So I have to listen to a lot of classic rock radio at work but also at home when my dad plays it, but I noticed something interesting.
Despite both artists being very popular and the epitome of "heartland rock", the stations here only ever play like 3 Bruce Springsteen songs, all off of Born in the USA (Glory Days, Dancing in the Dark, and Born in the USA), but I've heard about a million Tom Petty songs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s : Free Fallin', American Girl, I Won't Back Down, Mary Janes' Last Dance, Runnin' Down a Dream, Breakdown, Don't Do Me Like That, Don't Come Around Here No More, Refugee, You Got Lucky, Learning To Fly, Jammin' Me, Change of Heart, etc. etc.
They even play this blatant Springsteen ripoff I'd never heard before about 5 times a day too: youtube.com/watch?v=EWQ-6IAS1cc
I dunno. I've never heard a Dylan song on a classic rock radio either.
Jordan Gonzalez
Tom Petty is better than Springsteen. Also I think that's just your station. I live in New Jersey and can't step outside my house without hearing Born to Run, but I now it's super popular on radio stations outside of the state.
Parker Williams
Me either. Only on some oldies station that played like Bing Crosby.
I notice the same thing with U2. Again, hugely popular in the rock world and the mainstream from the mid-80s onward, but the only two songs that get airplay are With or Without You and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. They also never seem to play any of the other crossover "first wave alternative" artists' big hits like The Clash, Talking Heads, R.E.M. except for the occasional Police song. They have more 80s hair metal and hard rock and sometimes shitty early 90s grunge like Live than you could ever want.
Xavier Gonzalez
I am not sure what specific radio you're talking about, but on Sirius XM for example, there's a classic rock station but there's also a station that's nothing but Springsteen & E Street Band.
Jayden Nguyen
Springsteen, like Dylan, is sort of polarizing. Lots of people can't stand him, and the last thing radio stations want is for anyone to flip to another station. They'd rather play artists who everyone loves than ones who are loved by some but hated by others.
Doesn't help all of his songs are like six minutes.
Jackson Cooper
*who everyone likes
Leo Young
>Doesn't help all of his songs are like six minutes. Album tracks sure especially stuff like Jungleland, but look at his big charting hits: >Hungry Heart - 3:19 >Badlands - 4:01 >Born To Run - 4:25 >Prove It All Night - 3:54 >Dancing in the Dark - 3:59 >Cover Me - 3:26 >Born in the U.S.A. - 4:38 >I'm on Fire - 2:37 >Glory Days - 4:15 >I'm Goin' Down - 3:29 >Tunnel Of Love (Radio version) - 4:13 >Streets of Philadelphia - 3:15
Sebastian Cook
That goes for LITERALLY every artist. They only play 2-3 songs and nothing else. If they're playing one artist more then another it's probably just your local DJ is a fan of it.
Caleb Russell
They play Like A Rolling Stone all the time.
Jonathan Ward
Who hates Springsteen? I've never met anybody who doesn't at the very least respect the guy.
Ayden King
Where I live in Boston, the classic rock station plays a TON of U2: the main Joshua Tree 3 plus Pride, New Years Day, Angel of Harlem, Desire, One, Mysterious Ways, When Love Comes to Town, The Sweetest Thing, plus album tracks like Bad and Bullet the Blue Sky. They also play a lot of Clash and Talking Heads and REM and Neil Young and Dylan and Springsteen. It all depends on where you live.
Robert Kelly
Love springsteen. Reading his memoir atm it's great. Seems like a real genuine guys interesting the bits about his dad's alcoholism and his general influences from his childhood.
Hunter Scott
Springsteen sounds like shit.
Kevin Rodriguez
>They even play this blatant Springsteen ripoff I'd never heard before about 5 times a day too: Are you fucking stupid?
Justin Hall
>Hotel California >Bohemian Rhapsody >Stairway to Heaven make it stop
Jonathan Morgan
You must be smoking some really good shit today if you think Tom "I wish I were Bob Dylan" Petty even holds a candle to the boss
Jaxon Morris
both my parents specifically would turn the radio off if Springsteen came on when I was growing up. Maybe that's part of the reason I started listening to his stuff
Brandon Gonzalez
It's 2017, why are you still listening to the Radio? use your phone or burn cd's.
Brandon Smith
>Tom "I wish I were Bob Dylan" Petty even holds a candle to the boss But the boss also just wants to sound like Dylan. What are you smoking?
