<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bruce-springsteen">Bruce Springsteen&#8217;s</a> manager is doubling down on ticket prices for the 72-year-old rocker&#8217;s latest tour, which have some seats costing as much as $5,000 apiece.
In this economy, such prices have left fans shocked that the musician who once championed the working man has allowed his ticket sales to &#8220;rip the bones from their backs.&#8221;
In what has become a controversial &#8220;dynamic pricing&#8221; method under Ticketmaster&#8217;s monopoly system, which determines ticket prices by the demand to discourage scalping — The Boss&#8217;s manager defended Team Springsteen, despite the number of &#8220;platinum&#8221; tickets hitting excessively high costs.
&#8220;In pricing tickets for this tour, we looked carefully at what our peers have been doing,&#8221; Jon Landau said in a statement, per <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/your-money/bruce-springsteen-tickets.html">The New York Times</a>. &#8220;We chose prices that are lower than some and on par with others.&#8221;
Ticketmaster broke down the sales to combat consumer misconception of the astronomical ticket prices representing only 11.2% of the total number of tickets sold. Prices for mid-floor tickets costing more than $1,000 were at only 1.3%, per their last statement earlier this week.
The rest of the breakdown calculated that 56% of tickets were sold for less than $200, and 27% ranged between $100-$150. Another 18% sold for under $99, and the remaining 11% of tickets went for roughly $150 to $200.
Springsteen&#8217;s manager said, &#8220;regardless of commentary about a modest number of tickets costing $1,000 or more,&#8221; the true average price for the concert stands at approximately $250 a stub.
&#8220;I believe that in today&#8217;s environment, that is a fair price to see someone universally regarded as among the very greatest artists of his generation,&#8221; Landau said.
Still, whether or not the American rockstar holds legendary status, the average fan might have to think twice before purchasing a ticket as the country enters a recession.
&#8220;I saw nothing under $299 and as I tried for those the seats suddenly shot up to $515 and higher,&#8221; one fan <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/suewahler/status/1551395682233339904" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. &#8220;I had no idea what was going on. Whole rows, then sections shooting up in price, then gone. It took a minute to realize prices were changing like the National Debt ticker. $750 for 2.&#8221;
Another fan said in a <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/zanzibarstar/status/1551427832420524033" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweet</a> that a single nosebleed seat cost her $125, which she asserts is usually the price for a floor seat.
Although The Boss has yet to address his fans, E-Street&#8217;s guitar and mandolin player Steve Van Zandt made sure he stayed out of the controversy when asked on Twitter if he&#8217;s seen the ticket costs.
&#8220;I have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets,&#8221; Van Zandt <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/StevieVanZandt/status/1549800932476682241?s=20&amp;t=kXB-cpdK3uMsecTZwS_4JQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
&#8220;Nothing. Nada. Niente. Bubkis. D***,&#8221; Van Zandt, who also played the infamous Silvio Dante in HBO&#8217;s hit series &#8220;The Sopranos,&#8221; added.
Tickets for Springsteen and his E-Street Band&#8217;s 2023 tour went on sale Wednesday. The group, who haven&#8217;t performed together in six years, begins touring early next year with shows scheduled in arenas and stadiums across Europe and North America.
Amanda Harding and Greg Wilson contributed to this report.

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Bruce Springsteen Manager Defends $5k Ticket Prices; The Boss Still Silent

Bruce Springsteen

Celebrities

Entertainment

Music

Rock and Roll

Ticketmaster issued an official response after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/entertainment">fans</a> flooded social media with criticism for higher-than-average ticket prices to see <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bruce-springsteen">Bruce Springsteen</a> in concert.
The controversy has to do with “dynamic pricing,” a method of determining <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/rock-and-roll">ticket prices</a> by demand to discourage scalping. Per the company’s <a href="https://www.ticketmaster.com/platinum/buyerfaq.html">website</a>, this “enables market-based pricing (adjusting prices according to supply and demand) for live event tickets, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold.” 
Fans began reacting strongly when “platinum” tickets with variable prices soared as high as $5,000 apiece on the first day of sales, per <a href="https://variety.com/2022/music/news/ticketmaster-bruce-springsteen-dynamic-pricing-defends-1235324318/">Variety</a>. But now Ticketmaster says those astronomical ticket prices only represent 11.2% of the total number of tickets sold so far.
“Prices and formats are consistent with industry standards for top performers,” the company said in a statement. They did confirm that 1.3% of the Springsteen tickets cost more than $1,000. In an unprecedented move, Ticketmaster gave an exact breakdown of ticket prices so far to combat misconceptions.
They claim 56% of tickets were sold for less than $200, and 18% were sold for under $99. Further, 27% went for between $100-150, and 11% sold for between $150-200.
Ticket sales for The Boss’ 2023 U.S. tour are being staggered over ten days, the publication noted. The company is releasing this financial information in hopes that fans will not be discouraged from purchasing tickets in the coming days.  
Springsteen hasn’t released a statement on the situation yet, but fans are especially irritated that a rock star known as the champion of the working man would have such expensive concert tickets. 
E-Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt did speak up, telling angry fans not to blame the musician for pricing that he doesn’t control.
“I have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets,” Van Zandt <a href="https://twitter.com/StevieVanZandt/status/1549800932476682241?s=20&amp;t=kXB-cpdK3uMsecTZwS_4JQ">tweeted</a> in reply to a fan venting about high ticket prices. “Nothing. Nada. Niente. Bubkis.”
Ticketmaster’s statement seems to be doing little to soothe fans’ tempers. Many tweeted in response to the article, insisting these alleged cheaper tickets don’t exist. 
“I saw nothing under $299 and as I tried for those the seats suddenly shot up to $515 and higher,” one fan <a href="https://twitter.com/suewahler/status/1551395682233339904">wrote</a>. “I had no idea what was going on. Whole rows, then sections shooting up in price, then gone. It took a minute to realize prices were changing like the National Debt ticker. $750 for 2.” 
“I bought a single ticket. $125. But it’s in the nosebleeds. Literally the worst seat I’ve had for a Bruce show since the mid 80’s. Usually I’m on the floor, for about the same price,” someone else <a href="https://twitter.com/zanzibarstar/status/1551427832420524033">shared</a>.

