Why Don’t You Like Bruce Springsteen Anymore?

I have to admit something: I was never much of a Springsteen fan. He was fine when I was a kid, because I was just exposed to him enough growing up. As I got a bit older and started to make my own musical choices, I realized I didn't really enjoy his work. He had a couple songs I like, a few that I still really enjoy, but for the most part, he just never did it for me. I used to joke that I had to keep this secret for fear of losing my job, but lately it seems like I am no longer in the minority.

Springsteen used to be an icon of the working class. He was the voice of the factory worker, the voice of the guy who worked 18 hours to put food on the table, the voice of the guy who just wanted to catch a break and live in the house on the hill.

We talk a lot about Springsteen on our website. He signs absent notes for kids, he performs at Hillary rallies, he visits Monmouth University, he hates Donald Trump, he loves Barack Obama. He maintains a fanbase of Italian artists. Still, every time I share one of those stories, our Facebook page is hit with numerous negative comments. Obviously we aim to post stories that will be popular with our fans, so I was initially surprised at the backlash. As I continued to share stories, and continued to see people vent about Springsteen, the more curious I got as to what happened.

The most obvious answer has to do with Bruce's political views, and his desire to vocalize them at all times.

When you break down New Jersey's politics, you can see that even though we are traditionally a Blue State, most of our map is Red. Ocean County is totally red, most of South Jersey, and all of Northwest Jersey is too. The blue streak in our state basically runs diagonally from Trenton to Newark. Without diving too deep into the pros and cons of the Electoral College, it's just another highlight of how population centers sway politics. Even if Bruce technically represents the Blue-ness of NJ, that doesn't mean he represents the Red-ness of most of the land area.

One of my favorite political quotes goes something like "if you're under 30 and vote Republican, you have no heart - if you're over 30 and vote Democrat, you have no brain." I think that can actually be a perfect summary of what happened between Bruce and a large part of his fandom. When Bruce was a young man, his fans were young too. Long haired, smoking dope, picking up girls, complaining about "the man", and just being a rocker. As the fans grew up, we realized that life was a bit harder than that, but for a millionaire like Bruce, he never had that same realization. As much as he claims to be a man of the people, it's hard for the people to listen to a guy who made over $60 million in touring revenue last year.

So what happened?  Tell us why/when you started to turn against The Boss.

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