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Bruce Springsteen comments on the modern state of rock: “I wouldn’t want to be starting now”

The singer also revealed what he thinks of Taylor Swift’s latest album.

Bruce Springsteen onstage

Photo: Brian Ach / Getty

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Bruce Springsteen recently shared his thoughts on the current state of rock, admitting that he wouldn’t want to be an up-and-coming musician starting out today as “it’s just a different world”.

On his latest appearance on The Howard Stern Show, the singer-songwriter weighed in on how the music landscape has shifted dramatically over the years, and shared his thoughts on rock seeming to be less popular than it used to be.

Addressing Stern’s comment that “rock has kind of gone in a way”, Springsteen said: “Yeah, I think music has had to share the cultural arena with video games, movies, you know, everything else, everything you can imagine. And that’s just — that’s today.”

Stern then asked the 73-year-old singer “Don’t you thank God you’re not doing it today, coming up and trying to [make it]?”, to which he replied “I gotta say, I do, you know?”

“We came up in a golden age, for what we did. You know, if you were a young guy playing a guitar in 1967, 1975, 1985, you came up just as that whole business turned into something that no one ever thought it would. So, it’s a blessing, but I wouldn’t want to be starting now. I don’t know if you can create — it’s just a different world, that’s all. It’s just a different world.”

Springsteen then cited Taylor Swift as an example of a successful musician from that ‘different world’ he spoke of, saying “My daughter, Taylor Swift fan to the max. The other day, picked her up at the airport, [and she] says, ‘Dad, Taylor Swift’s got a bangin’ new record! And plays it for me, top volume, all the way from Newark to Colts Neck, dancing in her seat. I said, ‘That’s what I liked to see!’ It felt good.”

As for what he personally thinks of the album, Springsteen said: “You know, it was good. She’s super talented…a tremendous writer. And I know her producer Jack Antonoff very well, they’re making great records.”

“So, there’s people out there — hey, there’s a lot of great work going on, people are still making great records and people were finding a lot of joy in those records. That’s gonna go on, it’s just going to be different, you know? And that’s it.”

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