This research will be the first study to highlight, nationally and internationally, in an historical perspective, the pioneering and innovative diplomatic role played by Bruce Springsteen as a complex contemporary American "sound ambassador" - as a sort of "Born in the USA" Ambassador - in the current international political and social landscape, particularly in Italy. In Rock Around the Bloc: A History of Rock Music in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, T. W. Ryback writes that the conflict between the Soviet-block governments and their young people can be "measured in watts and decibels rather than megatons". In a similar perspective, in Rocking The Wall: Bruce Springsteen: The Untold Story of a Concert in East Berlin That Changed the World, E. Kirschbaum suggests that Bruce Springsteen's concert in East Berlin on 19 July 1988 played a role in the Cold War¿s quiet end. Particularly, in the political context of the Italian 1980s, representing a sort of a Born in the U.S.A. Ambassador at the end of the Cold War era, with his Italian epic, Springsteen's darkness also represented the "dark side," that is, the crisis of the Italian main political cultures Atlanticist, Catholic, and Communist, which tried to connect with him.
On January 10, 2017, in occasion of "A Conversation with Bruce Springsteen" moderated by Founding Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum, prof. Robert Santelli, the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music was established at Monmouth University (NJ). Representing one of the strategic and executive steps in the context of the prestigious Affiliation of Sapienza University with the GRAMMY Museum -promoted by the Music Making History Research Unit (MMHSapienza) directed by prof. Marilisa Merolla- this innovative research will highlight the pioneering and international role of Sapienza University of Rome in the studying of political and social processes using sound as a historical source.
Following the "Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town: An International Symposium" promoted by the "Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music"(Monmouth University, April 12-16, 2018), this research will be the first study to highlight, nationally and internationally, in an historical perspective, the pioneering and innovative diplomatic role played by Bruce Springsteen as a complex contemporary American "sound ambassador" - as a sort of "Born in the USA" Ambassador - in the current international political and social landscape, particularly in Mediterranean and Europe.
This innovative research is one of the strategic and executive steps in the context of the prestigious Affiliation of Sapienza University with the GRAMMY Museum, promoted by the Music Making History Research Unit (MMHSapienza) directed by prof. Marilisa Merolla, and announced by the Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum Prof. Robert Santelli in 2017. Thus, this study will highlight the pioneering and international role of Sapienza University of Rome in the studying of political and social processes using sound as a historical source.
In fact, this research also focuses on the GRAMMY Museum current expanding outside the United States with cultural programs. In fact, the Grammy Museum is a non-profit organization created in Los Angeles, USA, founded by Robert Santelli in 2008, which is recently expanding with cultural program inside and outside the United States: starting from the recent Affiliation with Sapienza University of Rome. Hence, with its main sites in Los Angeles, Nashville, Cleveland (Mississippi), and Newark NJ, the GRAMMY Museum's Mission is to highlight the United States music's rich cultural and record production history, as well as to explore the enduring legacies of the history of the GRAMMY Awards. Moreover, under the Obama White House Administration, the GRAMMY Museum - co-producing education programs with the White House - played a crucial institutional role like a sort of American "sound ambassador" inside and outside US.
In October 2017, Newark NJ joined Los Angeles, Nashville and Cleveland, Mississippi, as the last site chosen by the GRAMMY Museum. The new born Grammy Museum Experience in Newark sited at the Prudential Center aims to celebrate the NJ's rich musical legacy, focusing on new Jersey natives such as Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston. The Prudential Center opened in 2007 and it is considered among the most important concert venues in the United States. The Grammy Museum Experience in NJ project was personally leaded by Robert Santelli. Founding executive director of the Grammy Museum, Santelli is also a New Jersey native who grew up with members of Springsteen's E Street Band. Furthermore, as a music historian, Santelli is author of several books concerning American culture and music. Nashville was chosen by the GRAMMY Museum because it is the center of country music, with the same historical intent Mississippi was chosen because it is the birthplace of the blues. The core idea in choosing Newark (NJ) for a new GRAMMY Museum had the aim to emphasize the significant role played by rock 'n' roll music in contemporary history. A crucial role that the only a few most innovative research recently started to highlight.
With a similar intent, in January 2017, Robert Santelli along with Bruce Springsteen announced the birth of a "Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music" sited at the Monmouth University, Long Branch University. In fact, Monmouth University is one of the 14 GRAMMY Museum prestigious Affiliate Universities. The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music aims to preserve and promote the legacy of Bruce Springsteen and his role in American music, while honoring and celebrating icons of American music like Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Frank Sinatra, and others. Along with the GRAMMY Museum Experience Prudential Center (NJ), The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music aims to more deeply integrate the history and inspiration of American music, particularly NJ. It will also serve to launch the GRAMMY Museum curriculum promoted with its 14 university Affiliates.
Thanks to the wide and innovative potential of this study, this research final aims are the promoting of publications and the making of an Exhibit on the topic in collaboration with the GRAMMY Museum and the "Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music".