The Boss is the Bo$$

My personal favorite is Tunnel Of Love.  I have no issue with musicians selling their catalogue.  It's just the cleanest way for them to do estate planning.  Like any other asset, be it land, equities or in this case music, it only makes sense to tidy up your affairs in a timely fashion.  The opposite of this is Prince.  Massive estate and not even a will?  WTF!!!!  Only winner there is the lawyers.  Good on ya Bruce.  

@bigtwin 

 I have no issue with musicians selling their catalogue.  It's just the cleanest way for them to do estate planning.  Like any other asset, be it land, equities or in this case music, it only makes sense to tidy up your affairs in a timely fashion.

This is the same conclusion I came to. Yes, Good on you Bruce.

@carlsbad   

I don't understand comments like yours?  Please expand.  

Perhaps the only the bad thing is to now expect hearing something in a corny commercial ad nauseum.

Carlsbad

 The truth sets us free.

@tablejockey  - I know the owner of a small record label who has an agent that works with creators of advertising content to place songs from his company's catalog. Was shocked at how much advertisers pay. I'm sure Sony is going to be working overtime to recoup their investment...

i never understood the allurement of Bruce.And I certainly disagree that he saved R&R.  I remember hearing him when he 1st came out. OK at best IMO. Buying vinyl in lots back in the early 00's I acquired several of his. I've tried to listen but its just not my cup of tea. But that's just me. If you like his music, then thats fine. just my opinion worth what you paid for it.

On a different note, I had a foreman who worked with/for me who was from NJ. He really enjoyed telling how he kicked Bruce out of his house one evening. Bruce was jamming in the basement while Joe was trying to sleep. Of course Bruce went on to be famous after that incident.

Luckily for Bruce I approve!

Cool story artemus.

The early albums aren't the best in SQ, but after weeding a few copies of Darkness, I've got a "stamper" level that's a great demo LP. Easy cheap bin find.

Candy's Room, Streets of Fire, Darkness on the Edge of Town at  full throttle on SOTA is an experience.

tablejockey, that Springsteen record is my favorite of all of his recordings, not that it matters to anyone but me.  But still.  I find it a magnificent achievement.

I was not a Bruce Springsteen fan, until 2014! My neighbor invited me to go see Springsteen on the "High Hopes" tour. The album, and live show, featured Tom Morello.

Seeing that Springsteen show completely changed my opinion of "The Boss". Springsteen's walk-off closer of the cover of "Dream Baby Dream" was one of the top highlights of my live music history.

Saw him twice on the 'Born To Run' tour and once on the 'Darkness' tour, and that was it - awesome, 4-hour performances, but I got what I needed. I don't think I've ever owned any of his albums, though. Got a lot of respect for him, just not my style that much. Good for him for selling his catalogue like that. David Bowie did that many years ago, too... I've got no problem with artists earning as much as they want. 

@artemus_5 - whenever I hear somebody described as having 'saved rock and roll' or some such nonsense, I just laugh. Rock and roll was not waiting around for Broooooce or anybody else to save it. Didn't need saving....

500 million is a lot of money. I'd selling everything I own for 500 million and would not look back. If he sold for 1 million, he'd be a fool but at 500 million I can't see a down side. 

for those of us guilty of racing in the streets, Darkness holds a special place..

Good for any artist with an in demand catalog :-)

I am a robot racing for glory and girls…

The wild, the innocent & the E street shuffle, great album. Everything after that went downhill. For me anyway. One good album for such a long career makes real musicians like Bowie and Zappa look like geniuses.

In college me and my friends used to chide Springsteen so much. I will admit I’ve seen him 3 times in concert but that was for the experience.

His music is ok. Some very good. But I don’t find him to be the pinnacle of any genre. I feel like I'm going to get a rupture down there when I hear him "sing". 

But good on him for the $500 million score. And Dylan was "only" $300 million?! There’s a sucker born every minute.

"....I shoulda' learned to play them drums..."

..among other things, I suppose...🤷‍♂️

'Bots' all, Folks!

Now that it’s sold, can he rerecord his catalog like Taylor Swift is doing and sell it a second time for more?

