rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (05/17/84)
I've recently heard a fairly new Springsteen song, called "Pink Cadillac" I
believe, that has got to represent an all-time low. It uses all of about
four notes in the entire song; the combination of beat and melody make it
more boring than a politician's speech to the DAR.
NOW, I'm not a Springsteen fan but I don't particularly dislike him. The
content of his music seems to lie more in the lyrics and/or the
presentation than the musical quality. But this latest offering is just so
droning that I find it hard to listen to. Is there some hidden social
comment, or is it just bad?
--
...A friend of the devil is a friend of mine. Dick Dunn
{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303) 444-5710 x3086lied@ihlts.UUCP (Bob Lied) (05/19/84)
Sure looks like a slump. I found "Nebraska" really disappointing as music, although it had pretty fair lyrics (not that you could understand them without reading the cover). The new single that's been hyped locally, "Dancing in the Dark," is definitely nothing special. The album will probably sell on the strength of his name, but if these are the best cuts...pass, thank you. Bob Lied ihnp4!ihlts!lied
gds@mit-eddie.UUCP (Greg Skinner) (05/19/84)
I heard one cut off his new album called "Dancing in the Dark". It's
ok, but it sounds like something Rick Springfield might have sung also
(no flames please). It's definitely a cut below his "Darkness on the
Edge of Town" material.
... baby we were born to run ...
--
Be ye moby,
for I am moby.
Greg Skinner (gregbo)
{decvax!genrad, eagle!mit-vax, ihnp4}!mit-eddie!gds
Joy is in the ears that hear.merchant@dartvax.UUCP (05/20/84)
{ Eat it, Eat it, Don't you make me repeat it... }
The Boss seems to have become seriously grim. After his commercial
failure with his last album (I don't even remember the title, all I
remember is the bomb called "Atlantic City") he has just released a
new album, I believe called "Born in the USA." I'm not sure whether
the E-Street band has returned or not, but the first single called
"Dancing in the Dark" seems to be a rather boring attempt at Top 40
airplay.
I don't know. Maybe Bruce is running low on money...andrew@inmet.UUCP (05/21/84)
#R:opus:-48800:inmet:6600153:000:878
inmet!andrew May 20 17:14:00 1984
I didn't think much of "Pink Cadillac", although I'm told it's the B-side of
"Dancing In The Dark" and does not appear on the album. (Other non-LP B-sides,
for all you collectors: "Be True" ["Fade Away"], and "Held Up Without A Gun",
["Hungry Heart"]. The former is a better song than most of "The River".)
However, if "Dancing In The Dark" is the best track on the album (as the first
single released generally tends to be), I would definitely agree that he has
lost it completely. Give me Beaver Brown, the Stompers, or (even) Rick
Springfield's latest...
Is there anyone else out there who thinks that a) "The Wild, The Innocent..." is
B.S.'s best, and b) "Darkness On the Edge Of Town" is his last good one (and I'm
stretching the definition of "good")?
... baby we're too bored to run...
Andrew W. Rogers, Intermetrics ...{harpo|ihnp4|ima|esquire}!inmet!andrewdya@unc-c.UUCP (05/21/84)
References: opus.488
No, it's just that Bruce, like everyone else these days, wants some
action in the "new" record industry. Neil Young did it. Elton John is
trying to do it but isn't succeeding. Since he is popular in the Northeast
Corridor, I'm sure that 1) creating pent-up demand by not releasing an
album in the last 4 years and 2) explosive growth in the record industry
has much to do with it.
Consensus here is that it is * mighty * commercial ( you hear the
jocks on our five FM's talk about it as if this is good. ) BTW, I thought
Bruce's label released the single contingent on the stations playing it
only last weekend (the 13th/14th) and that the gag rule was to be imposed
on the 15th. How commercial can you get ?
Nothing wrong in general with making money (I'm a flaming capitalist)
but as a rule, aesthetics seems to be inversely proportional to the amount
of financial engineering which goes into an album.
dyamerchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) (05/22/84)
{ Koff koff koff }
Now there's another amusing concept singles are primarily released for the
Top 40 crowd. Most Top 40 radio stations won't even THINK about playing a
song until it gets released as a single (Yes, I know, "what about 'Thriller'?
Michael Jackson is a special case. 'nuff said.)
Bruce isn't really a Top 40 artist. Sure, he's released singles before,
but he is mainly an AOR artist. So what's this single shit? Like was said,
it's an attempt to get wider airplay and make, you guessed it, more money.
