The Springsteen discourse over your book and the 40th anniversary of BITUSA (and your Killers song ranking!) got me thinking of another ranking...
Can we list some of the best / most obvious Springteen rips in music? Would love a short column or post on this and here’s my ideas:
No real order on these except for this one, a clear (1): “On The Dark Side'' by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. From the piano intro to the clear aping of the singing style to the sax, a pastiche so good you can’t help but enjoy it unironically.
2) “Antichrist Television Blues” by Arcade FIre. A rockabilly sendup that wouldn’t sound out of place slowed down with just a guitar accompaniment on Nebraska
3) “One Headlight” by The Wallflowers. Maybe a little obvious, in fact obvious enough that Bruce famously claimed it as his own during a live performance.
4) “Aluminum Park” by My Morning Jacket. I kinda pegged this one the first time I heard it. A chorus straight from Disc 1 or 2 of Tracks-era B Sides
5) “When You Were Young” by The Killers. Can you imagine that anthemic guitar riff in the Big Man’s “voice”? I sure can
6) “Baby Missiles” by The War On Drugs. Picking this one on an album full of them. I can see it (harmonica and all) as one of The River’s “bar band” party songs, but you might have to change the title.
(7) "Bat Out Of Hell" by Meatloaf / Steinman (put some respect on the name). Besides its general construction and piano intro, the "gone, gone, gone" is the same degression as "burned out Chevrolets" in "Thunder Road"
the super deluxe Sign o the Times would be top of my list here. the finished product is arguably Prince's best, and the unreleased tracks show him embracing then shedding the artistic contributions of the Revolution, particularly Wendy and Lisa. Jezebel seems to have scrubbed it from the web, but I remember Rich Juzwiak wrote a great review that included playlists of the different incarnations of what was then called Dream Factory for April, June, and July 1986. here's the first one: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0d9eb8mcxwA1GRt53NarqR?si=81eb569b43cb4c00
Around the time Townshend was formulating Lifehouse, he gave an interview to Jonathan Cott in Rolling Stone where he talked about releasing a song in all its evolution, from demo to various band arrangements to final product. Even then, he was obsessed with the idea of the creation of music in all its forms, endlessly tinkering with versions of songs centered around their own existence: music about music, very meta-. The goal was some elusive idea of unity, with a sound that could tie everything together: There once was a note, listen!
Wow — haven’t thought about Everything, Now! in a long time. Glad to see they have new music out. Saw them at a great dive-bar show about a dozen years ago that also included one of my all-time favorite bands nobody knows about: https://thunderhawk.bandcamp.com/album/gravity-wins
Great list. I got into Wildflowers via that boxset in late 2020 when I was laid up bad with COVID. It’ll always have a special place in my heart for being my warmest musical companion in a really tough time.
The Springsteen discourse over your book and the 40th anniversary of BITUSA (and your Killers song ranking!) got me thinking of another ranking...
Can we list some of the best / most obvious Springteen rips in music? Would love a short column or post on this and here’s my ideas:
No real order on these except for this one, a clear (1): “On The Dark Side'' by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. From the piano intro to the clear aping of the singing style to the sax, a pastiche so good you can’t help but enjoy it unironically.
2) “Antichrist Television Blues” by Arcade FIre. A rockabilly sendup that wouldn’t sound out of place slowed down with just a guitar accompaniment on Nebraska
3) “One Headlight” by The Wallflowers. Maybe a little obvious, in fact obvious enough that Bruce famously claimed it as his own during a live performance.
4) “Aluminum Park” by My Morning Jacket. I kinda pegged this one the first time I heard it. A chorus straight from Disc 1 or 2 of Tracks-era B Sides
5) “When You Were Young” by The Killers. Can you imagine that anthemic guitar riff in the Big Man’s “voice”? I sure can
6) “Baby Missiles” by The War On Drugs. Picking this one on an album full of them. I can see it (harmonica and all) as one of The River’s “bar band” party songs, but you might have to change the title.
(7) "Bat Out Of Hell" by Meatloaf / Steinman (put some respect on the name). Besides its general construction and piano intro, the "gone, gone, gone" is the same degression as "burned out Chevrolets" in "Thunder Road"
Great list. Probably any number of Gaslight Anthem songs you could add
There is a third Waterboys box that covers the post Fisherman Blues to Room to Roam called “The Magnificent Seven” an it is my favourite of the three.
the super deluxe Sign o the Times would be top of my list here. the finished product is arguably Prince's best, and the unreleased tracks show him embracing then shedding the artistic contributions of the Revolution, particularly Wendy and Lisa. Jezebel seems to have scrubbed it from the web, but I remember Rich Juzwiak wrote a great review that included playlists of the different incarnations of what was then called Dream Factory for April, June, and July 1986. here's the first one: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0d9eb8mcxwA1GRt53NarqR?si=81eb569b43cb4c00
If I had written about six box sets I would have written about Sign O’ The Times, just for the live concert alone.
Around the time Townshend was formulating Lifehouse, he gave an interview to Jonathan Cott in Rolling Stone where he talked about releasing a song in all its evolution, from demo to various band arrangements to final product. Even then, he was obsessed with the idea of the creation of music in all its forms, endlessly tinkering with versions of songs centered around their own existence: music about music, very meta-. The goal was some elusive idea of unity, with a sound that could tie everything together: There once was a note, listen!
Steve-Have you out together a playlist of your favorites from the Wilco YHF box? So much good stuff.
Wow — haven’t thought about Everything, Now! in a long time. Glad to see they have new music out. Saw them at a great dive-bar show about a dozen years ago that also included one of my all-time favorite bands nobody knows about: https://thunderhawk.bandcamp.com/album/gravity-wins
Great list. I got into Wildflowers via that boxset in late 2020 when I was laid up bad with COVID. It’ll always have a special place in my heart for being my warmest musical companion in a really tough time.
I would buy the hell out of that Springsteen box set. Big fan of the most of the other sets you mention too. Need to delve into The Waterboys one.
The fact that the Losin’ Kind doesn’t have an official release is criminal
You spoke Kid A Mnesia into existence so I like our odds here