Leah Fitzpatrick

Dr. Rohler

Com 290         

 

Bruce Springsteen, also known as “The Boss,” hit the music industry with a bang when he released his first album, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” in 1973.  “The Wild,” “The Innocent,” and “The E Street Shuffle” quickly followed this release.  The albums received critical claim with comparisons to Bob Dylan, but did not sell well with fans.  Bruce Springsteen’s career had begun.

            Springsteen was born in Freehold, N.J. on September 23, 1949.  He grew up in a normal middle class family, and first started playing the guitar in high school.  After graduating from high school he moved to New York to try and get into the folk music scene.  After getting nowhere on this front he returned to Asbury Park, N.J. and hooked up with a number of bands.  With brief stints with bands such as Rogues and Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom, Springsteen found himself a place with the E-Street Band.  David Sancious and Danny Federici play the keyboard, Gary Tallent is the bass player, Clarence Clemons is on the saxophone, Steven Van Zandt is the guitarist (and also on the Sopranos now), and Vini Lopez is on the drums.  Springsteen remained with them until 1989, but this would not be the last time they played together.

            The 1973 albums are a symbol of the start of an amazing career and since then, “The Boss” has sold tens of millions of albums and won over millions of loyal fans worldwide in his 30 plus years as a “rock and roll legend.”  His break came after a tour with the band Chicago.  Springsteen mesmerized audiences in his live shows, and when the opportunity arose, the singer and songwriter came up with what is called his “breakthrough effort,” Born to Run in 1974.  The title song “Thunder Road’s” continuous playing on the radio brought the album to the top five.  The album received an enormous amount of praise, leading Springsteen to be dubbed as the “Savior of Rock and Roll.”  Every magazines and newspaper around the country were trying to get him to appear in their publications.

            After spending some time resolving management issues, the 1978 album “Darkness on the Edge of Town” was released, which was the first of Springsteen’s darker albums.  Following this album, “The River,” in 1980 quickly went platinum in the U.S. and established Springsteen as an international star.  Next was the release of his second darker album, 1982’s “Nebraska.”  This album was an artistic acoustic style recording, and he recorded it live in his New Jersey home and it was not followed by a tour.

            “The Boss’s” most famous release was “Born in the USA,” which came out in 1984.  This pop style rock album sold 20 million copies, and it was followed by a huge two year long world wide tour.  The new working class image of Born in the USA made Springsteen a world wide superstar.  Although many fans thought that his hit song, “Born in the USA,” was about patriotism, it was actually an anti-Vietnam war song.

            1987’s “Tunnel of Love” was released during a time when Springsteen was facing marital problems.  He started singing about lost love, emotional loss, and other adult concerns.  He set off after this for one more tour with the E-Street Band and then in 1989 they parted ways.  Three years later he released two albums, “Human Touch” and “Lucky Town.”  The first, “Human Touch,” was played mainly on the radio, while the “Lucky Town” was seen as a major career step for Springsteen.  Next, he did a stint on MTV’s Unplugged program and then resumed touring in 1993.

            Springsteen released the song “Streets of Philadelphia” for the movie “Philadelphia,” which won him a Grammy award and an Oscar for “Best Song.” With his career in full comeback, he released a “Greatest Hits” album, which led him to reunite with the E-Street Band for some new songs.  Next came 1985’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” which was a return for Springsteen to the folk music style of his early career.  This was followed by a release from Columbia records of a box set including 56 previously unreleased tracks and 10 B-sides called Tracks, in 1998.

            On March 7, Springsteen and his E-Street Band played in Atlantic City.  The casinos wanted to give away his concert tickets to their high rollers, but Springsteen would not allow it.  He said he wanted to save the tickets for his fans.  Veteran Philadelphia D.J. Ed Sciaky was quoted, “He doesn’t like tickets being pulled for anybody.  He doesn’t want to play for high-rollers.  He wants to play for fans.”  Indeed, he did.  This loyal singer played to a sold-out crowd of 13,000 that night. 

            After 30 years Springsteen is still going strong, and he just released his new album, “The Rising, “ which has been very successful.  He is currently touring internationally, and “The Boss” has certainly proved himself to be a “rock and roll legend.”

Bruce Springsteen Bibliography

 

 

 

      1.  http://www.springstomania.com/springstomania.php3?page=biography&lang=us

 

 

  1. Courier Post.  Darrow, Chuck.  Springsteen’s first A.C. show will bury myth.  March 7, 2003.