Barry and Bruce Podcast: The Bromance We Didn’t Know We Needed

graphic by lance evans

Let’s be real: the past year has been a shitshow. Between quarantine, political turmoil, and controversy around every corner, we really needed some guidance. Unbeknownst to us, former President Barack Obama and legendary singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen were cooking up a bromance right under our noses to create their iconic podcast, “Renegades: Born in the USA.”

In their masterful podcast, the friends share their different upbringings, experiences with race relations, interpretations of American identity, and more. Although they differ in many ways, Barry and Bruce share their passion for making music, family, and the country they hope to change for the better through their platforms.

Since he was a kid growing up in Hawaii, Obama struggled with his identity. His father left when he was two years old, and he explains how he was treated differently because he did not look like his White mother or other children. This feeling of not belonging inspired the search for what it means to be American.

Throughout his presidency, Obama navigated the unknown territory that came with being the first American president of color and worked to push boundaries in uniting different communities. While a short eight years could not possibly transform the problematic ideologies and sentiments of many Americans, Obama opened up the conversation about how being American can mean different things for a diverse national community. 

For Springsteen, he too had a complex relationship with his father, who struggled with bipolar disorder during a time when mental health was not part of the societal narrative. Due to his lack of parental guidance and complicated home life, the rock-and-roll legend had a difficult time fitting in with peers and abiding by the rules.

The second episode of the podcast dives into their experiences with racial inequality and discrimination despite growing up thousands of miles away from each other. Obama shares when his childhood tennis coach feared that his skin would rub off on a piece of white paper and how he was forced to sit in the back row. He also explained how pivotal Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights activist, was as a role model for him.

In a predominantly White suburban town in New Jersey, Springsteen experienced segregation during his adolescence. In the podcast, he says that he was not allowed to go to his Black friends’ houses and that there were many societal rules incomprehensible to him at the time. Later in life, he witnessed how his band’s Black saxophonist, Clarence Clemons, could never be his true self because he had to cater to Springsteen’s mainly White audience.

The friends maintain transparency in recounting past traumas and hardships, creating a complementary duality. While both can never truly understand each other’s experiences, they take the time to understand them and find similarities underneath their seemingly opposite exteriors. This unexpected friendship is a true example that we are all human under the surface, and now more than ever, we need to hold on to the values that should define what it means to be American: breaking mental health stigmas, exposing racial injustice, and embracing diversity.