Just did nine minutes on the Twitch morning show on ZRock 103 in Lexington, KY.
He had two other hosts-- a guy and a girl. That's really the best set-up for a Barguments radio segment. They're used to arguing with each other, and just dive in. I always feel like an ass interupting the DJs, but at the same time, I figure they don't want me to (80s current events reference alert) "sit there like a potted palm."
I mentioned on the air that barguments.com now is witnessing the most fierce bargument ever seen on the site. It's in response to this bargument:
Name the better songwriter: Bob Marley or Bruce Springsteen?
As I write this, Springsteen has a solid lead in the votes. But Marley is making a big comeback. The vote might have been skewed by me being on a radio show in North Carolina yesterday afternoon that seemed to draw a classic rock crowd.
But the real debate is raging in the Comments section of this bargument. There are 18 comments there at last count, easily a record.
This is all the more remarkable because the barguments.com comments feature isn't very user-friendly: you can't tell if there are any comments for a particular bargument without checking, and once you comment it sends you back to the first page.
Some excerpts from the Springsteen vs. Marley bargument:
2008-04-01 11:29
Bruce completely stepped up to the plate after 9/11 with The Rising. Bob Marley was a bit of a one-trick pony.
2008-04-01 16:47
A one-trick pony? The fact that anyone outside of the Caribbean has even heard of reggae music is because of Bob Marley. Springsteen is barely a flicker on the rock radar screen. The ONLY song writer you could compare Marley to would be Bob Dylan, who represented a generational angst, but still not a people's oppression.
2008-04-01 17:00
Hmmmm, that's true, Bob Marley was oddly silent after 9/11...maybe because he had been DEAD FOR 20 YEARS!
2008-04-01 17:59
C'mon! Bob Marley was like a god. Did anyone ever try to assassinate The Boss because of his lyrics?
2008-04-01 18:52
What is wrong with you people?!
2008-04-01 19:14
You've got to give Springsteen credit just for the body of work. It's not Marley's fault he died young, but the fact is Springsteen has a much richer list of great songs.
2008-04-01 19:30
One worked to move towards a political, socioeconomic, and a philosophical change... the other was from New Jersey... WTF?
2008-04-02 03:36
To suggest Johnny Cougar could compete with Springsteen just weakens your argument against Springsteen.
2008-04-02 05:06
It's just little pink houses for you Springsteen voters...
2008-04-02 05:29
They have yet to use a Springsteen song for a TV commercial.
You have to give the bargument so far to the Marley fans, but the votes are the votes. (Hope none of these Marley people buy the book, in which I posed the bargument: Who's the better songwriter: Bob Marley or Jimmy Buffett?)
I mentioned on the air that barguments.com now is witnessing the most fierce bargument ever seen on the site. It's in response to this bargument:
Name the better songwriter: Bob Marley or Bruce Springsteen?
As I write this, Springsteen has a solid lead in the votes. But Marley is making a big comeback. The vote might have been skewed by me being on a radio show in North Carolina yesterday afternoon that seemed to draw a classic rock crowd.
But the real debate is raging in the Comments section of this bargument. There are 18 comments there at last count, easily a record.
This is all the more remarkable because the barguments.com comments feature isn't very user-friendly: you can't tell if there are any comments for a particular bargument without checking, and once you comment it sends you back to the first page.
Some excerpts from the Springsteen vs. Marley bargument:
2008-04-01 11:29
Bruce completely stepped up to the plate after 9/11 with The Rising. Bob Marley was a bit of a one-trick pony.
2008-04-01 16:47
A one-trick pony? The fact that anyone outside of the Caribbean has even heard of reggae music is because of Bob Marley. Springsteen is barely a flicker on the rock radar screen. The ONLY song writer you could compare Marley to would be Bob Dylan, who represented a generational angst, but still not a people's oppression.
2008-04-01 17:00
Hmmmm, that's true, Bob Marley was oddly silent after 9/11...maybe because he had been DEAD FOR 20 YEARS!
2008-04-01 17:59
C'mon! Bob Marley was like a god. Did anyone ever try to assassinate The Boss because of his lyrics?
2008-04-01 18:52
What is wrong with you people?!
2008-04-01 19:14
You've got to give Springsteen credit just for the body of work. It's not Marley's fault he died young, but the fact is Springsteen has a much richer list of great songs.
2008-04-01 19:30
One worked to move towards a political, socioeconomic, and a philosophical change... the other was from New Jersey... WTF?
2008-04-02 03:36
To suggest Johnny Cougar could compete with Springsteen just weakens your argument against Springsteen.
2008-04-02 05:06
It's just little pink houses for you Springsteen voters...
2008-04-02 05:29
They have yet to use a Springsteen song for a TV commercial.
You have to give the bargument so far to the Marley fans, but the votes are the votes. (Hope none of these Marley people buy the book, in which I posed the bargument: Who's the better songwriter: Bob Marley or Jimmy Buffett?)
UPDATE: 11:07 PM WED, APRIL 2nd....
.... At 107 VOTES MARLEY TIED SPRINGSTEEN FOR THE FIRST TIME. THEN SPRINGSTEEN PULLED AHEAD. NOW, AT 11:08 PM, THEY ARE TIED WITH 109 VOTES CAST. BAD NEWS MARLEY FANS: I'M SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE RADIO IN NEBRASKA TOMORROW MORNING.
THAT'S JOHNNY COUGAR COUNTRY.
8 comments:
Hanks - it is turning into a dead heat: 52% to 48%--Marley has caught up fast. One of the great online barguments.
Marley couldnt hold Springsteen's jock.
Fans of Bruce Springsteen are not only devoted but articulate about why they worship the Boss. The new book 'For You: Original Stories & Photographs by Bruce Springsteen's Legendary Fans' is the work of disciples from Boise to Barcelona. The mayor of Delray Beach, Fla., says it best: 'Bruce fans are a fraternity - we share something deep and special, a relationship with the artist and with each other.'
Who let that wordsmith into this blog? A reasonable argument, with sources? Somebody call Farmar.
I think you should get in your car post-haste, tear around the nation wherever Barguments is sold and rip out each individual page where Jimmy Buffett is mentioned as a possibility of being better than anyone at anything whatsoever involving music.
Cheeseburger in Paradise. A song so bad it creeps up in nightmares.
See? You're one of those Marley people who are going to be out to get me. But Buffet has his die-hard fans. And yes, Cheeseburger is a horrible song. But he wrote some great ones. He just had a weakness for novelty songs (see Get Drunk and Screw).
No, actually I find Springsteen maybe a better songwriter -- "Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby, edgy and dull, and cut 6-inch valley through the middle of my skull..." though Marley did have Burning and Looting, Zimbabwe and a bunch of other deeper songs than simply "Will Chapman Will Chapman."
But Buffett ... Wal-Mart and Spam have their die-hard fans, too.
Having a book written about you by a devoted fan does NOT a superior songwriter make. And let's just say that the fans are a WHOLE LOT more ariculate than "The Boss." And I don't mean Scott Ditman. I think David Koresh had a pretty devout following as well...but I wouldn't compare him to John the Baptist for that reason.
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