Out In The Street: Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the simple truths of blue-collar rock

In the heyday of Elvis, Chuck Berry or the Beatles, radio was revered. It constituted rock’n’roll’s channel to the teen heart, and it struck out into the very soul of a sprawling America. Radio could reach everywhere, from the rural outlands to the inner city. Radio exposure primed the juke-boxes of diners, soda fountains and truck stops. And it was rock’n’roll radio that baptised the ears of the first folks who asserted in print that music could matter, as well as entertain.