"STATE TROOPER" BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (1982)

For the month of November, I’ll be selecting songs in conjunction with the music Twitter challenge: #WelcomeToTheOccupation.

In today’s cess pool of slick, over-produced albums, Nebraska stands as a beacon of all that’s good. The purity of the songwriting. The rawness of the performance. That’s it. I can appreciate a good synth flourish or extra guitar part like the next guy. But sometimes I just want to hear a great song, unencumbered and untangled. That’s the entire Nebraska album, including the brooding “State Trooper”.

Recorded in his house on a 4-track, “State Trooper” has the sound of genius emanating on the fly. Springsteen’s gift of songwriting lies in his ability to step inside someone else’s shoes and tell their story. Tell their story is what he does on “State Trooper”. It feels authentic and just the right amount of tension and anxiety to make you believe every word. It’s just his words and two chords on his guitar.

“Hey, somebody out there, listen to my last prayer. Hi ho silver-o, deliver me from nowhere.”

"JACK & DIANE" JOHN MELLENCAMP (1982)

This month on Twitter, @sotachetan hosts #BrandedInSongs – which is a head-on collision of my personal world of music and my professional world of branding and advertising. The challenge is to simply pick a song with a brand name in its lyrics or title. I added one more criteria to my picks, which is this: the songs themselves must be as iconic as the brands they mention. No filler here.

As an MTV kid, I heard a lot of John Mellencamp growing up. John Cougar, actually, as that was his artist name at the time. “Jack & Diane”, “Small Town”, “Pink Houses”, “Hurts So Good”, “R.O.C.K. In The USA”. His version of America was different than mine. But what kept me from changing the channel was that Mellencamp always told captivating stories of the everyday. He’s an underrated storyteller in the music medium.

“Jack & Diane” are just “two American kids growing up in the heartland”. The song is a personal portrait of, well, nothing in particular. “Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone.” And that’s the hook. Musically, it adopts a quiet-loud-quiet dynamic to give the song a bit more edge. The ultimate example of this is the bridge. And what a bridge it is. Thunderous drums and unyielding vocal harmonies for an unforgettable refrain.

“Suckin' on chilli dog outside the Tastee Freez.”

"THUNDER ROAD" BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (1975)

This month on Twitter, @sotachetan hosts #BrandedInSongs – which is a head-on collision of my personal world of music and my professional world of branding and advertising. The challenge is to simply pick a song with a brand name in its lyrics or title. I added one more criteria to my picks, which is this: the songs themselves must be as iconic as the brands they mention. No filler here.

Songs that are covered by several legendary acts are few in and far between. “Thunder Road” is one of those rarities, a song that was also recorded by Tori Amos, Cowboy Junkies, Phish and Melissa Etheridge. It’s also spotlighted in Nick Hornby’s book, “31 Songs”. All this to say, it’s as clear as day that the opening track to Born To Run is absolutely revered by both musicians and fans alike.

I heard that “Thunder Road” started as a bit of an unwieldy affair, like its hinges are a bit loose. This prompted the producer to ask Springsteen and the band to streamline the sound a bit. Thankfully, this didn’t seem to diminish the song at all. “Thunder Road” is a full song, a rocker with unforgettable lyrics that was born out of combining sketches of multiple songs into one seamless track. Bruce’s vocals, as the often are, feel like he’s pushing himself to the max, and so do all the instrumental elements, including the piano, harmonica and sax. “Thunder Road” hits like thunder.

“They haunt this dusty beach road
On the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets.”

"SMALL TOWN" JOHN MELLENCAMP (1985)

For the next 30 days, I’ll be taking the #AprilAcrossAmerica challenge, picking one song a day as I make my way across the country and across genres at the same time.

Day 9: Bloomington, IN

Time to drive westward – from a small city in Ohio to a small town in Indiana. When John Mellencamp wrote this song, he wanted to capture the notion that you didn’t have to live in a big city to live it up. “Small Town” was about his simple, yet idyllic experience growing up in Bloomington. More than that, it’s a song about embracing your roots and community instead of trying to escape it.

I remember the first time I heard “Small Town” was seeing the video on MTV. It was a big year for music. And John Mellencamp’s heartland-fueled rock wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. But I loved this song right away – and I never ever got sick of it. In some ways, it’s one of the sincerest, most unpretentious rock songs ever written and recorded. And that means something. It’s human. And, with that, somehow it seems “Small Town” is like the definition and antithesis of rock ‘n roll all at once.

“Educated in a small town. Taught to fear of Jesus in a small town. Used to daydream in that small town. Another boring romantic, that's me.”

"USED CARS" BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (1982)

It’s time to get back to my favorite decade. For the month of March, I’ll be looking back at some of my favorite jams from the 80s. These songs often came to me via MTV or the radio. NYC-area stations WDRE, WPLJ, WNEW, K-ROCK and Z100 introduced me to everything from irresistible pop confections to under-the-radar post-punk anthems. I would not be who I am today if it weren’t for the 80s. It was the decade when I discovered music can be a truly powerful thing. #31DaysOf80sSongs

Boy was I late to the Nebraska party. I’ve never been a huge Springsteen fan even though Born in the U.S.A. was my first album purchase ever. I didn’t like it much. Too much Heartland when I was all about Brit pop at the time. A couple of decades later I finally discovered an album that preceded it. Nebraska is raw heartland rock. Free of the bells and whistles that production-heavy albums often get mired in. It was all about the songs on this one. “Atlantic City” is one of my favorite recordings of all time. But not far behind it is the first track on Side B, “Used Cars”.

No E Street band. No session instrumentalists. No backing vocals. Just the Boss. On “Used Cars”, Bruce sings, plays guitar and creates these gorgeous moments on the harmonica. Like a classic used car, the track is no frills and unassuming. Without the immediate intrigue and weight that some of the other Nebraska tracks carry (“Atlantic City”, “Johnny 99”, “Highway Patrolman”), “Used Cars” relied on maybe the most important attribute of a song: powerful storytelling.

“Now mister, the day my number comes in I ain't ever gonna ride in no used car again.”

"ATLANTIC CITY" BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (1982)

I’m not a huge Springsteen fan, but when I got introduced to Nebraska later in life, i couldn’t stop listening to it. They’re simple, honest portraits of Americana, which are hard to find in musical form these days. And “Atlantic City” is the epitome of it. Here, Springsteen shows us the humanity and vulnerability of a crime boss. It’s beautiful in its rawness, not in its polish. The original demo on a 4-track recorder is the final recording that we hear. With nowhere to hide, all we’re left with is the story and the performance.

“Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night. Now they blew up his house too. Down on the boardwalk they’re gettin’ ready for a fight. Gonna see what them racket boys can do.”