The House Wins

I lived for a brief time in Janesville, Wisconsin, in the 80s.

Janesville is, or maybe was, a GM town- built primarily around the auto plant in town, solidly blue collar and centered around a rather lovely river valley downtown; the residents were militantly working class. But in every way, a prototypical Rust Belt town past its prime. Needless to say, Bruce Springsteen was the primary deity in town; Christianity was a secondary religion.

even the short time I lived there, it became aggravating, trying to find a bar or club or...anywhere, really, that didn't play Springsteen incessantly. We usually ended up in the places that had fewer visitations from the Boss than others. For a long time, I maintained that aversion to Springsteen's work, and diving into the punk community in Milwaukee provided adequate relief.

But as of late, I have done some reevaluation of Springsteen's work, especially mature stuff such as Devils and Dust and Nebraska, and find much to admire. And I have never disrespected the man's success; he's always deserved every bit of success he's achieved.

Faux News is reporting that Clear Channel is instructing its station to not play the new Bruce Springsteen album. Are they just pissed he named the lead track Radio Nowhere?

Thus achieving another stupidly ironic milestone: at this point in my life I enjoy a newfound respect for Springsteen's work at a time when his new work is being discredited and ignored on popular radio.

Now, let's be clear: I despise the monopolistic and one-size-fits-all corporate philosophy of Clear Channel; I also find the shameless support of mindless jingoism and reactionary policies to be repugnant and anti- American. At least as long as they are tending toward market monopolization, anyways. Their attempts to punish the Dixie Chicks for not backing down in their outspoken dismay at George Bush was reprehensible.

And now, the weasels at Clear Channel think they can silence, or at least ignore, the overtly political statements in Springsteen's new album by directing it to be omitted from playlists? It's laughable.

Who is going to win this one, especially in the hearts and minds of Americans? Magic has sold half a million copies in less than a month, been receiving laudatory reviews everywhere, and the tour is selling out in record times. Does anyone think Springsteen will ever back down to corporate business whores like Clear Channel? Much more likely for him to break away from the giants altogether, like Trent Reznor and Radiohead have done. You just keep on picking fights like this one, Clear Channel. I'm sure it's gonna work out for you.

Just imagine if Springsteen decided to start a record label and booking agency.

Clear Channel is providing an instructive lesson in what Corporate America and the Republican party want America to be: while Bruce Springsteen represents the best of what we have been.... and could be once again.