{"id":3432,"date":"2010-10-13T23:50:30","date_gmt":"2010-10-14T03:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=3432"},"modified":"2011-01-13T12:19:52","modified_gmt":"2011-01-13T16:19:52","slug":"rth-confessional-times-youve-committed-unnecessary-box-set-purchases-in-your-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/rth-confessional-times-youve-committed-unnecessary-box-set-purchases-in-your-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"RTH Confessional: Times You\u2019ve Committed Unnecessary Box Set Purchases in Your Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Remember when President Jimmy Carter<\/strong> admitted to Playboy<\/em> to having committed adultery in his heart<\/a>?\u00a0Today I committed an unnecessary box set purchase in my heart. Here’s my story<\/em>:<\/div>\n
\u00a0I picked up a recent issue of Rolling Stone<\/em> and flipped it open to a piece on an upcoming 3-CD\/3-DVD\u00a0box set, expanded edition of Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness On the Edge of Town<\/em><\/a>. I was aware that this album was being reissued in some\u00a0expanded format, but I had no idea how\u00a0expanded it would be.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Boss Faith<\/p><\/div>\n

When this album came out it was my favorite Bruce Springsteen<\/strong> album by far, the only one the teenage me was comfortable saying he “basically liked.” Thirty-plus years later it’s still the only Boss album I’m comfortable saying I basically like, although I haven’t spun it in 20 years. I really like the song “Badlands.” I like the fact that, from what I recall, it’s the most guitar-and-drum oriented album of his career. I like that fact that, from what I recall, it didn’t get bogged down by 10-minute ballads about boys combing their hair and girls trying to determine which of the boys combing their hair might be worth hanging around town and getting knocked up by. Like I said, I probably haven’t pulled out my copy of that album in 20 years, but I feel comfortable saying, “Darkness on the Edge of\u00a0Town<\/em> is the one Boss album I’ve always kind of liked.”<\/p>\n

What I’ve never felt or thought before a few minutes ago, however, is “Man, I’d like to get my hands on a copy of a box set reissue of that album so I can hear more than 20 previously unreleased and even unbootlegged tracks [I love that unbootlegged claim, by the way] and watch vintage concert performances of The Boss and His E Street Band!” In my heart I’d committed an unnecessary box set purchase.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking back on this moment of weakness, I probably thought that among the extra material I’d finally unlock the magic of Boss Faith<\/a>, which has always eluded me. I’d retroactively be more agreeable and find it easier to fit into social situations from my school days as well as, currently, in my suburban, upper-middle class\u00a0town and among clients in my field of work. My kids would be better behaved, less confrontational, and crack jokes that wouldn’t make all but their closest friends in school uncomfortable. My wife would be happier with me, or at least less openly critical of my flaws. She’d suffer in silence and have an extra cocktail at the country club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then it occurred to me: We don’t belong to a country club.\u00a0My wife doesn’t suffer fools, and I love her for it. My kids have a morose, wiseass sense of humor and question everything life asks of them. My clients are pleased with the work I do, but we don’t go out for drinks. I don’t even drink even if we did.\u00a0The people who remember me from my teenage years probably don’t harbor extremely negative thoughts about me, but I’m sure questions linger about what the hell was wrong with me back then.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think I’ll pass on the Darkness<\/em> box set as I should have passed on the Live Boss box set (on vinyl)<\/a> from sometime in the late-’80s. I must have been hung up on the same fantasies the day I wasted money on that thing!\u00a0<\/p>\n

While we’re confessing to unnecessary box set purchases of the heart (or for real), what box set by an artist you’ve never been a big fan of most tempted you?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember when President Jimmy Carter admitted to Playboy to having committed adultery in his heart?\u00a0Today I committed an unnecessary box set purchase in my heart. Here’s my story:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[52,99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}