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Great songs of The Decade That Shall Not Be Named: "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

What makes a rock 'n' roll song great? Well, there's a bunch of things that come to mind -- a killer riff, or haunting lyrics. The one that gets overlooked is context. Bands that have been around the block a few times -- two that I mentioned in a post the other day were R.E.M. and the B-52s - can continue to make great music into their Medicare years, but they can't easily recapture the way we felt when we heard them that first time, and they suffer for that. Great music is also associated with a certain time and place. Would a song like the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" have the same power if it had been released in 1985 instead of 1965, in between the JFK assassination and the Gulf of Tonkin, on the cusp of a sexual revolution? I think not.

45 comments

Great songs of The Decade That Shall Not Be Named: "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

POSTED: Thursday, December 17, 2009, 10:49 PM

I never thought Bruce Springsteen would get his context back; the '90s were a bit of a lost decade as he tried to figure out whether he belonged in Hollywood or New Jersey, with the E Street Band or without it. Then came an American tragedy -- 9/11. In "The Rising," released a year after the attacks, Springsteen produced arguably the only great work of art to rise from the sorrow and ashes of the World Trade Center. In the haze that followed, 9/11 became a rallying cry for politics and for war -- sometimes appropriately, often not -- but Springsteen and his songs on the collection also called "The Rising" brought 9/11 back to its very core, as a tragedy of human loss and love. I can tell you exactly where I was the first time I heard the song "The Rising" on my car radio -- it was smack in the middle of the Platt Bridge -- and by the time the chorus climaxed I knew that Springsteen was back. He and the band made a couple of other excellent CDs, especially 2007's "Magic," but "The Rising" and the album's other songs like "My City of Ruins" and "Lonesome Day" will always define the decade for him, as it should. It's not the best album ever from a man who gave us "Born To Run," "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and all the rest back in his -- what else could you call them? -- glory days, but in a weird way, "The Rising" was Springsteen's record of a lifetime.

Will Bunch @ 10:49 PM Permalink | 45 comments

45 comments

Comments (45)

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:11 AM, 12/18/2009

Or, Will, you could take the alternative approach with songs influenced by 9/11, and look toward a song pointing out the complete BS we were drug through after the event. Hands down, my record of the year, is Green Day's "American Idiot."

— Zeb

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:27 AM, 12/18/2009

Will selected American Idiot last week.

— enabler1

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:30 AM, 12/18/2009

I have to agree Will , the 90's were a bit of a waste for The Boss , he seemed to lose his way though I saw him live at The Milton Keynes Bowl with Tin machine and he was still great his 90's stuff just missed that usual polish . The Rising was a throwback to his best stuff , but it still doesnt beat Born To Run , Thunder Road , Darkness , Born In The USA , The River , or My Hometown , thats my opinion anyway .

— PAEnglish

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:54 AM, 12/18/2009

Come on Will, "Nothing Man" is the best 9/11 song, the best song on that Bruce album, and it truly provides the most "springsteen-esque" view of the whole situation.

— fishtownsteve

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:20 AM, 12/18/2009

I recommend Don DeLillo's novel Falling Man as one of the best (non-musical) commentaries on the post-9/11 mood. Nothing sugar-coated in that book.

— Middleclass

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:42 AM, 12/18/2009

As much as I like Springsteen, the best "album" of the past 10 years goes to Wilco for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Probably the most creative work by a rock band since OK Computer.

— chasing history

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:01 PM, 12/18/2009

Getting rich off of the misery of others and criticizing a country which affords one the opportunities to do this....No wonder he is wills favorite, and a Dem too.

— E Plebnista

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:08 PM, 12/18/2009

How is that "HOPE- CHANGE" thingie working out Bruce?.... Epic Failure = Barack Obama

— Manny Trillo

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About this blog

Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

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