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Ticketmaster Responds To Fans Irate About $5K Bruce Springsteen Tickets, Insists Most Of Them Are Cheaper

Ticketmaster Responds To Fans Irate About $5K Bruce Springsteen Tickets

He’s supposed to be the bard of the working man, but tickets to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bruce-springsteen">Bruce Springsteen</a>&#8216;s legendary shows are selling for as much as $5,000 apiece under a “dynamic pricing” system that has fans cursing &#8220;The Boss.”
Ticketmaster has used the same method to wring top dollars from fans of Drake, Paul McCartney, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift, too. The idea is that prices rise and fall based on what they would fetch on the scalper market. So if a reseller can get $5,000 for a great seat on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bruce-springsteen-freed-of-drunk-driving-charges-slapped-with-500-fine">Springsteen</a>’s upcoming tour, Ticketmaster will simply undercut the secondary market.
“Simple rule: if you&#8217;re the kind of person who is in a Bruce Springsteen song, you absolutely can&#8217;t afford to see him perform,” <a href="https://twitter.com/HeywoodFloyd10/status/1550305583663824896?s=20&amp;t=kXB-cpdK3uMsecTZwS_4JQ">tweeted user Heywood Floyd</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is all going to blow up. <a href="https://twitter.com/Ticketmaster?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Ticketmaster</a> say this is to prevent scalping. IT IS OFFICIAL SCALPING.
&mdash; WMD (@rain_again) <a href="https://twitter.com/rain_again/status/1549776829023756295?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Tickets for Springsteen and his E-Street Band’s 2023 tour went on sale Wednesday, and Ticketmaster quickly labeled many floor and lower-level seats as “Official Platinum Seats.&#8221; That “enables market-based pricing (adjusting prices according to supply and demand) for live event tickets, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold,” according to <a href="https://help.ticketmaster.com/s/article/What-are-Official-Platinum-Seats?language=en_US">Ticketmaster’s website</a>.
Prices for mid-floor tickets quickly climbed to as much as $5,000 apiece, with “cheap seats” bringing in as much as $1,000.
For fans of the New Jersey rocker, who built his brand on immortalizing the downtrodden and working class in classics like “Jungleland” and “Born to Run,” charging the price of a used pickup truck for a pair of tickets is sacrilege.
“Springsteen and Ticketmaster playing fans for fools,” <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanPanton/status/1550213478060724225?s=20&amp;t=kXB-cpdK3uMsecTZwS_4JQ">tweeted Ryan Panton</a>. &#8220;They see the outrage from &#8216;platinum tickets&#8217; and rebrand them all as &#8216;verified resale.&#8217; The joke continues.”
But E-Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt told fans not to blame &#8220;The Boss&#8221; for a pricing scheme that is out of his control.
“I have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets,” <a href="https://twitter.com/StevieVanZandt/status/1549800932476682241?s=20&amp;t=kXB-cpdK3uMsecTZwS_4JQ">Van Zandt tweeted</a> at a fan who complained about the exorbitant prices. “Nothing. Nada. Niente. Bubkis.”
New Wave band Crowded House has forbidden promoters of its concerts from using the system, and Kid Rock, who keeps his ticket prices at $20, has also <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/kid-rock-on-his-20-tour-and-dumbass-republicans-243987/">railed against Ticketmaster</a>.
Rockers Pearl Jam <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pearl-jam-taking-on-ticketmaster-67440/">took a stand</a> against Ticketmaster years ago, accusing the promoter of creating a monopoly by buying up competitors and then charging outrageous prices. But earlier this year, the band <a href="https://www.ticketnews.com/2022/03/pearl-jam-fans-furious-over-band-charging-scalper-ticket-prices/">employed dynamic pricing</a> for its current tour. It only works when the tickets are digital and non-transferable, but New York and Colorado have consumer protection laws that require consumer choice in ticket format.

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Bruce Springsteen Fans Furious As Concert Tickets Explode Under Greedy Pricing Scheme

Bruce Springsteen Fans Furious As Concert Ticket Prices Explode Under Ticketmaster Policy

