Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "
The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the
E Street BandThe E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of
heartland rockHeartland rock is a genre of rock music that developed in the 1970s and reached its commercial peak in the 1980s, when it became one of the best-selling genres in the United States. It was characterized by a straightforward musical style, a concern with the average, blue collar American life, and a...
, poetic lyrics, and
AmericanaAmericana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
sentiments centered on his native
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums,
Born in the U.S.A.Born in the U.S.A. is the seventh studio album by American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 4, 1984. A critical and commercial triumph, it found Springsteen marking a departure in his sound...
and
Born to RunThe album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...
, showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and 120 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century, and in 2004,
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
ranked him as the 23rd greatest artist of all time in its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.
Early life
Springsteen was born in
Long Branch, New JerseyLong Branch is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 30,719.Long Branch was formed on April 11, 1867, as the Long Branch Commission, from portions of Ocean Township...
,
and spent his childhood and high school years in
Freehold BoroughFreehold is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 12,052. It is the county seat of Monmouth County....
. He lived on South Street in Freehold Borough and attended Freehold Borough High School. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, was of Dutch and
IrishIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
ancestry and worked, among other vocations, as a bus driver; his surname is Dutch for jump stone. His mother, Adele Ann (née Zirilli), was a legal secretary and was of
ItalianAn Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
ancestry. His maternal grandfather was born in
Vico EquenseVico Equense is a coastal town and comune in the province of Naples, in the Campania region of southern Italy.-Geography:Vico Equense is part of the greater Bay of Naples metropolitan area and is a popular destination for tourists...
, a city near
NaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela.
PamelaPamela Colleen Springsteen is an American actress and photographer. She had a short acting career, and is best known for playing the role of serial killer Angela Baker in Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland. She is now a successful photographer...
had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full time; she took photos for the
Human TouchHuman Touch is the ninth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1992 . This album was co-released on the same day as Lucky Town...
and
Lucky TownLucky Town is the tenth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1992. This album was released on the same day as Human Touch. The title track was featured in the film Lucky You.-History:...
albums.
Raised a Roman Catholic, Springsteen attended the St. Rose of Lima Catholic school in Freehold Borough, where he was at odds with the nuns and rejected the strictures imposed upon him, even though some of his later music reflects a Catholic ethos and included a few rock-influenced, traditional Irish-Catholic hymns.
In ninth grade, he transferred to the public
Freehold Regional High SchoolFreehold High School is a four-year public high school located within Freehold Borough, New Jersey, operating as part of the Freehold Regional High School District. The school serves students from all of Freehold Borough and from portions of Freehold Township...
, but did not fit in there, either. Old teachers have said he was a "loner, who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar." He completed high school, but felt so uncomfortable that he skipped his own graduation ceremony. He briefly attended
Ocean County CollegeOcean County College is an accredited, coeducational, two-year, public, community college located in Ocean County, New Jersey. Its main campus is in Toms River...
, but dropped out.
1962–1972: Early years
Springsteen had been inspired to take up music at the age of seven after seeing
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
on
The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
. At 13, his mother bought him his first guitar for $18; later, she took out a loan to buy the 16-year-old Springsteen a $60 Kent guitar, as he later memorialized in his song "The Wish".
In 1965, he went to the house of Tex and Marion Vinyard, who sponsored young bands in town. They helped him become lead guitarist and subsequently the lead singer of The Castiles. The Castiles recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in
Brick Township-Transportation:The major county routes that pass through are CR 528, and CR 549 . Two state routes pass through: Route 70 and Route 88...
and played a variety of venues, including
Cafe Wha?Cafe Wha? is a club in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, New York City that has been home to various musicians and comedians. Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, The Velvet Underground, Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, Kool and the Gang, Peter, Paul & Mary, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Joan...
in
Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. Marion Vinyard said that she believed the young Springsteen when he promised he would make it big.
Called for
inductionConscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
when he was 18, Springsteen failed his physical examination and did not serve in Vietnam. In an interview in
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine in 1984, he said, "When I got on the bus to go take my physical, I thought one thing: I ain't goin'." He had suffered a concussion in a motorcycle accident when he was 17, and this together with his "crazy" behaviour at induction and not taking the tests, was enough to get him a 4F.
In the late 1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a
power trioA power trio is a rock and roll band format where the traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords...
known as Earth, playing in clubs in New Jersey. Springsteen acquired the nickname "The Boss" during this period as when he played club gigs with a band he took on the task of collecting the band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates. Springsteen is not fond of this nickname, due to his dislike of bosses, but seems to have since given it a tacit acceptance. Previously he had the nickname "Doctor". From 1969 through early 1971, Springsteen performed with
Steel MillSteel Mill was an early Bruce Springsteen band. Other members of the band included three future members of the E Street Band - Vini Lopez, Danny Federici and Steve Van Zandt. As well as playing on the Jersey Shore, Steel Mill also played regularly in Richmond, Virginia and played gigs in California...
, which also featured
Danny FedericiDaniel Paul "Danny" Federici was an American musician, best known as the longtime organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.- Career :...
,
Vini LopezVini "Mad Dog" Lopez is an American drummer. Between 1968 and 1974 Lopez backed Bruce Springsteen in several bands, including Steel Mill and the E Street Band. He also played on Springsteen’s first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle...
,
Vinnie RoslinVinnie Roslin is an American bass guitarist. He was an original member of Steel Mill, an early Bruce Springsteen band. Other members of band included three future members the E Street Band - Vini Lopez, Danny Federici and Steve Van Zandt....
and later Steve Van Zandt and
Robbin ThompsonRobbin Thompson is an American singer-songwriter based in Richmond, Virginia. Since 1976 he has recorded several albums which have featured guest appearances by, among others, Melissa Manchester, Steve Cropper, Waddy Wachtel, Bruce Hornsby and Ellen McIlwaine...
. They went on to play the mid-Atlantic college circuit, and also briefly in California. In January 1970 well-known San Francisco Examiner music critic Philip Elwood gave Springsteen credibility in his glowing assessment of Steel Mill: "I have never been so overwhelmed by totally unknown talent." Elwood went on to praise their "cohesive musicality" and, in particular, singled out Springsteen as "a most impressive composer." During this time Springsteen also performed regularly at small clubs in Canton, Massachusetts, Richmond, Virginia, Asbury Park and along the
Jersey ShoreThe Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
, quickly gathering a cult following. Other acts followed over the next two years, as Springsteen sought to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style: Dr Zoom & the Sonic Boom (early–mid 1971), Sundance Blues Band (mid 1971), and The Bruce Springsteen Band (mid 1971–mid 1972). With the addition of pianist
David SanciousDavid Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
, the core of what would later become the E Street Band was formed, with occasional temporary additions such as horn sections, "The Zoomettes" (a group of female backing vocalists for "Dr. Zoom") and Southside Johnny Lyon on harmonica. Musical genres explored included blues, R&B, jazz, church music, early rock'n'roll, and soul. His prolific songwriting ability, with "More words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums", as his future record label would describe it in early publicity campaigns, brought his skill to the attention of several people who were about to change his life: new managers
Mike AppelMike Appel is an American music industry manager and record producer, most known for his role in both capacities early in the career of Bruce Springsteen....
and Jim Cretecos, and legendary
Columbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
talent scout
John HammondJohn Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
, who, under Appel's pressure, auditioned Springsteen in May 1972.
Even after Springsteen gained international acclaim, his New Jersey roots showed through in his music, and he often praised "the great state of New Jersey" in his live shows. Drawing on his extensive local appeal, he routinely sold out consecutive nights in major
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and Philadelphia venues. He also made many surprise appearances at
The Stone PonyThe Stone Pony, located in Asbury Park, New Jersey, is one of the world's best known music venues. It is known as a starting point for many musicians, first and foremost for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, who were the house-band for much of the mid-seventies, but also for New Jersey natives...
and other shore nightclubs over the years, becoming the foremost exponent of the
Jersey Shore soundThe Jersey Shore sound is a genre of rock and roll popularized at the Jersey Shore on the Atlantic Ocean coast of New Jersey, United States, that goes by a variety of names or, more often, is defined by its artists...
.
1972–1974: Initial struggle for success
Springsteen signed a record deal with
Columbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in 1972, with the help of
John HammondJohn Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
, who had signed
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
to the same label a decade earlier. Springsteen brought many of his New Jersey–based colleagues into the studio with him, thus forming the E Street Band (although it would not be formally named as such for several more years). His debut album,
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is the first studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1973. It only sold about 25,000 copies in the first year of its release, but had significant critical impact...
, released in January 1973, established him as a critical favorite, though sales were slow. Because of Springsteen's lyrical poeticism and
folk rockFolk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
–rooted music exemplified on tracks like "
Blinded by the Light"Blinded by the Light" is a song written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen, although it is mostly known by its 1977 #1 hit version recorded by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. It was released in the United Kingdom in August 1976, where it reached No...
", (which would later be a hit for
Manfred MannManfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
and go to number one, making it the only time Springsteen had a number one single as a songwriter), and
"For You""For You" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973. It was later included on the compilation album The Essential Bruce Springsteen...
, as well as the Columbia and Hammond connections, critics initially compared Springsteen to
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by '
Like a Rolling Stone"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
,'" wrote
CrawdaddyCrawdaddy! was the first U.S. magazine of rock and roll music criticism. Created in 1966 by college student Paul Williams in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music, Crawdaddy! was self-described as "the first magazine to take rock and roll...
magazine editor
Peter KnoblerPeter Knobler is an American writer living in New York City. He has collaborated on several national best sellers and was the editor-in-chief of Crawdaddy magazine from 1972 to 1979.- Writing :...
in Springsteen's first interview/profile, in March 1973. Crawdaddy discovered Springsteen in the rock press and was his earliest champion. (Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged by giving a private performance at the Crawdaddy 10th Anniversary Party in New York City in June 1976.) Music critic
Lester BangsLeslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist, author and musician. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock 'n' roll criticism....
wrote in
CreemCreem , "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine," was a monthly rock 'n' roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. It suspended production in 1989 but received a short-lived renaissance in the early 1990s as a glossy tabloid...
in 1975 that when Springsteen's first album was released "... many of us dismissed it: he wrote like Bob Dylan and
Van MorrisonVan Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, sang like Van Morrison and
Robbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, and led a band that sounded like Van Morrison's." The track "
Spirit in the Night"Spirit in the Night" is a song written and originally recorded by New Jersey based singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen for his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. . It was also the second single released from the album...
" especially showed Morrison's influence, while "
Lost in the Flood"Lost in the Flood" is a song by Bruce Springsteen. It was released on his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973.- Music and themes :...
" was the first of many portraits of
Vietnam veteranVietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War.The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them, whether or...
s and "
Growin' Up"Growin' Up" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973.It is a moderately-paced tune, concerning an adolescence as a rebellious New Jersey teen, with lyrics written in the first-person...
", his first take on the recurring theme of adolescence.
In September 1973 his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, was released, again to critical acclaim but no commercial success. Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope, with the E Street Band providing a less folky, more R&B vibe and the lyrics often romanticized teenage street life. "
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)"4th of July, Asbury Park ", often known just as "Sandy", is a 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen, originally appearing as the second song on his album The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle....
" and "Incident on 57th Street" would become fan favorites, and the long, rousing "
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"Rosalita " is a 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen, from his The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle album, and is especially famed as a concert number for Springsteen and The E Street Band...
" continues to rank among Springsteen's most beloved concert numbers.
