Bruce SpringsteenBruce Springsteen on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter, nicknamed "The Boss". He frequently recorded with The E-Street Band. Springsteen is most widely known for his brand of heartland rock, rock and roll infused with Americana sentiments. His eloquence in expressing Everyman's problems has earned him a huge fan base within America's middle class. His most famous albums, Born to Run and Born in the USA, epitomize his penchant for writing about the struggles of a young man growing up in the streets of New Jersey. Comparisons are inevitably made between him and Bob Dylan [1] (http://home.theboots.net/theboots/articles/bangs_btr_review.html) because of his folk rock roots. Springsteen has become popular in his own right despite that because of the appeal of his songs. "Born in the USA" was so popular that Ronald Reagan famously chose it to be the theme of his 1984 presidential campaign, misinterpreting it to be a patriotic song rather than a protest song about the Vietnam War. Springsteen is also noted for his work for the relief effort after the September 11th attacks. His album, The Rising, is a retrospective of those events. Early yearsBruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born September 23, 1949 in Freehold Borough, New Jersey. His father, Douglas, was a bus driver of Dutch ancestry and his mother, Adele Zirilli Springsteen, an Italian-American legal secretary. One of Springsteen's earliest recordings is from 1965, when he was originally the guitar player for a band called the Castiles, later becoming lead singer. He began performing in Richmond, Virginia in late 1969 and through 1970 with singer Robbin Thompson in a band called Steel Mill. They went on to perform some memorable shows at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Before being discovered nationally, he returned to Asbury Park, New Jersey, and performed regularly at The Stone Pony and other small Asbury Park nightclubs. His New Jersey shows quickly gathered cult-like appeal for their energy, passion and longevity, most lasting in excess of three hours. Even after gaining international acclaim, Springsteen's New Jersey roots would reverberate in his music, with him routinely praising "the great state of New Jersey" in his live shows. Drawing on his extensive local appeal, his appearances in major New Jersey and Philadelphia venues routinely would sell out for consecutive nights and, much like the Grateful Dead, his show's song lists would vary significantly from night to night. He began his recording career with the E Street Band in 1973. Upon signing a solo record deal with Columbia Records in 1972, Springsteen brought many of his New Jersey-based musician friends into the studio with him, many of them forming the E Street Band. His debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., from January 1973 established him as a critical favorite [2] (http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/107193), though sales were slow. Manfred Mann's Earth Band later turned one song from this album, "Blinded By The Light," into a number one hit. Although Greetings and his second album, The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle received critical acclaim, they failed to achieve commercial success. Born to Run helped Springsteen gain popular recognition and commercial success.In Boston's The Real Paper May 22, 1974, music critic Jon Landau wrote, "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."[3] (http://home.theboots.net/theboots/articles/future.html) (Landau later became Springsteen's manager and producer). With the release of his album Born to Run in 1975, Springsteen made the covers of both Time Magazine and Newsweek the same week, on October 27 of that year. However, a legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for a while, and probably also contributed to the much more sombre tone of his 1978 album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. He continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the double album The River in 1980 and the solo acoustic Nebraska in 1982. Springsteen is probably best known for the multi-million selling Born in the U.S.A.(1984), and the successful world tour that followed it. The title track was a tribute to Springsteen's buddies that had experienced the Vietnam War, some of whom did not come back. The song was widely mis-interpreted on release as nationalistic. In later years Springsteen performed the song accompanied only with acoustic guitar to restore the song's original meaning. After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered. It coincided with the breakup of his first marriage to actress Julianne Phillips. Reflecting the challenges of love, on Tunnel of Love's title song, Springsteen famously sang: "Ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough. Man meets woman, and they fall in love. But the house is haunted, and the ride gets rough. You got to learn to live with what you can't rise above." Bruce Springsteen1990sIn 1992, after breaking up with most of the E Street Band (Roy Bittan remained), Springsteen released two albums simultaneously. Human Touch and Lucky Town were even more introspective than any of his previous work. Also different about these albums was the confidence he displayed. As opposed to his first two albums, which dreamed of happiness, and his next four, which showed him growing to fear it, these albums saw a finally satisfied and mature Springsteen. A multiple Grammy Award winner, he also won an Academy Award in 1993 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia," which appeared in 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 AIDS, especially coming from a main-stream, heterosexual musician. 