Journey‘s Jonathan Cain has slammed Bruce Springsteen as “an annoying, bitter old man” who “should shut up” about politics.
The multi-instrumentalist made the remarks to The Complete Disaster Network, where he spoke about the importance of keeping politics out of art.
“Guys like Bruce Springsteen should shut up,” Cain told the podcast. “Honestly, shut up, Bruce. Who’s the other one? Robert De Niro. I mean, who cares, guys? Really? Do your art.”
“I try to keep politics out of my music,” he continued, adding: “Now I’m releasing this patriotic song [‘The Winds Of Freedom: A Salute To America’ in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary] because I’m a diehard patriot. Like Kid Rock, who’s my friend — we’re a couple of patriots and … we love our flag and we love our nation. And we grew up that way”.
Cain added that “our job [as artists] is unifying people. I mean, Paul McCartney said, ‘Hey, when I sing ‘Hey, Jude’, Democrats and Republicans all sing together.’ And I feel the same way with Journey. We have our [political] parties out there in the audience, respective parties, and they’re singing ‘Don’t Stop Believin’.”
He told the podcast that he makes a point not to “spent 10 minutes talking” about politics on stage. “That’s who I am. And that’s okay,” he said. “Again, I just don’t think it’s cool to have celebrities going there. It’s a bad look.
Cain went on to take another jab at Springsteen, claiming he “used to like him”, but that Springsteen had become “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 [Springsteen’s ‘Born In The USA’], if you look at the lyrics, it’s a kind of a diss to our country,” Cain said.
Cain then said he and Kid Rock were “probably on an island” as conservative musicians, concluding: “There’s a few of us, and I stand there with my flag on that island, and if anybody’s got a problem with me, America and Jesus, then bring it.”
Recently, Bruce Springsteen came out in favour of “critical patriotism” during his recent PBS special, Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song.
“I believe that’s the definition of a patriot, you know, that you love your country so much that you are willing to look at it clearly, recognise its faults, encourage it to be a better place, and believe that you carry in your heart the country that is waiting,” he said.
He also explained his politically direct new song, ‘Streets Of Minneapolis’, which he penned in protest of ICE’s murder of two civilians last January.
“Usually, I write songs that have a lot of political implications but very often are not directly political,” he said. “So, in this case, I wrote a protest song. I thought, ‘Gee, maybe this is a little broad?’ You know?” he said. “But then I had my buddy, Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, and he says, ‘No, no, no.’ [He] says, ‘Bruce, nuance is great, but sometimes you’ve gotta kick ’em in the teeth.’”
Springsteen has also been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump. Most recently, The Boss called for Trump to be impeached and “consigned to the trash heap of history”, as well as describing the President as “corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous”.
Elsewhere, Journey are currently midway their huge farewell tour, which is expected to last until 2027.
They’ve just wrapped up a run of North American dates, which ran from February until July 2. UK and European dates are soon to be announced.