Enterainment

Unwilling to follow his presidential predecessors into a languid stupor after leaving office, Barack Obama’s latest effort to reinject himself into the domain of public discourse comes packaged as the latest modern fad: podcasting. With the bulk of his former staffers having already convened on the digital medium to form Pod Save America – and his wife having launched “The Michelle Obama Podcast” last July – the former president has one-upped them all, recruiting the venerable Born to Run hitmaker, Bruce Springsteen to cohost his new show, titled, Renegades.
In a conversation that could comfortably be sourced from the moneyed foyer of Leonard Bernstein’s Upper East Side penthouse in the pages of Tom Wolfe’s Radical Chic, the former president and Bruce Springsteen, over the first two episodes of their show, honed in on a litany of topics, though the issue of race in America seemed to dominate their conversations. 
Opening the discussion, Obama immediately excoriated his presidential successor, lambasting Donald Trump on every issue from race relations to the Capitol Hill riots. “For 3 years I had to watch a presidential successor who was diametrically opposed to everything I believed in. And witnessed a country that seemed to be angrier and more divided with every coming day. In the middle of all of this, there were the nation-wide protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd. Yet another tragic reminder of just how powerfully racism continues to stain so many aspects of American life. And all that was before the world witnessed a violent mob spurred on by lies and conspiracy theories storm the US Capitol, where I once served.” 
Through their dialogue on racial tensions in America, Obama and Springsteen conceded that despite their differences, they have always perceived their respective selves as outsiders and outcasts in society. Obama remarked in his introduction, “On the surface, Bruce and I don’t have a lot in common. He’s a white guy from a small town in New Jersey. I’m a black guy of mixed race born in Hawaii, with a childhood that took me around the world.”
Springsteen, in turn, explained that his own yearning to become an entertainer and stage performer stemmed from years of feeling voiceless. “If you weren’t quiet you wouldn’t have so desperately searched for a way to speak. The reason you have so desperately pursued your work and your language, and your voice is because you haven’t had one. And you understand, you realize that, and you feel the pain of being somewhat voiceless. And so, the performance becomes the mechanism through which you express the entirety of your life, your philosophy and code for living. And that was how it came to me. And I felt previous to that, I was pretty invisible. And there was a lot of pain in that invisibility.”
As the conversation continued, the pair rarely strayed from dissecting in their echo chamber what Obama referred to as, “the central dilemma of America since its founding: the issue of race.” 
First fiddling with race relations through the lens of art and music, Obama asked Springsteen about the impact and influence of black music in post-WW2 America. Springsteen explained that, “to play south of Freehold, you had to know some soul music. Because it was called greaser territory. Grease is where the guys had ¾ length leathers, shark-skin suits, ties, hair slicked back, pointy black shoes, nylon see-through socks, all of it, taken from the black community. And that was the style, including the music that they loved… As a young musician, you are immersed in music and in the African American culture that inspired the music that you loved.” 
Obama added his observation on Western culture’s adoption of black music, saying, “there is this notion that black folks are the other. They are demeaned, they are discriminated against, they are looked down upon. And yet the culture is constantly appropriating and regurgitating and processing the style that arises from being an outsider and knowing the blues and having suffered these scars and having to make stuff up out of nothing. And rock and roll is part of that process.”
Springsteen, in agreement, took Obama’s remark a step further, “in America we have loved black people and brown people when they’re entertaining us. But when they want to live next door, we remain a tribal society. It’s part of our tragicness, that continues obviously to this day. I don’t think it’s ever been more essential a subject as it is at this very moment. And I think, why is it so hard to talk about race, why am I pausing here? To talk about race you have to talk about your differences, you have to talk about, to some degree, deconstructing the myth of the melting pot — which has never fundamentally been true. Admitting that a big part of our history has been plunderous and violent and rigged against people of color. We are ashamed; ashamed of our collective guilt. We would have to admit and to grieve for what’s been done. We would have to acknowledge our own daily complicity. And to acknowledge our group membership and that we are tied to the group history of racism.”
As the conversation continued into the second episode, Springsteen elaborated on the formation of his famed E Street Band, and the ineffaceable, booming saxophonist, Clarence Clemons, whose iconic solos adorn and elevate such unforgettable staples in Springsteen’s canon as “Jungleland” and “Rosalita.” “The integrated aspect of the E Street Band obviously was when I saw Clarence. Clarence was just great. He just had a sound that raised the roof, he was just one of the greatest sounding sax players I’d ever heard.”
Meandering back to present day, Springsteen and Obama shifted the discussion to the death of George Floyd and his confrontation with police last summer. “After George Floyd’s murder, I started reading James Baldwin,” Springsteen explained. Quoting a passage from Baldwin’s 1963 essay compilation, The “Fire Next Time,” the New Jersey rocker went on to endorse collectively paid reparations, saying, “Here we sit today, where it feels like a reckoning is being called for. Is the country ready to deconstruct its founding myths, its mythic stories, its mythic history? Or is it prepared to consider reparations? Do you think we are at that place right now?” 
Obama replied in consensus, adding that in his view, America’s centuries-long economic boon was largely fueled by the 89-year period of slavery between the country’s founding in 1776 and the adoption of the 13th Amendment in 1865. “If you ask me, theoretically, are reparations justified? The answer is yes. There’s not much question that the wealth of this country, the power of this country was built in significant part — not exclusively, maybe note even the majority of it — but a large portion of it was built on the backs of slaves.” Springsteen was quick to add, “they built the White House.” 
The former president continued, and towards the end of the show, effectively went on to blame the American public, specifically white American voters, for what Obama described as an inability to unanimously agree with his policy agenda. “This then brings us to, could you actually get that kind of justice? Could you get a country to agree and own that history? And my judgement was that as a practical matter, that was unattainable. We can’t even get this country to provide decent schooling for inner-city kids. What I saw during my presidency was that the politics of white resistance and resentment, the talk of welfare queens and the talk of the undeserving poor and the backlash against affirmative action, all that made the prospect of actually proposing any kind of coherent, meaningful reparations program, struck me as politically not only a nonstarter, but potentially counter-productive.”
Renegades is available to stream on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/42xagXCUDsFO6a0lcHoTlv">Spotify</a>.
Follow Harry Khachatrian on <a href="https://twitter.com/Harry1T6">Twitter</a>
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

President Obama Awards Presidential Medals of Freedom

I Listened To Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen’s New Podcast, So You Don’t Have to

Barack Obama

Podcast

Federal prosecutors in New Jersey dropped two drunk driving charges against music icon Bruce Springsteen on Wednesday.
Authorities arrested Springsteen in November and charged him with DWI, reckless driving, and consuming alcohol in a closed area. Prosecutors decided to drop the first two charges after tests showed Springsteen’s blood-alcohol level below legal limits at the time. The singer pleaded guilty to the third charge and paid a $500 fine, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/prosecutors-drop-drunken-driving-charges-against-bruce-springsteen-11614185086">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
Springsteen was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bruce-springsteen-jeep-celebrity-spokesman-arrested-for-dwi">arrested</a> on Nov. 14 at Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. His arrest was not reported on until February, however, days after he appeared in his first-ever Super Bowl commercial for the vehicle brand Jeep.
After the revelation, Jeep pulled the commercial saying, “It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of a matter we have only read about and we cannot substantiate. But it’s also right that we pause our Big Game commercial until the actual facts can be established. Its message of community and unity is as relevant as ever. As is the message that drinking and driving can never be condoned.”
The Jeep commercial, titled “The Middle,” sparked a wave of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bruce-springsteen-called-trump-threat-democracy-ripped-for-pushing-unity-super-bowl-ad">backlash</a> over Springsteen’s role in the message. The ad featured a series of clips of Springsteen, a Jeep, and open stretches of highway with a voiceover of the singer urging Americans to work past division and toward “the middle.”
“There’s a chapel in Kansas standing on the exact center of the lower 48. It never closes. All are more than welcome to come meet here in the middle,” Springsteen says in the ad. “It’s no secret, the middle has been a hard place to get to lately, between red and blue, between servant and citizen, between our freedom and our fear.”
“Now fear has never been the best of who we are. And as for freedom, it’s not the property of just the fortunate few. It belongs to us all, whoever you are, wherever you’re from. It’s what connects us, and we need that connection,” he continues. “We need the middle. We just have to remember the very soil we stand on is common ground. So we can get there. We can make it to the mountain top, through the desert, and we will cross this divide. Our light has always found its way through the darkness. And there’s hope on the rode up ahead.”
Springsteen has been outspoken in politics and a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump, once calling the chief executive a “threat to democracy.”
“I believe that our current president is a threat to our democracy,” the singer said last year. “He simply makes any kind of reform that much harder. I don’t know if our democracy could stand another four years of his custodianship. These are all existential threats to our democracy and our American way of life.”

