Nothing has damaged Springsteen’s once-magnificent music more than his decision to become a spokesman for America. He is Howard Zinn with a guitar. The wounded workers in his songs do not have the authenticity of acquaintance; they are pious hackneyed tropes, stereotypical class martyrs from Guthrie and Steinbeck. Springsteen’s sympathy is genuine, but his people are not.
One of the best concerts I ever went to was a Bruce Springsteen concert. I think Nebraska is a masterpiece (a mannerist masterpiece, but a masterpiece nonetheless). But Bruce long ago started taking himself too seriously. Or maybe not seriously enough. It's one thing to hear a guy in his 20s bitching about society. Hearing a 62-year-old multimillionaire bitching about society is something else altogether..
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