Bruce Springsteen has hit headlines for his recent political statement, but that won’t stop The Boss.

In a new interview with nonprofit organization Home of the Brave , per Far Out Magazine , Springsteen explained why he is so committed to bringing politics into his music. “To me, music and politics, on some level, have always been intertwined because what is rock and roll or hip hop? It’s an expression of freedom.”

The “Thunder Road” singer remembered that he was in a local band when he first started voting in 1972. Even back then, he was performing in anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. “If you grew up in the 1960s, you grew up when music had a voice across the board; it came as part of what felt like your cultural responsibility.”

“If you had a platform, you used it, and you used it politically, and that was not controversial at the time.…