Bruce Springsteen Freed Of Drunk Driving Charges, Slapped With $500 Fine

Former President Barack Obama and music icon Bruce Springsteen are making an eight-episode podcast series together.
Spotify announced the series, titled “Renegades: Born in the USA,” on Monday and released the first two episodes. Obama and Springsteen’s recorded conversations “will explore topics of race, fatherhood, marriage, and the future of America” over the course of the first season, according to <a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-02-22/president-barack-obama-and-bruce-springsteen-join-forces-in-the-new-podcast-renegades-born-in-the-usa/">Spotify</a>. The announcement did not say whether the show will be around for future seasons.
“How did we get here? How could we find our way back to a more unifying American story?” Obama says in the first episode. “That topic came to dominate so many of my conversations last year — with Michelle, with my daughters and with friends. And one of the friends just happened to be Mr. Bruce Springsteen. On the surface, Bruce and I don’t have a lot in common. But over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility. About work, about family and about America.”
“In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so much,” he continues. “Trying to chronicle the stories of its people. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America.”
The podcast is the second show to come out of the partnership between the Obamas&#8217; production company Higher Ground Productions and Spotify, which has exclusive rights to host the new podcast. Michelle Obama announced the launch of her podcast in September.
Obama and Springsteen’s podcast is comprised of conversations the two recorded at Springsteen’s New Jersey studio from July to December. A recent DWI charge against the singer did not impact Spotify’s plans to release the podcast, and no references to alcohol were redacted after news of Springsteen’s arrest went public earlier this month, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/arts/obama-springsteen-podcast-spotify.html">The New York Times</a>.
Springsteen was arrested in New Jersey on a DWI charge in November. As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bruce-springsteen-jeep-celebrity-spokesman-arrested-for-dwi">The Daily Wire</a> reported:
<blockquote>Music icon Bruce Springsteen was arrested for DWI in New Jersey last year, reports revealed days after he appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Jeep.
Authorities arrested Springsteen, who is due in court in several weeks, on Nov. 14 at Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. He was cited for DWI, reckless driving, and consuming alcohol in a closed area, according to <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2021/02/10/bruce-springsteen-arrested-dwi-november-new-jersey/">TMZ</a>, which first reported the arrest. A spokesperson for the National Parks Service confirmed the arrest to <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/02/10/bruce-springsteen-arrested-for-dwi-in-new-jersey/">the New York Post</a>.</blockquote>
News of Springsteen’s DWI charge came after the singer appeared in his first ever <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bruce-springsteen-called-trump-threat-democracy-ripped-for-pushing-unity-super-bowl-ad">Super Bowl</a> advertisement. The Jeep ad featured clips of Springsteen and a Jeep with a voiceover by the singer calling for Americans to move toward “the middle” for unity. The ad stands in contrast to previous comments made by the singer, most notably about former President Donald Trump, who Springsteen referred to as a “threat to democracy.”
After news of the arrest went public, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jeep-pauses-springsteen-ad-following-dwi-arrest-report">Jeep</a> pulled its ad featuring Springsteen, saying, “It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of a matter we have only read about and we cannot substantiate. But it’s also right that we pause our Big Game commercial until the actual facts can be established. Its message of community and unity is as relevant as ever. As is the message that drinking and driving can never be condoned.”

Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama

Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen Release Podcast On ‘Unifying America’

Michelle Obama

The unity-themed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bruce-springsteen-called-trump-threat-democracy-ripped-for-pushing-unity-super-bowl-ad">Jeep commercial featuring Bruce Springsteen</a> appears to have been removed from YouTube, only days after it aired to the millions of Americans watching the Super Bowl.
The ad, titled &#8220;The Middle,&#8221; appeared on YouTube for several days, and was one of the most-watched commercials of the Super Bowl on YouTube, <a href="https://deadline.com/2021/02/michael-b-jordan-bruce-springsteen-timothee-chalamet-super-bowl-ads-most-watched-youtube-waynes-world-marvel-paramount-plus-1234689434/">according</a> to Deadline. It&#8217;s not clear when the video was taken down, but Jeep made the decision to &#8220;pause&#8221; the commercial after TMZ reported that Springsteen had been arrested — back in November — for a DWI in New Jersey.
A Jeep spokesperson told InsideHook in a statement Wednesday: “It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the details of a matter we have only read about and we cannot substantiate. But it’s also right that we pause our Big Game commercial until the actual facts can be established. Its message of community and unity is as relevant as ever. As is the message that drinking and driving can never be condoned.”
According to <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2021/02/10/bruce-springsteen-arrested-dwi-november-new-jersey/">TMZ</a>, Springsteen was arrested at Gateway National Recreation Area and will appear in court in the coming weeks. Officials cited him for a DWI, drinking alcohol in a closed area, and driving recklessly, law enforcement sources told the outlet. A spokesperson for the National Park Services told the <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/02/10/bruce-springsteen-arrested-for-dwi-in-new-jersey/">New York Post</a> that Springsteen was &#8220;cooperative&#8221; during the incident.
The two-minute Super Bowl commercial, Springsteen’s first, called on Americans to look past division and to focus on unity. Springsteen&#8217;s narration is featured throughout the commercial, and at various moments, the 71-year-old singer was shown in a jeep.
“There’s a chapel in Kansas standing on the exact center of the lower 48. It never closes. All are more than welcome to come meet here in the middle,” said Springsteen in the commercial. “It’s no secret, the middle has been a hard place to get to lately, between red and blue, between servant and citizen, between our freedom and our fear.”
“Now fear has never been the best of who we are. And as for freedom, it’s not the property of just the fortunate few. It belongs to us all, whoever you are, wherever you’re from. It’s what connects us, and we need that connection,” Springsteen added. “We need the middle. We just have to remember the very soil we stand on is common ground. So we can get there. We can make it to the mountain top, through the desert, and we will cross this divide. Our light has always found its way through the darkness. And there&#8217;s hope on the road ahead.&#8221;
According to <a href="https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/bruce-springsteen-super-bowl-commercials-jeep-1234902575/">Variety</a>, Springsteen only agreed to do the commercial at the start of 2021, and it was filmed in late January. The commercial still appears on his Twitter account:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Middle. <a href="https://t.co/dbsgWV35i0">pic.twitter.com/dbsgWV35i0</a>
— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) <a href="https://twitter.com/springsteen/status/1358606430383689728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2021</a></blockquote>

