I fucking hate Bruce Springsteen.

There, I said it. I hate Bruce Springsteen for two reasons. 1) His music is terrible and 2) He is from New Jersey.

I understand that Bruce Springsteen is a working class muse that talks about working class issues and criticizes America. I also understand that terrible 80’s synthesizer riffs will ruin any song and Max Weinberg is the Slavoj Zizek of overrated drummers.

So when I found out Bruce Springsteen was getting his own academic journal, I died a little on the inside. Entitled “BOSS: The Biannual  Online-Journal of Springsteen Studies,” the first issue will be published June, 2014.

To be clear, I’m not hating on the academic merit of this journal. Springsteen is as fair a subject for scholarly work as other awful things in the world like childhood diabetes or Hannah Montana.

Here’s their mission statement:

BOSS: The Biannual Online-Journal of Springsteen Studies aims to publish scholarly, peer-reviewed essays pertaining to Bruce Springsteen. This open-access journal seeks to encourage consideration of Springsteen’s body of work primarily through the political, economic, and socio-cultural factors that have influenced his music and shaped its reception. BOSS welcomes broad interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches to Springsteen’s songwriting and performance. The journal aims to secure a place for Springsteen Studies in the contemporary academy.

BOSS is also accepting submissions for their 2nd issue. You can read about that here, the deadline for submissions is August 18, 2014.

For those interested, there is also an academic “Gathering of the Juggalos” for Springsteen fans called  “Glory Days.”

[H/T Open Culture]