Bruce Springsteen’s music has had a huge impact on America and its politics. From presidential elections to September 11, 2001, Springsteen’s music has been referenced and appreciated in times of need. His ability to write from experiences and events causes Springsteen’s music to ring true with Americans. Even those who don’t really listen to his music on a regular basis can tell of the influence politics has on his music, and in turn, Americans across the country.
Bruce Springsteen was born in Freehold, New Jersey, on September 23, 1949. His school life was one he regarded with hatred and bitterness. He spent eight years in a parochial school. Springsteen always felt like an outsider at school and was ignored by his classmates. He discovered music to escape the loneliness and “pain of a solitary existence” (Halbersberg, 1984, pg. 12). His first enlightening moment was at the age of nine when he saw Elvis Presley live. His mother then bought him a guitar but he was too small to play so he waited for five years on his dreams of becoming a big musician.
His parents, Adele and Douglas Springsteen, were low-middle class workers. His mother was a secretary while his father had plenty of jobs. His father worked from mills to cabs to being a jail guard. Plenty of times, the family had to stay with Springsteen’s mother’s parents. When Springsteen was old enough to actually play the guitar, he became obsessed with it. His parents were not happy with his becoming a musician. He has made it obvious to his listeners of the tension between him and his father even today.
His religious upbringing was limited to being forced to go to Catholic schools. In class, he would smile and then the nuns would take him to the first grade class to sit ...
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...s music from experiences and issues he is familiar with. Coincidentally, the issues Springsteen writes about have happened repeatedly throughout history, thus causing his songs to feel relevant to any occurrence again and again. Springsteen has never fallen into the rock star image and has kept a level head, giving respected credence to his down-to-earth image and knowledge.
Works Cited
Cullen, Jim. Born in the U.S.A. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1997.
Creighton, Therese. Personal interview. 13 Feb. 2011.
Halbersberg, Elianne. Bruce Springsteen. Cresskill, NJ: Sharon Publications Inc., 1984.
Gambaccini, Peter. Bruce Springsteen. New York, NY: The Putnum Publishing Group, 1979.
Springsteen, Bruce. Bruce Springsteen. 2010. 13 Feb. 2011 .
Backstreets.com. 2011. 13 Feb. 2011 .
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The boy grew up in a predominantly black neighbourhood, where he was often bullied by African-American youngsters. As a child he showed an affinity towards comics and music, particularly
At the young age of thirteen, he experienced several tragedies that would affect his life forever and would greatly impact his music later in life. Within a year, his father, his uncle, and his minister all died. He lost every important male influence in his life. After graduating from high school in High Point, he moved to Philadelphia in 1943, where he lived in a small one-room apartment and worked as a laborer in a s...
...orgettable. Research shows that “There’s this unifying force that comes from the music and we don’t get that from other things.”(Landau) Bruce Springsteen is a great storyteller and has captured some of the experiences of the American working class. Even when the lyrics are dark or the subject matter is depressing, he manages to provide hope, too. For as long as I can remember, my mother has been playing Springsteen’s music. When I hear a song of his now, it reminds me of driving down the road with the windows down belting out a song with my mom. As Dave Marsh from Creem Magazine prophetically wrote in 1975, “Springsteen’s music is often strange because is has an almost traditional sense of beauty, an inkling of the awe you can feel when, say, first falling in love or finally discovering that the magic in the music is also in you.” (Bruce Springsteen Biography 2)