2019 Toronto International Film Festival – “Western Stars” Premiere – Arrivals

Jeep Pauses Springsteen Ad Following DWI Arrest Report

Jeep

Music icon Bruce Springsteen was arrested for DWI in New Jersey last year, reports revealed days after he appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Jeep.
Authorities arrested Springsteen, who is due in court in several weeks, on Nov. 14 at Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. He was cited for DWI, reckless driving, and consuming alcohol in a closed area, according to <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2021/02/10/bruce-springsteen-arrested-dwi-november-new-jersey/">TMZ</a>, which first reported the arrest. A spokesperson for the National Parks Service confirmed the arrest to <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/02/10/bruce-springsteen-arrested-for-dwi-in-new-jersey/">the New York Post</a>.
Springsteen made headlines earlier this week after he appeared in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bruce-springsteen-called-trump-threat-democracy-ripped-for-pushing-unity-super-bowl-ad">Jeep commercial</a> first aired during the Super Bowl game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. Springsteen, a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, made a pitch for unity during the commercial sparking accusations of hypocrisy after his treatment of Trump and Republicans months prior.
In the run-up to the 2020 election, Springsteen publicly pledged to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-celebrities-who-have-vowed-to-leave-u-s-should-trump-win">leave</a> the United States if Trump was reelected. In June, the singer called then-President Trump a “threat to our democracy.”
“I believe that our current president is a threat to our democracy,” the singer said. “He simply makes any kind of reform that much harder. I don’t know if our democracy could stand another four years of his custodianship. These are all existential threats to our democracy and our American way of life.”
In October, Springsteen said the White House was in need of an “exorcism.”
“Welcome ghouls and fools, witches, vampires, bloodsucking politicians, zombie denizens of Washington, DC, it is time for an exorcism in our nation’s capital,” he said. “In just a few days we’ll be throwing the bums out. I thought it was a … nightmare but it was so true.”
In the Jeep commercial that aired Sunday, Springsteen struck a different cord, calling on Americans to reject division and work toward “the middle.” As The Daily Wire reported:
<blockquote>In the ad, Springsteen calls on Americans to work toward “the middle” and overcome division in politics and elsewhere to get to “what connects us.” His speech plays over clips of the open road, at times featuring the singer and a Jeep vehicle. As the ad closes, an image of the outline of the United States appears overlaid with the words “To the ReUnited States of America.”
“There’s a chapel in Kansas standing on the exact center of the lower 48. It never closes. All are more than welcome to come meet here in the middle,” Springsteen says. “It’s no secret, the middle has been a hard place to get to lately, between red and blue, between servant and citizen, between our freedom and our fear.”
“Now fear has never been the best of who we are. And as for freedom, it’s not the property of just the fortunate few. It belongs to us all, whoever you are, wherever you’re from. It’s what connects us, and we need that connection,” he continues. “We need the middle. We just have to remember the very soil we stand on is common ground. So we can get there. We can make it to the mountain top, through the desert, and we will cross this divide. Our light has always found its way through the darkness. And there’s hope on the rode up ahead.”</blockquote>

Bruce Springsteen, Jeep Celebrity Spokesman, Arrested For DWI

Critics slammed iconic singer Bruce Springsteen and the Jeep vehicle brand after the two collaborated on an ad calling for a return to “the middle.”
Springsteen has a history of making outlandish, politically-driven claims and comments attacking Republicans, most notably former President Donald Trump. Springsteen was one of a host of celebrities to make a public pledge to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-celebrities-who-have-vowed-to-leave-u-s-should-trump-win">leave</a> the United States if Trump was reelected in 2020.
In the ad, Springsteen calls on Americans to work toward “the middle” and overcome division in politics and elsewhere to get to “what connects us.” His speech plays over clips of the open road, at times featuring the singer and a Jeep vehicle. As the ad closes, an image of the outline of the United States appears overlaid with the words “To the ReUnited States of America.”
“There’s a chapel in Kansas standing on the exact center of the lower 48. It never closes. All are more than welcome to come meet here in the middle,” Springsteen says. “It’s no secret, the middle has been a hard place to get to lately, between red and blue, between servant and citizen, between our freedom and our fear.”
“Now fear has never been the best of who we are. And as for freedom, it’s not the property of just the fortunate few. It belongs to us all, whoever you are, wherever you’re from. It’s what connects us, and we need that connection,” he continues. “We need the middle. We just have to remember the very soil we stand on is common ground. So we can get there. We can make it to the mountain top, through the desert, and we will cross this divide. Our light has always found its way through the darkness. And there’s hope on the rode up ahead.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The Middle. <a href="https://t.co/dbsgWV35i0">pic.twitter.com/dbsgWV35i0</a>
&mdash; Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) <a href="https://twitter.com/springsteen/status/1358606430383689728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Springsteen’s recent call for moderation and agreement comes after he spoke out vehemently against Trump’s reelection, calling the former president a “threat to our democracy.”
“I believe that our current president is a threat to our democracy,” the singer said in a June interview with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/bruce-springsteens-playlist/613378/">The Atlantic</a>. “He simply makes any kind of reform that much harder. I don’t know if our democracy could stand another four years of his custodianship. These are all existential threats to our democracy and our American way of life.”
In late October, he <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/10/29/bruce-springsteen-calls-americans-vote-trump-out-office/6076073002/">compared</a> Trump to a demon on his SeriousXM show comparing the then-upcoming election to an “exorcism.”
“Welcome ghouls and fools, witches, vampires, bloodsucking politicians, zombie denizens of Washington, DC, it is time for an exorcism in our nation’s capital,” Springsteen said. “In just a few days we&#8217;ll be throwing the bums out. I thought it was a … nightmare but it was so true.”
Critics on Twitter slammed the Jeep ad for featuring Springsteen, some pointing out Springsteen’s past rhetoric surrounding politics and his insults directed at Trump.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just three months ago Bruce Springsteen was calling for an &quot;exorcism in our nation’s capital&quot; because there was a Republican president. <a href="https://t.co/SkiFhRdNxq">pic.twitter.com/SkiFhRdNxq</a>
&mdash; Brent Scher (@BrentScher) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentScher/status/1358631443413553153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“The thing about that Jeep ad was how I really respected how they used Bruce Springsteen, long noted for his moderate and centrist political views, to deliver the message,” RealClearInvestigations senior writer Mark Hemingway said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The thing about that Jeep ad was how I really respected how they used Bruce Springsteen, long noted for his moderate and centrist political views, to deliver the message.
&mdash; Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) <a href="https://twitter.com/Heminator/status/1358608352696274947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Ok maybe my husband is right and Bruce Springsteen is actually the worst,” Karol Markowicz, a columnist for the New York Post, tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Ok maybe my husband is right and Bruce Springsteen is actually the worst.
&mdash; Karol Markowicz (@karol) <a href="https://twitter.com/karol/status/1358606579797524480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Bruce Springsteen, Who Called Trump A ‘Threat To Democracy,’ Ripped For Pushing Unity In Super Bowl Ad

