The Boss: Properly rated, if not under

So, I read a blog posting the other day that, oh, shall we say, troubled me enough that I felt it necessary to start a blog.

Let me take you back, contextually, to the year 1975. The scars Richard Nixon left on America and the damage done to our inherent faith in government were still fresh, the Vietnam War reached its bloody and hopeless end, Carlton Fisk almost brought a world series title to Boston with a magical hand wave only to be shut down in game seven (I'm sorry, this moment is just lost on me, they lost game 7, who really cares about game 6, was Boston a kinder place back then that they only needed to try hard to win respect) and a little show named Saturday Night Live began with painfully long sketches and run-on characters that were never really funny but Lorne Michaels thought could be turned into full length movies. There was so much promise in the 1960's, that by going to the moon we could find magical moon technology that could defeat communism, and that the Beatles would stay together and keep on rocking. But, hope, as it often does, fade, and so America had to turn to popular music. And so lets take a step back to the pop charts, with the top 25 song of 1975:

1. Get Down Tonight - KC & The Sunshine Band
2. Shining Star - Earth Wind And Fire
3. Jive Talkin' - Bee Gees
4. That's the Way (I Like It) - K.C. and the Sunshine Band
5. Thank God I'm A Country Boy - John Denver
6. Some Kind of Wonderful - Grand Funk
7. Cut The Cake - Average White Band
8. You're The First, The Last, My Everything - Barry White
9. Lady Marmalade - Patti LaBelle
10. Send In The Clowns - Judy Collins
11. Ballroom Blitz - Sweet
12. You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker
13. The Hustle - Van McCoy
14. Doctor's Orders - Carol Douglas
15. SOS - ABBA
16. Low Rider - War
17. My Eyes Adored You - Frankie Valli
18. Shame, Shame, Shame - Shirley and Company
19. Amie - Pure Prairie League
20. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
21. Black Friday - Steely Dan
22. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
23. Mexico - James Taylor
24. Pick Up The Pieces - Average White Band
25. How Sweet It Is - James Taylor

Alright, so, excluding #20 and 22, America was trapped in a perpetual cheesy wedding. I know, nothing rocks harder than James Taylor and KC and the Sunshine Band, but come on, this is a bleak time for music. And Bruce came to save us, so show him a little respect, okay? Without hime, its Earth Wind and Fire and Judy Collins.

For a little more contextually-ness, lets step all the way back to the 1930's. While the nation was greatly depressed and dusty, a skinny warbling cowboy came out of Oklahoma, a self-taught singer song writer named Woody Guthrie. It wasn't the best voice or guitar playing at the time, but he took in the music of his upbringing and cut through the swing music, delivering a satirical jab at the powers-that-be. Heck, he wrote this machine kills fascists on his guitar, that's frankly awesome. He wrote "this land was made for you and me," but unfortunatly no one's really taught the last two verses, here they are, for all your second grade pagent needs:

Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property.
But on the back side, it didn't say nothing.
This land was made for you and me.

On bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the relief office I saw my people
As they stood there hungry,
I stood there wondering if
This land was made for you and me.

A few years later, in the late fifties, atomic bombs were threatening to be dropped, and America was again in the grips of sunshine-y happy music. But at a hospital in Northern Mew Jersey, a little moppy haired kid came to visit and learn from Woody Guthrie, his name was Bob Dylan. He was another self taught guitarist with an awkward voice and nicely sad lyrics. And then a few years later, in the year 1975, Rolling Stone declared an upstart from New Jersey as the next Dylan, yes, Springsteen. Just another in the long line of American singer / songwriters, rough, self taught, almost tragic but ultimately hopeful. Sure, they weren't perfect, but neither was this country. And maybe, just maybe, they could help each other out. So you can keep your tragically hip Radiohead, as you drive around in your Saab convertible, fresh from picking up a six-pack of Heiniken as you visit Avery and Addison who just bought a new condo on the Cape, with your turtleneck sweater tied around your waist and your pre-wrinkled white button down shirt from J-crew, I'll be here with my Ipod, and tenth avenue freeze out, cause this machine kills fascists. But that's me, maybe you like fascism, I don't know.

ps. here's why Bruce owns Jakob Dylan in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdhs0Wm1GSA&search=springsteen%20headlight
It seems like it's Bruce's song, Jakob comes off like a cover band.