Connor Miller
>So I have to listen to a lot of classic rock radio at work but also at home when my dad plays it,
Wyatt Walker
>So I have to listen to a lot of classic rock radio at work but also at home when my dad plays it at least read the op before you post
Juan Evans
Yeah its usually Like A Rolling Stone or maybe Rainy Day Women.
Ayden Cooper
>Be Canadafag >Regulations require radio stations to play at least 25% Canadian artists >Rock radio clogged with Nickelback
Jaxson Davis
They always play Bob Seeger here and I always think it's Springsteen at first then get disappointed when it isn't.
Thomas Foster
...
Leo Hughes
Maybe a bit of early Bruce but then he became a Van the Man clone before coming into his own with BTR.
Jaxon Mitchell
Dunno...seems like most of classic rock stations only play about 3 songs from each band...
but def depends on the station...I heard Born to Run the other day....
James Lopez
You're just seeing the shift toward the 80s, I think. Philly stations still play him every other song, for obvious reasons, but I'm even starting to hear less Led Zeppelin and shit.
The audience is just dying off and they're going younger.
Julian Campbell
>both my parents specifically would turn the radio off if Springsteen came on when I was growing up. Maybe that's part of the reason I started listening to his stuff were your parents very left-wing or very-right? Bruce Springsteen is a democrat-voter, but more the Jim Webb kind, so it's a very peculiar type that dislikes him (given that you are white, non-whites living in the US would dislike him in general since he gives off a heartland vibe)
Levi Jackson
your insane
Ayden Myers
I've heard Born To Run and Dancing in the Dark on the radio before (very rare) but I agree the amount of Tom Petty is ridiculous. And this is in Canada. Always during my 6 hour shift at work I would hear 2-3 Tom Petty songs. I fucking hate Tom Petty now. and Rush.
Joshua Mitchell
and it's always free falling
Gabriel Hill
>TFW not white and love Springsteen and down home country boy stuff
why even live
Jayden Barnes
The 80s was the most popular Springsteen era though, so surely that would mean you would hear literally half of Born to Run plus a few songs off of The River and Tunnel of Love on heavy rotation
William Howard
Nigga, wut? First of all, nah, all the plebSteen songs I remember the local stations playing were all songs pre-Born in the USA. (But again, East Coast, so maybe it's different away from Jersey.) Even so, I don't think it's really that 80s sound that people who don't listen to music think is the 80s sound. Classic Rock stations now want stuff that sounds like Highway to the Danger Zone
Colton Cox
I will admit that John Cafferty song does sound like the beginning to " she's the one " but him along with several artists were inspired by Bruce
Brandon Johnson
It feels strange, the racial divide in the US on everything is so brazen that you notice it all way over here in Norway.
Asher Jones
Vocals too are straight Bruce. Down to the yells/screeches he does.
Grayson Nelson
Actually he's right, the eighties were commercially the most successful for Bruce because of born in the USA which spawned seven number one hits
Jace Bell
Cool, like I said, might be because it's regional, but it just doesn't, and didn't get played on the major classic rock stations around here. Sophomore year of high school, I think I heard Spirit in the Night every single day just in my shop class.
Christopher Barnes
>tom petty better than springsteen
this is literally one of the worst opinions i've ever seen on this board
Leo Phillips
Petty is better
Oliver Fisher
I work in a supermarket chain in Australia that has its own music playlist, and Dancing in the Dark and Glory Days get played every hour. The Smiths How Soon Is Now? and Pixies Here Comes Your Man are on it too. The rest is shit though.
Nathaniel Perry
who the fuck are these people?
Ryan Roberts
>canada's music is so shite they have to pass laws to force radio stations to play their own music
Jeremiah Russell
mary jane for me
Brayden Lewis
first wave alternative is the only good genre
Josiah Evans
Tom Petty songs that reached #1 on the mainstream rock charts: >The Waiting >You Got Lucky >Runnin' Down a Dream >I Won't Back Down >Free Fallin' >Learning to Fly >Out in the Cold >Mary Jane's Last Dance >You Don't Know How it Feels
Bruce songs that reached #1 on the mainstream rock charts: >Dancing in the Dark >Tunnel of Love >Brilliant Disguise
Jose Sullivan
One time I heard those three songs back to back. Not in that order. I wanted to kill myself.
