And I moved the last "Boss" thread to the Political forum for the same stupid statements that are being thrown around here. I suppose none of you like the Beatles either? How about the Stones, would you go see them? Did anybody here grow up in the 60's where everyone sit cross legged, smoked dope and listened to music. You think there were any Conservatives at Hait Ashbury? Get a grip people. We are talking about entertainers here. Not Gods. Just listen to the friggen music.

 

Well there you go. Messing up perfectly good BS with facts.

Man, the truth is just so less interesting...

 

Who would you like to see at the next party? How about Aerosmith? They were scheduled to perform at the 105th until they cancelled. I saw them once here at Eastern Illinois University. Well, I almost saw them. Steven Tyler went face down in his own vomit half way through the first song of a drug overdose. That's more American I guess.

 

ZZ Top gave a great show at Sturgis.

 

ZZ Top always puts on a great show. I saw them as headliners at the 90th.

 

HERE ARE SOME FACTS:

Dave Marsh's Born to Run, if you can find it (Amazon says "limited availability," which I assume means it's out of print) talks about Springsteen's experience with the draft board. Essentially he did dodge the draft, though the official line is that he failed the physical.

Here is an interview with the man himself where he talks briefly about it:

quote:
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[Interviewer]:You hadn't been to Vietnam yourself.

[Bruce]: No, I did the draft-dodger rag.

[Int]: Did you feel guilty about not going?

[Bruce]: No, but it was such a part of growing up at that time, it was in your home every single night. My drummer in The Castiles went - and he died. I remember a fella was the best front man in New Jersey at the time, Walter Cichone, and he joined the Marines and was posted missing in action, and on the street people were frightened and everybody was trying to figure out how to get out of the draft. Whether you were there or whether you were at home in the United States, it was a defining moment in American culture. It finds its way time and again into some of my songs. Whether you went or not, it was a big part of your life.

At the time I was 18 or 19, I didn't come out of a political household, I was part of what you'd consider the counterculture, though probably I was the conservative part. I never had any real drug experience, you know. I lived in a little town, and there were lines drawn everywhere.

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IIRC, Springsteen has said he filled out the draft forms in crazy ways and said he was a homosexual and so forth. But if you know anything about Springsteen's life in the late 1960s, you know he probably was in a condition where he would fail a physical, and the military would take a look at him - skinny, wild hair, not particularly articulate yet - and take a pass on him.

He talks a little about his draft experience in his introduction to "The River" on the Live 1975-85 album.

So I guess it's fair to say he was a draft dodger. (After all, he said he was.) But, hell, we're talking about Vietnam here - not exactly our nation's finest moment so I guess my father and his friends who ate mud and bled in the jungle don't matter as much as your favorite rock star.

 

It was so cool to hear hundreds of bikes, racking their throttles as applause. ZZ Top really knew their audience and they reponded in kind.

 

And..consider old Uncle Ted Nugent...flag waving, gun-toting, and draft dodging! I distinctly remember reading the rock mag interview way back in the early 70's where he admitted eating only junk food for weeks...along with not bathing or washing his clothes so he could fail his physical and continue with the Amboy Dukes. He said it was" really too bad cause i could've been a great officer someday..but i could not give up my Rock n Roll" Listen to him now! He also denies smoking pot...something he also admitted to in the early 70's. I gotta admit..i love Teds guitar playing..i've seen him dozens of times...and it doesn't seem like HIS youthful indiscretions have hurt him any. I like a lot of music by people i don't necessarily agree with...their opinions are just that..opinions.

 

On Springsteens live album, he tells the story of going for his physical. How he didn't pass it. The crowd cheered, and he responded that it was nothing to be proud of. I don't agree with most of his political positions, and it can make it hard to listen to him, but the fact is his shows are the best concerts I've ever been to. I like everything before Born In The USA. There was no political BS in those albums, just lots of blue collar rock.

 

If you start grading musicians through a political lense, you could end up with a pretty short playlist, no matter what your politics. Woody Guthrie, Pete Seager, Paul Robeson all pretty controversial in their day but have left a body of work that is enduring the test of time.

Would you really reject the song "This Land is Your Land" because Woody hung out with communists?

I was raised in a military family, my father was a career Maine and a mustang to boot. But my mother would sing Paul Robeson's "Little Man You've had a Busy Day", as a lullabye to my brother and I when we were tykes. And Paul Robeson was a card carrying commie.

Peoples politics, like their religions, are largely situational. Where they were born, how they grew up and who they hang out with. I have found it's best not to judge folks, even if I completely disagree with their politics. (Which is often, being a card carrying curmundgeon). Enjoy art for what it is, something beautiful and transcendent of our normal experience.