I'm sorry but this is THE WILD THE INNOCENT AND THE E STREET SHUFFLE erasure. I love that cover -- it looks like Bruce is ruminatively rubbing a cut lip he got in a bar fight the night before.
The Nebraska cover as a Joy Division cover and the album as post-punk is amazing. I totally buy it. Bruce’s insistence on mug shot covers is rivaled only (I think) by Phil Collins and Whitney Houston, and I’ve always thought that horrendous Tom Joad cover looks like Lindsey Buckingham getting whipped or taking a shower.
Now that you mention it, I see what you’re saying. In pretty much the same order… yet huge amounts of my music library was purchased based primarily on the album cover. For artists like Mr Springsteen though, I have to admit that after I become a fan (Born to Run was my first Bruce album) I see the artist name on the cover and I buy…explore the rest when I get home and play it.
When I read the introduction to this piece I thought it would be about the best and worst Springsteen covers, i.e., cover songs of Springsteen. That’s what we need for next post. Like Deer Tick covering Nebraska, or Ryan Adams doing Used Cars, or Tanya Tucker covering I’m On Fire and Lake of Fire as a medley.
Man I think I've tweeted at you a couple times (sounds weird) that I would love to support a substack from you with regular articles like this. Uproxx always seemed like a weird fit (but yeah in journalism today you got to pay the bills...)
There are a lot of incredible rock music that goes unnoticed and unreviewed on Bandcamp, even amongst more known bands and artists. I appreciate your stuff on Uproxx and I read your Pearl Jam book but maybe you could do a weekly roundup of punk, rock and mixed releases weekly on this Substack. Just a suggestion. Appreciate the love for late period Neil lately and BTW Nebraska could be classified in that lo-fi sweet spot in Sebadoh territory or early Palace Brothers. Not sure about post punk but definitely the era it was released. Always appreciate thoughtful music commentary from rock writers. You guys are a dieing breed. My advice and hope is you use whatever influence you have to iinject life into the artform.
I'm sorry but this is THE WILD THE INNOCENT AND THE E STREET SHUFFLE erasure. I love that cover -- it looks like Bruce is ruminatively rubbing a cut lip he got in a bar fight the night before.
The Nebraska cover as a Joy Division cover and the album as post-punk is amazing. I totally buy it. Bruce’s insistence on mug shot covers is rivaled only (I think) by Phil Collins and Whitney Houston, and I’ve always thought that horrendous Tom Joad cover looks like Lindsey Buckingham getting whipped or taking a shower.
I have read most of your articles and bought all of your books except the Radiohead one and I 100% would pay for a Substack if you moved over here.
https://open.substack.com/pub/johnnogowski/p/springsteens-perfect-album-side?r=7pf7u&utm_medium=ios
https://open.substack.com/pub/johnnogowski/p/figuring-out-bruce-springsteen-aint?r=7pf7u&utm_medium=ios
Now that you mention it, I see what you’re saying. In pretty much the same order… yet huge amounts of my music library was purchased based primarily on the album cover. For artists like Mr Springsteen though, I have to admit that after I become a fan (Born to Run was my first Bruce album) I see the artist name on the cover and I buy…explore the rest when I get home and play it.
Perhaps there is a correlation between the quality of the covers and the ascension of the compact disc?
Just saying..
When I read the introduction to this piece I thought it would be about the best and worst Springsteen covers, i.e., cover songs of Springsteen. That’s what we need for next post. Like Deer Tick covering Nebraska, or Ryan Adams doing Used Cars, or Tanya Tucker covering I’m On Fire and Lake of Fire as a medley.
OK, this has always made no sense to me.
I LOVE Bruce and Atlantic City is one of my top 10 of his. Maybe top 5
I'm agnostic on The Band. Sure, whatever. They're fine.
BUT, I somehow like their cover of Atlantic City better than the original. I guess they just hit one out of the park in this case.
Man I think I've tweeted at you a couple times (sounds weird) that I would love to support a substack from you with regular articles like this. Uproxx always seemed like a weird fit (but yeah in journalism today you got to pay the bills...)
There are a lot of incredible rock music that goes unnoticed and unreviewed on Bandcamp, even amongst more known bands and artists. I appreciate your stuff on Uproxx and I read your Pearl Jam book but maybe you could do a weekly roundup of punk, rock and mixed releases weekly on this Substack. Just a suggestion. Appreciate the love for late period Neil lately and BTW Nebraska could be classified in that lo-fi sweet spot in Sebadoh territory or early Palace Brothers. Not sure about post punk but definitely the era it was released. Always appreciate thoughtful music commentary from rock writers. You guys are a dieing breed. My advice and hope is you use whatever influence you have to iinject life into the artform.