is that no one else has been able to match him. I put a large amount of that down to the fact that for a long time he managed to retain the `roll' element of `rock'n'roll' whereas most others have long since lost it, an issue which has been raised on this site many times in the past.
But, on the same lines as Archie's original point, what about U2? How many `imitators' have they really spawned? And late-80s Simple Minds don't count. I can't think of many who have openly aped U2, certainly since around the time of Joshua Tree onwards.
The Stills?
Have a listen to 'Oceans Will Rise' by The Stills and I think you'll hear plenty of U2 in there...
Not available on Spotify but loads of their earlier stuff (which I'm not familiar with) is there.
U2-a-likes?
The Alarm?
I know its crap...
but I still kind of like it.
Coldplay,
and everyone who sounds like Coldplay.
Indeed
I was in a bar here in New York a couple of months back and a song came on, and my buddy immediately piped up "New U2 single!"
So I listened for about 20 seconds and responded, "Sounds too much like U2 to be U2. Must be Coldplay."
Stone the crows, Missus! It was Life In Technicolor.
At least it wasn't Keane.
I don't know
how au fait you are with Swedish rock, but I'm going to take a punt at 'not very'. The influence of Springsteen over here is massive - whenever he gigs here people go mental for him, gigs sell out in seconds (doesn't usually happen here, that) and they feel that there's some sort of special connection.
That'll be because every other middle aged Swedish rocker sounds exactly like him. I can't insert youtube links as I'm at work - but if you do a quick search for Ulf Lundell or Eldkvarn for example you'll get an idea of what I mean.
As a fellow Swede I can confirm that.
Ulf Lundell sounds like Springsteen translated to Swedish with a little Dylan in it, the same goes for Eldkvarn.
In general, the whole blue collar heartland rocker concept seams to appeal to middle aged Swedish men. Probably reminds them of the heartland upbringing they never had.
Lundell also wrote a book that was actually quite grand. I think it is sort of supposed to be the Swedish equivalent of On the Road.
Swedish middle-aged men and blue-collar US heartland
I think the one-word connection that dare not speak its name could be "mullet".
No,
that would be Germany – the only West European country where a mullet is still fashionable. These guys are mostly bald, and the few who have any hair left at all are glad.
To answer Archie's question about who else
I'd suggest that pouting Word cover girl Kate Bush has not had a lot of imitators.
Tori Amos......
her whole career is Bush-lite
Do Dire Straits count?
As a megastar I mean. Who has been influenced by them?
Chris Rea
Apparently.
I thought that Jethro Tull one
that won the heavy rock grammy, Crest of a Knave, or one of theirs from that time, was a tad Knopfler-esque
Uffe is looking a bit old now...
Meet the new Boss...
Not really.
But I'm quite fond of a New York based, "Born To Run" era Springsteen disciple by the name of Jason Anderson:
Movin' To The City:
http://www.divshare.com/download/6515974-13a
Tonight:
http://www.divshare.com/download/6516000-581
http://www.jasonandersonswebsite.com
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendI...
Bland
Feels like he managed to capture the essence of Bruce and the E-Street band's all bad traits.
But... but...
he's a broken hero on a last chance power drive!
Of sorts.
Some time back...
...a colleague arrived late for a meeting with the excuse, "Sorry I'm late, the M5 was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive"
The Sopranos used that line to
Tony "Where the fuck you been?"
Chris "Highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive."
Steven Van Zandt stars in the Sopranos, so maybe that's why they used it.
John 'Cougar' Mellencamp
...Is often described as the poor man's Bruce Springsteen - which is always the worst kind of damning with faint praise - and a tad harsh too.
He's dropped the
..."Cougar" these days, apparently.
I remember when he was simply Johnny Cougar
Presumably he had first ruled out Big John Mountain Lion, John Boy Puma and Little Johnnie Bobcat
To paraphrase something from "Q" years back
"in terms of the number of bands who claim them as an influence, Jethro Tull are up there with The Archies"
Swedes who sounds like Bruce
Eldkvarn
http://open.spotify.com/track/1PYAjk56r1jTRCkPXocAV6
Ulf Lundell (togheter with Agnetha Fältskog from ABBA)
http://open.spotify.com/track/2Z4USNUAooOijN0LDEbl9f
Nationaltetern
http://open.spotify.com/track/1yI1QGTTUVT5UfTYZiORft
That R.E.M.
are nothing but copycats of our own dear Idlewild.
Say it ain't so...
I think he has influenced oodles of performers. Jon Bon Jovi and Cougar/Mellencamp have been mentioned but I can certainly hear something of Mr S in Bryan Adams. In fact, "Summer of 69" might as well be one of his songs. Patti Smith's Because The Night was definitely one of his. And at the height of their fame, Frankie covered Born to Run on their Welcome to the Pleasuredome LP. And ex-Liverpool and Wales player Dean Saunders looked exactly like him. I could go on.
Born to add
Springsteen's influence on mathematics is incalculable.
"Born To Add":
"Born To Add" album cover: http://tinyurl.com/bgn27p
"Barn In the USA": http://tinyurl.com/59xhek
(Sorry, I know we've been here before).
I think there's more than meets the eye....
Obvious ones like Southside Johnny, Bob Seger, some Billy Joel and Meat Loaf.
Then there's the "Heartbreaker/Gold" era Ryan Adams, Badly Drawn Boy, the whole of Jesse Malin's solo output and the aforementioned Gaslight Anthem. I'd even venture that there was some Jersey Springsteen influences in the writing of My Chemical Romance.
Ryan & Bruce?
Sorry, but I don't hear Bruce in Ryan Adams' work at all. Heartbreaker, came in his Gram Parsons era, although I don't particularly hear Gram either there despite Emmylou's presence. Gold has so many influences, especially The Who, The Faces and the Stones but I don't hear Bruce there at all.
Firecracker?
To name one...
Could come directly from The River or BTR in my opinion...
One of my favourites
but it doesn't resonate with Bruce like vibes to me.
MCR I can see
The problem is there are about a thousand Jersey bar bands that, when they're not covering Bruce, write songs that sound just like him. You can't hit a dive bar anywhere in this state without Springsteen or Bon Jovi playing on the jukebox within 10 minutes of your $2 frosted Bud mug touching your lips. In fact, I've heard rumors that if you mention that you don't really like Bruce, they'll take away your NJ driving license.
Thus, it's no surprise to me at all, that even mopey goth-lite gets like My Chemical Romance will still end up sounding like Bruce by musical osmosis. In NJ, he's not just The Boss, he's more like The Force, an energy field binding us together.