I don't think the record company told them to play it heavily. Most radio
stations decide on that themselves. People, in theory, want to hear the
"latest Bruce". You also have to remember that you might be listenning to
the radio four 6 hours straight and hearing the song twice, someone else
probably just turned on the radio and missed it. In fact, studies show that
the average person listens to radio for about half-an-hour at one stretch
at the most. This is why lots of "Hit Radio" stations have bloomed which
do, in fact, play music to death (WROR, RKO's music station down in Boston,
was playing the Air Supply song "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" on a
70 minute rotation.) Thus, the stations play it alot at first so everyone
will hear it. Then they mellow it down a bit into a more realistic concept.
--
"When I hear the power in the radio wave..." -- Jim Steinman
Peter Merchantdvw@hopd3.UUCP (D. V. Wilkerson) (05/22/84)
This is a blank line
The topic of Bruce Springsteen having "it" is like 7-UP having caffeine:
"Never had it, never will"
BTW, I too thought that Springsteen was doing his version of Rick Springfield.
The only problem is that Dr. Noah (Springfield for the uninitiated) does it
better.
Diane Wilkerson
Monmouth County Citizens Opposed to Bruce Springsteen (I just made this up.
We have two members.)
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Holmdel, NJ 07733
{allegra,inhp[3,4]}!hopd3!dvwgds@mit-eddie.UUCP (Greg Skinner) (05/24/84)
First off, WROR is not a HitRadio station. It is a Muzak station. They
play easy listening and adult contemporary. (that's what Muzak is, isn't
it?) I'm not surprised to hear that they played Air Supply on near
one-hour rotation. (They played Spandau Ballet's "True" a whole lot --
I remember)
Secondly, Springsteen's new single "Dancing in the Dark" was aired
*immediately* on Boston's HitRadio station, WHTZ. It was a Pick of the
Week and landed in WHTZ's Top 40 at number 40 simultaneously, and was
the most played song I heard for a few days (until the Cars' new song
came out). However, I read in Billboard that DitD was not aired right
off the bat everywhere -- WPLJ in NYC was either waiting on the album's
release or some other stations to pick it up first. (Is WHTZ playing it
yet?) I guess now everybody'll be playing it, since it's coming onto
the nation's Top 40 at number 36.
Lastly, true, Springsteen is not a top40 artist. One of my favorite
Springsteen tunes (Prove it All Night) died at number 33 and I was
mortified, since they had been playing it for over a month in NYC before
that (late spring '78) and it seemed to be a real hit. (Sigh.
Sometimes, top40 could have more taste ...)
... I've been workin' real hard tryin' to get my HANDS clean ...
(remember that one, netters?)
--
[This space available
for rent.]
Greg Skinner (White Gold Wielder)
{decvax!genrad, eagle!mit-vax, whuxle, ihnp4}!mit-eddie!gds
And he who wields white wild magic gold is a paradox ...merchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) (05/25/84)
{ Taste Me, Taste Me... }
A "Hit Radio" station is not NECESSARILY Top 40. All it means is that they
play the hell out of popular songs. I never listened to WROR, I'll admit,
however a friend of mine who was an engineer there gave me a tour through
the place to give me a chance to drool over their studios. (Nice equipment)
Well, I guess you may be right. Not ALL radio stations jumped on "Dancing
in the Dark", but it was in Billboard's "Most Added Records" section (128
adds this week), 129 reporting record. Also, there seems to be a lawsuit
with CBS records and a radio station in Chicago. It seems that a stations
competitors (I can't remember the call letters) beat them to playing the
single by about four hours. So, to get revenge, the radio station in question
SOMEHOW got ahold of the entire album and played the whole album with a
couple of commercial breaks in the middle. CBS is sueing, I think.
As to Top 40 tastes, you may be right. What may have happened is that
the record company in question released the single too late and everyone
was sick of it because it was played so much off the album. They did not
"Strike While The Iron Was Hot", per se.
More amusement: "Radio & Records", a magazine devoted almost entirely to
radio, debuted "Dancing in the Dark" at #4. The Police didn't even debut
so high with "Wrapped Around My Finger", I don't think. The highest I had
ever seen was Asia's "Don't Cry" at #9. (Made some money off that one from
a friend who insisted that the song would go nowhere.)
--
"We'd be listening to the radio so loud and so strong..." -- Jim Steinman
Peter Merchant