Bruce Springsteen and the Complexity of American Identity
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“THIS AMERICAN SKIN”: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE COMPLEXITY OF AMERICAN IDENTITY SIMON CLARK THIS THESIS IS PRESENTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY MURDOCH UNIVERSITY 2017 I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution. .................................... Simon Clark ABSTRACT Bruce Springsteen is a significant and substantial figure within American popular culture. Through his songwriting he has chronicled the changing cultural, political and social landscape of the United States in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. His songwriting also consistently engages with the question of what it means to be American. Representations of Springsteen within the media, through performance and also within academic discussion, strongly promote a specific image of an ‘iconic’ Springsteen; an image which is strongly associated with whiteness, the working class and masculinity. This popular image of Springsteen has also influenced understandings of his work. This thesis, through close textual analysis, aims to look beyond these largely accepted ideas of Springsteen and his work, and shows that Springsteen’s songwriting, music and performance display greater complexity and diversity in their depiction of America and American identity than previously understood. Furthermore, this thesis will examine how Springsteen’s work, and consequently his depiction of American identity have changed, developed and diversified over the course of his career. This thesis will focus on five key areas of enquiry: concepts of authenticity, nostalgia, gender, sexuality, race and social class; and argue that Springsteen’s body of work strongly reveals a shifting, diverse and complex American identity. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Table of Contents ii Acknowledgments iii Chapter 1 – Introduction 1 Chapter 2 – Literature Review 10 Chapter 3 - Authenticity 37 Chapter 4 - Nostalgia 55 Chapter 5 - Masculinity 88 Chapter 6 - Representations of Women 124 Chapter 7 - Race 149 Chapter 8 - Class 180 Chapter 9 – Conclusions 223 Bibliography 227 Discography 239 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the members of my supervisory panel, Dr. David Moody, Professor Vijay Mishra and Associate Professor Jennifer De-Reuck for their support, reassurance and guidance during this project. Dr. David Moody, in particular has been tireless in his support for this project, his comments suggestions, and friendship over these last few years have proved invaluable. I would also like to thank my parents for their ongoing support and encouragement, without which I certainly would not be where I am today. Thank you for fostering my love of literature and learning, and thank you for introducing me to the music of Bruce Springsteen. Thank you too to all of my friends and family who have taken the time to read portions of this thesis and offer comment and suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank Eileen Chapman from The Bruce Springsteen Special Collection at Monmouth University, and Jennie Thomas at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives, for helping this then novice researcher access and navigate their archival materials. iii CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION Bruce Springsteen stands as a significant and substantial figure within the history of American popular music, and within American popular culture. Through his songwriting he has chronicled the changing cultural, political and social landscape of the United States in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Furthermore, his songwriting has also consistently engaged with the question of what it means to be an American in the midst of this ever-changing landscape. Springsteen’s position within American popular culture was secured with the worldwide success of Born in the U.S.A. in the 1980’s, it was this success that shifted Springsteen from musician to icon. Representations of Springsteen within the media, through performance, and even in academic discussion, all strongly promote a specific image of an “iconic” Springsteen; an image which is strongly associated with whiteness, the working class and masculinity and which germinated during this period of Springsteen’s career. This popular image of Springsteen has also influenced understandings of Springsteen’s work. The primary aim of this thesis is to look beyond these largely accepted ideas of Springsteen and his work, and highlight that there is instead a greater degree of complexity and diversity than previously understood at play in his depictions of America and American identity. Furthermore, this thesis will also examine how over the course of his career Springsteen’s understanding and depiction of American identity have changed and developed. Whilst this thesis is less concerned with the man Springsteen, and more interested in his work, it is beneficial here to provide a brief bio-sketch of Springsteen. Born September 1949 in Freehold New Jersey, Springsteen was the son of Douglas, a bus driver, and Adele Springsteen, a secretary. Prior to signing a deal with Columbia Records in 1972, Springsteen played in a number of local bands within the Asbury Park scene, including The Castilles, Child, Steel Mill and The Bruce Springsteen Band; many of these bands featured musicians who would eventually form the E Street Band, the mainstay of Springsteen’s career. Springsteen released his debut record Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973 to middling success. It was not until 1975 with the release of Born to Run and his appearance on the covers of both Time and Newsweek that Springsteen’s career began to flourish. However, it was 1984’s Born in the U.S.A. that brought Springsteen his biggest commercial success, producing seven Top-10 singles. In 1989 Springsteen opted to disband the E Street Band, preferring to experiment with other musicians. Nevertheless, Springsteen reunited with the E Street Band in 1999, embarking on a world tour, before releasing The Rising in 2002. In the intervening years Springsteen has released six studio albums, his most recent High Hopes coming in 2014. The first question I need to address in this thesis is: Why Springsteen? Springsteen is not after all the only musician to have touched on ideas of American identity and ‘America’ within his songwriting; so why not any number of other artists? The first and simplest answer is that I have a familiarity and connection with his music, having been introduced to Springsteen and his music from a relatively young age. I consider myself a fan of his work: I’ve attended his concerts and bought his records; though I do not consider myself a diehard fan, and certainly I haven’t attended anywhere close to the number of concerts that some of his most loyal fans have. Whilst it is true that I consider myself a fan of Springsteen and his work, I do not feel that this has hindered my ability to examine his work critically or analytically. On the contrary, I view my position as a fan as one of the motivations behind this research, with one of the driving forces being a desire to better understand this work that I admire and appreciate, and the motivations behind its creation. As literary critic Mark Grief points, the passion for popular music is a central part of the lives of most people living in the contemporary era: “Popular music is the most living art form today… Songs are what we consume in greatest quantity; they are what we store in our heads.” 2 (2016, 99-100). Further, he also asks a crucial question which motivates this research: “How should it ever really be possible for pop music to incarnate a particular historical situation?” (2016, 100) Like Greif, this thesis seeks to insist on the “seriousness” of popular music. However, returning to the original question, why Springsteen? The other reason, is, as I touched upon in my opening statement, that Springsteen is a significant, iconic and influential musician and figure, not only within the United States of America, but also worldwide. Over the course of his forty-plus year career Springsteen has sold 65 million records in America, and 120 million records worldwide. He was won twenty Grammy Awards, has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is a recipient of the Kennedy Centre Honours and has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Whilst there are many who may disagree with his politics, or dislike his music, there is little doubt that Springsteen is a significant figure not only within American popular music, but also within American culture more broadly. Furthermore, whilst Springsteen is well known for penning songs which capture the everyday lives of the American working class, his influence and significance has extended beyond the borders of his class, capturing the ear and imagination of politicians in the United States, where he can count former President Barack Obama and Governor Chris Christie as fans, as well as politicians overseas, including Australia, with former Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan quoting Springsteen’s lyrics during a speech in Melbourne in 2012 (Swan 2012). However, despite Springsteen’s commanding position within American popular culture, he still remains the subject of limited scholarly inquiry. At the time of writing in 2017, there are only a handful of book-length studies devoted to Springsteen and his work. Instead much of the scholarly writing on Springsteen comes in the form of journal articles or chapters in larger anthologies. However, it should be noted that academic interest in Springsteen and his work does seem to be 3 growing, with the creation of Boss: The Biannual Online-Journal of Springsteen Studies in 2014. There is of course, unsurprisingly, a substantial number of non-academic publications devoted to Springsteen and his work, all of which are aimed towards Springsteen’s considerable fan base.