"The Boss," Bruce Springsteen, offered SXSW's Music keynote speech Thursday afternoon, and started it off by commending Austin on its capability to merge various types of music from regions and genres all over the world.

"It's incredible to be back. I've had a lot of fun in Austin since the '70s," Springsteen said. "It's fascinating to see what's become of the music that I've loved my whole life."

Although, when he began the speech after being introduced by SXSW co-founder Roland Swenson, he seemed concerned with the role he was about to play.

"I was a little hesitant for the word keynote—it made me uncomfortable," he said. "It seemed to suggest that there was a keynote to be struck that sums up whatever is going on out there on the streets. There is no keynote. There is no unified idea of anything. You can pick any band to create your own equation. It's fun."

Springsteen commented on the fast-paced growth the festival has experienced, and it's ability to promote bands of all generations, genres and makeup.

"It's great to be in a town with 10,000 bands," he said. "Back in late '64, when I picked up a guitar, that would've seemed like some insane teenage pipe dream—there just weren't that many guitars to go around. There's nothing minutely compared to what's going on in the streets of Austin right now."

Springsteen carried on his theme of diversity in music and tastes, as he first began with during his differentiation of "keynotes." He spoke about the famous Elvis obituary written by Lester Bangs, which said "But I can guarantee you one thing: we will never again agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis. So I won't bother saying good-bye to his corpse. I will say good-bye to you."

"He said probably the last thing we were all going to agree upon, public enemy not counting," Springsteen said. "You have your heroes and I have mine, but we would never see eye-to-eye again and be brought together on one music again. And while that's been proving us right over and over, here we are in a town where each of the bands have a style and philosophy all their own. They believe they have the power to turn Lester's prophecy inside out and beat his odds."

Springsteen told of his childhood and growing up as an aspiring guitarist and the early start of his career with The E Street Band. All the while, he mentioned some of his own heroes along the way that he looked up to, such as James Brown, Roy Orbison, The Animals and Hank Williams.

While speaking about each hero, Springsteen often lifted up his guitar and sang tidbits of songs from his idolized artist for the keynote audience. He showed the crowd how that specific music inspired him, and oftentimes which one of his songs that inspiration produced.

In the end, after describing his growth and inspirations throughout his life, he ended with more words of guidance for the audience.

"Rumble, young musicians. Rumble," he said. "Open your ears and open your hearts. Don't worry, but worry your ass off. Have iron-clad confidence, but have doubt—it keeps you aware and alert. Believe you are the baddest ass in town, and, you suck. And remember, when you walk on stage tonight to bring the noise, and treat it like it's all we have. And then, remember it's only rock 'n' roll."

Writer's note: No photos or videos were allowed to be captured during the keynote address. Visit www.sxsw.com for podcast/replay information.