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This blog was contributed by Max Willens, ZIO's Music Channel Assistant.

As our country's last relevant rock 'n' roll icon, Bruce Springsteen is certainly a figure worthy of scholarly inquiry: he made some of the best-selling albums of all time; he's won an Oscar; he's appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek; he's performed at half time during a Super Bowl. With over four decades of recording and touring on his resume, his impact on American culture is both hard to overstate and hard to figure out.

But this past weekend, about 300 people headed to the campus of Monmouth University to take stock of the Boss at the Glory Days symposium. As the New York Times noted, briefly:

"Organized events included pilgrimages to the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, theatrical performances based on Mr. Springsteen’s work, panel discussions and the presentation of academic papers, including, from a session on gender: “ ‘Wrap Your Legs ’Round These Velvet Rims and Strap Your Hands Across My Engines’: Motor Vehicles and Masculinity in Bruce Springsteen’s Album Born to Run."

Improbably enough, this was not the first time this has happened. The original Glory Days symposium took place in 2005, and fans and academics alike were clamoring for another one just days after the first one ended. This year, there were over 36 discussions and events, with presenters from Italy, Norway, and Canada joining journalists, American academics, and even the odd lay-person ("We've got people [presenting] who don't even have bachelor's degrees," symposium founder and organizer Mark Bernhard told Paste Magazine).

As the above Times brief suggests, there were plenty of giggle-inducing paper titles (An Ecological Model of Alienation in Springsteen’s Magic! Yes!), but this second Glory Days also pointed a way toward a more egalitarian consideration of public figures. With so much unease floating around about cultural discourse's fragmentation, this was that rare event which managed to bring a wide range of opinions together.

But maybe that success had to do with the symposium's subject. After all, the Boss himself would be happy to hear that textbook publishers, actors, and school teachers came to present papers alongside professors from places like Yale and Cambridge. Each camp probably learned something from the other, too.