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 film "Blood Brothers"), he released his second solo guitar album, The Ghost of Tom Joad. In 1998, another precursor to the E Street Band's upcoming re-birth appeared in the form of a sprawling, four-disc box set of out-takes, Tracks. In 1999, the Band officially re-united and went on an extensive world tour, lasting over a year in length and finishing with ten sold out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. The E-United World Tour resulted in an HBO Concert, with corresponding DVD and album releases as Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City. Drawing on his strong fan base in Philadelphia, Springsteen chose to celebrate his 50th birthday in September 1999 with a live show at the Philadelphia Spectrum, which he opened with his hit "Growing Up." Closing the song on that night, he quoted W. C. Fields: "All things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia." 2000sIn 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, The Rising, produced by Brendan O'Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success, and hailed the return of "The Boss". A massive tour was made to promote The Rising. It would come to a final conclusion with 3 nights in Shea Stadium. Bruce Springsteen lost his police escort for the second night after performing "American Skin (41 shots)" a song about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. Bob Dylan was a surprise guest on the last night, the two performed "Highway 61 Revisited" together. In 2004, Springsteen announced that he and the E Street Band would participate in a politically motivated "Vote for Change" tour, in conjunction with John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, R.E.M., Jurassic 5 and other musicians. All were be held in swing states, to benefit MoveOn.org and encourage people to vote against George W. Bush. A finale was held in Washington, D.C., bringing many of the artists together. Several days later, Springsteen had one more concert in New Jersey for Moveon.org. This led to both criticism and praise from the expected partisan sources. Springsteen's "No Surrender" became the main campaign theme song for John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign. In the last days of John Kerry's campaign, he performed acoustic versions of his songs at Kerry rallies, mainly "No Surrender," "Thunder Road" and "The Promised Land". Despite his overt partisanship, however, Springsteen was forgiven by many of his Republican fans, many of whom said they found Springsteen's passion for America and personal struggle consistent with their own ideology. Springsteen thus represented one of only a few modern performers whose music was viewed as widely relevant to the politics and culture of the day. E Street BandCurrent members of the E Street Band:
Samples
DiscographyAlbumsHit singles
TriviaBruce Springsteen is credited with helping to launch the career of a young Courteney Cox by granting her an appearance in his famous "Dancing in the Dark" music video. This page about Bruce Springsteen includes information from a Wikipedia article. Additional articles about Bruce Springsteen News stories about Bruce Springsteen External links for Bruce Springsteen Videos for Bruce Springsteen Wikis about Bruce Springsteen Discussion Groups about Bruce Springsteen Blogs about Bruce Springsteen Images of Bruce Springsteen |
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Bruce Springsteen is credited with helping to launch the career of a young Courteney Cox by granting her an appearance in his famous "Dancing in the Dark" music video. Springsteen thus represented one of only a few modern performers whose music was viewed as widely relevant to the politics and culture of the day. His links were delivered in exquisite Campness and an example was his introduction for the Punk Rock band Generation X where he said the lead singer was supposed to be as "pretty as me" (as he finished delivering this line he sniffed a Carnation he had been delicately holding). Despite his overt partisanship, however, Springsteen was forgiven by many of his Republican fans, many of whom said they found Springsteen's passion for America and personal struggle consistent with their own ideology. Bolan looked fit although perhaps a little too thin and mimed through a number of old T.Rex songs with a group of disinterested session musicians as