In the May 22, 1974, issue of Boston's
The Real PaperThe Real Paper was a Boston alternative weekly newspaper with a circulation of 50,000. It ran from August 2, 1972, to June 18, 1981, often devoting space to counterculture issues of the early 1970s. The offices were located on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts.The Cambridge Phoenix...
, music critic
Jon LandauJon Landau is an American music critic, manager and record producer, most known for his association in all three capacities with Bruce Springsteen.He is currently the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....
wrote after seeing a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, "I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time." Landau subsequently became Springsteen's
managerA talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...
and producer, helping to finish the epic new album, Born to Run. Given an enormous budget in a last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a
wall of soundThe Wall of Sound is a music production technique for pop and rock music recordings developed by record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during the early 1960s...
production. But, fed by the release of an early mix of
"Born to Run""Born to Run" is a song by American singer songwriter Bruce Springsteen, and the title song of his album Born to Run.- Songwriting :Written at in Long Branch, New Jersey in early 1974, the song was Bruce Springsteen's last-ditch effort to make it big. The prior year, Springsteen had released two...
to
progressive rock radioProgressive rock is a radio station programming format that prospered in the late 1960s and 1970s, in which the disc jockeys are given wide latitude in what they may play, similar to the freeform format but with the proviso that some kind of rock music is almost always what is played...
, anticipation built toward the album's release. All in all the album took more than 14 months to record, with six months alone spent on the song "Born To Run" During this time Springsteen battled with anger and frustration over the album, saying he heard "sounds in [his] head" that he could not explain to the others in the studio. It was during these recording sessions that "Miami" Steve Van Zandt would stumble into the studio just in time to help Springsteen organize the horn section on "
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is the second song on Bruce Springsteen's breakthrough album Born to Run.-Content:The song loosely tells the story of the formation of the E Street Band. However, when asked, most Springsteen fans cannot answer the question, "What is a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out?" The...
" (it is his only written contribution to the album), and eventually led to his joining the E Street Band. Van Zandt had been a long-time friend of Springsteen, as well as a collaborator on earlier musical projects, and understood where he was coming from, which helped him to translate some of the sounds Springsteen was hearing. Still, by the end of the grueling recording sessions, Springsteen was not satisfied, and, upon first hearing the finished album, threw the record into the alley and told Jon Landau he would rather just cut the album live at The
Bottom LineThe Bottom Line was a music venue at 15 West Fourth Street between Mercer Street and Greene Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
, a place he often played.
1975–1983: Breakthrough
On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York's
Bottom LineThe Bottom Line was a music venue at 15 West Fourth Street between Mercer Street and Greene Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
club. The engagement attracted major media attention, was broadcast live on WNEW-FM, and convinced many skeptics that Springsteen was for real. (Decades later,
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine would name the stand as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll.) With the release of Born to Run on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success. The album peaked at number 3 on the
Billboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, and while there were no hit singles, "Born to Run" (Billboard #23),
"Thunder Road""Thunder Road" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, and the opening track on his 1975 breakthrough album Born to Run. It is ranked as one of Springsteen's greatest songs, and often appears on lists of the top rock songs of all time.Rolling Stone magazine placed it as #86 on its...
, "
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is the second song on Bruce Springsteen's breakthrough album Born to Run.-Content:The song loosely tells the story of the formation of the E Street Band. However, when asked, most Springsteen fans cannot answer the question, "What is a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out?" The...
" (Billboard #83), and "
Jungleland"Jungleland" is an almost ten-minute long closing song on Bruce Springsteen's 1975 album Born to Run, and tells a tale of love amid a backdrop of gang violence. It contains one of E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons' most recognizable solos...
" all received massive
album-oriented rockAlbum-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
airplay and remain perennial favorites on many
classic rockClassic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
stations. The songwriting and recording was more disciplined than before, while still maintaining an epic feel. With its panoramic imagery, thundering production and desperate optimism, Born to Run is considered by some fans to be among the best rock and roll albums of all time and Springsteen's finest work. It established him as a sincere and dynamic rock and roll personality who spoke for and in the voice of a large part of the rock audience. To cap off the triumph, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
and
NewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
in the same week, on October 27 of that year. So great did the wave of publicity become that Springsteen eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a
concert appearance in LondonHammersmith Odeon London '75 is both a concert video and the fourth live album by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, released in 2006 . It is a full-length recording of their performance on 18 November 1975 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, during their Born to Run tours...
.
A legal battle with former manager
Mike AppelMike Appel is an American music industry manager and record producer, most known for his role in both capacities early in the career of Bruce Springsteen....
kept Springsteen out of the
studioA recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through
extensive touring across the U.S.Born to Run was Bruce Springsteen's last, best hope for fortune and fame. As such it became a torturous recording process, and to make ends meet Springsteen and the E Street Band toured constantly during the first set of recording sessions for it, performing his new songs as he developed them...
Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, his new songs had taken a more somber tone than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced
Darkness on the Edge of TownDarkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in the late spring of 1978. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel...
(1978). Musically, this album was a turning point in Springsteen's career. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first two albums; now the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen's growing intellectual and political awareness. The cross-country
1978 tourBruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Darkness Tour was a concert tour of North America that ran from May 1978 through the rest of the year, in conjunction with the release of Springsteen's album Darkness on the Edge of Town...
to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity and length of its shows.
By the late 1970s, Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands.
Manfred Mann's Earth BandManfred Mann's Earth Band is a British progressive rock group formed in 1971 by Manfred Mann.-Formation:Having started in the 1960s with a British band that had such hits as "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "The Mighty Quinn", then moving on to Jazz Fusion with Manfred Mann's Chapter Three, Manfred's third...
had achieved a U.S. number one pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings "
Blinded by the Light"Blinded by the Light" is a song written and originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen, although it is mostly known by its 1977 #1 hit version recorded by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. It was released in the United Kingdom in August 1976, where it reached No...
" in early 1977.
Patti SmithPatricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
reached number 13 with her take on Springsteen's unreleased "
Because the Night"Because the Night" is a song by the Patti Smith Group, written by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith which was released as a single in 1978, taken from Smith's album Easter. The song was a hit, rising to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and helping propel sales of Easter to mainstream success –...
" (with revised lyrics by Smith) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit number two in 1979 with Springsteen's also unreleased
"Fire""Fire" is a song written by Bruce Springsteen, written around 1977. Though written and first recorded during the troubled sessions that followed Born to Run, Springsteen's version of the song remained unreleased until his 1986 live compilation Live/1975-85.The Live/1975-85 version of the song was...
.
In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the
Musicians United for Safe EnergyMusicians United for Safe Energy, or MUSE, is an activist group founded in 1979 by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall. The group advocates against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in March 1979...
anti-nuclear power collective at
Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent
No NukesNo Nukes: The Muse Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future was a 1979 triple live album that contained selections from the September 1979 Madison Square Garden concerts by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective, with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall being the key...
live album, as well as the following summer's
No NukesNo Nukes is a 1980 documentary and concert film that contained selections from the September 1979 Madison Square Garden concerts by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective, with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall being the key organizers of the event and guiding forces...
documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act, as well as Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.
Springsteen continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the 20-song double album The River in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good-time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit Top Ten single as a performer, "
Hungry Heart"Hungry Heart" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his fifth album, The River. It was released as the album's first single in 1980 and became Springsteen's first big hit of his own on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.-History:...
". This album marked a shift in Springsteen's music toward a pop-rock sound that was all but missing from any of his earlier work. This is apparent in the stylistic adoption of certain eighties pop-rock hallmarks like the reverberating-tenor drums, very basic percussion/guitar and repetitive lyrics apparent in many of the tracks. The title song pointed to Springsteen's intellectual direction, while a couple of the lesser-known tracks presaged his musical direction. The album sold well, becoming his first topper on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and a
long tour in 1980 and 1981The River Tour was a concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in 1980 and 1981, beginning concurrently with the release of Springsteen's album The River.-Itinerary:...
followed, featuring Springsteen's first extended playing of Europe and ending with a series of multi-night arena stands in major cities in the U.S.
The River was followed in 1982 by the stark solo acoustic
Nebraska-Themes:The album begins with "Nebraska", a first-person narrative based on the true story of 19-year-old spree killer Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, and ends with "Reason to Believe", a complex narrative that renders its title phrase into contemptuous sarcasm...
. Recording sessions had been held to expand on a demo tape Springsteen had made at his home on a simple, low-tech four-track tape deck. However during the recording process Springsteen and producer Landau realized the songs worked better as solo acoustic numbers than full band renditions and the original demo tape was released as the album. Although the recordings of the E Street Band were shelved, other songs from these sessions would later be released, including "
Born in the U.S.A."Born in the U.S.A." is a 1984 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. Taken from the album of the same name, it is one of his best-known singles. Rolling Stone ranked the song 275th on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2001, the RIAA's Songs of the Century placed...
" and
"Glory Days""Glory Days" is a 1984 song, written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985, it became the fifth single released from his massively successful album Born in the U.S.A.-History:...
. According to the
MarshDave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
biographies, Springsteen was in a depressed state when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. While Nebraska did not sell as well as Springsteen's two previous albums, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named "Album of the Year" by Rolling Stone magazine's critics) and influenced later significant works by other major artists, including
U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
's album
The Joshua TreeThe Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release The Unforgettable Fire, U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound on The Joshua...
. It helped inspire the musical genre known as
lo-fi musicLo-fi is lower quality of sound recordings than the usual standard for music. The qualities of lo-fi are usually achieved by either degrading the quality of the recorded audio, or using certain equipment. Recent uses of the phrase have led to it becoming a genre, although it still remains as an...
, becoming a cult favorite among
indie-rockersIndie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with Nebraskas release.
1984–1991: Commercial and popular phenomenon
Springsteen probably is best known for his album Born in the U.S.A. (1984), which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with seven singles hitting the Top 10, and the massively successful world tour that followed it. The
title track"Born in the U.S.A." is a 1984 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. Taken from the album of the same name, it is one of his best-known singles. Rolling Stone ranked the song 275th on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2001, the RIAA's Songs of the Century placed...
was a bitter commentary on the treatment of
Vietnam veteranVietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War.The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them, whether or...
s, some of whom were Springsteen's friends and bandmates. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song was widely misinterpreted as
jingoisticJingoism is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy. In practice, it is a country's advocation of the use of threats or actual force against other countries in order to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests...
, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. Springsteen also turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use the song in a car commercial. (In later years, to eliminate the bombast and make the song's original meaning more explicitly clear, Springsteen performed the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar. An acoustic version also appeared on Tracks, a later album.) "Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from Born in the U.S.A., peaking at number 2 on the Billboard music charts. The music video for the song featured a young
Courteney CoxCourteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
dancing on stage with Springsteen, an appearance which helped kickstart the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for
Donna SummerLaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her,
"Protection"Protection is a song written by Bruce Springsteen for Donna Summer. It was originally featured on the 1982 Donna Summer album which was produced by Quincy Jones. In 1997 it was also included on One Step Up/Two Steps Back: The Songs Of Bruce Springsteen...
. Videos for the album were made by noted film directors
Brian De PalmaBrian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
and
John SaylesJohn Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
. Springsteen was featured on the "
We Are the World"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...
" song and
albumWe Are the World was a 1985 album that contained USA for Africa's "We Are the World" superstar charity recording for famine relief efforts in Ethiopia....
in 1985. His live single "Trapped" from that album received moderate airplay on U.S. Top 40 stations as well as reaching #1 on the
BillboardBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Top Rock Tracks chart.
During the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Springsteen met actress
Julianne PhillipsJulianne Phillips is an American model and actress. She is the ex-wife of Bruce Springsteen.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Phillips was raised in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, Oregon, the daughter of insurance broker, William Phillips, and wife, Ann Phillips. She was the youngest of...
