Bill Chinook / Bruce Springsteen


Has anyone ever heard Bruce Springsteen mention Bill Chinook? Bill was a "founder" of early E Street Band w/ some members joining up w/ Bruce's band. He was making that Asbury sound before Bruce, but I have never heard "the Boss" mention him. I may be partial to him because he settled up here in Maine way back in the 1970's and played often in the bars and dance halls. And released a couple excellent albums, Dime Store Heroes is one of my favorites.
128x128thepigdog

Showing 5 responses by bdp24

Bravo to everyone's civilized comments. My problem with "Born In The U.S.A." is it's obviousness and literalness, a failing of Springsteen in general imo. That and his "tightly-wound"/strained/1-dimensional vocals. I have never understood his mass popularity. Plus, his band is SO pedestrian! They have yet to progress beyond their Bar Band beginnings.
Jafant, I hadn't heard that about Bruce, but Neil Young being a Reagan Democrat is well known.

Cleeds---Au contraire! Lots of Rock 'n' Roll swings, even The Beatles. Ringo is known to swing pretty well; listen to "Kansas City". Rock 'n' Roll drumming was created by New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer, one of Max Weinberg's (Bruce's drummer) heroes. Terry Williams of Rockpile and Dire Straights swings like crazy, as did (R.I.P.) Tom Ardolino of NRBQ.

But "swing" does not just mean to play in a "shuffle" rhythm, it means being loose and flexible, reacting to what the other musician's are playing. Max Weinberg is a very "stiff" drummer, like a boring drum machine. One drummer who values swing a lot is Charlie Watts, though he doesn't get much opportunity to display his abilities at it.

I suppose one could differentiate between Rock and Rock 'n' Roll, but that could lead to a LOT of disagreement!

My post partially quoted by Cleeds was removed because I used a bad word. Here it is with a less naughty word substituted.

That's it Loomis---The E Street Band doesn't swing! Look at the drummer; he sits straight up, like the stick (no pun intended ;-) up his rear (that's what his playing sounds like) extends all the way up his back.