海角大神

A long, long time ago, Bruce Springsteen'鈥檚 iconic rock 鈥榥鈥� roll career was an open question. Looking back, through lenses provided by Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 鈥榥鈥� Roll, the early 70鈥檚 seems stranger still. Springsteen鈥檚 career leading up to his moderately selling first album in 1973 was hindered by a conflict聽 between his publicists. One camp wanted to unveil Springsteen as the solo guitar playing philosopher-balladeer 鈥� 鈥渢he new Bob Dylan鈥� 鈥� while the other hoped to model Springsteen into a hard rocker backed up by a power chord band. Marc Dolan鈥檚 interpretive biography tells the story of how pop music changed, and America culture changed to make way for both visions of Bruce Springsteen.

Pop music is about both music and image, singing and symbolism. Springsteen, born and raised in working class Freehold, N.J., was initially a misfit in the wake of the '60鈥檚 cultural revolution. The legendary music executive John Hammond believed a sensitive, white recording artist should make music which appealed to a coffee house and folk music crowd. Springsteen, argues Dolan, was less a folkie than a working-class product of '50鈥檚 and early '60鈥檚 radio culture. He was a throwback to the days when Elvis was featured on the same stations as Little Richard 鈥� a time before the industry became strategically targeted and rock music became much whiter.

No wonder Springsteen鈥檚 subsequent two albums exuded multi-cultural influences. His energetic concerts were accompanied by stage shows which harked back to soul style show bands of the 60鈥檚.

Springsteen was less literary than Dylan, but there was poetry in his rhythmically driven evocations of the pleasure, wildness, poverty, and desperation聽 experienced in American factory towns. Springsteen鈥檚 "Born to Run" album, recorded with an ethnically diverse back up group eventually known as the E Street band, proved that 鈥渟ong writers didn鈥檛 have to go it alone" and that a lyricist聽 鈥渃ould still be highly personal with five other musicians backing [him].鈥�

Consider representative Springsteen imagery. A man with a strong sense of family and place faces the loss of dignity and family unity when a factory which used to provide a path for local boys to become men closes down. A kid in a dusty small town realizes that his world is closing in, and comes to a Rubicon he might fail to cross unless he is able to come to terms with his stifling community, his wary girlfriend, and his defeated elders. It鈥檚 Elvis and James Dean material, but in Springsteen rebellion isn鈥檛 entirely individual, or limited to the anxieties of youth. Springsteen鈥檚 narrators know that they are peons in a greater social, economic picture, which has stacked the odds against them. It鈥檚 a class-conscious longing for a better community.

Dolan鈥檚 book turns Springsteen鈥檚 career into a parable for the search for community. Springsteen鈥檚 search began with the idealized, biracial world of late '50鈥檚 radio. The adult Springsteen became a both popular artist who wants to make classless, open community with his fans and audience by having fun, and a populist with a sense of social obligation.

For the sake of his career in the market-driven world of pop, he has had to balance both identities. The conservative '80鈥檚, when Springsteen achieved his greatest success, also starkly revealed the schisms in his fan base 鈥� the way that an 鈥渙f the people鈥� working class identity can appropriated by both the left and the right. Springsteen's signature hit single 鈥淏orn in the USA鈥� was originally an acoustic song entitled 鈥淰ietnam.鈥� It鈥檚 an anthem for veterans who survived the war, though broken and battered. The anti-war sentiment is lost in the up-tempo, radio version which obscures the lyrics. The publicity campaign behind the single downplayed any hint of irony, and the refrain 鈥渂orn in the USA鈥� seemed a jingle pitched to '80鈥檚 conformism. Springsteen was praised by President Reagan.

Springsteen made it clear he couldn鈥檛 support Reagan, but he was unwilling to be drawn into partisan politics; in the 鈥淢orning in America鈥� '80鈥檚, Springsteen championed working class issues by singing songs like 鈥淔actory,鈥� not by becoming a voice of subversion.

While in his early years he struggled to popularize his working-class vision to a public blinded by the hippie movement, in the '80鈥檚 he had to pitch his Woody Guthrie style populism to a country in the middle of a conservative swing. The Reagan '80鈥檚 made Springsteen a millionaire, regardless of the gulf between the President鈥檚 and the songwriter鈥檚 vision of a working-class ethos.

Springsteen became radicalized in the '90鈥檚 and went on to record a song protesting the killing of Amadou Diallo, perform concerts for post-Katrina New Orleans, and campaign for Kerry and Obama. His latest release, "Wrecking Ball," is an attack on corporate America straight out of the Occupy Wall Street playbook.

"Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 鈥榥鈥� Roll" is an intelligent fan book written by a sophisticated admirer. Dolan argues that Springsteen鈥檚 preoccupation with deindustrialization, poverty, and underemployment 鈥� even in times when America enjoyed prosperity 鈥� documents聽 鈥渁 problem that never went away."

Springsteen has been the prophet in the wilderness all along.

Darryl Lorenzo Wellington is a poet and journalist living in Santa Fe, N.M.