That's Bruce Springsteen on the cover of Newsweek from 1974. Someone that's 17 years old today would consider me old and in 1974 my mother was 24 years old. This is what a computer looked like in 1974. You could still buy one of these in 1974.
With Bruce Spingsteen's "Wrecking Ball" hovering around number 11 on iTunes, this guy is wondering if Bruce Springsteen fans are just too old to download it, and would prefer to buy the actual, physical CD.
You know... Because they're old.
For comparison he threw Tony Bennett in there as an example. A guy my grandmother loved. I won't argue with him that some of the fans of Bruce Springsteen are too old to get all this "newfangled computeratin' stuff" because it's probably true. After all someone that was just 30 years old and probably a hip young partyin' type when Bruce Springsteen's first album was released on January 5, 1973 would be sixty nine years old this year. Don't think that's old? Get caught behind them in traffic some day. Or stand behind them at one of those Chinese Super Computers otherwise known as an "ATM Machine".What it does say about Springsteen’s fans is that they are not downloaders. This is something that should set off light bulbs at record companies. Tony Bennett’s fans aren’t downloaders either. But he’s sold bucketloads of his “Duets II” albums. Physical CDs are still in high demand for people 40 and older. They want the CD package in their hands–a souvenir, evidence of something they’ve purchased, an addition to a collection of past CDs of their favorite artists. Also, they still don’t really get the technical part of downloading music.
But I would also have added that maybe, just maybe, no one gives a shit about Bruce Springsteen anymore. Ask any 20 year old today who Bruce Springsteen is. Or Paul McCartney. Or Mick Jagger. Most of them won't know who they are. If they do know of them it'll be by name only. They'll know of them the way my friends knew of Glenn Miller.
Bruce Springsteen, along with the rest of those geriatrics, are nothing more than oldies acts. They're todays version of Buddy Holly, or The Big Bopper. Any day now you'll start seeing those guys crop up in commercials about reverse mortgages, and non-slip shower liners in commercial breaks during "Judge Judy". Hey I don't want that either. Personally, I'd rather they just go away.
Because if I have to hear "Born to Run"one more time I'm pouring sugar into the gas tank of the first Buick LeSabre I see.
