Streets Of Minneapolis

Bruce Springsteen wrote this song nine days ago, last Saturday, recorded it a few days later and released it the following day, Thursday 28th January. In that sense it is a protest song of the 60s tradition, topical folk protest articulating the issues of the day coupled with burning anger and righteousness, sent out to people quickly to support a movement. It names the dead, Alex Pretti and Renee Good. 

Bruce's song, Streets Of Minneapolis, is Dylan- esque, a rising tide of rage against a regime that has crossed the lines, building slowly with voice, guitar and drums, then backing vocals, 'In our home they killed and roamed/ In the winter of 26/ We'll remember the names of those who died/ On the streets of Minneapolis'. Bruce goes on to name the perpetrators, those who give the orders and sanction and excuse the murders- Trump, Miller, Noem- and he goes on, the song rising in a sea of raised voices- 

'In chants of ICE out now Our city’s heart and soul persists Through broken glass and bloody tears On the streets of Minneapolis

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice Singing through the bloody mist Here in our home they killed and roamed In the winter of ’26 We’ll take our stand for this land And the stranger in our midst We’ll remember the names of those who died On the streets of Minneapolis'

Streets Of Minneapolis ends with the chants of the crowd, 'ICE out ICE out ICE out...' Bruce giving the people the final word...

I've not really ever been a fan of Bruce Springsteen. In the mid- 80s the whole stadium rock, saxophone solo, chest beating Bruce did nothing for me and although people said look beyond that, listen to Nebraska, I never did. In recent years I've tiptoed closer, found some songs I can enjoy and have appreciated him as an authentic voice and as a decent voice in US political life. I found myself singing along to Dancing In The Dark and Born To Run a while ago, hearing them in a pub, and actually enjoying them shorn of their 80s MTV major label rock sheen. I have always liked the 1993 song Streets Of Philadelphia and this new song has been something of an eye opener for me. Recently I heard this, a remix of Bruce's State Trooper by Trentemoller that I'd not heard before and it's given me another little opening into Bruce Springsteen's music.

Streets Of Minneapolis has gone to the top of the charts (streaming) in nineteen countries at the time of writing so Bruce has very much struck a chord. More power to you Bruce Springsteen. 

Something may have tipped in Trump's fascist USA in the last week, the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in broad daylight by paramilitary thugs marking a change in the public mood, something that even Trump, the authoritarian with no controls or bounds on him other than his 'own morality', has had to back down from. I am teaching A Level History classes at the moment a unit on Germany 1918- 1945, a time and place where gangs of armed, uniformed paramilitaries stalked the streets and demanded to see the papers of people who looked different or who had an accent, to see if they were truly German. Those who could not pass that test were bundled off to camps. Some were killed in broad daylight. If only we could learn from the recent past. 

In November 2024, on the day of the presidential election, I wrote this at a post here. 

People sometimes shrink from using the word fascist. It's too extreme, it's student politics, it's an exaggeration. Perhaps the culture around the fascist dictators of the 20th century is partly the reason-  Hitler was a fascist and this blinds us to modern equivalents. No one can be as bad as Hitler can they? Therefore, no one else can be a fascist. But Trump's actions and words are fascist- the demonisation of minorities, the talk of genetics and purity, the desire to have unlimited and unchallengeable power, the cult of the leader, the assaults on democracy, the rampant nationalism, the cosy relationship between big business and power- all these things are fascist. I think we should call it what it is. 

A lot of you agreed. Elsewhere a friend countered that Trump's not a fascist, that the state planned economy of the 20th century fascist states is absent in the USA, that it's an exaggeration to throw the word around. I still don't think so. I think it's entirely apt and describes Trump's second term exactly- the use of violence, the shutting down of critical voices in the media, the state sanctioned lying by government mouthpieces, the racist language and policies, the use of paramilitary organisations to abduct and kill in the streets, the kidnapping of foreign leaders, the bullying and threats to sovereign states, the belief that might gives right- it's fascism. 

Over here in the UK we have our own problems at the moment, political, social and economic. It'd be nice to ignore a country thousands of miles away and say it's nothing to do with us but unfortunately what Trump and the US does affects us all. We are all drawn into this fascism. 