, whom he would marry in 1985.
The Born in the U.S.A. period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience demographic he would ever reach (aided by the release of
Arthur BakerArthur Baker is an American record producer and DJ best known for his work with hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, and the British group New Order.-Early career:...
's
dance mixesA remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
of three of the singles). Live/1975–85, a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at number 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. Live/1975–85 summed up Springsteen's career to that point and displayed some of the elements that made his shows so powerful to his fans: the switching from mournful dirges to party rockers and back; the communal sense of purpose between artist and audience; the long, intense spoken passages before songs, including those describing Springsteen's difficult relationship with his father; and the instrumental prowess of the E Street Band, such as in the long
codaCoda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
to "
Racing in the Street"Racing in the Street" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town. In the original vinyl format, it was the last song of side one of the album...
". Despite its popularity, some fans and critics felt the album's song selection could have been better. Springsteen concerts are the subjects of frequent
bootleg recordingA bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
and trading among fans.
During the 1980s, several Springsteen fanzines were launched, including
BackstreetsBackstreets Magazine is a published quarterly Bruce Springsteen fanzine that has been covering the music of Springsteen and other Jersey Shore sound artists since 1980.- History :...
magazine, which started in Seattle and continues today as a glossy publication, now in communication with Springsteen's management and official website.
After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative
Tunnel of LoveTunnel of Love is the eighth studio album by Bruce Springsteen released in 1987.In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Tunnel of Love the 91st greatest album of all time....
album (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band. It presaged the breakup of his marriage to Julianne Phillips and described some of his unhappinesses in the relationship. Reflecting the challenges of love in "
Brilliant Disguise"Brilliant Disguise" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1987 album Tunnel of Love. It was released as the first single from the album, reaching the #5 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the United States...
", Springsteen sang:
The subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour shook up fans with changes to the stage layout, favorites dropped from the set list, and horn-based arrangements. During the European leg in 1988, Springsteen's relationship with backup singer
Patti ScialfaVivienne Patricia "Patti" Scialfa is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She is married to Bruce Springsteen and they have three children.- Early life :...
became public and Phillips and Springsteen filed for divorce in 1988. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In late 1989 he dissolved the E Street Band, and he and Scialfa relocated to California, marrying in 1991.
1992–2001: Artistic and commercial ups and downs
In 1992, after risking charges of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles (a radical move for someone so linked to the blue-collar life of the Jersey Shore) and working with
session musicianSession musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s, Springsteen released two albums at once.
Human TouchHuman Touch is the ninth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1992 . This album was co-released on the same day as Lucky Town...
and Lucky Town were even more introspective than any of his previous work and displayed a newly revealed confidence. As opposed to his first two albums, which dreamed of happiness, and his next four, which showed him growing to fear it, at points during the Lucky Town album, Springsteen actually claims happiness for himself.
An electric band appearance on the acoustic
MTV UnpluggedMTV Unplugged is a TV series showcasing many popular musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show has received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...
television program (later released as
In Concert/MTV PluggedIn Concert/MTV Plugged is a 1992 concert video and 1993 live album by Bruce Springsteen.It is part of MTV's Unplugged series, recorded on September 22, 1992 at the Warner Hollywood Studios in Los Angeles during the midst of Springsteen's "Other Band" Tour.Bruce Springsteen famously played one song,...
) was poorly received and further cemented fan dissatisfaction. Springsteen seemed to realize this a few years hence when he spoke humorously of his late father during his
Rock and Roll Hall of FameThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
acceptance speech:
A multiple
Grammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winner, Springsteen also won an
Academy AwardAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
in 1994 for his song "
Streets of Philadelphia"Streets of Philadelphia" is an Oscar winning song, written and performed by American rock musician Bruce Springsteen for the first mainstream film on HIV/AIDS in the 1993 film, Philadelphia...
", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. The song, along with the film, was applauded by many for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay man dying of
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. The music video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This technique was developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.
In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first Greatest Hits album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary
Blood BrothersBlood Brothers is a 1996 documentary film made by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ernie Fritz, chronicling a brief reunion of Bruce Springsteen with The E Street Band in 1995...
), he released his second (mostly) solo guitar album,
The Ghost of Tom JoadThe Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1995 . The album was recorded and mixed at Thrill Hill during the spring and summer of 1995. Musically and lyrically reminiscent of Springsteen's 1982 critically acclaimed album Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad...
, inspired by
John SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's
The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
and by Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass, a book by Pulitzer Prize-winners author
Dale MaharidgeDale Maharidge is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist best known for his collaborations with photographer Michael Williamson....
and photographer Michael Williamson. This was generally less well-received than the similar Nebraska, due to the minimal
melodyA melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, twangy vocals, and political nature of most of the songs, although some praised it for giving voice to immigrants and others who rarely have one in American culture. The lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic
Ghost of Tom Joad TourThe Ghost of Tom Joad Tour was a lengthy, worldwide concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997. It followed the release of his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad.-Itinerary:The tour...
that followed successfully featured many of his older songs in drastically reshaped acoustic form, although Springsteen had to explicitly remind his audiences to be quiet and not to clap during the performances.
Following the tour, Springsteen moved back to New Jersey with his family.
In 1998, Springsteen released the sprawling, four-disc box set of out-takes, Tracks. Subsequently, Springsteen would acknowledge that the 1990s were a "lost period" for him: "I didn't do a lot of work. Some people would say I didn't do my best work."
Springsteen was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of FameThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
in 1999 by
BonoPaul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
of U2, a favor he returned in 2005.
In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band officially came together again and went on the extensive
Reunion TourThe Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour was a lengthy, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place over 1999 and 2000....
, lasting over a year. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in
East Rutherford, New JerseyEast Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,913. It is an inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan....
and a ten-night, sold-out engagement at New York City's
Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
which ended the tour. The final two shows were recorded for an HBO Concert, with corresponding DVD and album releases as
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live in New York CityBruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City is the name of a concert film done by HBO, featuring the first ever major televised Bruce Springsteen concert...
. A new song, "
American Skin (41 Shots)"American Skin " is a song written by Bruce Springsteen, inspired by the police shooting death of Amadou Diallo. Springsteen first performed it in concert in Atlanta on June 4, 2000, the final concert before the tour's final 10-show run at New York City's Madison Square Garden, where it was also...
", about the police shooting of
Amadou DialloAmadou Diallo was a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant in New York City who was shot and killed on February 4, 1999 by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss. The four officers fired a total of 41 shots...
which was played at these shows proved controversial.
In November 2000, Springsteen filed legal action against Jeff Burgar which accused him of registering the domain brucespringsteen.com (along with several other celebrity domains) in bad faith to funnel web users to his Celebrity 1000 portal site. Once the legal complaint was filed, Burgar pointed the domain to a Springsteen biography and message board. In February 2001, Springsteen lost his dispute with Burgar. A
WIPOThe World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world"....
panel ruled 2 to 1 in favor of Burgar.
On Labor day 2001 Bruce Springsteen played at Donovan's Reef in Sea Bright NJ surprising a local cover band named Brian Kirk and the Jerks and performed Rosalita with them showing his support and love.
2002–2007: Return to success
In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years,
The RisingThe Rising is the 12th studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released in 2002 on Columbia Records. In addition to being Springsteen's first studio album in seven years, it was also his first with the E Street Band in 18 years...
, produced by
Brendan O'BrienBrendan O’Brien is a record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician.At age 14, O'Brien played guitar for the Atlanta-based cover band Pranks. In the late 1970s, he moved on to writing, performing and recording with the Samurai Catfish band...
. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success. (Many of the songs were influenced by phone conversations Springsteen had with family members of victims of the attacks who in their obituaries had mentioned how his music touched their lives.) The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen's best-selling album of new material in 15 years. Kicked off by an early-morning Asbury Park appearance on The Today Show,
The Rising TourThe Rising Tour was a lengthy, worldwide, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in arenas and stadiums over 2002 and 2003...
commenced, barnstorming through a series of single-night arena stands in the U.S. and Europe to promote the album in 2002, then returning for large-scale, multiple-night stadium shows in 2003. While Springsteen had maintained a loyal hardcore fan base everywhere (and particularly in Europe), his general popularity had dipped over the years in some southern and midwestern regions of the U.S. But it was still strong in Europe and along the U.S. coasts, and he played an unprecedented 10 nights in
Giants StadiumGiants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
in New Jersey, a ticket-selling feat to which no other musical act has come close. During these shows Springsteen thanked those fans who were attending multiple shows and those who were coming from long distances or another country; the advent of robust Bruce-oriented online communities had made such practices more common. The Rising Tour came to a final conclusion with three nights in
Shea StadiumWilliam A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
, highlighted by renewed controversy over "American Skin" and a guest appearance by
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
.
During the early 2000s, Springsteen became a visible advocate for the revitalization of Asbury Park, and played an annual series of winter holiday concerts there to benefit various local businesses, organizations, and causes. These shows were explicitly intended for the devoted fans, featuring numbers such as the E Street Shuffle outtake "Thundercrack", a rollicking group-participation song that would mystify casual Springsteen fans. He also frequently rehearses for tours in Asbury Park; some of his most devoted followers even go so far as to stand outside the building to hear what fragments they can of the upcoming shows. The song "
My City of Ruins"My City of Ruins" is a 2000 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, and included on his 2002 album The Rising.-History:The song was written in November 2000, for an Asbury Park, New Jersey Christmas show benefit to help promote the revitalization of the city...
" was originally written about Asbury Park, in honor of the attempts to revitalize the city. Looking for an appropriate song for a post-Sept. 11 benefit concert honoring New York City, he selected "My City of Ruins", which was immediately recognized as an emotional highlight of the concert, with its gospel themes and its heartfelt exhortations to "Rise up!" The song became associated with post-9/11 New York, and he chose it to close The Rising album and as an encore on the subsequent tour.
At the
Grammy Awards of 2003The 45th Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2003. Musicians accomplishments from the previous year were recognized. Norah Jones was the night's big winner winning five awards including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal...
, Springsteen performed
The ClashThe Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
's "
London Calling"London Calling" is a song by the British punk rock band The Clash. It was released as a single from the band's 1979 double album London Calling...
" along with
Elvis CostelloElvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
,
Dave GrohlDavid Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures...
, and E Street Band member
Steven Van ZandtSteven Van Zandt is an Italian-American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve...
and
No DoubtNo Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California that formed in 1986. The ska-pop sound of their first album No Doubt , failed to make an impact...
's bassist,
Tony KanalTony Kanal is an English musician, record producer and songwriter. Kanal is the bassist for the American rock band No Doubt...
, in tribute to
Joe StrummerJohn Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
; Springsteen and the Clash had once been considered multiple-album-dueling rivals at the time of the double The River and the triple
Sandinista!Sandinista! is the fourth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side...
. In 2004, Springsteen and the E Street Band participated in the "
Vote for ChangeThe Vote for Change tour was a politically-motivated American popular music concert tour that took place in October 2004. The tour was presented by MoveOn.org to benefit America Coming Together. The tour was held in swing states and was designed to encourage people to register and vote...
" tour, along with
John MellencampJohn Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...
