Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel To Play NYC Obama Benefit Concert

Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen will reportedly team up for a Barack Obama benefit concert at NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom on October 16th. The concert will be Obama's last NY appearance prior to the November 4th election. Donors were notified about the concert today. The performance will be the first time Springsteen and Joel — two titans of the tri-state area rock scene — ever played the same bill. And while Joel recently sold out two nights at Shea Stadium and Springsteen is about to be broadcast to the millions at this year's Super Bowl, their Hammerstein Ballroom will harbor a scant 2,500-person capacity. As if the concert wasn't amazing enough, the show also promises more "exciting guests." Tickets range from $500 for the balcony to $2,500 for premium seats to $10,000 for "lounge tickets." Springsteen announced on his website back in April that he endorsed Barack Obama. Bruce and Billy join artists like the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers who have come together for concerts to support the Democratic presidential candidate.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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