Super Bowl

Every four years, limousine liberals vow that they&#8217;ll leave the U.S. if the Republican presidential candidate wins.
Of course, they never do, but they vow to, anyway.
Here are the celebrities who have said they&#8217;ll abandon America if President Trump wins re-election.
Bruce Springsteen
The Boss said he&#8217;d quit the U.S. and just might move to Australia if Trump wins reelection on Nov. 3.
&#8220;I would consider that,&#8221; he said Oct. 14 during a virtual chat with Australian press, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8845129/Bruce-Springsteen-Trump-wins-Im-moving-Australia.html">according</a> to the Daily Mail.
&#8220;I love Australia,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Every time, we have nothing but good times down there. It&#8217;s always a treat to come. Love the people, love the geography, great place for motorcycle trips, it&#8217;s close to our hearts.&#8221;
But the &#8220;Born In The U.S.A&#8221; singer, 71, said he&#8217;ll let the president decide what he does. &#8220;If Trump is reelected — which he will not be; I’m predicting right now he&#8217;s gonna lose — if by some happenstance he should be, I&#8217;ll see you on the next plane,&#8221; Springsteen said.
In 2018, Springsteen wasn&#8217;t optimistic about a Biden win or even a Democratic victory, saying in an interview that &#8220;Democrats don&#8217;t have an obvious, effective presidential candidate.&#8221;
Tommy Lee
The Motley Crue drummer said last month that he finds America &#8220;embarrassing,&#8221; thinks Europeans are mocking us and vowed that if Trump wins re-election, &#8220;I&#8217;m out of here.&#8221;
“Dude, I swear to God if that happens, then I&#8217;m coming over to visit the U.K. I&#8217;m out of here,&#8221; he told <a href="https://www.bigissue.com/latest/tommy-lee-stop-voting-for-celebrities-and-get-someone-real-to-run-the-us/?new=true">Big Issue</a>. &#8220;I&#8217;ll go back to my motherland, go back to go to Greece and get a house on one of the islands.
&#8220;The thing that stings the most is that I feel like we&#8217;re embarrassing. I feel like people in Europe and the rest of the world look at America and think: &#8216;What the f*** are you guys doing over there? Stop voting for celebrities and get someone real to run the country.'&#8221;
Lee said Trump will &#8220;do anything&#8221; to hold on to the White House and urged people to vote for Biden.
&#8220;This guy is going to do anything to win,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to be skullduggery, shenanigans, subterfuge. And also, I feel that if we don&#8217;t come out to vote in the numbers we need for a landslide that&#8217;s not in his favor, he&#8217;s going to contest the election. I don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s going to want to leave the White House. This thing is not a lock. I don&#8217;t care what the polls say.&#8221;
Ricky Martin
Yes, the Latino singer is still &#8220;Livin&#8217; La Vida Loca.&#8221;
The former Menudo boy wonder turned King of Latin Pop, who was born in Puerto Rico, says he might just pack his bags and boogie if Trump wins.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve been supporting Biden forever,&#8221; said in an episode of the Variety and iHeart <a href="https://variety.com/video/ricky-martin-joe-biden-latino-donald-trump/">podcast</a> &#8220;The Big Ticket.&#8221; &#8220;I think he is the only option we have and he is great and he has been in politics all his life. This is the moment. We all need to get together and be loud about the course of this nation.&#8221;
But the singer said that while he and his husband had made plans to bail on the U.S., he said first he&#8217;ll stay &#8220;to fight.&#8221;
“I think when you have 50 million people voting already, it’s because we are not the only ones concerned about this and for that I am extremely happy,” Martin said. “We just take it one day at a time and we’ve had plans like we might leave the country, but no. We have to stay here and we have to fight for our rights and what we believe.”
John Legend and Chrissy Teigen
The singer and model, who have made millions in America, might just cruise out of Trump wins.
Legend said in a 2019 <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a34140490/john-legend-chrissy-teigen-donald-trump-leave-usa/">interview</a> with Cosmopolitan U.K. that he and his wife might leave because Trump &#8220;is trying to destroy democracy.&#8221;
&#8220;Every once in a while you think about it,&#8221; the singer told the outlet. &#8220;We were born and raised here, all of our families are here. It would be hard to leave. But I don&#8217;t know what one&#8217;s supposed to do when you have a leader who is trying to destroy democracy.&#8221;
&#8220;At some point, if that project [to destroy democracy] was to be in any way successful, you&#8217;d have to think about going somewhere that is a true democracy, that has respect for the rule of law and human rights,&#8221; Legend said.
Comedian Michael Loftus last month said good riddance to bad rubbish.
&#8220;When celebrities declare they&#8217;re going to leave, we should have some new kind of candyman law,&#8221; he said Oct. 17 on <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/celebs-vowing-to-flee-country-upon-trump-reelection-really-think-theyre-that-important-comedian" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fox News</a>. &#8220;Meaning, if you declare it three times, you have to leave. Don&#8217;t let the door hit ya&#8217; where the good Lord split ya.'&#8221;
And Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said last month he&#8217;d put up the cash for a one-way ticket for any celebrity who claims that they will leave America if Trump is re-elected.
“Hell, I’ll even help them pack,” the sheriff <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ButlerCountySO/posts/3127754057347940" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote</a> on Facebook.
Before the 2016 election, &#8220;The View&#8221; co-host Whoopi Goldberg said if Trump wins, &#8220;maybe it&#8217;s time for me to move, you know.&#8221;
&#8220;I am moving if he is my president! I don&#8217;t say things I don&#8217;t mean!&#8221; singer Miley Cyrus said.
Comedian Amy Schumer said: &#8220;My act will change because I will need to learn to speak Spanish because I will move to Spain or somewhere. It&#8217;s beyond my comprehension if Trump won. It&#8217;s just too crazy.&#8221;
Actor Bryan Cranston made the same vow. &#8220;Absolutely, I would definitely move,&#8221; he said, adding: &#8220;It&#8217;s not real to me that that would happen. I hope to God it won&#8217;t.&#8221;
And Former &#8220;Girls&#8221; actress Lena Dunham said: &#8220;I know a lot of people have been threatening to do this, but I really will. I know a lovely place in Vancouver.&#8221;
None of them left the U.S.

