Yesterday’s post about Jack Antonoff’s solo project Bleachers included the tune he recorded with Bruce Springsteen, and I mentioned how much it sounded like one of Springsteen’s late-period moody ballads. It reminded me that bands used to emulate a much different Springsteen — the R&B-influenced sound of the band he used to record his first two albums.
That vibe wasn’t original to Springsteen. Van Morrison has long complained about people stealing his sound — listen to “Spirit in the Night” to hear what he means — but it’s also the basis of the often-blue-eyed soul of Carolina beach music. It’s the sound of white kids who grew up listening to the Black music of the ’50s and ’60s.
It’s still around, but when a band sounds that way now it invariably evokes comparison to early Springsteen, just as the young Springsteen was one of a long line of “new Dylans.” When the band Marah released “Kids in Philly” in 2000, this song came as close as anyone ever has to sounding like an outtake from “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle.”
Despite accolades from authors Nick Hornby and Stephen King, and getting to share a stage with Springsteen on several occasions, the original band disintegrated in the late ’00s when it was on the cusp of breaking out. Conan O’Brien hosted their last TV gig during their tour promoting their 2008 album “Angels of Destruction.”
