Finally: The '07-'08 Bruce Springsteen Award Announcement.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, 1,000 moose with 1,000 adding machines have finally tallied the votes of the Rock Criticizing Public and the results have been verified by a national accounting firm. And now we here at ChuckChuck Industries are proud to announce the winner of the 2007-2008 Bruce Springsteen Award, presented by Fila Sportswear and Dino-Sours Gummi Candy. This year's winner joins the elite company of.....um Bruce Springsteen. There is a reason why the award is named for him. So congratulations to you,

Bob Seger

This is something I forgot to tack onto my year end list. I was reminded of it again today. It goes like this:
In the summer of '02, I got a temp job in a huge warehouse for a boutique greeting card/calender/general useless stuff company. There was a radio tied into a PA system throughout the whole place, so everybody heard the same radio station, and it wasn't changed all day. There was usually a rotation of three stations-- classic rock, country and adult contemporary. None of these were appealing to emo chuckchuck. But the country was unbearable and the adult contemporary mindlessly repetitive, so I had no choice but to hope for the classic rock station, right? WRONG! There were no winners. This was as Springsteen was about to release The Rising and they could not shut up about it. I hadn't previously had much opinion on Bruce, but doing a mindless job and hearing the Springsteen worship--when I was not subjected to Toby Keith songs or that first Avril Lavine song repeated once an hour for eight hours-- just put me over the top. I had no choice but to hate Bruce. But then...
As the summer went along, and I heard more and varied Springsteen songs, I could no longer resist, and that hate turned to love in the most magical way. Somehow I have become one of the biggest Springsteen fans in my particular age group.
So what is the award about? In honor of the preceding story of conversion, The Bruce Springsteen Award (presented by Fila Sportswear and Dino-Sours Gummi Candy!) I choose a CLASSIC ROCK artist, usually overplayed in that radio format, but whose music and charm eventually bowl me over.
This last voting period, the winner, BOB SEGER, really showed me something with his uptempo work. This is a man whose music, playing in a bowling alley less than two years ago, prompted me to say to a friend, "Just when I think I don't really hate any musician when I get down to it, someone plays Bob Seger and my goodwill goes out the window." Saaaay Whaaat?!?! Another artist I grew to appreciate through a work setting, and perhaps through time and maturity (or my increased boringness). "Hollywood Nights" and "Roll Me Away" had me looking to the west, trying to find out who I really am, and telling my stories to strange girls in diners (or girls who wanted to own diners but then.....oh nevermind), then hopping back in my classic muscle car and chasing the setting sun. He recaptured and recontextualized the basic tenets of early rock-- getting laid, not getting laid, cars, freedom, girls, growing up, growing up in small town America, etc. Then there is the legendary "Night Moves" and its teen-sex-tempo (or so I've been told)-- just a perfect, perfect song. It seems both innocent and dark, kind of like Mellencamp's "Ballad of Jack and Diane" excpet without the Tastee-Freeze plug and, believable yet somehow not as depressingly realistic. I still am rather unfamiliar with a lot of Seger's work, but just based on those three songs and the amount of plays they get on CLASSIC ROCK radio, he has earned my respect, or at least more than brief rental space in my brain. Oh wait..."Ramblin' Gamblin' Man." That song rules too. I didn't even know it was Seger until after I thought it was awesome. Awesome!
Runner-Up: Journey
This band is a sticky wicket. They have been so intensely ironically appreciated that they have pretty much become appreciated for just what they are-- a good arena power pop/rock band with a singer whose voice is so baddddasssss it makes Sam Jackson in Pulp Fiction look like Chris Ryan (whoever that is). There is a reason why, when I recently visited a generic bar in my college town, when "Don't Stop Believin' " came on, the awkward flirting and heavy drinking and booty calling came to a halt so everyone-- and I mean everyone, except maybe me(for shame!)-- could sing along. Forget "The Nationale," the downtrodden masses have a new anthem for the tumult of the brewing revolution. Let us break those chains that bind us but never, never go our separate ways.
XOXOXOXOOOOOXXOOOOOOXXXXXX,
chuckchuck.