Frankfurt Book Fair

Here Are The Celebrities Who Have Vowed To Leave U.S. Should Trump Win

2020 Election

Hollywood

John Legend

Ricky Martin

Bruce Springsteen&#8217;s &#8220;Born in the U.S.A.&#8221; marks its 35th anniversary this June. The American rock icon&#8217;s seventh studio album was met with massive commercial success upon release, featuring seven top-ten singles; it was certified as a three-times platinum record within a year of its release, and has sold over 30 million copies just since 2012.
Working with remnant recordings from sessions off of his then-previous record release, &#8220;Nebraska,&#8221; Springsteen reunited with the E-Street Band and producer Jon Landau to assemble his most pop-infused album since &#8220;Born to Run.&#8221;
In &#8220;Born in the U.S.A.,&#8221; Springsteen pooled a flourishing gamut of themes and ideas explored in previous records: The poignant depths of the human spirit on the verge of collapse from &#8220;Nebraska&#8221; (1982); the hardship of lost love and heartbreak from &#8220;The River&#8221; (1980); and the eminence of one&#8217;s roots and upbringing in &#8220;Born to Run&#8221; (1975).
In honor of the album&#8217;s anniversary, here&#8217;s a deeper dive into a few key songs that, 35 years later, have stood the test of time, and carry themes as relevant today as they were in 1984.
Born in the U.S.A.
The eponymous opening track, &#8220;Born in the U.S.A.&#8221; sets the tone for the album, kicking off as the most anthemic rocker in Springsteen&#8217;s discography since &#8220;Born to Run.&#8221; Set against a backdrop of red, white, and blue, it&#8217;s easy to see why the album&#8217;s title track is oft misinterpreted as either a paean to patriotism and America or as an anti-war harangue.
In fact, it&#8217;s neither of the two. If anything, it leans closer to the upbeat celebration of Americana than its browbeating. In standard Springsteen style, the song is a story, telling the tale of a wounded combatant who, at no choosing of his own, was sent off to fight in Vietnam and then returns home to find his town left hung out to dry.
<blockquote>
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said &#8220;son if it was up to me&#8221;
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said &#8220;son, don&#8217;t you understand&#8221;
</blockquote>
There&#8217;s a widespread consensus now that the Vietnam War was largely a tragic boondoggle. It isn&#8217;t a controversial position. And Springsteen, in his lyrics, doesn&#8217;t focus on the vagaries of Vietnam; he instead lends his voice to the neglected and abandoned veterans of the conflict.
No Surrender
Springsteen&#8217;s affection for the downtrodden veterans of Vietnam has its reprise on the opening track of the record&#8217;s B-Side (the flip-side of the record), &#8220;No Surrender.&#8221; The track ties the album back to its namesake theme.
<blockquote>
Well, we made a promise we swore we&#8217;d always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Like soldiers in the winter&#8217;s night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender
</blockquote>
The song &#8220;No Surrender&#8221; is about camaraderie and staying true to oneself in the face of adversity. Springsteen communicates this idea soulfully:
<blockquote>
Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in
There&#8217;s a war outside still raging
You say it ain&#8217;t ours anymore to win
I want to sleep beneath
Peaceful skies in my lover&#8217;s bed
With a wide open country in my eyes
And these romantic dreams in my head
Once we made a promise we swore we&#8217;d always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Blood brothers in a stormy night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender
</blockquote>
Life is unpredictable. But even in the thick of battle, amid raging war when all one wants to do is go to sleep and dream of a more idyllic era, one has to stay true to himself and to those around him. No retreat, baby, no surrender.
Downbound Train
Toward the end of the album&#8217;s A-Side is one of Springsteen&#8217;s darkest and most melancholy tunes: &#8220;Downbound Train.&#8221; A drumbeat to deprivation and hardship, the song&#8217;s lyrics paint a bleak picture of economic anxiety.
<blockquote>
I had a job, I had a girl
I had something going, mister, in this world
I got laid off down at the lumber yard
Our love went bad, times got hard
Now I work down at the car wash
Where all it ever does is rain
Don&#8217;t you feel like you&#8217;re a rider on a downbound train
</blockquote>
The song follows a middle-class worker who loses his job and watches his life spiral down into penury &#8212; on-board, as Springsteen dubbed it, a downbound train.
Bobby Jean
Bruce Springsteen&#8217;s retrospective on life fills the grooves of the album&#8217;s B-side. With &#8220;Bobby Jean,&#8221; Springsteen tackles heartbreak and loss of friendship. The song&#8217;s malleable lyrics lend themselves to a slew of settings. Recovering from the slums of a breakup with your high school sweetheart? The song&#8217;s first verse channels this cliché.
<blockquote>
Well, I came to your house the other day
Your mother said you went away
She said there was nothing that I could have done
There was nothing nobody could say
Me and you, we&#8217;ve known each other ever since we were sixteen
I wished I could have known
I wished I could have called you
Just to say goodbye, Bobby Jean
</blockquote>
Growing up, if you had a childhood friend you felt was the only one who truly understood you and shared your interests, then the grief of losing such a friend is immeasurable. Springsteen captures that sorrow seamlessly in the latter verses.
<blockquote>
Now, you hung with me when all the others
Turned away, turned up their nose
We liked the same music, we liked the same bands 
&#8230;
Now, we went walking in the rain,
Talking about the pain that from the world we hid
Now there ain&#8217;t nobody, nowhere, nohow
Gonna ever understand me the way you did
Maybe you&#8217;ll be out there on that road somewhere
In some bus or train traveling along
In some motel room there&#8217;ll be a radio playing
And you&#8217;ll hear me sing this song
Well, if you do, you&#8217;ll know I&#8217;m thinking of you
And all the miles in between
And I&#8217;m just calling you one last time
Not to change your mind, but just to say I miss you, baby
Good luck, goodbye, Bobby Jean
</blockquote>
Glory Days
Of the next song, &#8220;Glory Days,&#8221; Springsteen said, &#8220;The first verse actually happened. The second verse mostly happened, and the third verse, of course, is happening now.&#8221; Springsteen&#8217;s lyrics transport the listener back to his halcyon high school days. Most importantly, the lyrics serve as a reminder that nostalgia is a powerful drug that blunts the painful realities of the present.
<blockquote>
Well there&#8217;s a girl that lives up the block
Back in school she could turn all the boy&#8217;s heads
Sometimes on a Friday I&#8217;ll stop by
And have a few drinks after she put her kids to bed
Her and her husband Bobby well they split up
I guess it&#8217;s two years gone by now
We just sit around talking about the old times
She says when she feels like crying
She starts laughing thinking bout
Glory days, well they&#8217;ll pass you by
Glory days, in the wink of a young girl&#8217;s eye
Glory days, glory days
</blockquote>
My Hometown
The album&#8217;s coda is among Springsteen&#8217;s finest compositions: A wistful ballad you can listen to with your eyes closed, as the transcendent lyrics transport the listener to his childhood town. Springsteen masterfully alludes to the treasured childhood memory of most: The first time being hoisted behind a seemingly giant steering wheel of a car.
<blockquote>
I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I&#8217;d sit on his lap in that big old Buick
And steer as we drove through town
He&#8217;d tousle my hair and say &#8220;Son, take a good look around
This is your hometown.
</blockquote>
In &#8220;My Hometown,&#8221; Springsteen circles back to his roots which he fervently fought to flee in &#8220;Born to Run.&#8221; &#8220;This town rips the bones from your back; it&#8217;s a death trap, a suicide rap. We gotta get out while we&#8217;re young; cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run.&#8221; But he doesn&#8217;t stop there. In the same song, Springsteen tackles racial tensions and conflict, before returning to another of the album&#8217;s key themes: Economic anxiety.
<blockquote>
In &#8217;65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights &#8216;tween the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night
In the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed, then a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
To my hometown
Now Main Street&#8217;s whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain&#8217;t nobody wants to come down here no more
They&#8217;re closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says &#8220;These jobs are going, boys
And they ain&#8217;t coming back
To your hometown.&#8221;
</blockquote>
With &#8220;Born in the U.S.A.,&#8221; Bruce Springsteen crafted a cohesive, unified pop-rock album. Though not his best album (that spot is forever reserved for the venerable &#8220;Born to Run&#8221;), &#8220;Born in the U.S.A.&#8221; made &#8220;The Boss&#8221; a worldwide superstar, sending Springsteen to the summit of his commercial success. Though no other album of his would ever reach such stardom, Springsteen can always look back to 1984, smiling, and thinking &#8216;bout glory days.
Follow Harry Khachatrian on <a href="https://twitter.com/Harry1T6">Twitter</a>.
Writer&#8217;s note:
Here is the writer&#8217;s personal comprehensive ranking of the top 10 Bruce Springsteen studio albums:
1. Born to Run (1975)
2. Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)
3. The Wild the Innocent &amp; the E Street Shuffle (1973)
4. Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)
5. Nebraska (1982)
6. The River (1980)
7. Born in the USA (1984)
8. The Rising (2002)
9. Tunnel of Love (1987)
10. The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995)