,
John FogertyJohn Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
, the
Dixie ChicksThe Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
,
Pearl JamPearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
,
R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, Bright Eyes, the
Dave Matthews BandDave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
,
Jackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, and other musicians. All concerts were to be held in
swing stateIn United States presidential politics, a swing state is a state in which no single candidate or party has overwhelming support in securing that state's electoral college votes...
s, to benefit the
liberalismProgressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
political organization group
America Coming TogetherAmerica Coming Together was a liberal, political action, 527 group dedicated to get-out-the-vote activities. ACT did not specifically endorse any political party, but mostly worked on behalf of Democratic candidates. It was the largest 527 group in 2004 and was planning to be involved in future...
and to encourage people to register and vote. A finale was held in Washington, D.C., bringing many of the artists together. Several days later, Springsteen held one more such concert in New Jersey, when polls showed that state surprisingly close. While in past years Springsteen had played benefits for causes in which he believed – against
nuclear energyMusicians United for Safe Energy, or MUSE, is an activist group founded in 1979 by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall. The group advocates against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in March 1979...
, for
Vietnam veteranVietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War.The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them, whether or...
s, Amnesty International, and the
Christic InstituteThe Christic Institute was a public interest law firm founded in 1980 by Daniel Sheehan, his wife, Sara Nelson and their partner, William J. Davis, who was a Jesuit priest. Its headquarters were based in Washington, D.C. with several offices in other major United States cities, such as San...
– he had always refrained from explicitly endorsing candidates for political office (indeed he had rejected the efforts of
Walter MondaleWalter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
to attract an endorsement during the 1984 Reagan "Born in the U.S.A." flap). This new stance led to criticism and praise from the expected partisan sources. Springsteen's "No Surrender" became the main campaign theme song for
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
's
unsuccessful presidential campaignThe Presidential Campaign of John Kerry, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and the nominee of the Democratic Party challenged Republican incumbent President George W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election on November 2, 2004. Ultimately, Kerry conceded defeat in the race in a telephone call to Bush...
; in the last days of the campaign, he performed acoustic versions of the song and some of his other old songs at Kerry rallies.
Devils & DustDevils & Dust is the 13th studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, and his third folk album . It was released on April 25, 2005 in Europe and on April 26 in the US...
was released on April 26, 2005, and was recorded without the E Street Band. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad although with a little more instrumentation. Some of the material was written almost 10 years earlier during, or shortly after, the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, a couple of them being performed then but never released. The
title track"Devils & Dust" is the title track on Bruce Springsteen's thirteenth studio album Devils & Dust, and was released as a single in 2005. Concerning the Iraq War, the song gained critical praise, a Grammy Award for Song of the Year nomination.-History:...
concerns an ordinary soldier's feelings and fears during the
Iraq WarThe 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
.
StarbucksStarbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
rejected a co-branding deal for the album, due in part to some sexually explicit content but also because of Springsteen's anti-corporate politics. The album entered the album charts at No. 1 in 10 countries (United States, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ireland). Springsteen began the solo
Devils & Dust TourThe Devils & Dust Tour was a 2005 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage on a variety of instruments. It followed the release of his 2005 album Devils & Dust.-Approach:...
at the same time as the album's release, playing both small and large venues. Attendance was disappointing in a few regions, and everywhere (other than in Europe) tickets were easier to get than in the past. Unlike his mid-1990s solo tour, he performed on piano,
electric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, pump organ,
autoharpThe autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
,
ukuleleThe ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
,
banjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, electric guitar, and stomping board, as well as acoustic guitar and harmonica, adding variety to the solo sound. (Offstage synthesizer, guitar, and percussion were also used for some songs.) Unearthly renditions of "Reason to Believe", "The Promised Land", and
SuicideSuicide is an American electronic protopunk musical duo, intermittently active since 1970 and composed of vocalist Alan Vega and Martin Rev on synthesizers and drum machines. They are an early synthesizer/vocal musical duo....
's "Dream Baby Dream" jolted audiences to attention, while rarities, frequent
set listA set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
changes, and a willingness to keep trying even through audible piano mistakes kept most of his loyal audiences happy.
In November 2005,
Sirius Satellite RadioSirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
started a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week radio station on Channel 10 called
E Street RadioE Street Radio is a Sirius XM Radio channel, broadcasting on Sirius 20 and XM 20 since November 12, 2008, as well as on Dish Network channel 6010...
. This channel featured commercial-free Bruce Springsteen music, including rare tracks, interviews, and daily concerts of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band recorded throughout their career.
In April 2006, Springsteen released
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions-Personnel:* Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, B-3 organ, and percussion* Sam Bardfeld – violin* Art Baron – tuba* Frank Bruno – guitar* Jeremy Chatzky – upright bass* Mark Clifford – banjo...
, an American roots music project focused around a big folk sound treatment of 15 songs popularized by the radical musical activism of
Pete SeegerPeter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
. It was recorded with a large ensemble of musicians including only Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, and
The Miami HornsThe Miami Horns are a horn section best known for touring and/or recording with Southside Johnny, Bruce Springsteen, Little Steven and The Max Weinberg 7. They have also toured, performed and/or recorded with, among others, Diana Ross, Gary U.S...
from past efforts. In contrast to previous albums, this was recorded in only three one-day sessions, and frequently one can hear Springsteen calling out key changes live as the band explores its way through the tracks. The
Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band TourThe Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour, afterward sometimes referred to simply as the Sessions Band Tour, was a 2006 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and The Sessions Band playing what was billed as "An all-new evening of gospel, folk, and blues," otherwise seen as a form...
began the same month, featuring the 18-strong ensemble of musicians dubbed The Seeger Sessions Band (and later shortened to
The Sessions BandThe Sessions Band is an American musical group that has periodically recorded and toured with roots rock musician Bruce Springsteen in various formations since 1997.- History :The Sessions Band was first formed in October 1997...
). Seeger Sessions material was heavily featured, as well as a handful of (usually drastically rearranged) Springsteen numbers. The tour proved very popular in Europe, selling out everywhere and receiving some excellent reviews, but newspapers reported that a number of U.S. shows suffered from sparse attendance. By the end of 2006, the Seeger Sessions tour toured Europe twice and toured America for only a short span.
Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in DublinBruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin is a 2007 video and audio offering that captures in-concert performances from the Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour recorded in November 2006 at The Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. The release consists of a concert DVD,...
, containing selections from three nights of November 2006 shows at The Point Theatre in
Dublin, Ireland, was released the following June.
Springsteen's next album, titled
MagicMagic is the 15th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 2007 on Columbia Records. It is his first with the E Street Band since The Rising in 2002...
, was released on October 2, 2007. Recorded with the E Street Band, it featured 10 new Springsteen songs plus "
Long Walk Home"Long Walk Home" is a 2006 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. It first appeared on his Sessions Band Tour of that year, in folk guise in the European leg of the tour in London for one performance only. Reworked with different and shorter lyrics, it was recorded by Springsteen and the...
", performed once with the Sessions band, and a hidden track (the first included on a Springsteen studio release), "Terry's Song", a tribute to Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern, who died on July 30, 2007. The first single, "
Radio Nowhere"Radio Nowhere" is the first single released from Bruce Springsteen's 2007 studio album Magic."Radio Nowhere" was awarded Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song at the Grammy Awards of 2008.-History:...
", was made available for a free download on August 28. On October 7, Magic debuted at number 1 in Ireland and the UK. Greatest Hits reentered the Irish charts at number 57, and Live in Dublin almost cracked the top 20 in Norway again.
Sirius Satellite RadioSirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
also restarted E Street Radio on Channel 10 on September 27, 2007, in anticipation of Magic. Radio conglomerate
Clear Channel CommunicationsClear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
was alleged to have sent an edict to its classic rock stations to not play any songs from the new album, while continuing to play older Springsteen material. However, Clear Channel
Adult AlternativeAdult alternative may refer to:*Adult album alternative, a radio format*Modern adult contemporary, a radio format*Smooth jazz, a radio format...
(or "AAA") station KBCO did play tracks from the album, undermining the allegations of a corporate blackout.
The Springsteen and E Street Band
Magic TourThe Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.The tour began October 2, 2007, in Hartford, Connecticut, and concluded August 30, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
began at the
Hartford Civic CenterThe XL Center, formerly known as the Hartford Civic Center, is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, USA. It is owned by the City of Hartford and operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group under contract with the Connecticut Development Authority...
with the album's release and was routed through North America and Europe. Springsteen and the band performed live on NBC's Today Show in advance of the opener.
Longtime E Street Band organist
Danny FedericiDaniel Paul "Danny" Federici was an American musician, best known as the longtime organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.- Career :...
left the tour in November 2007 to pursue treatment for
melanomaMelanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
from which he would die in 2008
2008–present: Recent events
Springsteen supported
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's
2008 presidential campaignBarack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
, announcing his endorsement in April 2008 and going on to appear at several Obama rallies as well as performing several solo acoustic performances in support of Obama's campaign throughout 2008, culminating with a November 2 rally where he debuted
"Working On A Dream""Working on a Dream" is the title song to, and first single from, Bruce Springsteen's 2009 album Working on a Dream. At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards it won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.-History:...
in a duet with Scialfa. At an Ohio rally, Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home...But today those freedoms have been damaged and curtailed by eight years of a thoughtless, reckless and morally-adrift administration."
Following Obama's electoral victory on November 4, Springsteen's song "The Rising" was the first song played over the loudspeakers after Obama's victory speech in Chicago's
Grant ParkGrant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...
. Springsteen was the musical opener for the
Obama Inaugural CelebrationWe Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was a public celebration of the then forthcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States at the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2009. By some estimates the...
on January 18, 2009 which was attended by over 400,000. He performed "The Rising" with an all-female choir. Later he performed
Woody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
's "
This Land Is Your Land"This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 based on an existing melody, in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America", which Guthrie considered unrealistic and complacent. Tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on...
" with
Pete SeegerPeter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
.
On June 18, 2008, Springsteen appeared live from Europe at the
Tim RussertTimothy John "Tim" Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview...
tribute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to play one of Russert's favorite songs, "Thunder Road". Springsteen dedicated the song to Russert, who was "one of Springsteen's biggest fans."
On January 11, 2009, Springsteen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for "
The Wrestler"The Wrestler" is the title song from the 2008 film, The Wrestler. The track was written and performed by Bruce Springsteen.The origins of the song are based in a lost and resumed friendship between Springsteen and Wrestler lead actor Mickey Rourke; Rourke told Springsteen about his upcoming film...
", from the
Mickey RourkePhilip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
film by the same name. After receiving a heartfelt letter from
Mickey RourkePhilip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
, Springsteen supplied the song for the film for free.
Springsteen performed at the
halftime showThe following is a list of Super Bowl halftime shows, held in the United States in the middle of the Super Bowl. Halftime shows are a tradition during football games at all levels of competition....
at
Super Bowl XLIIISuper Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
on February 1, 2009, agreeing to do it after many previous offers A few days before the game, Springsteen gave a rare press conference, where he promised a "twelve-minute party." His 12:45 set, with the E Street Band and the Miami Horns, included abbreviated renditions of "
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is the second song on Bruce Springsteen's breakthrough album Born to Run.-Content:The song loosely tells the story of the formation of the E Street Band. However, when asked, most Springsteen fans cannot answer the question, "What is a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out?" The...
"", "Born to Run", "
Working on a Dream"Working on a Dream" is the title song to, and first single from, Bruce Springsteen's 2009 album Working on a Dream. At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards it won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.-History:...
, and
"Glory Days""Glory Days" is a 1984 song, written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985, it became the fifth single released from his massively successful album Born in the U.S.A.-History:...
, the latter complete with football references. The set of appearances and promotional activities led Springsteen to say, "This has probably been the busiest month of my life."