Mike

Good for Bruce. Get the money while you can. 
I’ll take Born To Run over just about any other rock album that came out in 1975. And the same for Darkness. I still have my original copy of Darkness and the SQ is fantastic. It hasn’t lost its magic.

What's left to say about him. He earned his money fair and square. His first couple of albums were interesting and fun, and degree by degree, he became a hyper political bore. I can't stomach to listen to anything by him for years now.

Springsteen at the Inglewood Forum, in the wake of (what was it?) the release of Darkness on the Edge of Town, remains one of the best live concerts I've ever attended. In my personal concert-going history it ranks up there with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. Yeah, he eventually ran out of steam but "Born to Run", "The Wild The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town" were on my turntable for years. It was Springsteen's twangy guitar playing that prompted me to abandon both my Strat and my Les Paul for a vintage Tele. It's only the advent of New Wave and Punk Rock several years later that finally displaced Springsteen as my go-to rock'n'roll.

roxy54, I can understand your feelings. The same thing happens to me when I hear Clapton or Kid Rock or Van Morrison.

I saw Bruce Springsteen only once, at the Berkeley Community Theatre. It was just Bruce and a guitar, no back up band. It was amazing! I told my daughter at the time, "Now you know why they call him The Boss." I hope he enjoys every bit of that money. He deserves it.

I assume there are many things in the contract but I bet there are at least 2. He cannot record for release any song in the contract and he can still perform any song live for no or low charge. If not the latter we have heard the last of him performing.

"I assume there are many things in the contract but I bet there are at least 2. He cannot record for release any song in the contract and he can still perform any song live for no or low charge."

ibmjunkman-That would be one interesting contract to actually read the "fine print."

Sell your catalog, now you need permission from the new "owner" to perform it?

For HALF A BILLION dollars, doesn't seem like much of  an inconvenience.

Have seen Bruce in concert 3 times. Amazing shows. First was the best sound. Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Acoustics so good I still compare every other concert to that night. As to his recorded material most of it was a mess as far as sound goes. Too bright for the most part. 

@mrkillius + 100

"As to his recorded material most of it was a mess as far as sound goes. Too bright for the most part."

jfd11- agreed. If you're into LP's it's worth sifting thru the bins and finding an early press, since Springsteen's earlier stuff isn't in demand-cheap.

Pulled out E Street Shuffle and Greetings which hasn't seen daylight in ages. To my surprise, not bad. That's after getting several copies 3-5.

Can you imagine, Bruce may  now have to have his team get permission to play "Rosalita" ?

It might be interesting to see what commercials and ads Springsteen songs start showing up in.... 

Sounds like a very good deal for Springsteen.  Artistically, it could be a great move if it spurs him to move on from his old catalog and start creating something new.  Does he really want to sing "Rosalita" or "Born To Run" one more time?  He's only been singing those songs for 45 years.

My problem with Bruce & E Street Band is their sound is just so big and blasting.  It is hard to hear any separate instruments.  Just bombastic.  I can name countless large bands where you can pick out each instrument and follow it over the course of a song.  Not so with Bruce & band.

But, I will say, he is one hell of a performer.  3+ hours of Rock n Roll.  Quite enjoyable.  Only went to one show during the River Tour, but what a show.  By the third song he was being body passed in the audience.  One Hell of A Performer.

With all that, a few of his early things are great.  The Thunder Road with just harmonica & piano from Max's Kansas CIty (I think) is a great Americana song.  I can't deny that.  

@pgaulke60  - Try this one...

He is a very talented artist who both writes and performs his own music.  What do YOU do?

He is clearly not Pavarotti, but is not supposed to be.  It is Rock 'n' Roll, in the tradition of Chuck and Jerry and Roy and Elvis and so forth.

AND, he recorded STAND ON IT, which is one heck of a rock tune!

Cheers, and good for him.  (My daughter went to college with his son, who dropped out to become a firefighter, FYI.)

@pgaulke60 Yeah, it took me a while to get used to Springsteen's all-loud-all-the-time approach, too. Then I succumbed to it.

pgaulke60

Bruce and the band has sound that is "big and blasting" in studio albums. Other than his first 3, none of which were well recorded-- but not annoying, Darkness (excellent sound), Tunnel of Love, Human Touch, Lucky Town (all ok) and Western Stars (very good)--most of his albums, especially those over the last 25 years (WS excluded) are the worst sounding records in my collection.