Xavier Jones
The first wave station on Sirius XM is my jam. Everything from late 70s Talking Heads up until The Stone Roses. Shame they took away classic college radio. That played everything from Pere Ubu to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to My Bloody Valentine to Boards of Canada. Essentially Sup Forums classics released between the mid 70s and mid 00s: the radio station.
John Brown
See Radio/chart hits =/= quality of music. The Boss was never radio friendly
Joseph Anderson
Shit, I mean. His only big songs are short enough to be radio-friendly. His better stuff just wasn't going to make it.
Grayson Williams
Springsteen was known, but not massive until Born in the USA. He'd been in the top 40 a few times, but people would lose interest after a little while. The River for example had Hungry Heart hit #5, and then Fade Away hit #20 right after just because people were expecting another Hungry Heart, but then his next 10 singles or so tanked.
Even beyond USA, you might look at his chart history and see he still had hits, but once again people just wanted more USA, none of them remembered Brilliant Disguise or whatever 6 months later.
Same is true of U2, although to a lesser degree.
William Allen
>in Boston, the classic rock station plays a TON of U2 that's because y'all think you're irish
Noah Harris
>but then his next 10 singles or so tanked. No, those "singles" you're thinking of were just songs packaged together as UK or Japan only promo releases as his tour hit those areas (ie. "I Wanna Marry You", "Point Blank", "Sherry Darling", The River", "Independence Day", etc.). I don't even know whether they were available for commercial purchase.
Off of Nebraska, no commercial US singles were released, though "Open All Night" and "Atlantic City" were issued as promo singles to select American rock stations ahead of the album.
It wasn't until the BITUSA era that Columbia began issuing commercial singles in the US again.
Tyler Scott
>Even beyond USA, you might look at his chart history and see he still had hits, but once again people just wanted more USA, none of them remembered Brilliant Disguise or whatever 6 months later. this. All the singles from Born in the USA were huge and the album sold 30 million copies. The only reason the followup did well commercially is because Bruce was so famous and hyped up at that point. But of course despite charting well, the songs didn't have as much longevity.
Dylan Sullivan
Weird. Nebraska I get them not putting singles out, but I wonder why they stopped at 3 for the River.
Dylan Morris
But Bruce always had a huge cult following pre born in the USA
Connor King
It's because U2 sucks leaking anus.
Noah Foster
Probably because Hungry Heart was the most overt pop song on the record. Fade Away charting that high was cool but a bit of a fluke and it wasn't really remembered by many people.
Pretty much this. Dancing in the Dark spent 30 weeks on the UK charts and peaked at #4. The first single from Tunnel of Love peaked at #20 and spent just 5 weeks on the charts. It wouldn't be until Streets of Philadelphia in '94 that Springsteen would have another enduring hit, peaking at #2 and lasting over four months on the chart.
That's why for Springsteen, the sirius xm 80s channel plays the first 4 or 5 Born in the USA singles and Hungry Heart with the ocassional Tunnel of Love spin and the 90s channel just Secret Garden and Streets of Philadelphia despite the fact that he had a good 5 other charting Top 40 songs during this period.
Same with U2. The 80s channel only plays the 3 biggest Joshua Tree singles, Pride, and the ocassional New Year's Day and Desire, even though there were several others in heavy rotation on rock radio, MTV, and (at the time) highly charting on the Hot 100.
The 90s station plays Mysterious Ways, One mainly, but sometimes Discotheque, Lemon (which never even charted on the Hot 100), Hold Me, Thrill Me..., Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, but ignores some of their other Top 40 entries.
Andrew Mitchell
Early U2 is pretty decent post punk, much like a less depressing, more informed by cold war politics Echo and the Bunnymen, and mid 80s - early 90s U2 is pretty decent mainstream roots influenced rock cum slightly weirder, ironic electronic and shoegaze leaning rock with help from Brian Eno and friends.
Ryder Peterson
>listening to the radio
Kayden Taylor
>It's because U2 sucks leaking anus. So do Foreigner, Poison, Whitesnake etc. but that doesn't stop them from getting copious amounts of airplay
Zachary Collins
I feel like a lot of classic rock stations are run by right-leaning 50-60 year olds who probably dont agree with Bruce's politics.
Lincoln Garcia
I just pretend Bruce isn't in politics
Ryder Campbell
It's a radio station? That's how it works dude, nothing deeper than that. They get paid to play x song y amount of times.
