Needles & Grooves

As someone from the NE corridor fairly indifferent to Bruce, this is spot on.

Maybe the only equivalent I could think of is the Eagles??? Outside of Hotel California I would maybe only hear Take It Easy or Desperado growing up.

Yeah they came to mind but I don't know anyone who rides with The Eagles the way East Coasters ride with Bruce

Bruce’s true counterpart is Mellencamp. It’s not East Coast/West Coast, it’s Rust Belt/Agriculture.

I grew up in CA and Bruce was all over the radio. My parents loved him, my friends’ parents did too. I remember the adults talking about concerts, music, etc. Maybe we’re the west coast outliers tho

Springsteen was a titan in my Westcoast childhood as well. Don't know if I knew anybody who had seen him live and didn't dig into the deep cuts until adulthood, but he was definitely very present on the radio, record players and car stereos around me growing up too.

Bruce is omnipresent. Lift up some more rocks.

I have no idea what the West coast equivalent is, but the Southern equivalent is Skynryd. This is why we can't have nice things on the Dirty Coast.

West has gotta be a combo of The Eagles, Beach Boys and Grateful Dead

So... I think part of this, for the record, is that I was born in 87 and am a child of the 90s. I'm sure Springsteen was all over the radio in the 80's.

But I didn't know a single person who listened to him in high school in CO while we were busy worshiping Floyd, Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Stones or even Simon & Garfunkel or Van Morrison. Or any Boomer parents who played him around us.

And while I was in college in CA (majority the campua was from CA, CO, WA or OR) and knee deep in bands like the Talking Heads, Bowie, Violent Femmes, The Cure, Joy Division and Sonic Youth... I again, didn't know a single person who was like... hey, let's put on Born to Run.

And whenever I'd wind up back in CO people had moved on to Phish, The Allman Brothers, The Greatful Dead, Little Feet ext

Wasn't until grad school when I met some people from Jersey / Boston (and one dude from TX) that I realized how big he was in certain pockets. Been in CA 15 years now, and I have still never met someone from the West Coast who is super into Bruce.

Also-- Lynard Skynard's first two albums are awesome are were a part of my HS experience @nolalady

Born in the USA was probably the only song/album I heard growing up in Indiana. But like @Indymisanthrope said, it was all Mellencamp all day. Where Bruce brought on the depressing/glaring aspects of blue collar America, Johnny Cougar brought on the details of blue collar America that people took pride in.

Beach Boys?

@feesrevenge Seems like that might be the right answer. Any East Coasters willing to confirm whether the Beach Boys are a thing out that way?

I bet if you interviewed 100 New Yorkers/New Jerseyans on the street about the Beach Boys, the average response would be "I don't like SOFT ASS SHIT"

You literally cannot turn on some radio stations in your car in Indiana without hearing at least one Mellencamp song before you arrive at your destination. And I know you might be thinking "he really means 'figuratively,'" but I don't. I mean literally.

East has more Bruce and Billy Joel. West has more Eagles, Beach Boys, and Grateful Dead

It wasn't like east coast kids in the 90's were ridin' hard for Bruce. I mean Jersey is always its own story but it wasn't like people in high-school in 90's or early aughts cared about Bruce. I don't think Springsteen was on popular radio after the Tunnel of Love album other than the classic rock stuff.

I'm still ridin' hard for this tho.

Born in the USA was a massive album everywhere, but yeah, I didn't witness Bruce reverence in my California childhood (or adulthood) beyond that album getting a lot of play. I don't think there is an equivalent artist or band for the West Coast.