Springsteen's
Working on a DreamWorking on a Dream is the 16th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released on January 27, 2009 through Columbia Records. It has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, with over 585,000 in the United States as of September 2010.-History:...
album was released in late January 2009 and the supporting
Working on a Dream TourThe Working on a Dream Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which began in April 2009 and ended in November 2009...
ran from April 2009 until November 2009. The tour featured few songs from the new album, with instead
set listA set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
s dominated by classics and selections reflecting the ongoing late-2000s recession. The tour also featured Springsteen playing songs requested by audience members holding up signs as on the final stages of the Magic Tour. Drummer
Max WeinbergMax Weinberg is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey...
was replaced for some shows by his 18-year-old son
Jay WeinbergJay Weinberg is an American drummer and the son of drummer Max Weinberg. He has played with the punk band The Reveling and toured in 2009 as a drummer with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, substituting for his father. During 2010, he was briefly the drummer for Madball...
, so that the former could serve his role as bandleader on
The Tonight Show with Conan O'BrienThe Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009 to January 22, 2010 as part of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise...
. During this tour, Springsteen and the band made their first real foray in the world of
music festivalA music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
s, headlining nights at the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands,
Festival des Vieilles CharruesThe Vieilles Charrues Festival is held every year in mid-July in the city of Carhaix located in the west of Brittany.This festival is the largest music festival in France, attracting more than 200,000 festival-goers every year . This festival was created in 1992 in Landeleau, a small village in...
in France, the
Bonnaroo Music FestivalThe Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an annual four day music festival created and produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment, held at Great Stage Park on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee. It hosted its tenth annual event June 9–12, 2011...
in the United States and the
Glastonbury FestivalThe Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
in the UK and
Hard Rock CallingHard Rock Calling is an annual music festival held in Hyde Park, London, which first took place on Saturday July 1 and Sunday July 2, 2006. The music played is primarily rock music, and various performers, including Bon Jovi, The Who, Aerosmith, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen have played at the...
in the UK. Several shows on the tour featured full album presentations of Born to Run,
Darkness on the Edge of TownDarkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in the late spring of 1978. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel...
, or Born in the U.S.A. The band performed a stretch of five final shows at his homestate Giants Stadium, opening with a new song highlighting the historic stadium, and his Jersey roots, named "Wrecking Ball". The tour ended as scheduled in Buffalo, NY in November 2009 amid speculation that it was the last performance ever by the E Street Band, but during the show Springsteen said it was goodbye “for a little while.” A DVD from the Working of a Dream Tour entitled
London Calling: Live in Hyde ParkLondon Calling: Live in Hyde Park is a full concert video of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band in their Working on a Dream Tour performance of June 28, 2009, at the Hard Rock Calling music festival in Hyde Park, London. It was released a year later, on Blu-ray and DVD.The work takes it name...
was released in 2010.
In addition to his own touring, Springsteen made a number of appearances at tribute and benefit concerts during 2009, including
The Clearwater ConcertThe Clearwater Concert was a concert that took place on May 3, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The concert, a celebration of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday, raised funds for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Seeger's environmental advocacy orginazation.The concert was billed as The...
, a celebration of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday, the
Rock and Roll Hall of FameThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's 25th anniversary benefit concert, a benefit for the charity Autism Speaks at Carnegie Hall. On January 22, 2010, he joined many well-known artists to perform on
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake ReliefHope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief was a charity telethon held on January 22, 2010 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time . The telethon was the most widely distributed telethon in history...
, organized by
George ClooneyGeorge Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
to raise money to help the victims of the
2010 Haiti earthquakeThe 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
.
In 2009, Springsteen performed in
The People SpeakThe People Speak is a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans. The film gives voice to those who, by insisting on equality and justice, spoke up for social change throughout U.S...
a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian
Howard ZinnHoward Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
's "
A People's History of the United StatesChapter 7, "As Long As Grass Grows or Water Runs" discusses 19th century conflicts between the U.S. government and Native Americans and Indian removal, especially during the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren....
".
Springsteen was among the recipients of the
Kennedy Center HonorsThe Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...
, an annual award to figures from the world of arts for their contribution to American culture, in December 2009. President Obama gave a speech in which he talked about how Springsteen has incorporated the life of regular Americans in his expansive pallette of songs and how his concerts are beyond the typical rock-and-roll concerts, how, apart from being high-energy concerts, they are "communions". He ended the remark "while I am the president, he is The Boss". Tributes were paid by several well-known celebrities including
Jon StewartJon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
(who described Springsteen's "unprecedented combination of lyrical eloquence, musical mastery and sheer unbridled, unadulterated joy"). A musical tribute featured
John MellencampJohn Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...
,
Ben HarperBenjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents...
and
Jennifer NettlesJennifer Nettles is an American country music artist. She is known primarily for her role as lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush. Before Sugarland's inception, she also fronted Atlanta, Georgia-based bands called Soul Miner's Daughter and Jennifer Nettles Band...
,
Melissa EtheridgeMelissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
,
Eddie VedderEddie Vedder is an American musician and singer-songwriter who is best known for being the lead singer and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. He is widely considered a cultural icon of alternative rock.He is also involved in soundtrack work and contributes to albums...
and Sting.
The 2000s ended with Springsteen being named one of eight Artists of the Decade by Rolling Stone magazine and with Springsteen's tours ranking him fourth among artists in total concert grosses for the decade.
In September 2010, a
documentaryA documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
about the making of his 1978 album "Darkness on The Edge of Town" was premiered at the
Toronto International Film FestivalThe Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
. The film, The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, was included in a box set reissue of the album, entitled The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story, released in November 2010. Also airing on HBO, the documentary explored Springsteen's making of the acclaimed album, and his role in the production and development of the tracks.
Springsteen is working on his next studio album with Ron Aniello, who also co-produced the 2007 album "Play It As It Lays", by Springsteen's wife, Patti Scialfa. Ron Aniello also produced "Children's Song" early in 2011, a duet with Bruce and Patti, which was done for a charity project.
Clarence ClemonsClarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. , also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone. He released several solo albums and in 1985, had a hit single with "You're a...
, the E Street Band's saxophonist since 1972, died on June 18, 2011, of complications from a stroke. “Clarence lived a wonderful life,” Bruce Springsteen said in a statement. “He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage.”
On November 21, 2011, Springsteen announced on his official website that he and the E Street Band plan to tour the US and Europe in 2012 and for the first time since Clemons' death. They will play four shows in England during the summer: June 21 in
SunderlandThe City of Sunderland is a local government district of Tyne and Wear, in North East England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough...
; June 22,
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
; June 24,
Isle of Wight FestivalThe Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...
; and July 14,
Hard Rock CallingHard Rock Calling is an annual music festival held in Hyde Park, London, which first took place on Saturday July 1 and Sunday July 2, 2006. The music played is primarily rock music, and various performers, including Bon Jovi, The Who, Aerosmith, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen have played at the...
in
Hyde Park, LondonHyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
. He will also return to the
RDS ArenaRDS Arena is a multi-purpose sports stadium, owned by the Royal Dublin Society and located in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, Ireland.The arena was originally developed to host equestrian events, including the annual Dublin Horse Show, which was first held there in 1868. The site was acquired in...
in
Dublin on July 17. Other European shows will run from mid-May through the end of July 2012. The US dates are yet to be determined. A new studio album will also be released with Bruce saying the band is "incredibly excited" about the new year, adding their new music is "almost done, but still untitled."
Musical style
Bruce Springsteen draws on many musical influences from the reservoir of traditional American popular music,
folkFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
,
bluesBlues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and
countryCountry music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
. From the beginning, rock and roll has been the dominant influence. On his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey, the folk-influence is clear. An example of the influence of this music genre to Springsteen's music is his song "This Hard Land" which demonstrates a clear influence of the style of
Woody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
.
He expanded the range of his musical compositions on his second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Elements of Latin American music, jazz, soul, and funk influences can be heard; the song "New York City Serenade" is even reminiscent of the music of
George GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
. These two records prominently featured pianist
David SanciousDavid Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
, who left the band shortly into the recording of Springsteen's third album,
Born To RunThe album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...
. This album, however, also emphasized the piano, the responsibility now of
Roy BittanRoy Bittan is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974...
.
Earlier in his career, Springsteen has focused more on the rock elements of his music. He initially compressed the sound and developed
Darkness On The Edge Of TownDarkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in the late spring of 1978. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel...
just as straightforward as concise musical idiom, for the simple riffs and clearly recognizable song structures are dominant. His music has been categorized as
heartland rockHeartland rock is a genre of rock music that developed in the 1970s and reached its commercial peak in the 1980s, when it became one of the best-selling genres in the United States. It was characterized by a straightforward musical style, a concern with the average, blue collar American life, and a...
, a style typified by Springsteen,
John FogertyJohn Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
,
Tom PettyThomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
,
Bob SegerRobert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
, and
John MellencampJohn Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...
. This music has a lyrical reference to the U.S. everyday and the music is kept rather simple and straightforward. This development culminated with Springsteen's hit album Born in the U.S.A.,
the title song"Born in the U.S.A." is a 1984 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. Taken from the album of the same name, it is one of his best-known singles. Rolling Stone ranked the song 275th on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2001, the RIAA's Songs of the Century placed...
of which has a constantly repeating, fanfare-like keyboard riff and a pounding drum beat. These sounds fit with Springsteen's voice: it cries to the listener the unsentimental story of a disenchanted angry figure. Even songs that can be argued to be album tracks proved to be singles that enjoyed some chart success, such as "
My Hometown"My Hometown" is a single by Bruce Springsteen off his Born in the U.S.A. album, that was the record-tying seventh and last top 10 single to come from it, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart, making the song Springsteen's only #1...
" and "
I'm on Fire"I'm on Fire" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985, it became the fourth single released from his massively successful album Born in the U.S.A..-History:...
", in which the drum line is formed from subtle
hi-hatA hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae and other forms of contemporary popular music.- Operation :...
and rim-clicks-shock (shock at the edge of the
snare drumThe snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
).
In recent years, Springsteen has changed his music further. There are more folk elements up to the gospel to be heard. His last solo album, Devils and Dust, drew rave reviews not only for Springsteen's complex songwriting, but also for his expressive and sensitive singing.
On the album
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions-Personnel:* Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, B-3 organ, and percussion* Sam Bardfeld – violin* Art Baron – tuba* Frank Bruno – guitar* Jeremy Chatzky – upright bass* Mark Clifford – banjo...
Springsteen performs folk classics with a folk band, rather than his usual E Street Band. On his ensuing tour he also interpreted some of his own rock songs in a folk style.
The 2007 album
MagicMagic is the 15th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 2007 on Columbia Records. It is his first with the E Street Band since The Rising in 2002...
was a reflection on the old stadium rock attitude and with its lush arrangements was almost designed to be performed at large stadiums, which also succeeded on the
corresponding tourThe Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.The tour began October 2, 2007, in Hartford, Connecticut, and concluded August 30, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
.
Lyrical themes
Often described as cinematographic in their scope, Springsteen's lyrics frequently explore highly personal themes such as individual commitment, dissatisfaction and dismay with life in a context of every day situations.
It has been recognized that there was a shift in his lyrical approach starting with the album Darkness on the Edge of Town, in which he focused on the emotional struggles of working class life.
Politics and activism
Springsteen's music has often contained political themes reflecting his responses to the events occurring around him. A number of these songs contributed to Springsteen’s stardom; many songs cannot be explained without including Springsteen’s political views. The following are a chronological order of the political and activist causes Springsteen has publicly campaigned for:
September 19-23, 1979: Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the
Musicians United for Safe EnergyMusicians United for Safe Energy, or MUSE, is an activist group founded in 1979 by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall. The group advocates against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in March 1979...
anti-nuclear power collective at
Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
.