T.Rex. In the last days of John Kerry's campaign, he performed acoustic versions of his songs at Kerry rallies, mainly "No Surrender," "Thunder Road" and "The Promised Land". In September 1977 he recorded six programmes for Granada Television to be screened during the Children's Tea-Time slot. Springsteen's "No Surrender" became the main campaign theme song for John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign. In March 1977 he performed what would be his final tour with the Punk Rock band The Damned as support. This led to both criticism and praise from the expected partisan sources. This is no doubt largely due to the birth of his only child - a son Rolan Bolan in September 1975. Several days later, Springsteen had one more concert in New Jersey for Moveon.org. Level-headedness? - By 1977 Bolan had hit rock bottom, much of his wealth had gone and he managed to lose weight. A finale was held in Washington, D.C., bringing many of the artists together. Many of those who had suffered at the hands of his hard-nosed drive to become a Star took the opportunity for revenge and he was ridiculed in the Music Press. Bush. No longer a vegetarian Bolan piled on the weight on a diet of hamburgers and alcohol (His 'Fat-Elvis phase'). All were be held in swing states, to benefit MoveOn.org and encourage people to vote against George W. Sadly, too much money, success, Cocaine and Brandy resulted in Bolan, always the fantasist with a Napoleon complex becoming more Narcissistic and Egotistical. His success made him isolated from the 'real world' and high UK Tax rates drove him and many other successful musicians into exile. In 2004, Springsteen announced that he and the E Street Band would participate in a politically motivated "Vote for Change" tour, in conjunction with John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, R.E.M., Jurassic 5 and other musicians. The second bongo player to be sacked by Bolan. Bob Dylan was a surprise guest on the last night, the two performed "Highway 61 Revisited" together. Down - Original members of the band, began to leave in 1973, alienated by Bolan's increasingly egotistical behaviour which resulted in part from the absence of Bolan's regulating factor (his wife June Bolan) from 1973 onwards when he began his relationship with Gloria Jones. Finn left in the band in 1975. Bruce Springsteen lost his police escort for the second night after performing "American Skin (41 shots)" a song about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. It was the "Electric Warrior" album that produced T.Rex' best-known hit, "Get It On", which hit number one on the British charts, while becoming a Top Ten hit in the U.S., where the song was retitled "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" (to avoid confusion with another song called "Get It On", released the same year of 1971 by the group Chase). It would come to a final conclusion with 3 nights in Shea Stadium. A couple of years of regular chart success followed, with hit singles such as Metal Guru and Telegram Sam pouring off what came to resemble a production line. A massive tour was made to promote The Rising. The music press at the time coined the term 'T.Rextasy' to describe the audience reaction at their performances. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success, and hailed the return of "The Boss". The second T.Rex album, Electric Warrior is considered by many to be their best and brought great success. In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, The Rising, produced by Brendan O'Brien. Chelita Secunda (wife of Tony Secunda manager to The Move and for a brief period T.Rex) added two spots of glitter under the eyes of Bolan and Glam rock was born! It would sweep the United Kingdom and many parts of Europe during 1971/1972 and result in various artists of differing merits (See the section on Glam rock for more information). Fields: "All things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.". A band was hastily formed and began to tour to increasing audiences, with teenage girls (teeny boppers) replacing the hippies of old. C. Ride a White Swan was quickly followed with a second, Hot Love. Drawing on his strong fan base in Philadelphia, Springsteen chose to celebrate his 50th birthday in September 1999 with a live show at the Philadelphia Spectrum, which he opened with his hit "Growing Up." Closing the song on that night, he quoted W. When Bolan first noticed he was furious, but later claimed it was his idea.) The sound was altogether poppier and the first single, Ride a White Swan, provided the first hit reaching #2 in the UK chart in late 1970. The E-United World Tour resulted in an HBO Concert, with corresponding DVD and album releases as Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City. (Legend has it the Tony Visconti got fed up with writing the name out in full on studio chitties and tapes and began to abbreviate it. In 1999, the Band officially re-united and went on an extensive world tour, lasting over a year in length and finishing with ten sold out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. Rex continued the process of simplification by shortening the name and completed the move to electric guitars. In 1998, another precursor to the E Street Band's upcoming re-birth appeared in the form of a sprawling, four-disc box set of out-takes, Tracks. The next album, entitled simply T. 