His sound quality has historically been amazingly bad and has bothered me for so long that-- other than the above albums, I can almost never follow any instrument. The drums sound like paper, his voice takes up much of the space and everything else is just a compressed massive mess behind him. Nevertheless, I tolerate the sound because I am a fan.

I was test listening to a Techdas Premium 3 with SAT arm with VTL Siegfried 2 monos and Wilson Chronosonic XVS at my dealer a few weeks ago. I took about a dozen records from audiophile to middling sound quality and was amazed at how all of them sounded better than I had ever heard them. Then I put on the Springsteen Magic album to test a really bad sounding album. It was so sludgy, harsh, compressed and screechy that the salesman and I could not live through an entire minute. It was, in a word, horrific. The salesman who is a fan of classical music and had never heard the album before could not believe that such a record could be released or listened to at length.

Of course Bruce was, and to some degree remains, a dynamic and charismatic live performer. I’ve always felt that his performances were so much better than his albums in part because of his charismatic energy and physically engrossing presentation and in part because we get to hear how the songs should actually sound without the studio screwing them up.

By the way, check out the No Nukes concert BD (I was lucky enough to be at both shows). The sound on that is pretty good as the Record Plant remote truck was used with a number of great engineers inside.

As for the sale of his music catalogue, I don't know how he beat out Dylan but kudos to him.

@gpgr4blu I was at one of the concerts and still have a T-Shirt from it!!

They were pretty amazing.  Never ran into anyone who was there.  I have the triple album from it somewhere as well.  I think I flew up from college in NC, but can't remember that part very well.

Nice to find someone who was there as well.

Cheers!

"Then I put on the Springsteen Magic album to test a really bad sounding album. It was so sludgy, "

gpgr4blu- Too bad you didn't bring a good copy of Springsteen's "Darkness" to experience on that Tech Das. "Streets of Fire" would have been mid blowing.

Springsteen music is generally too busy to begin with to be audiophool SQ. One can only hope for a pressing that stands out from the rest. Once Bruce became part of  MTV  and was "Dancing in the Dark" I gave up on him.

Richopp

Are you thinking about the No Nukes triple album which had a number of acts including Bruce on it or did you have a bootleg?

Tablejockey

I'm ordering the table and arm. You can bet Darkness will get a workout.

"I'm ordering the table and arm. You can bet Darkness will get a workout."

gpgr4blu- Congratulations. The times I've heard a Techdas , it's was a WOW experience.

Enjoy it. 

Springsteen's music can be "busy"-lot going on. Even the "best" pressing will reveal the shortcomings of the recording. Best heard on something like you're getting!

Never liked him. Surrounded by good musicians but he him self is way way way over rated and very little talent. I would csll him a performer before a musician every day!

I think he went back to the Spector big wall of sound recording. Dave Clark Five also used a similar wall of sound. It sounds great in cars or at parties grabs your attention and doesn’t let go.

As far as money I guess many artists have a price.

Used to like him a bit. Springsteen, he is a complete dipshi* now a days. 

Yeah, it is tragic. Never go full libtard.

It's good to see everyone is full ot the Holiday spirit!

My OG "The Wild, The Innocent" beats anything later, even "Darkness". 

@tomic601 The bass on "Racing in the Streets" sounds better during downshifts.

I saw Bruce live on every tour from Darkness thru Tunnel of Love and then lost interest. A later solo show highlighting Nebraska & Ghost of Tom Joad was surprisingly good. He played some piano on that tour for the first time publicly, although he admitted that he was "a beginner"; it's all relative I guess.

Disclaimer: Raised in NJ! Cheers,

Spencer

Spencer - Try Stones from the River ( movie version )

I guess all of you Springsteen bashers are much better song writers than Bruce. For all of us that grew up handing out on the streets and boardwalks he wrote anthems that connected with all of us.

His early albums are still some of my favorites and I can still remember the first time I heard Born To Run on the radio.

Merry Christmas Baby(s)......