For the past 35 years or so, Dave Marsh has been one of the country’s most prominent and respected music journalists. Marsh co-founded Creem magazine, worked as an editor at Rolling Stone for 15 years and currently edits Rock and Rap Confidential, an all-inclusive newsletter with a decidedly political tone.
He has also written several of the most notable books about rock and soul, including “The Heart Of Rock And Soul,” “Elvis” and “Before I Get Old: The Story Of The Who.” Despite all his accolades and other interests, though, Marsh’s greatest fame and most passionate involvement has come through his two biographies on Bruce Springsteen, “Born To Run” and “Glory Days.”
Recently re-released in a single volume with added writing bringing the story up to date, the book — now titled “Two Hearts” — is a testament to the thoughtful and heartfelt journey Marsh has taken with Springsteen and his music. Always outspoken, often poetic and sometimes divisive, Dave Marsh, who recently spoke to The Badger Herald, is a true original.
Perhaps the most interesting element of the books contained in “Two Hearts” is the amount of controversy they’ve inspired. Marsh is himself one of the more controversial figures in the relatively staid world of music journalism, and arguably the greatest reason for his mixed reputation is his perceived lack of objectivity toward a man whose two managers are, respectively, one of Marsh’s closest friends (Jon Landau) and Marsh’s wife (Barbara Carr).
He counts Bruce Springsteen among his friends, and the major criticism of Marsh’s portrayal of Springsteen over the years centers around the perception that his is not an “objective” voice. This is a criticism Marsh has addressed head-on with typical fervor, particularly in the various introductions he has written to the books (all of which are included in “Two Hearts”), and he makes no apologies about what he sees as a non-issue, defiantly refusing to either acknowledge or condemn his critics.
Contained within the two biographies are his opinions of an artist and man in whom he finds great worth, an artist whose personal connection with the author should be recognized but not doom the work to a reputation as mere puff-piece buffoonery. These books are anything but puff pieces. Rather, they are an intense and comprehensive analysis of the continuing journey of an artist who refused to sacrifice his own decisions and beliefs in the face of pressures either commercial or extra-musical.
“With all the criticism of Springsteen, the one thing that’s impregnable about him is his personal integrity,” Marsh asserts. Tracing Springsteen’s journey from his hardscrabble younger days, in which he went from a strained relationship with his parents and a college that kicked him out on the request of the student body to a struggling musician sometimes reduced to sleeping on friends’ couches, through to his no-less-complicated days of superstardom, Marsh’s portrayal is both dense and arresting.
Never boring, often provocative, the writing in “Two Hearts” both answers questions and questions answers about its lead character, always keeping music at the center of the story. Marsh deftly uses specific examples — both on record and in evocative descriptions of Springsteen’s legendary live performances — to bring the story into sharper relief.
Despite the suggestions made by some that Marsh is uncritical of “The Boss” throughout the books, times and places where Springsteen slipped along his path are given ample and well-written attention. (He also admits his own failings: “I thought his first marriage [to actress Julianne Phillips] would last, for one thing.”) Luckily for Marsh, and for everybody else, Bruce Springsteen’s story is as interesting now as it has ever been.
Reflecting on recent developments in Springsteen’s career, Marsh maintains his insistence on Bruce’s individuality and importance. Speaking to the recent re-politicization that Springsteen has achieved, thanks mainly to the bluesy dissection of police violence “41 Shots,” Marsh suggests that, “they’ve given him every opportunity to be the poster boy for white supremacy, and he throws it back in their face every time. What is so fucking threatening about ’41 Shots,’ anyway?”
He also sees Springsteen’s recent work, with its consciously mature subject matter and more specifically gospel-esque style, as merely a continuation of the journey: “I think it’s another example of how he’s a little like us, or me, anyway. We’re both older, we’re both better-read, we’ve both been listening to more gospel music.”
Suggesting that Springsteen “taps into some gestalt for people of my age,” Marsh mentions Curtis Mayfield and James Baldwin in his attempts to describe where Springsteen has been and is going.
Thirty years on, Dave Marsh is still somewhat in awe of Bruce Springsteen, though not a cheap awe, as a reading of “Two Hearts” indicates immediately.
While he admits that his political beliefs and Springsteen’s do not always ride parallel (“I’m way more left-wing than he is”) and while he is the first to criticize the musical limitations sometimes evident in Springsteen’s work, Marsh (who is currently working on a book about the music of the civil-rights movement) has nothing but respect and admiration for a man whom he argues is one of rock’s last true spirits.
“I guess the main thing I’ve learned about Bruce over the years is that he really is that good, seemingly too good to be true. I still find new things to say about him, mainly because I haven’t figured it out yet,” he attests.
Dave Marsh’s has always been a distinct voice, uncompromising and passionate, and “Two Hearts” represents some of his best writing. It is a shining example from a career of the criticism and biography that has helped cement Marsh’s place as one of the nation’s most-respected music journalists.