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ Turns 35

&#8220;Born in the USA&#8221; crooner, Bruce Springsteen, played to a packed out crowd in Melbourne, Austrailia Monday night where he opened by saying that he and his band were embarrassed to be Americans. 
As The Blaze <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/02/03/bruce-springsteen-to-australian-crowd-we-stand-before-you-embarrassed-americans-tonight/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reports</a>, the 67 year-old singer followed his band out on the stage and addressed his fans with a quip lobbed at President Trump. 
<blockquote>
&#8220;We stand before you embarrassed Americans tonight,&#8221; Springsteen told the audience as he introduced a &#8217;60s pop tune by a group called the Orlons. &#8220;We&#8217;re gonna use this to send a letter back home.&#8221;
The song&#8217;s title? &#8220;Don&#8217;t Hang Up.&#8221;
The crowd got the joke pretty quickly, clearly a reference to Republican President Donald Trump&#8217;s self-described &#8220;tough&#8221; phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the weekend regarding a &#8220;dumb&#8221; Obama administration agreement to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center.
</blockquote>
T&#8203;urnbull denied that the phone call ended harshly, telling a radio station that, &#8220;I want to make one observation about it. The report the president hung up is not correct, the call ended courteously.&#8221;
Click below for the footage:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DoOneRJEz8Y" width="560"></iframe></div>
Springsteen&#8217;s longtime guitarist tweeted an apology to Australia on behalf of America, saying:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Australia is, was, and always will be one of the USA&#8217;s best friends and closest allies. Apologies for today&#8217;s temporary embarrassment.
&#8212; Stevie Van Zandt (@StevieVanZandt) <a href="https://twitter.com/StevieVanZandt/status/827015761038151680">February 2, 2017</a></blockquote>
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In January, Springsteen told podcaster Marc Maron that he doesn&#8217;t think Trump is competent enough to be president.
&#8220;It&#8217;s simply the fear of, &#8216;Is someone simply competent enough to do this particular job?'&#8221; Springsteen told Maron. &#8220;Forget about where they are ideologically. Do they simply have the pure competence to be put in a position of such responsibility?&#8221;
Springsteen said he&#8217;d &#8220;felt disgust&#8221; over elections before, &#8220;but never, never the kind of fear that you feel now . . . So my fear is that those things find a place in ordinary, civil society, demeans the discussion and events of the day, and the country changes in a way that is unrecognizable, and we become estranged&#8230;Those are all dangerous things, and he hasn&#8217;t even taken office yet.&#8221;
In the clip below from their stop in Adelaide, Australia, Springsteen tells the crowd he&#8217;s not pleased with Trump&#8217;s immigration order. &#8220;Tonight we want to add our voices to the thousands of Americans who are protesting at airports around our country the Muslim Ban and the detention of foreign nationals and refugees,&#8221; Springsteen said. &#8220;America is a nation of immigrants, and we find this anti-democratic and fundamentally un-American.&#8221;
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