3 Heartland Rock Songs From 1988 Anyone Can Relate To

Heartland rock, Americana, roots rock. I think Billy Joel put it right when he sang “Everybody’s talkin’ ’bout the new sound / Funny, but it’s still rock and roll to me.” And who’s going to argue with that?

Videos by American Songwriter

Of course, humans like to organize things. And the music industry uses genres to categorize similar styles in recordings. Eventually, artists get dispersed into a kind of balkanized abyss of subgenres, which, instead of filtering, do the opposite. They reveal how often genres intertwine. In place of a separation, we have the connective tissue of folk, blues, country, R&B, rock and roll, and so on.

Okay, on to three heartland rockers from 1988 that anyone can relate to, as a pair of English legends show in our first entry.

“Handle With Care” by The Traveling Wilburys

While recording in Bob Dylan’s garage studio, George Harrison found the title to his supergroup’s biggest hit on a box label. “Handle With Care” was meant to be a Harrison B-side, but the record company, wisely, thought the tune was too good to back a European single. So Harrison and producer Jeff Lynne decided to form the band of mates they’d long envisioned. Enter Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison. The track became The Traveling Wilburys’ lead single, connecting 1960s folk rock with the heartland rock it inspired.

“Spare Parts” by Bruce Springsteen

Released as a single in 1988, “Spare Parts” describes the struggle of a single mother. But that’s only part of the story. Bruce Springsteen, in vivid detail, begins the song with a raw story about an accidental pregnancy and a boyfriend who “got scared” and left. The mother thinks her life is over. But she soon realizes the child gives her a reason to forget the past. And the other gift she received from her ex was a newfound independence. Then she pawns her engagement ring, trading unwanted jewelry for cash. Discarded hardware leading to Springsteen’s kinetic hook: “Spare parts and broken hearts keep the world turning around.”

“Bring Me Some Water” by Melissa Etheridge

“But tonight while I’m making excuses, some other woman is making love to you,” Melissa Etheridge sings on her debut single. “Bring Me Some Water” is a blues-rock jam about jealousy and finds Etheridge drowning in the details of the affair. Though it’s now one of her defining tracks, Island Records initially rejected the first pass of Etheridge’s debut album. It was layered beneath the glossy veneer typical of 1980s rock productions. So she quickly rerecorded the album, with a stripped-down approach that echoes her high-energy live performances. Here, she leaves nothing in the way of “the steel of the red hot truth.”

Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns