Bruce Springsteen should be very happy. He has the No. 1 album, a possible Grammy for Best Album of the Year for "Magic," an album full of singles and a sold-out concert tour.
Alas, there’s a hitch: Radio will not play "Magic." In fact, sources tell me that Clear Channel has sent an edict to its classic rock stations not to play tracks from "Magic." But it’s OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as "Dancing in the Dark," "Born to Run" and "Born in the USA."
The article goes on to say that Clear Channel is sending a message "that at age 58, Springsteen simply is too old to be played on rock stations." Um, I don't think that's why they're not playing this album (especially since it's "OK" to play older Springsteen). This is Clearly a case of Bruce getting "Dixie-Chicked" for daring to question the (bad) direction our country is heading in. One of the new Springsteen songs Clear Channel won't play is "Living in the Future." In live performances, Bruce explains what the song is about:
"This is a song called Livin' In the Future. But it's really about what's happening now. Right now. It's kind of about how the things we love about America, cheeseburgers, French fries, the Yankees battlin' Boston, the Bill of Rights, v-twin motorcycle, Tim Russert's haircut, trans-fats and the Jersey Shore... we love those things the way womenfolk love Matt Lauer. But over the past six years we've had to add to the American picture: rendition, illegal wiretapping, voter suppression, no habeus corpus, the neglect of our great city New Orleans and its people, an attack on the Constitution. And the loss of our young best men and women in a tragic war. This is a song about things that shouldn't happen here—happening here."
You can watch it here (just don't expect to hear it on commercial radio):
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