Monday 24 January 2011

Why you've got to love Bruce

The BBC iPlayer had a little delight hidden away for me today, a documentary on the making of Bruce Springsteen's album Darkness on the Edge of Town.

My relationship with Bruce Springsteen has been a complicated one.

I grew up listening to his music, particularly on long car journeys due to my Dad being a fan of The Boss, as he's known.

However, on reaching my twenties I felt the need to distance myself from what I perhaps unkindly began to think of as Dad rock.

Now that I'm sufficiently old enough to be secure in my own identity and not bound by what other people think is cool I have let Bruce back into my life.

Why Bruce rocks


The BBC documentary encompassed all of the things that convinced me to start loving Bruce Springsteen again.

He is a genuine artist: he is a committed and prolific song writer, he crafts his work to an idea of perfection in his head and keeps going in an attempt to create it.

He is grounded: he creates songs for the everyman and his struggles without patronising or sentimentalising them.

He works bloody hard: he let the work on the album featured in the documentary take over his life, but also anyone who has ever been to one of his concerts will know that his sets are tight and delivered on time, every time.

He has heart: his songs scream of emotion in an articulate yet gut wrenching way and he lives his life according to his beliefs.

It's the way it makes you feel

When someone I know realised I'd been watching this documentary they were surprised, they hadn't realised I liked his music.

When it came to explaining why I liked it, all I could think to say was that it made me feel good inside.

His music reminds me of being a kid, it reminds me of my Dad and it makes me feel however difficult the world might get I'm strong enough to take it on.

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