August 20, 1981: A Night For The Vietnam Veterans for the Vietnam Veterans’ Association as an appeal to help “heal the physical and psychological wounds inflicted on the soldiers who fought the nation’s most unpopular war”.
1984: Turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use the song Born in The U.S.A. in a car commercial.
1985: Featured on the "
We Are the World"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...
" song and
albumWe Are the World was a 1985 album that contained USA for Africa's "We Are the World" superstar charity recording for famine relief efforts in Ethiopia....
1988: Headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
.
2004: "No Surrender" became the main campaign theme song for
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
's
unsuccessful presidential campaignThe Presidential Campaign of John Kerry, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and the nominee of the Democratic Party challenged Republican incumbent President George W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election on November 2, 2004. Ultimately, Kerry conceded defeat in the race in a telephone call to Bush...
; in the last days of the campaign, he performed acoustic versions of the song and some of his other old songs at Kerry rallies.
April, 2008 Springsteen announced his endorsement supporting
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's
2008 presidential campaignBarack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
. Throughout the year, he showed his support by attending several rallies and performing in support of Obama’s campaign.
2009: Springsteen contributed to the soundtrack of
The People SpeakThe People Speak is a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans. The film gives voice to those who, by insisting on equality and justice, spoke up for social change throughout U.S...
by playing guitar and harmonica.
January, 2009: Springsteen was the musical opener for the
Obama Inaugural CelebrationWe Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was a public celebration of the then forthcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States at the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2009. By some estimates the...
.
May 3, 2009: Springsteen made an appearance at
The Clearwater ConcertThe Clearwater Concert was a concert that took place on May 3, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The concert, a celebration of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday, raised funds for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Seeger's environmental advocacy orginazation.The concert was billed as The...
.
October 29 & 30, 2009: Springsteen made an appearance at the
Rock and Roll Hall of FameThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's 25th anniversary benefit concert.
January 22, 2010: Springsteen made an appearance at
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake ReliefHope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief was a charity telethon held on January 22, 2010 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time . The telethon was the most widely distributed telethon in history...
.
Springsteen has additionally been associated with various local food banks, particularly with the New Jersey Food bank for many years. During concerts, he usually breaks the routine to announce his support and later matches the total collection during the concert with his own money. During his
Charlotte, North CarolinaCharlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
concert on November 3, 2009, he started with a $10,000 donation for the local food bank to start the collections process – which he again matched later.
He has made substantial financial contributions to various workers' unions both in America and in Europe.
Personal life
Springsteen and
Julianne PhillipsJulianne Phillips is an American model and actress. She is the ex-wife of Bruce Springsteen.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Phillips was raised in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, Oregon, the daughter of insurance broker, William Phillips, and wife, Ann Phillips. She was the youngest of...
(born May 6, 1960) were married from May 13, 1985 to May 1988, when they separated.
The two were opposites in background and his traveling took its toll on their relationship. The final blow came when Bruce began an affair with
Patti ScialfaVivienne Patricia "Patti" Scialfa is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She is married to Bruce Springsteen and they have three children.- Early life :...
(born July 29, 1953), whom he had dated briefly in 1984 shortly after she joined the band. Phillips and Springsteen separated in the spring of 1988 without making an announcement to the press, and on August 30, 1988, Julianne filed for divorce. The Springsteen/Phillips divorce was finalized on March 1, 1989.
After the separation in 1988 Bruce began living with Scialfa. Springsteen received press criticism for the hastiness in which he and Scialfa took up their relationship. In a 1995 interview with The Advocate, Springsteen spoke about the negative publicity the couple subsequently received. "It's a strange society that assumes it has the right to tell people whom they should love and whom they shouldn't. But the truth is, I basically ignored the entire thing as much as I could. I said, 'Well, all I know is, this feels real, and maybe I have got a mess going here in some fashion, but that's life.'" He also noted that, "I went through a divorce, and it was really difficult and painful and I was very frightened about getting married again. So part of me said, 'Hey, what does it matter?' But it does matter. It's very different than just living together. First of all, stepping up publicly- which is what you do: You get your license, you do all the social rituals- is a part of your place in society and in some way part of society's acceptance of you...Patti and I both found that it did mean something."
On July 25, 1990 Scialfa gave birth to the couple's first child, Evan James Springsteen. On June 8, 1991 Springsteen and Scialfa married at their Beverly Hills home. Their second child, Jessica Rae Springsteen, was born on December 30, 1991; and their third child, Samuel Ryan Springsteen, was born on January 5, 1994. The family owns and lives on a horse farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey. They also own homes in
Wellington, FloridaWellington is a village in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. As of 2006, the village had a population of 55,584 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Wellington is part of the South Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, a wealthy horse community near West Palm Beach, Los Angeles and
Rumson, New JerseyRumson is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,122.Rumson was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 15, 1907, from portions of Shrewsbury Township, based on the results of a...
. Their eldest son, Evan, attends
Boston CollegeBoston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
. Their daughter Jessica is a nationally ranked champion
equestrianEquestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
, and attends
Duke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
.
Since 1991, Springsteen has led a relatively quiet life for a well-known popular performer and artist.
He moved from Los Angeles to New Jersey in the early 1990s specifically to raise a family in a non-paparazzi environment.
It has been reported that the press conference regarding the 2009
Super Bowl XLIIISuper Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
half-time show was his first press conference for more than 25 years. However, he has appeared in a few radio interviews, most notably on
NPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
and
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
60 minutes60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
aired his last extensive interview on TV before his tour to support his album, Magic.
Bands
Bruce Springsteen has been a member of, or has been backed by, several bands during his career, most notably The E Street Band.
His earliest known band is The Castiles.
Prior to signing his first record deal in 1972, Springsteen was a member of several bands including
Steel MillSteel Mill was an early Bruce Springsteen band. Other members of the band included three future members of the E Street Band - Vini Lopez, Danny Federici and Steve Van Zandt. As well as playing on the Jersey Shore, Steel Mill also played regularly in Richmond, Virginia and played gigs in California...
. In October 1972 he formed a new band for the recording of his debut album
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is the first studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1973. It only sold about 25,000 copies in the first year of its release, but had significant critical impact...
, which became known as The E Street Band, although the name was not officially introduced until September 1974. The E Street Band performed on all of Springsteen's recorded works from his debut until 1982's
Nebraska-Themes:The album begins with "Nebraska", a first-person narrative based on the true story of 19-year-old spree killer Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, and ends with "Reason to Believe", a complex narrative that renders its title phrase into contemptuous sarcasm...
, a solo album on which Springsteen himself played all the instruments. The full band returned for the next album Born in the USA, but there then followed a period from 1988 to 1999 in which albums were recorded with session musicians. The E Street band were briefly reunited in 1995 for new contributions to the
Greatest HitsGreatest Hits is Bruce Springsteen's first compilation album, released February 27, 1995 on Columbia Records. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years and four extra numbers at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995...
compilation, and on a more permanent basis from 1999, since which time they have recorded 3 albums together (The Rising,
MagicMagic is the 15th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 2007 on Columbia Records. It is his first with the E Street Band since The Rising in 2002...
and
Working on a DreamWorking on a Dream is the 16th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released on January 27, 2009 through Columbia Records. It has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, with over 585,000 in the United States as of September 2010.-History:...
) and performed a number of high profile tours.
The 2005 album
Devils & DustDevils & Dust is the 13th studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, and his third folk album . It was released on April 25, 2005 in Europe and on April 26 in the US...
was largely a solo recording, with some contribution from session musicians and the 2006 folk rock
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions-Personnel:* Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, B-3 organ, and percussion* Sam Bardfeld – violin* Art Baron – tuba* Frank Bruno – guitar* Jeremy Chatzky – upright bass* Mark Clifford – banjo...
album was recorded and toured with another band, known as
The Sessions BandThe Sessions Band is an American musical group that has periodically recorded and toured with roots rock musician Bruce Springsteen in various formations since 1997.- History :The Sessions Band was first formed in October 1997...
.
Earlier Bands:
The Castiles,
Earth,
Child,
Steel Mill,
Sundance Blues Band,
Dr Zoom and the Sonic Boom,
Bruce Springsteen Band.
E Street Band
Current members:
- Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, piano
- Garry Tallent
Garry Wayne Tallent , sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being the longtime bass player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band....
– bass guitar, tubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
- Roy Bittan
Roy Bittan is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974...
– piano, keyboards
- Max Weinberg
Max Weinberg is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey...
– drums, percussion
- Patti Scialfa
Vivienne Patricia "Patti" Scialfa is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She is married to Bruce Springsteen and they have three children.- Early life :...
– backing and duet vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion
- Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt is an Italian-American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve...
– lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals, mandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
- Nils Lofgren
Nils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock music recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
– rhythm and lead guitar, pedal steel guitarThe pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
, backing vocals
With:
- Soozie Tyrell
Soozie Tyrell, , formerly known as Soozie Kirschner, is an American violinist and vocalist, most known for her work with Bruce Springsteen in the E Street Band.-Biography:...
– violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, acoustic guitar, percussion, backing vocals
- Charles Giordano
Charles Giordano is an American keyboardist and accordionist. Giordano is known primarily as the newest member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing keyboards and organ following the serious illness and subsequent death of longtime E Street organist Danny Federici in 2008...
– organThe organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, accordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, glockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
Former Members:
- 1973–2011 Clarence Clemons
Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. , also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone. He released several solo albums and in 1985, had a hit single with "You're a...
(deceased) – tenor, baritone and soprano saxophones, backing vocals, percussion
- 1973–2008 Danny Federici
Daniel Paul "Danny" Federici was an American musician, best known as the longtime organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.- Career :...
(deceased) – organ, accordion, backing vocals
Music used in films
Springsteen's music has been used in many films and he has also written and performed several works specifically for films, examples include Philadelphia,
Dead Man WalkingDead Man Walking is a 1995 American drama film directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the non-fiction book of the same name...
,
Jerry MaguireJerry Maguire is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding, Jr. It was written, co-produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe...
, and The Wrestler.
| Film | Year of film release | Song(s) | Notes |
| Dead End Street Dead End Street is a 1982 film directed by Yaky Yosha. Inspired by a true story, it is about a young prostitute who participated in a documentary about her efforts to abandon the streets, only to commit suicide hours before the movie was to be broadcast....
|
1982 |
"Point Blank", "Hungry Heart "Hungry Heart" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his fifth album, The River. It was released as the album's first single in 1980 and became Springsteen's first big hit of his own on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.-History:...
" and "Jungleland"Jungleland" is an almost ten-minute long closing song on Bruce Springsteen's 1975 album Born to Run, and tells a tale of love amid a backdrop of gang violence. It contains one of E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons' most recognizable solos...
" |
First use of Springsteen's music in film |
Risky BusinessRisky Business is a 1983 American teen comedy-drama film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It stars Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. The hit film launched Cruise to stardom.-Plot:...
|
1983 |
Hungry Heart |
|
| Baby, It's You |
1983 |
"It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City", "The E Street Shuffle", "She's The One" and "Adam Raised A Cain" |
Film directed by John Sayles John Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
who later directed music videos for songs from Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love. |
Ruthless PeopleRuthless People is a 1986 black comedy written by Dale Launer, starring Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater. It also features Bill Pullman as a supporting role in his film debut....
|
1986 |
"Stand on it "Stand on It" is the title of a song written by Bruce Springsteen and recorded by American country music artist, Mel McDaniel. It was released in September 1986 as the lead single from McDaniel's album, Just Can't Sit Down Music. It peaked at number 12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles &...