I feel for those Americans who are anti- Trump, who are appalled by their government and the failure of the Constitution to provide a check on Trump's power, on his fascism. I take some small comfort in the knowledge that at some point in the future (and three years away does feel like along time I know) he will be gone- by his term of office ending and by democratic process (fingers crossed) or by nature taking its course- and that something better comes in his place. I hope that the anti- Trump and anti- ICE feelings of the last week provide some glimmer of hope and that Bruce Springsteen adds a little more. 

I Was Talking To Chuck In His Genghis Khan Suit

At the tail end of last year JC over at The Vinyl Villain posted a 1981 Lou Reed solo album, Walk On The Wild Side: The Best Of Lou Reed. I dug my vinyl copy out having not played it for years- I often go back to the Velvet Underground but rarely Lou's solo career.It's neither original nor revelatory to suggest that Lou's solo career is patchy, with a few gems, some albums that have some moments and some real clunkers. Trainspotting's Sick Boy held forth with what is a fairly commonly held view-

Mark (Renton/ Rent Boy): 'Lou Reed? Some of his solo stuff's nae bad'

Sick Boy: 'No, it's nae bad but it's nae good either. And in your heart you know that although it sounds alright, it's actually just shite'. 

Trainspotting of course made a hit out of Lou's song Perfect Day, a song which is very much neither nae bad or nae good but fucking brilliant. Despite the Trainspotting view orthodoxy there are always Lou Reed fans who will make claims for albums that some of us had written off or passed over. Eventually you'll meet someone who'll claim that Mistrial is a lost gem. 1982's The Blue Mask is regularly acclaimed as a return to form (I think this view may hold water). The Vinyl Villain returned to Lou Reed's solo career earlier this week with a ten track compilation of Lou's solo stuff written by Walter, going up to and including 1989's New York- a genuine Lou Reed back to his solo best album. 

Listening to Walk On the Wild Side: The Best Of Lou Reed after a considerable gap was a bit of a revelation to me. Some of the songs I hadn't heard for a very long time. Some of them transported me back to when I first heard them, in the late 80s. Some of them are songs that I have been playing frequently since JC's post last year, Lou's back catalogue re- entering my daily listening habits. 

This one is from his solo debut, a self titled album from 1972. It was recorded in Willesden, London with a band of session musicians including Rick Wakeman. The twin guitars tone, basic drums and Lou's flat, spoken New York vocals are post- Velvets highlights. The album flopped but Wild Child is fantastic, a blur of words and imagery and white knuckle guitar playing. 

Wild Child

Lou's 1970s saw him frequently re- visit songs he had from Velvets days, songs that he recycled and re- recorded. There were eight on the solo debut including Wild Child (which was never recorded by the band but was played live in 1970). His 1970s albums were all available cheaply in the 1980s and it was a lottery. The sleeves were often dreadful. There was precious little advice anywhere, no internet sites or magazine articles. But many of them have moments of Lou Reed brilliance. Transformer is obviously one, an album packed with great songs and elevated by Bowie and Mick Ronson, by their production, playing, arranging and sheer presence. But that album's follow up Berlin has a lot going for it too (although I recommend skipping The Kids). How Do You Think It Feels is one of his best, up there with any top ten Lou solo songs- piano, 70s sleaze and cabaret decadence and a guitar part that is vicious, a song for people who are 'speeding and lonely'. 

How Do You Think It Feels  

I used to have cassette copies of both Sally Can't Dance (1974) and Coney Island Baby (1975) but they've long gone and I never replaced them in any other format (and may well do now even though both have truly dreadful sleeve art). After that we're into the minefield of solo Lou, albums I've never heard, albums I've swerved, albums I know via other people, albums with songs I know but haven't heard in full- all the way up to New York which like everyone else I bought and loved. 

I own a copy of 1978's Street Hassle, a semi-legendary album if only for its impact on Spacemen 3 who borrowed from it heavily. The title track, a three song, eleven minute suite/ tone poem about New York street life, Lou Reed staple material but done so well with a line stolen from Brice Springsteen (who was recording downstairs at the same time, and who came up to sing the line- 'tramps like us, baby we born to pay'). It's a superb piece of music and there's no one else who could have made it. 

