Journey’s keyboardist and rhythm guitar player, Jonathan Cain, recently took a moment during an interview to rip into Bruce Springsteen and his constant, political preaching.
The 76-year-old rocker joined the Complete Disaster Network podcast to talk about a number of different things, but the one topic that’s garnered the most attention has been Cain’s thoughts on “The Boss.” Journey’s guitarist and keyboard player got very honest and accusatory about Springsteen, and said the rock and roll legend should focus on playing music over preaching politics:
“I used to be a Democrat back in the old days, but I just couldn’t go there anymore, you know? I’m a diehard conservative… And guys like Bruce Springsteen should shut up. You know, really, honestly, shut up, Bruce, you know? Him and who’s the other one? Robert DeNiro. I mean, who cares, guys?… Do your art. I try to keep politics out of my music.”
In other words, the man who’s been with Journey with 46 years thinks there should be some separation between politics and entertainment.
Cain went on to explain that he does have beliefs, but he doesn’t want to bother people with them on stage. In his opinion, that’s now why people buy tickets, and in his mind, he’s not sure why anyone is spending their money to go see Bruce Springsteen:
“Now, people say, ‘Well, you’re a Christian, and you’re conservative,’ and I’m like, ‘So what?’ I don’t preach it on stage… I don’t spend 10 minutes y’know talking about it… And Bruce, I mean, what the heck? I used to like him, and now he’s just annoying. He’s an annoying, bitter old man. I mean, stop it. Really. You were born in the USA, weren’t you, dude? So act like it… But even that song, if you look at the lyrics, I mean, it’s a kind of a diss to our country.”
Very good point about “Born In The U.S.A.” right there.
You can hear more from Cain in the interview below:
Cain isn’t the only one from the entertainment world to share that same perspective.
Mick Jagger, the frontman of The Rolling Stones, recently said in the New York Times’ podcast, The Interview, that politics and music shouldn’t mix:
“First of all, it depends on where you are and what kind of event it is. (If it’s a festival), they’re not necessarily coming to see [you] – they’re not your biggest fans, necessarily. I’m not saying they hate you, otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be there…
But there’s different levels of these kinds of people, and you have to treat them in a slightly different way. The bottom line is that my job in the live music world is to [ensure] people that come have the best time they possibly can, and for two hours forget all their problems and the problems of the world. Their mortgages and whatever. Just so they can have the best time.”
And in the country music world, the leader of “No Shoes Nation” – Kenny Chesney – told Bill Maher that he won’t ever see it as his duty to change the minds of his fans:
“I’ve just never felt like it was my place. There’s a certain ego that lives in there, a certain box inside your head and your soul that you have to check for some reason to think that you can make a difference. And I (just don’t know)…
I’ve never saw it to be my place, and use my stage or platform, no matter where I’m playing, to tell people how to think or how to vote. They hear that and get that everywhere else. On every device, on every network. They are there as an escape from all of that stuff.”
That’s exactly right.