" (TRACKS version) |
|
| Light of Day The soundtrack to the film was released in 1987. As a single, "Light of Day" reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received additional album-oriented rock airplay due to the connection of Joan Jett and Bruce Springsteen....
|
1987 |
"(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day" |
Song written for the film. |
| In Country In Country is a 1989 American drama film produced and directed by Norman Jewison, starring Bruce Willis and Emily Lloyd. The screenplay by Frank Pierson and Cynthia Cidre was based on the novel by Bobbie Ann Mason. The original music score was composed by James Horner...
|
1989 |
"I'm On Fire "I'm on Fire" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985, it became the fourth single released from his massively successful album Born in the U.S.A..-History:...
" |
Film also contained many Springsteen references. |
Peter's FriendsPeter's Friends is a 1992 British comedy-drama film written by Rita Rudner and her husband Martin Bergman, and directed and produced by Kenneth Branagh....
>
1992 |
"Hungry Heart" |
|
| Thunderheart Thunderheart is a 1992 American contemporary western mystery film directed by Michael Apted from an original screenplay by John Fusco. The film is a loosely based fictional portrayal of events relating to the Wounded Knee incident in 1973...
|
1992 |
"BadlandsA badlands is a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. It can resemble malpaís, a terrain of volcanic rock. Canyons, ravines, gullies, hoodoos and other such geological forms are common in badlands. They are often...
" (instrumental version) |
|
Honeymoon in VegasHoneymoon in Vegas is a 1992 comedy film directed by Andrew Bergman and starring Nicolas Cage, James Caan and Sarah Jessica Parker.-Plot:...
|
1992 |
"Viva Las Vegas "Viva Las Vegas" is a 1964 song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and recorded by Elvis Presley for his Viva Las Vegas film vehicle of that year...
" |
A 1964 song recorded by Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. |
| Philadelphia Philadelphia is a 1993 American drama film that was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia. It was written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme. The film stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington...
|
1993 |
"Streets of Philadelphia "Streets of Philadelphia" is an Oscar winning song, written and performed by American rock musician Bruce Springsteen for the first mainstream film on HIV/AIDS in the 1993 film, Philadelphia...
" |
Song written for film. Won an Oscar. |
Dead Man WalkingDead Man Walking is a 1995 American drama film directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the non-fiction book of the same name...
|
1995 |
"Dead Man Walkin'" |
Song written for film. Nominated for an Oscar. |
The Crossing GuardThe Crossing Guard is a 1995 independent film directed and written by American actor Sean Penn. It stars Jack Nicholson, David Morse, Anjelica Huston and Robin Wright Penn.- Plot :...
|
1995 |
"Missing" |
Song was later released in 2003 on The Essential Bruce Springsteen - Charts :- Certifications :- External links :* *...
. |
Jerry MaguireJerry Maguire is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding, Jr. It was written, co-produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe...
|
1996 |
"Secret Garden "Secret Garden" is a 1995 single by Bruce Springsteen. It was originally released 27 February 1995 on his Greatest Hits album on Columbia Records. Upon its initial release it peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1997. It was then re-released on April 11 of that same year on Sony Records...
" |
|
Cop LandCop Land is a 1997 American drama film written and directed by James Mangold. It features an ensemble cast including Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta.-Plot:...
|
1997 |
"Drive All Night" and "Stolen Car "Stolen Car" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It was originally released on his fifth album, The River...
" |
Sylvester StalloneMichael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
's character plays the songs on his turntable. |
Fierce CreaturesFierce Creatures is a 1997 comedy film. Although not a sequel, it was a follow-up to the wildly popular A Fish Called Wanda, starring the same four actors, John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin...
|
1997 |
"Hungry Heart" |
|
| The Wedding Singer The Wedding Singer is a 1998 romantic comedy film written by Tim Herlihy and directed by Frank Coraci. It stars Adam Sandler as a wedding singer in the 1980s and Drew Barrymore as a waitress with whom he falls in love....
|
1998 |
"Hungry Heart" |
|
| A Night at the Roxbury A Night at the Roxbury is a 1998 comedy film based on a recurring skit on television's long-running Saturday Night Live called "The Roxbury Guys." Saturday Night Live regulars Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Molly Shannon, and Colin Quinn star....
|
1998 |
"Secret Garden "Secret Garden" is a 1995 single by Bruce Springsteen. It was originally released 27 February 1995 on his Greatest Hits album on Columbia Records. Upon its initial release it peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1997. It was then re-released on April 11 of that same year on Sony Records...
" |
|
| Big Daddy |
1999 |
"Growin' Up "Growin' Up" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973.It is a moderately-paced tune, concerning an adolescence as a rebellious New Jersey teen, with lyrics written in the first-person...
" |
Played over a montage near the end of the film. |
| Limbo Limbo is a 1999 drama film written, produced, edited, and directed by American independent filmmaker John Sayles. The drama features Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, David Strathairn, Vanessa Martinez and Kris Kristofferson....
|
1999 |
"Lift Me Up" |
Another John Sayles film. |
| High Fidelity High Fidelity is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack and the Danish actress Iben Hjejle. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, with the setting moved from London to Chicago and the name of the lead character...
|
2000 |
"The River" and Blues Guitar Riff |
Blues riff played by Springsteen, on-screen during his cameo appearance. "Nebraska" played from vinyl on turntable. |
| The Perfect Storm The Perfect Storm is a 2000 dramatic disaster film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It is an adaptation of the 1997 non-fiction book of the same title by Sebastian Junger about the crew of the Andrea Gail that got caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991. The film stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg,...
|
2000 |
"Hungry Heart" |
|
| 25th Hour 25th Hour is a 2002 American drama film directed by Spike Lee and is based on the novel The 25th Hour written by David Benioff, who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin, and Brian Cox...
|
2002 |
"The Fuse" |
|
| Grand Theft Parsons Grand Theft Parsons is a 2003 film based on the true story of the country musician Gram Parsons , who died of an overdose in 1973...
|
2003 |
"Blood Brothers" |
|
| Jersey Girl Jersey Girl is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It stars Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Raquel Castro, George Carlin, Jason Biggs, Jennifer Lopez and Will Smith...
|
2004 |
"Jersey Girl "Jersey Girl" is a song composed and originally sung by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits from his 1980 album Heartattack and Vine.-Waits original:Waits wrote the song with his future wife Kathleen Brennan, who had been living in New Jersey...
" |
Cover of the Tom Waits version |
| Reign Over Me |
2007 |
"Drive All Night" and "Out In The Street" |
The album The River was also well mentioned in the movie. |
| In the Land of Women In the Land of Women is a 2007 American drama film directed and written by Jon Kasdan. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2006. The film premiered in the United States on April 20, 2007.-Plot:...
|
2007 |
"Iceman" |
|
| The Heartbreak Kid The Heartbreak Kid is a 2007 romantic comedy film directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly. Starring Ben Stiller and Malin Åkerman, The Heartbreak Kid is a remake of the italian film Luna di miele in tre and a version of the 1972 film of the same name. Also starring are Michelle Monaghan, Jerry...
|
2007 |
"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) "Rosalita " is a 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen, from his The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle album, and is especially famed as a concert number for Springsteen and The E Street Band...
" |
|
| Lucky You Lucky You is a 2007 drama directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, and Robert Duvall. The film was shot on location in Las Vegas...
|
2007 |
"Lucky Town Lucky Town is the tenth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1992. This album was released on the same day as Human Touch. The title track was featured in the film Lucky You.-History:...
" |
|
| The Wrestler |
2008 |
"The Wrestler "The Wrestler" is the title song from the 2008 film, The Wrestler. The track was written and performed by Bruce Springsteen.The origins of the song are based in a lost and resumed friendship between Springsteen and Wrestler lead actor Mickey Rourke; Rourke told Springsteen about his upcoming film...
" |
Written for the film. The song was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...
and nominated for the MTV Movie Award as "Best Song From a Movie". |
Food, Inc.Food, Inc. is a 2008 American documentary film directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner. The film examines corporate farming in the United States, concluding that agribusiness produces food that is unhealthy, in a way that is environmentally harmful and abusive of both animals and...
|
2009 |
"This Land Is Your Land "This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 based on an existing melody, in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America", which Guthrie considered unrealistic and complacent. Tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on...
" |
Live version, Bruce Springsteen's performance of the Woody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
song. |
| The Hunter The Hunter is a 2011 Australian film, directed by Daniel Nettheim and produced by Vincent Sheehan, based on the 1999 novel by Julia Leigh. It stars Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Frances O'Connor. To prepare for the role, Dafoe worked with a bush survival expert who taught him practical tips like how...
|
2011 |
"I'm On Fire "I'm on Fire" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985, it became the fourth single released from his massively successful album Born in the U.S.A..-History:...
" |
Willem DafoeWillem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
sets up a stereo in a tree and uses the song to wake someone sleeping inside the house. |
Films inspired by music
In turn, films have been inspired by his music, including
The Indian RunnerThe Indian Runner is a 1991 drama film written and directed by Sean Penn. It is based on Bruce Springsteen's song, "Highway Patrolman".-Plot:...
, written and directed by
Sean PennSean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
, which Penn has specifically noted as being inspired by Springsteen's song "
Highway Patrolman"Highway Patrolman" is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, and was first released as the fifth track on his 1982 album Nebraska....
".
In September 2010, a
documentaryA documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
about the making of his 1978 album "Darkness on The Edge of Town" was premiered at the
Toronto International Film FestivalThe Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
.
Kevin SmithKevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
is an admitted "big fan" of fellow New Jersey native Springsteen and named his film
Jersey GirlJersey Girl is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It stars Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Raquel Castro, George Carlin, Jason Biggs, Jennifer Lopez and Will Smith...
after the
Tom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
song which Springsteen made famous. The song was also used on the soundtrack.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant said Springsteen's "Thunder Road" to have been a heavy influence on their 2010 film "Cemetery Junction," employing the song's themes of escape and optimism into their story of 1970s England.
In 2011, Springsteen appears in an independent film made by a local musician
Chris VaughnChris Vaughn is an American songwriter, recording artist, filmmaker/producer/director from Neptune, New Jersey. He is best known for his original song "Fallen Angel", was featured in the film Stiletto; and as a filmmaker for his documentary film Jerseyboy Hero, which he wrote, produced, directed,...
from New Jersey entitled "Jerseyboy Hero" where the songwriter/filmmaker documents his journey to get his music out to the world by attempting to reach one of his two local New Jersey legends, Bruce Springsteen or
Jon Bon JoviJon Bon Jovi is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as the founder, occasional rhythm guitarist, and lead singer of rock band Bon Jovi, which was named after him...
.
Acting
Springsteen made his first on-screen appearance in a brief cameo as himself in
High FidelityHigh Fidelity is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack and the Danish actress Iben Hjejle. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, with the setting moved from London to Chicago and the name of the lead character...
in 2000 and it was voted "Best Cameo in a Movie" at the
MTV Movie AwardsThe MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
.
Discography
Major studio albums (along with their chart positions in the U.S.
Billboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
at the time of release):
- 1973: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is the first studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1973. It only sold about 25,000 copies in the first year of its release, but had significant critical impact...
(#60)
- 1973: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (#59)
- 1975: Born to Run
The album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...
(#3)
- 1978: Darkness on the Edge of Town
Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in the late spring of 1978. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel...
(#5)
- 1980: The River (#1)
- 1982: Nebraska
-Themes:The album begins with "Nebraska", a first-person narrative based on the true story of 19-year-old spree killer Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, and ends with "Reason to Believe", a complex narrative that renders its title phrase into contemptuous sarcasm...