Street Hassle

• A Waltzing Matilda
• B Street Hassle
• C Slipaway

Then there's The Bells, Growing Up In Public, The Blue Mask, Legendary Hearts, New Sensations, City Lights and Mistrial and frankly, in some of those cases your guess is as good as mine. But on the basis of my Lou Reed solo re- awakening and the spirit of rediscovery, I'm open to recommendations. I suspect The Blue Mask comes next. 

In 1989 Lou released New York, an album that saw him back to his best and touring the songs to large and appreciative crowds I saw him at Wembley Arena, traveling down to London after my first year at university ended specifically to see the man play live. He made a comment on stage about all the music being played by 'real musicians, no samples or tapes', which many of us there sniggered at, our heads already turned by music made solely using samples, but hey it was Lou Reed. He played some of the hits too. 

Dirty Blvd.

Tramps Like Us

More mid- 80s Liverpool following yesterday's Pink Industry song- today Frankie Goes To Hollywood's over the top, everything turned up to the max cover of Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run. When Trevor Horn and Frankie recorded 1984's double album Welcome To The Pleasure Dome the massive hit singles Relax and Two Tribes had already dominated the airwaves. The Power Of Love and 1985 title track single were further smashes. This left the rest of the album being a bit of a ragtag bunch of skits and covers with a few originals. 

Springsteen's anthem with its dreams of flight and escape from dull lives and dead end jobs- 'this town's a death trap, a suicide rap'- was possibly felt very keenly in mid- 80s Liverpool, a city abandoned by the government into 'managed decline' with high unemployment, derelict buildings and a falling population. For Springsteen the highway offers freedom, even if it's 'jammed with broken heroes... everybody on the run tonight/ But there's no place left to hide'. Holly Johnson gives it his all vocally, a screaming, high octane performance as the drums, bass and guitars pound and squeal, 'tramps like us/ baby we were born to run'. 

On the album and sadly missing from the mp3 below there's a brief bit of dialogue to plant Frankie's cover firmly in Liverpool rather than New Jersey, a man signing on at the dole office and getting short shrift from a DHSS employee who threatens to put him on daily sign on. The humour of that brief exchange places the song and Springsteen's outsider road anthem in a slightly different light. You can get in the car, hit the M62 but they'll stop your giro and you'll be skint very quickly. 

Born To Run

The population flight from Liverpool was something Pete Wylie noted in Wah!'s epic single, also released in 1984, Come Back, a home made epic on a Springsteen scale and a plea to his fellow scousers not to go elsewhere but to stay, stand your ground and fight. 'Come back/ I'm making my stand/ Come back'.

Come Back (The Return Of The Randy Scouse Git)

Street Hassle

Back in the day (the late 80s day specifically) getting into Lou Reed's solo career was a dangerous game. Transformer was the obvious place to start and set a standard which was difficult to follow. From there it was a New York lucky dip. Rock 'n' Roll Animal is still one of the worst albums I have ever heard and you'll never convince me it has any merits. Berlin is distressing. Coney Island Baby is a joke. Without the internet there was no way to try before you bought. A lot of his albums were available on the Mid-Price range which made them cheap and tempting and there were always fellow travellers willing to give advice along the lines of 'yeah, that one's shit but you should try The Blue Mask/Mistrial/New Sensations'.

The scene in Trainspotting where Sick Boy explains his theory about life, having it and then losing, is spot on. Renton replies to Sick Boy's theory that some of Lou Reed's solo stuff is 'no bad'. Sick Boy counters that although it's alright it's not great either which means that 'actually it's just shite'.



Let's make an exception for one eleven minute long song he put out in 1978, a three part tone poem that explores the underbelly of New York with prostitutes, drug dealers, the death of a woman and an uncredited spoken word section from Bruce Springsteen. It's been suggested that Street Hassle is also a response to the end of Lou's relationship with Rachel, a trans woman he had been seeing for three years. Street Hassle is a remarkable, moving piece of music with the same riff being played first on cello, guitar and bass. Reed's ambition for the song was that it was something that could have been written by Tennessee Williams, Raymond Chandler or William Burroughs set to music and I think he pulled it off. In typical Lou Reed fashion it is followed by I Wanna Be Black, a bemusing song which has nothing going for it at all and then a re-recorded Velvet Underground song. But in a solo career that up to his resurgence in the 1990s is wildly erratic, Street Hassle (the song) is a major achievement and a truly great song. I don't have an mp3 of it and my vinyl is in poor condition so can only provide you with the Youtube version.