No other artist has had more impact on my life. It could be argued that no other PERSON has had more impact on my life. Bruce built my worldview- a place where "nobody wins unless everybody wins" (his words) and "nobody crowds you, but nobody goes it alone" (from the amazing "Long Walk Home"). It's a worldview I still aspire to every day.
I remember seeing him at his sold-out 10 night run at MSG in 2000 (I was at 8 of the 10 shows) when he debuted a song about the shooting of a Guinean immigrant student named Amadou Diallo, who was shot 41 times by police while reaching for his wallet to try to prove his identity. The song "American Skin (41 Shots)" was an early and eloquent protest against police violence upon people of color. Bruce's audience can still be at least half conservative and the stunned reaction of the audience was shocking. Booos rose up from the audience. Loudly. The other half of the audience tried to drown them out with support, but the mood in the room was ugly. The next day the NY Post had a cover story about how angry the police union was that their "American" hero had betrayed them. The spokesman for the police union called Springsteen a "fag". (You can look it up). The NYPD pulled their security detail. But Springsteen never budged. He continued to perform the song nightly and invited the family of Amadou Diallo to the last show of the run. He has put his money where his mouth is time and time again.
No other artist has had more impact on my life. It could be argued that no other PERSON has had more impact on my life. Bruce built my worldview- a place where "nobody wins unless everybody wins" (his words) and "nobody crowds you, but nobody goes it alone" (from the amazing "Long Walk Home"). It's a worldview I still aspire to every day.
I remember seeing him at his sold-out 10 night run at MSG in 2000 (I was at 8 of the 10 shows) when he debuted a song about the shooting of a Guinean immigrant student named Amadou Diallo, who was shot 41 times by police while reaching for his wallet to try to prove his identity. The song "American Skin (41 Shots)" was an early and eloquent protest against police violence upon people of color. Bruce's audience can still be at least half conservative and the stunned reaction of the audience was shocking. Booos rose up from the audience. Loudly. The other half of the audience tried to drown them out with support, but the mood in the room was ugly. The next day the NY Post had a cover story about how angry the police union was that their "American" hero had betrayed them. The spokesman for the police union called Springsteen a "fag". (You can look it up). The NYPD pulled their security detail. But Springsteen never budged. He continued to perform the song nightly and invited the family of Amadou Diallo to the last show of the run. He has put his money where his mouth is time and time again.
No one has inspired me more.