By Brendan O’Meara
Promotional support is brought to you by the Power of Narrative Conference, celebrating its 26th year on the last weekend of March 28 and 29. 300-400 journalists from around the world are coming. Keynote speakers Susan Orlean, Connie Schultz, and Dan Zak will deliver the knowledge. Listeners of this podcast can get 15% off your enrollment fee by using the code CNF15. To learn more visit combeyond.bu.edu … and use that CNF15 code.
We’ve got Steven Hyden today (@steven_hydenwriter on IG). He returns to the show to talk about There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springtseen’s ‘Born in the USA’ and the End of the Heartland. It is published by Hachette Books.
Steven Hyden is a music critic for Uproxx, producer of “Break Stuff,” the podcast about Woodstock 99, story producer for the the documentary “Yacht Rock,” and the author of Twilight of the Gods, This Isn’t Happening, Hard to Handle, and Long Road. For Steven, he keeps his critic brain and his fan brain fully intact. One needs the other.
Gosh, we recorded this back in June, and I’m just about caught up with the really old recordings. In this episode we talk about connections and culture, how a critic has the power to ruin a band or album for you, and losing control of a generational narrative. Really great chat about Pearl Jam, Bruce, and writing a book that provides context to the current time and the era it was forged.