(#3)
- 1984: Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A. is the seventh studio album by American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 4, 1984. A critical and commercial triumph, it found Springsteen marking a departure in his sound...
(#1)
- 1987: Tunnel of Love
Tunnel of Love is the eighth studio album by Bruce Springsteen released in 1987.In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Tunnel of Love the 91st greatest album of all time....
(#1)
- 1992: Human Touch
Human Touch is the ninth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1992 . This album was co-released on the same day as Lucky Town...
(#2)
- 1992: Lucky Town
Lucky Town is the tenth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1992. This album was released on the same day as Human Touch. The title track was featured in the film Lucky You.-History:...
(#3)
- 1995: The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1995 . The album was recorded and mixed at Thrill Hill during the spring and summer of 1995. Musically and lyrically reminiscent of Springsteen's 1982 critically acclaimed album Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad...
(#11)
- 1998: Tracks (#64)
- 2002: The Rising
The Rising is the 12th studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released in 2002 on Columbia Records. In addition to being Springsteen's first studio album in seven years, it was also his first with the E Street Band in 18 years...
(#1)
- 2005: Devils & Dust
Devils & Dust is the 13th studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, and his third folk album . It was released on April 25, 2005 in Europe and on April 26 in the US...
(#1)
- 2006: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
-Personnel:* Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, B-3 organ, and percussion* Sam Bardfeld – violin* Art Baron – tuba* Frank Bruno – guitar* Jeremy Chatzky – upright bass* Mark Clifford – banjo...
(#3)
- 2007: Magic
Magic is the 15th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 2007 on Columbia Records. It is his first with the E Street Band since The Rising in 2002...
(#1)
- 2009: Working on a Dream
Working on a Dream is the 16th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released on January 27, 2009 through Columbia Records. It has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, with over 585,000 in the United States as of September 2010.-History:...
(#1)
- 2010: The Promise
The Promise is the 17th studio album by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen, released November 16, 2010 on Columbia Records. It is a double CD compilation of previously unreleased songs drawing from the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. The album is also available as part of the box set...
(#16)
Grammy Awards
- Springsteen has won 20 Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s, as follows (years shown are the year the award was given for, not the year in which the ceremony was held):
- Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male
The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to male recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre...
, 1984, "Dancing in the Dark"Dancing in the Dark" is a 1984 song, written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. Adding up-tempo synthesizer riffs and some syncopation to his sound for the first time, it became his biggest hit and, as the first single released from Born in the U.S.A., started it off to...
"
- Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male
The Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre...
, 1987, "Tunnel of Love"Tunnel of Love" is the title song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1987 Tunnel of Love album. It was released as the second single from the album, reaching number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Like the first single from the album, "Brilliant Disguise", "Tunnel of Love" reached number one on...
"
- Song of the Year
The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...
, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
- Best Rock Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre...
, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
- Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo
The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to male recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre...
, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
- Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television
The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media has been awarded since 1988 and is awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media...
, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"
- Best Contemporary Folk Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. In 2007, this category was renamed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album...
, 1996, The Ghost of Tom JoadThe Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1995 . The album was recorded and mixed at Thrill Hill during the spring and summer of 1995. Musically and lyrically reminiscent of Springsteen's 1982 critically acclaimed album Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad...
- Best Rock Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre...
, 2002, The Rising
- Best Rock Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre...
, 2002, "The Rising"
- Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to male recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre...
, 2002, "The Rising"
- Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011.The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories...
, 2003, "Disorder in the House" (with Warren ZevonWarren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
)
- Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2004, "Code of Silence"
- Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2005, "Devils & Dust
"Devils & Dust" is the title track on Bruce Springsteen's thirteenth studio album Devils & Dust, and was released as a single in 2005. Concerning the Iraq War, the song gained critical praise, a Grammy Award for Song of the Year nomination.-History:...
"
- Best Traditional Folk Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Recording.An award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was also presented...
, 2006, The Seeger Sessions: We Shall Overcome
- Best Long Form Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality videos or musical programs...
, 2006, Wings For Wheels: The Making Of Born to Run
- Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2007, "Radio Nowhere
"Radio Nowhere" is the first single released from Bruce Springsteen's 2007 studio album Magic."Radio Nowhere" was awarded Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song at the Grammy Awards of 2008.-History:...
"
- Best Rock Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre...
, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"Radio Nowhere" is the first single released from Bruce Springsteen's 2007 studio album Magic."Radio Nowhere" was awarded Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song at the Grammy Awards of 2008.-History:...
"
- Best Rock Instrumental Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance was an honor presented to recording artists for quality instrumental rock performances at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
, 2007, "Once Upon a Time in the West"
- Best Rock Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre...
, 2008, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"Girls in Their Summer Clothes" is a song by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, from his album Magic.Matched with a pop-oriented melody, Springsteen's full-throated singing, and a pop-orchestral arrangement, the lyric portrays a series of warm small-town vignettes:The music video for the...
"
- Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre...
, 2009, "Working on a Dream"Working on a Dream" is the title song to, and first single from, Bruce Springsteen's 2009 album Working on a Dream. At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards it won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.-History:...
"
Only one of these awards has been one of the cross-genre "major" ones (Song, Record, or Album of the Year); he has been nominated a number of other times for the majors, but failed to win.
Golden Globe Awards
- Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...
for "Streets of Philadelphia" in 1994.
- Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...
for "The Wrestler"The Wrestler" is the title song from the 2008 film, The Wrestler. The track was written and performed by Bruce Springsteen.The origins of the song are based in a lost and resumed friendship between Springsteen and Wrestler lead actor Mickey Rourke; Rourke told Springsteen about his upcoming film...
" in 2009.
Academy Awards
- Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
, 1993, "Streets of Philadelphia" from PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia is a 1993 American drama film that was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia. It was written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme. The film stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington...
.
Emmy Awards
- The Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City is the name of a concert film done by HBO, featuring the first ever major televised Bruce Springsteen concert...
HBO special won two technical Emmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s in 2001.
Other recognition
October 27, 1975: Bruce Springsteen appears simultaneously on the covers of 'Newsweek' and 'Time'
- Polar Music Prize
The Polar Music Prize is a Swedish international music award founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, possibly best known to be the manager of the Swedish pop group ABBA, with a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music....
in 1997.
- Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
, 1999.
- Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
, 1999.
- Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame
The New Jersey Hall of Fame is an organization that honors individuals from the U.S. state of New Jersey who have made contributions to society and the world beyond....
, 2007.
- "Born to Run
"Born to Run" is a song by American singer songwriter Bruce Springsteen, and the title song of his album Born to Run.- Songwriting :Written at in Long Branch, New Jersey in early 1974, the song was Bruce Springsteen's last-ditch effort to make it big. The prior year, Springsteen had released two...
" named "The unofficial youth anthem of New Jersey" by the New Jersey state legislature; something Springsteen always found to be ironic, considering that the song "is about leaving New Jersey".
- The minor planet 23990, discovered September 4, 1999, by I. P. Griffin at Auckland, New Zealand, was officially named in his honor.
- Ranked #23 on Rolling Stone magazines 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
- Ranked #36 on Rolling Stone magazines 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time.
- Made Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People Of The Year 2008 list.
- Won Critic's Choice Award for Best Song with "The Wrestler
"The Wrestler" is the title song from the 2008 film, The Wrestler. The track was written and performed by Bruce Springsteen.The origins of the song are based in a lost and resumed friendship between Springsteen and Wrestler lead actor Mickey Rourke; Rourke told Springsteen about his upcoming film...
" in 2009.
- Performed at the Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
half time show.
- Kennedy Center Honors, 2009.
- Rolling Stone magazine also ranked 8 out of 16 Springsteen's studio albums in their 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time list.
- Rolling Stone magazine ranked Born to Run and Thunder Road in its 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list, in 21st and 86th, respectively.
- Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
ranked him 6th in The Celebrity 100 in 2009
- John Steinbeck Award
See also
Sources
- Alterman, Eric
Eric Alterman is an American English teacher, historian, journalist, author, media critic, blogger, and educator. His political weblog named Altercation was hosted by MSNBC.com from 2002 until 2006, moved to Media Matters for America until December 2008, and is now hosted by The...
. It Ain't No Sin To Be Glad You're Alive : The Promise of Bruce Springsteen. Little Brown, 1999. ISBN 0-316-03885-7.
- Coles, Robert. Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, a Poet Singing. Random House, 2005. ISBN 0-375-50559-8.
- Cross, Charles R. Backstreets: Springsteen – the man and his music Harmony Books, New York 1989/1992. ISBN 0-517-58929-X. Contains 15+ interviews and a complete list of all Springsteen songs including unreleased compositions. Complete lising of all concerts 1965–1990 – most of them with tracklists. Hundreds of previously unreleased high quality color pictures.
- Cullen, Jim. Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition. 1997; Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. New edition of 1997 study book places Springsteen's work in the broader context of American history and culture. ISBN 0-8195-6761-2
- Eliot, Marc with Appel, Mike
Mike Appel is an American music industry manager and record producer, most known for his role in both capacities early in the career of Bruce Springsteen....
. Down Thunder Road. Simon & Schuster, 1992. ISBN 0-671-86898-5.
- Graff, Gary
Gary Graff is an American music journalist and author.-Biography:Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Graff attended Taylor Allderdice High School where he wrote for school newspaper The Taylor Allderdice Foreword. He received his Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri...
. The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z. Visible Ink, 2005. ISBN 1-57859-151-1.
- Guterman, Jimmy. Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen. Da Capo, 2005. ISBN 0-306-81397-1.
- Hilburn, Robert. Springsteen. Rolling Stone Press, 1985. ISBN 0-684-18456-7.
- Knobler, Peter with special assistance from Greg Mitchell. "Who Is Bruce Springsteen and Why Are We Saying All These Wonderful Things About Him?", Crawdaddy, March 1973.
- Marsh, Dave
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
. Bruce Springsteen: Two Hearts : The Definitive Biography, 1972–2003. Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-96928-X. (Consolidation of two previous Marsh biographies, Born to Run (1981) and Glory Days (1987).)
- Wolff, Daniel. July 4, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land. Bloomsbury, 2005. ISBN 1-58234-509-0.
Further reading
- Greetings from E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Chronicle Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8118-5348-9.
- Days of Hope and Dreams: An Intimate Portrait of Bruce Springsteen. Billboard Books, 2003. ISBN 0-8230-8387-X.
- Racing in the Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader. Penguin, 2004. ISBN 0-14-200354-9.
- Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen. Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-306-81397-1.
- The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z. Visible Ink Press, 2005. ISBN 1-57859-157-0.
- Bruce Springsteen: "Talking". Omnibus Press, 2004. ISBN 1-84449-403-9.
- For You: Original Stories and Photographs by Bruce Springsteen's Legendary Fans. LKC Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9784156-0-0.
- Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968–2005. by Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
Bloomsbury USA, 2006. ISBN 978-1-59691-282-3.
- The Gospel according to Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Redemption from Asbury Park to Magic. by Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz. Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-664-23169-9.
- Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen by Rob Kirkpatrick
-Biography:Rob Kirkpatrick was born and raised in upstate New York. He received his Bachelor’s from Rutgers University, his Master’s degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and his Doctorate from Binghamton University. After graduate school, he began a career as an acquisitions...
. St. Martin's Griffin, 2009. ISBN 0-312-53380-2.
- Land of Hope and Dreams: Celebrating 25 Years of Bruce Springsteen In Ireland by Greg Lewis and Moira Sharkey. Magic Rat Books. ISBN 978-0-9562722-0-1
- The Light in Darkness. A history of the Darkness on The Edge of Town album and tour. Lawrence Kirsch Communications. 2009 ISBN 978-0-9784156-1-7
External links