Big Generator said:
Slipknot are influenced by Bob Dylan? Yes, of course they are...the horror movie lyrics...the twin drum kits....the speed metal riffs....the clown masks...pure Dylan!
As for Madonna...which of her songs are you referring to? Why was she "almost certainly" influenced by Springsteen?
Same for Britney's song-writer Max Martin....I don't hear Springsteen's influence in "Baby One More Time" or "Oops! I Did It Again".
You're making such big claims for the influence of "Born To Run"...but so far you haven't come up with any specific examples. Saying "I read it in Kerrang" isn't the most convincing argument I've ever heard. By the way...call me an old fart...but when did heavy metal magazines start to become 'texts' to 'study' on English courses? Don't they give you any books to read?
As for Bon Jovi...well, the Springsteen influence seems pretty obvious...to me anyway. The blue collar/ 'honest working man' affectations...the rabble rousing choruses...the whole New Jersey thing....what do you reckon?
Well that just about sums up the whole U.S.A.'s argumental attitude. You didn't read a single word I said, indulged in a strand of unfunny self righteous humour and closed your head to anything you couldn't comprehend. Answers one by one:
1. Yes, Slipknot are influenced by Dylan. If you had actually read that quote you had posted within your post, you might have noticed me say 'Just because a band's music doesn't sound exactly like an artist doesn't mean they aren't influenced by them'. How the hell do you think music has ever evolved?! Do you think that someone mimicking an artist's style constitutes 'influence'? Then how did rock 'n' roll come from the blues? How did metal come from 'classic' rock? How did shitty rave music come from Britpop and Kraftwerk? Influence is your take on an artist, not your best impression of them. As I loathe Slipknot, I have never listened to any songs in great depth so I can't claim to spot Dylan's influence directly. As I said, I read it by accident in an interview with Joey Jordison in
Kerrang! Your mind is more tightly closed than an elephant's *** sack if you think that it is scientifically impossible for Metal artists to listen to anything other than AC/DC.
2. Springsteen is clearly visible in 'Papa Don't Preach' and 'Like A Prayer' off the top of my head, if you must know. The songwriting is clearly Springsteenesque, the way the mini-bridge of 'pleeeease' works into the chorus so neatly on 'Papa Don't Preach'; the way the intro on 'Like A Prayer' descends into the rest of the song is notably similar to the intro of 'Born To Run', when the guitar part plays and then descends into the verse. The introductions are comparable when talking about musical manipulation. If I could remember those songs more clearly or remember some of her other songs more clearly I'd find more examples than just one off the top of my head but I'll hold my hands up: my record collection isn't shitty enough to contain a Madonna song. I'm too tired to look around for it. Of course Springsteen wasn't the first to invent a pre-chorus bridge but in my opinion he creates the most flawless and most imitated ones, particularly on 'Born To Run' but also on 'Dancing In The Dark' (The key change in this song's chorus being one of my all-time favourite key changes), 'Bobby Jean', 'Jungleland', and countless other epics off the big albums.
3. Springsteen is in 'Sometimes' if you ask me, the middle eight ends and then hangs on the last note of the flute or whatever it is before cracking again into the chorus, echoes of 'Born To Run' again and the middle eight on there before 'The highway's jammed with broken heroes...'. I think it's definately there but I could be very wrong on this one, Springsteen influenced many artists before Max Martin was writing songs and so he could have taken it from them. Even so, it's an indirect influence.
4. I didn't realise you were a professor of linguistics, man! Of course a magazine can be studied as a text, as long as there's English in it anything can be studied. If I was doing English Literature then I would be studying books, but I'm clearly not doing English Literature or I would be studying a book. I thought that was self-explanatory. Guess I guessed wrong. I chose to study
Kerrang! because I wanted to highlight it against the mag I read (
Uncut) and find out what makes them so stupid and me so great, and I did that.
5. Hang on a second, I never said Bon Jovi
weren't influenced by Springsteen, you made that up on your own. You said Bon Jovi were the
'one band' that were influenced by Springsteen and I contested that, rather sucessfully as it happens. Lyrically they were certainly influenced by him, if only slightly - I find their romantic ballads unbearable bollocks, whilst Springsteen's are compelling and affecting. The composition of their choruses have a definate resemblance to his as well. One thing though, you say "I don't
hear Springsteen's influence in "Baby One More Time" or "Oops! I Did It Again"." - If you think influence is 'heard' (in which case I agree with you) then what has "the whole New Jersey thing" got to do with anything? How can you 'hear' that someone is from New Jersey?! Oops! You did it again! Might want to read the whole post before posting mate!