That's only current pop/rap/etc. radio stations when it matters if a radio format makes or breaks a new potential hit. Classic rock stations have to pay royalties for each song.
Ryder Collins
so that's how they got so big
fucking leafs
Austin Taylor
Whats the name for the Pop equivalent of Dad Rock?
I enjoy Springsteen but as someone that lives in New Jersey they may as well cut out the radio middle man and erect North Korea style broadcasting speaker towers across the state
Luis Sullivan
>Regulations require radio stations to play at least 25% Canadian artists this can't be true
Ayden Phillips
Piss on the fucking radio. It's totally superfluous today. Listen to whatever you want whenever you want, because you can.
Alexander Ward
>Look it up >It's real
Jesus Christ what a fucking dumpster fire of a country
Andrew Kelly
leaf here
>mfw all that fucking Bryan Adams
other than that one song I've never hear anything give a single shit about him
Alexander Adams
NJfag here. i hate bruce springsteen. his songs all suck. he wrote one song that went to #1, and not even his own version, it's manfred mans earth band covering it. i know old dudes that knew him in the 80s. they all said he was an asshole. one threw him out of a bar for being a douchebag. fuck bruce springsteen, fuck his band, fuck his horrible version of santa clause is comin to town.
Jackson Morgan
Run to you? I do it for you? Summer of 69? Somebody? This time?
Bryan Adam's is not my favorite band ever, but lets not get carried away and say that he didn't have great timeless songs.
Colton Perez
The irony coming from a likely burger poster >inB4 a-at least w-ere not l-leafs
Jace Flores
get the fuck out of my state and never call yourself a NJfag again
Carson Murphy
because retards enjoy listening to the same garbage every day. anything new or different scares them. honestly this guy has it right. "who the fuck lets someone else tell them what to listen to? not me." george carlin on not listening to the radio
Camden Miller
you also pretend he's a tolerable singer and good songwriter? let me guess your radio is a cynder block you drew a radio likeness on, and pretend springsteen is playing. >tfw that'd be more tolerable than actually listening to his songs
Jeremiah Davis
>my state lmao, "your state". lmao, you like springsteen. i've seen less funny lines at the special olympics. you're a walking comic, son
Lucas Russell
Springsteen fucking sucks
Connor Morgan
Bruce Springsteen is the epitome of "epic". After Bob Dylan and before the Ramones, he was one of the few musicians capable of transforming the mood of an entire generation into a "sound". If the rules to judge the significance of an artist are that a) he be indifferent to fads and trends; b) that his lyrics dig deep into his era and resonate with the souls of millions of people; c) that each record be, de facto, a concept album; d) that each song send shivers down the spine even without a catchy melody; then Springsteen is one of the greatest of all times. Musically, Springsteen coined the model of the singer-songwriter of the 1980s, bridging the gap between the bluesman of the 1930s, the black shouter of the 1940s, the rocker of the 1950s, the folk-singer of the 1960s, the punk of the 1970s. In many ways, Springsteen was the true heir to Woody Guthrie (Bob Dylan never was a true populist). He sang about the dreams and the fears of ordinary white Americans. But he was also the heir to the blues, in an era in which the black nation was abandoning it for dance music.
Jordan Bell
Over the years, Springsteen grew up to become the eloquent spokesman of middle-class and blue-collar America. His declamations combine populist demagogy, patriotic passion and prophetic vision in a way that is quintessentially American. The alienated enthusiasm of his early days mutated first into a nostalgic glorification of the past and eventually into resigned grief. Dreams turned into memories, and exuberance turned into frustration. As the promised land faded away, Springsteen led the exodus from the international utopias to the virtues of ordinary people. Springsteen conveyed all of this in energetic and intense performances that changed the whole meaning of the word "concert". His concert is a collective sacrificial ceremony that pours naked life into artistic form. Whether shouting or whispering, Springsteen "was" the voice of millions of American for which the American dream never materialized. His songs are the national anthems of that submerged nation.
Bentley Hughes
Can't wait until Springsteen dies and Sup Forums starts circle jerking over how great he was and claiming they were always a fan.
Brandon Evans
Springsteen was a blatant draft-dodger and like all draft-dodgers he's overly sentimental about the troops to cover for himself being a coward. Happens every time with draft-dodgers.