So Much For The “Working Class Hero”

Show Business

How are the mighty fallen:

A leading Bruce Springsteen fanzine has announced it will cease publication after 43 years because the artist’s fanbase became disillusioned by unaffordable concert tickets.

Backstreets magazine said both its editorial staff and fans had become ‘dispirited’ and ‘downhearted’ after prices for some tickets to the artist’s 2023 arena tour reached $4,000 each last year.

‘These are concerts that we can hardly afford; that many of our readers cannot afford; and that a good portion of our readership has lost interest in as a result.’

And:

Springsteen’s humble beginnings in New Jersey and the relatability of his music once earned him the reputation of being ‘the voice of the working man’.

In his early years, Springsteen played at any bar in which he could make money. He earned the nickname the Boss because he would collect and distribute gig money among band members, Andrew Delahunty, the author of the Oxford Dictionary of Nicknames, told the BBC in 2009.

Mark Kemp of Rolling Stone magazine once described Springsteen as ‘a working-class hero: a plainspoken visionary and a sincere romantic whose insights into everyday lives – especially in America’s small-town heartland – have earned comparisons to John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie.’

Yeah, well now he’s just a woke dollar-chasing asshole, like so many of his ilk.

I never cared for his tuneless bellow anyway, so I have no dog in this fight.  But these people need to be brought back down to earth by the people who were actually responsible for their success.  Nowadays, their success seems to be driven by those bloodless fucks at TicketMaster, and a pox on them too.

15 comments

  1. That wretch never made a red cent off’n my ass.

    Back in the 90’s my brother in law went to a springsteen concert and said it was the best concert he had ever seen. That forever changed my opinion of my BIL.

  2. “tuneless bellow” exactly. That asshole has a three note range and a level control locked on 10.
    I could never stand to listen to him.

    1. ‘Three note range’, and the three aren’t adjacent.

      *shakes head*

      I have NEVER understood his success.

  3. He always looked like he was taking a constipated shit when he was performing. (I’m old enough to have watched MTV).

    1. you’re absolutely right. I believe he’s trying to engage in revers peristalsis and he regurgitates his shit into the microphone

      JQ

  4. I haven’t bought Springsteen’s music. I like some of his songs but he’s just another pretentious self righteous collectivist who can rot.

    The magazine shutting down is a decade or two too late.

    JQ

    2. Brings up another topic cuz I’m old. I miss the hell out of magazines and periodicals. I used to love going to my Grandparents and read through their Nat Geo. It always had cool stories about Dr. Ballard discovering something underwater, or some part of the world, I as a very rural kid with a thirst for knowledge, would never see.

      Went to my Dr’s office the other day and he had NatGeo magazines in the waiting room. Thumbing through them its a lot of bullshit about the “future” green energy revolution, or how climate change is killing brown people (China is remarkably absent from the blame). Its like whoever is left at these periodicals is sitting in the boardroom saying, “We’re struggling. Lets get woker and whinier, that’ll fix it”.

      Whilst I miss periodicals I’ve decided its based more on nostalgia and, being the only thing available back in the day. As for them dying, its long overdue, and its your own damn fault.

      1. Well, I saved copies of the ones I liked, so I have no desire to subscribe to any new magazines.

      2. The very same thing happened to Scientific American. It used to have nifty in-depth articles about a wide range of research. Then it turned to all climate, all the time. Sad.

        1. I used to have subscriptions to American Handgunner and their sister publication. I still get an NRA magazine. Unfortunately, the diatribes from King Wayne are the same every single month. Their magazine gets thinner each year. I rarely read it.

          I’ve made an effort to pick up older books like Hatcher’s Notebook, Skeeter Skelton’s books (they can get pricey), Jack O’Connor and other classic writers. They take up less room than magazines.

          JQ

          1. My experience is the same. AR was always a little crap-shootey for me. But every once in a while there would be some historical articles on older firearms, with some great photos. Now I damn near throw the things out without reading them.

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