[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by creekster

Ouch; bad day at work?

Mellencamp had a populist sentiment to his best lyrics that was occassionally matched by a well crafted tune (jack & Dianne, for example). His very best work can perhaps match, but does nto exceed Springsteen in any respect. Springsteen put the defining albums of the late sevetties, capturing the lost faith and hope of that era and the desire for more concrette values with no idea how to obtain them all placed against a bad or failing economy. Born to Run, the River, Darkness on the edge of town and my personal favorite, Thunder Road, all evince the american spirit and malaise at the time in poetry and tune. ANy of these far exceed anything by Mellencamp both in quality and in depth of message. Add to this the quality of Springsteen's pop senisbilities (hugely successful covers of his songs by others from such diverse artists as the pointer sisters and Mannfred Mann) and his is an ouevre that John Cougar just can't match, IMO. Then, to top it off, Springsteen throws in the now trite Born in the USA anthem and a few other well crafted (and over produced) songs of the 80s and his work is even greater. He then re-invents himself as a modern Guthrie-esque troubadour in the The Ghost of Tom Joad.

Moreover, Sprigsteen puts on a killer live show; never seen Mellencamp, but I have no doubt it isn't better live.

Right on, Creekster. Springsteen is great. And he is still putting out top-quality work. Devils & Dust from 2005 has some very good tunes.