Bruce is too sexy for Starbucks

Asserting the important value that Triple Grande Lattes and anal sex do not go together, Starbucks has, according to a Newsweek Web exclusive story posted yesterday, backed out of a planned deal to sell Bruce Springsteen's "Devils and Dusts." The offending song is, of course, the instantly infamous "Reno," in which Springsteen, sounding even more dusty and sick of life than usual, describes in explicit detail an encounter with a prostitute. Losing the opportunity to sell records in a coffee chain might seem insignificant, but Starbucks has a proven ability to sell boomer-friendly music like Springsteen's to consumers, as it demonstrated last year by delivering more than a third of the sales of Ray Charles' hugely successful "Genius Loves Company." Not that the Boss seems to need any help: "Devils and Dust" debuted at the top of the album charts last week, with 222,324 sales reported by Soundscan, despite being available only in DualDisc format, with a higher list price than a standard CD.