Bruce Springsteen

Springsteen's new album connects to a stream of pop balladry that emerged in tandem with Hollywood's turn in the late 1960s toward hippie antiheroes and modern masculinity's fatalistic drift.

"Hello Sunshine," the first single from Bruce Springsteen's upcoming album Western Stars, shares the same melancholy space as early '70s ballads by Jimmy Webb and Kris Kristofferson.

It's not enough to say the Bruce Springsteen hit is misunderstood. Its contrasts — between grim verses and a joyous chorus, damning facts and fierce pride — are what give it its anthemic power.