It was right around this time 30 years ago that Bruce Springsteens Born in the USA was all over the radio and MTV. I had just started eighth grade and the story broke that Ronald Reagans campaign wanted to use the song to pump up the crowds at his 1984 re-election speeches. Apparently they only heard the anthemic beat and what they assumed to be patriotic chorus and never bothered to actually listen to the lyrics. Anyway, Springsteens guys said no way, you cant use the song. And I laughed, because anytime anybody in rock and roll held up the middle finger to the man, that was funny to me. Walter Mondales guys assumed that itd be okay if they used the song, so they asked and got the same response. Even funnier. Fast foward seven years to 1991 and I was in World History at Texas Tech learning about the Vietnam War. I found out that the Viet Cong were nowhere near Khe Sanh as described in what could possibly be some of the greatest and most powerful lyrics in rock and roll history which are Had a brother at Khe Sahn fighting off the Viet Cong... Theyre still there hes all gone... The Marines were fighting the NVA. Some say that Springsteen meant Khe Sanh to be metaphorical for the entire conflict but who knows....by the way I dont know how they did the effects on the snare drums for that song but it still rocks after all these years.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 21:26:51 +0000
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