Why is everone suddenly into Bob Seger?

[Mike Desert]

Literally all of my roommates, and a ton of people I know in the bay area are at Bob Seger tonight. When did this happen?  When I was a kid, if someone was walking toward me wearing a Bob Seger shirt I'd assume he was coming to kick my ass.  I have kind of a soft spot for Night Moves since it was in American Pop, but am I missing something?

[mackro]

Yes! Bob Seger System, for starters.  A good combination of hard rock and garage psych rock from the late 60s.

The Bob Seger System - 2 + 2 = ?

His early solo albums are good too. (He wrote the original "Rosalie" that Thin Lizzy covered in 1975).

The main thing is Bob Seger has fought tooth and nail to make sure his early material never gets reissued for the rest of time. And that material happens to be good to amazing.  People wanting what they can't have, etc.

[mackro]

I can't answer why you're friends at the show because -- unless I missed something -- he's just going to do his greatest hits.

[buffcoat]

I don't have the loathing for the 70s warhorses that a lot of people have: Billy Joel, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart. What they're doing now isn't to me any worse than what everybody from that era is doing. They play their hits and they get their money.


However...

Unless you know something different, Mackro, my guess would be that Bob Seger fights against the release of his earlier stuff because it might turn off the people who love him for his lowest-common-denominator stuff, like "Like a Rock." They only tolerate such high-concept fare as "Hollywood Nights" as filler to get to "Night Moves."

[mostlymeat]

You're a bay area guy and you're not into Seger? 10 years ago (or more?) the guys from Drunk Horse/Harold Ray started a Seger tribute band called Total BS that converted me and many others to the glory of Bob.

Great voice, great songs, end of story. I was sad to miss the man (again), I hope he keeps playing forever!

"You can call me lucifer, if you think you should.....I know I'm good!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMQmSvKQpUs

[mackro]

I don't have the loathing for the 70s warhorses that a lot of people have: Billy Joel, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart. What they're doing now isn't to me any worse than what everybody from that era is doing. They play their hits and they get their money.


However...

Unless you know something different, Mackro, my guess would be that Bob Seger fights against the release of his earlier stuff because it might turn off the people who love him for his lowest-common-denominator stuff, like "Like a Rock." They only tolerate such high-concept fare as "Hollywood Nights" as filler to get to "Night Moves."

In 2015, I don't understand the mentality of people being turned off by an artist's early work -- because it doesn't make the popular work go away!   I'm guessing what's going on here is that Seger is became more conservative, and he's embarrassed for his anti-war liberal views he's very upfront about in his early stuff.   I imagine if I were lucky enough to be a rock star, and my early stuff exhibited opinions that deeply embarrass me today, I would fight to hide them too.  I admit making Seger System material available would then open up dudes on twitter saying "Bob, I didn't know about your early stuff. it's great!  what happened?"... which is the last thing I think he wants to hear... or any artist wants to hear.

Kraftwerk is another example... I love their first three albums from the early 70s.  Kraftwerk practically deny these albums even existed, at most calling them "archaeology".   Bob Seger and Kraftwerk have every right to disown and hide any previous work they want, even if it frustrates fans.  That said, I love their classic era, and knowing about the early stuff hasn't tainted my view of their classic material.

[fonpr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsvyBiFA-fI#t=35

[Hugman 3.0]

I have and like The Bob Seger System stuff, but also, I was at the Orange County (California) state fair one year, sitting on the ferris wheel while a Bob Seger cover band was plying fifty yards away and all was right with the world.
I, too, dodged bottles flung at me from moving carloads of Seger fans as a youth, but good music's good music.

[Mike Desert]

I'll check out the early stuff, I'm 42 and just find it odd that a bunch of 28-34 year olds are getting so excited to go see Bob Seger. It's not like I totally hate him when I hear him, but something must have happened where now it's a thing for a bunch of young punk and metal people to be all into his stuff.

[fonpr]

Seger cover band was plying fifty yards away

Sounds horrifying!

[Biscuit Gravy]

maybe he plays a mean slug; and by mean, I mean, gigantic.

[Hugman 3.0]

Seger cover band was plying fifty yards away

Sounds horrifying!

I just remembered the reason I went down to OC for the fair that day was The Kingsmen and Freddy Cannon were playing. The Seger cover band was my favorite band I saw that evening.

I guess I'm old enough (41) to not be aware of any sort of Seger groundswell, so I can just form my own non-reactionary opinion.

[Crusherkc]

Literally all of my roommates, and a ton of people I know in the bay area are at Bob Seger tonight. When did this happen?  When I was a kid, if someone was walking toward me wearing a Bob Seger shirt I'd assume he was coming to kick my ass.  I have kind of a soft spot for Night Moves since it was in American Pop, but am I missing something?

I hope this can be contained in California before it breaks out to the rest of the country.

[akaJudge]

I love Bob Seger, I can't help it. Night Moves was one of the first songs I ever learned to play on guitar, taught me the F chord

[Jouster]

I don't have the loathing for the 70s warhorses that a lot of people have: Billy Joel, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart. What they're doing now isn't to me any worse than what everybody from that era is doing. They play their hits and they get their money.


However...

Unless you know something different, Mackro, my guess would be that Bob Seger fights against the release of his earlier stuff because it might turn off the people who love him for his lowest-common-denominator stuff, like "Like a Rock." They only tolerate such high-concept fare as "Hollywood Nights" as filler to get to "Night Moves."

In 2015, I don't understand the mentality of people being turned off by an artist's early work -- because it doesn't make the popular work go away!   I'm guessing what's going on here is that Seger is became more conservative, and he's embarrassed for his anti-war liberal views he's very upfront about in his early stuff.   I imagine if I were lucky enough to be a rock star, and my early stuff exhibited opinions that deeply embarrass me today, I would fight to hide them too.  I admit making Seger System material available would then open up dudes on twitter saying "Bob, I didn't know about your early stuff. it's great!  what happened?"... which is the last thing I think he wants to hear... or any artist wants to hear.

I don't know how conservative he is - climate change is a cause of his and he has a song about it on his most recent album.