Bruce Springsteen mentors American Idol finalists
After Pia Toscano’s egregious early dismissal I swore I wasn’t going to bother with anything American Idol for the rest of the season, but all it took was one name to knock me off my high horse (or high stone pony as it were):
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
That’s right,The Boss himself was on the set of American Idol this week to help mentor the remaining however many singers there are as they prepare to compete this week with the theme “Songs From The 21st Century.” The pairing seems a little odd given the fact that Bruce’s best album from the 21st century is a collection of raucously Jerseyfied versions of Pete Seeger songs from the early 20th century!
But let’s not forget that there is a Bruce Springsteen/Jimmy Iovine (AI‘s new in-house mentor) connection! The two worked worked together extensively in the 1970s on such Springsteen classics as Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town and Bruce even took a moment to pay homage to Jimmy during the recording sessions for the latter. Here’s a clip of the tribute from the AMAZING box set The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story:
Needless to say, the folks at American Idol were pretty excited about having Bruce in the studio, tweeting this message on April 15:
Holy pride of New Jersey….BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN in the studio right now listening to the idols sing!!!!
I’m not buying it. I think Bruce was there to raise all kinds of Hell over New York gal Pia’s early dismissal! As a matter of fact, we have a completely fictitious American Idol insider who tells us Bruce performed a series of Pia-inspired songs for the contestants and producers of the show that included:
Pia ToscaNo Surrender
Blunder Road
Piacause the Night
Mistake Trooper
I’m a big Boss fan but I hope this doesn’t mean Bruce will be making more reality show appearances. If it does then we may have to rewrite his famous line, “This gun’s for hire, even if we’re just dancing with the stars.”
As a parting gesture, here’s Bruce singing a song that might have been written for Johnny Cash, but seems to be about Pia Toscano:
“Toscanohhhhhhh, ohhhh, oh why did you get fired?”
Top Photo: Bruce Springsteen leaving Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair and heads to the Emirates Stadium for his concert London, England on May 31, 2008 (WENN)