Scan barcode
pomengranate_moon_'s review
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.
Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen. That is why I was so excited to read this book.
Yikes.
I DNF’d this one at 27%. The author has made it very clear that his intended audience is specifically white American men and proceeds to write this book like Ken after he discovered the patriarchy. I couldn’t help but read this book in the voice of Patrick Bateman talking about Huey Lewis and the News in my head when certain sections droned on like poorly written Rolling Stone articles because that’s the vibe the author gives. The rest of the book is him talking about Bruce Springsteen like he is an actual god, borne of the former white male gods of America- Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. If I didn’t know better I would think this book had been written in the days before women could own their own bank accounts.
Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen. That is why I was so excited to read this book.
Yikes.
I DNF’d this one at 27%. The author has made it very clear that his intended audience is specifically white American men and proceeds to write this book like Ken after he discovered the patriarchy. I couldn’t help but read this book in the voice of Patrick Bateman talking about Huey Lewis and the News in my head when certain sections droned on like poorly written Rolling Stone articles because that’s the vibe the author gives. The rest of the book is him talking about Bruce Springsteen like he is an actual god, borne of the former white male gods of America- Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. If I didn’t know better I would think this book had been written in the days before women could own their own bank accounts.
hatsforbees's review
2.0
I’ve always known of Springsteen in the context of “Music that Shitty Conservative Dads™ love”, and I (wrongly) assumed Springsteen himself was of a similar genre of guy. I’ve since learned that was actually pretty far from the truth a few years back, so when I saw this book, I thought a-ha! A perfect opportunity to learn more about the full scope of my wrongness!
The blurb of this book, mentions things like how Vietnam and Watergate impacted the music Springsteen was making at the time, and then closing with “How did we lose Springsteen’s heartland? And what can listening to these songs teach us about the American decline that Born In The U.S.A. forecasted? [...]Hyden takes readers on a journey to find out.” which led me to believe this would be heavy on the history of the time, particularly the sociopolitical landscape of the 70’s and 80’s and how that connects to our current political landscape. I was excited to learn more about a genre of music that I have mostly negative associations with (the aforementioned Shitty Conservative Dad™), through this lens.
Unfortunately, that is not what the book spends most of its time on. What it does spend its time with is connecting different albums and songs across many artists with their similar themes, styles, or messages (or in some cases, their stark differences). I really struggled with this. Sometimes I was having to stop every couple of sentences to listen to yet another song I’ve never heard of, trying to follow along. I would have killed for a spotify playlist to go with the reading, or even just a tracklist at the start of each chapter with the highlights the author wanted me to have fresh in mind while I read.
As someone who reads a lot of political/history nonfiction, I found the discussion around ~what happened to the center~ be very milquetoast, and overall disappointing.
This book provides a lot of context of how popular rock artists from the 60’s – 90’s influenced each other in small and large ways, and the way that musical trends can be cyclical, and I think if you recognize a lot of the bands and songs, this is could be really fun to read.
(Seriously though, it desperately needs the chapter tracklist and/or playlist)
I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The blurb of this book, mentions things like how Vietnam and Watergate impacted the music Springsteen was making at the time, and then closing with “How did we lose Springsteen’s heartland? And what can listening to these songs teach us about the American decline that Born In The U.S.A. forecasted? [...]Hyden takes readers on a journey to find out.” which led me to believe this would be heavy on the history of the time, particularly the sociopolitical landscape of the 70’s and 80’s and how that connects to our current political landscape. I was excited to learn more about a genre of music that I have mostly negative associations with (the aforementioned Shitty Conservative Dad™), through this lens.
Unfortunately, that is not what the book spends most of its time on. What it does spend its time with is connecting different albums and songs across many artists with their similar themes, styles, or messages (or in some cases, their stark differences). I really struggled with this. Sometimes I was having to stop every couple of sentences to listen to yet another song I’ve never heard of, trying to follow along. I would have killed for a spotify playlist to go with the reading, or even just a tracklist at the start of each chapter with the highlights the author wanted me to have fresh in mind while I read.
As someone who reads a lot of political/history nonfiction, I found the discussion around ~what happened to the center~ be very milquetoast, and overall disappointing.
This book provides a lot of context of how popular rock artists from the 60’s – 90’s influenced each other in small and large ways, and the way that musical trends can be cyclical, and I think if you recognize a lot of the bands and songs, this is could be really fun to read.
(Seriously though, it desperately needs the chapter tracklist and/or playlist)
I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
More...