Springsteen, Other Artists Needn’t Give Up When They Grow Up

Read your letter to Bruce Springsteen in Calendar section (“His New Boss Has a Stronger Human Touch,” Sept. 30). Something nagged at me all morning while I painted in my garage. Finally I realized that what I found so disturbing was your suggestion that Bruce’s performance was weaker now that he has “grown up” and has a child and a mate.

Rock ‘n’ roll is unfortunately perceived by many as the sole domain of libidinous, self-absorbed, Angst -ridden teens; something we outgrow as we become responsible, adjusted adults. But rock is not such a confining vehicle as that. (Sorry, Tipper, but good rock ‘n’ roll expresses lust for life , not simply lust.) And we shortchange ourselves as well as rock music if we assume that to grow up is to lose our passion.

We should hope that, as we live, we deepen our caring as we broaden our experience. Rock has an element of rebellion in it--rebellion against the premature death of the spirit, the death of the questioning mind--a death that can occur well before the end of one’s teens. Witness Elvis, who continued to record, in a zombie state, for years after his actual death as an artist.

On the other hand, the vigor of one’s art can last into the Social Security years. Anyone who argues that there is a “maturity barrier” beyond which the only rocking is done in a chair hasn’t heard John Lee Hooker sing recently.

All art finds its birth in our passionate response to life. Do you really think that Picasso became less committed to his work after Paloma was born? John Lennon wrote the bulk of his music after becoming a dad--indeed, Julian provided direct inspiration for some of the pieces. And did Lennon continue to rock? You bet.

We don’t spawn and die, Randy. A committed artist needn’t live a monastic life, uninvolved with the physical world. The fallacious reasoning that if one is involved emotionally with one’s family then somehow there couldn’t be enough energy left for art was used for years to discourage and exempt female artists from serious consideration. The reality is that the more one loves, the more one has to give. Feed the Hungry Heart (to borrow Bruce’s own phrase) and it will only grow--never be satiated. Art is only fed by emotional experience, not diminished by it. As I see it, Bruce Springsteen now has an even deeper wellspring of hope and longing to draw on creatively.

True, E. Street was a great band, and I miss the sax too. But Sam Moore is a resonant vocal complement to Bruce, and the band is promising.

Artists move and grow. To try new things has always been the mark of youth; to fear change and resent it are the indications of mental hardening of the arteries.

So don’t, please, blame any perceived dimming of Springsteen’s art on his age or his wife or his child. If you really believe that, then as a parent yourself, you should consider unplugging your typewriter.