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 film "Blood Brothers"), he released his second solo guitar album, The Ghost of Tom Joad. This purple patch also saw the publication of The Warlock of Love, Bolan's book of poems, derided by critics but which nevertheless became the best-selling poetry book of its time. The song, along with the film, was applauded by many for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay man dying of AIDS, especially coming from a main-stream, heterosexual musician. The breakthrough with this was in King of the Rumbling Spires (recorded with Steve Took) which used a full rock band and which, despite the lyrical content, is a long way removed from the first couple of albums. A multiple Grammy Award winner, he also won an Academy Award in 1993 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia," which appeared in the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. As well as progressively shorter titles, the albums show increasing production values, more accessible song writing from Bolan and experimentation with electric guitars and a rock sound. As opposed to his first two albums, which dreamed of happiness, and his next four, which showed him growing to fear it, these albums saw a finally satisfied and mature Springsteen. Finn had no song writing aspirations. Human Touch and Lucky Town were even more introspective than any of his previous work. Also different about these albums was the confidence he displayed. The final album under the name Tyrannosaurus Rex was A Beard Of Stars (1970) featured Mickey Finn who would remain with Bolan until 1975. In 1992, after breaking up with most of the E Street Band (Roy Bittan remained), Springsteen released two albums simultaneously. As soon as he returned to the UK Bolan replaced Took with bongo player Mickey Finn which genuinely was his real name. You got to learn to live with what you can't rise above.". The tour was poorly promoted and planned and because the acoustic duo were billed along side loud electric acts Took commented later that the audience often didn't even notice they'd started so in an Iggy Pop manner he stripped to the waist and whipped himself. But the house is haunted, and the ride gets rough. Bolan sacked Took after Unicorn, prior to their first ever US tour, although Took was contractually obliged to go through with the tour. Man meets woman, and they fall in love. Probably the final straw for Bolan was when Took 'donated' two songs to Twink's Think Pink album and ignored warnings by the management to stop seeing members of the UK Underground. "Ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough. Bolan, seeing himself as the creative force behind the duo refused. Reflecting the challenges of love, on Tunnel of Love's title song, Springsteen famously sang:. By now Took was writing his own songs and wanted the duo to perform some of them. It coincided with the breakup of his first marriage to actress Julianne Phillips. Took was also attracted to the most anarchistic elements such as Mick Farren/Deviants and members of the Pink Fairies Rock 'n' Roll and Drinking Club. After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative Tunnel of Love (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered. Bolan and his girlfriend June Child (ex-girlfriend of Syd Barrett) were living a quiet life, while Took was fully embracing the anti-commercial/community spirited/drug taking ethics of the UK Underground scene centred around Ladbroke Grove. The song was widely mis-interpreted on release as nationalistic. In later years Springsteen performed the song accompanied only with acoustic guitar to restore the song's original meaning. By 1969 there was a clear rift between the two halves of Tyrannosaurus Rex. The title track was a tribute to Springsteen's buddies that had experienced the Vietnam War, some of whom did not come back. The photo sums up Bolan's earnest
playfulness and the duo's position as both typical within their scene and a unique proposition, and the music on Unicorn,
with its melancholic grandeur, marks the high water mark for pixie-rock. Springsteen is probably best known for the multi-million selling Born in the U.S.A.(1984), and the successful world tour that
followed it. These range from the modish to the obscure – Lamb's
Tales from Shakespeare, The Bible, works of William Blake, a Muddy Waters LP, tabla drums and toy cymbals etc. He continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the double album The River in 1980 and the solo acoustic Nebraska in 1982. The reverse cover of Unicorn follows a convention begun by Dylan with
Bringing It All Back Home: the pair are pictured lurking in a Bayswater flat surrounded by influences – LPs, books
and objets d'art. However, a legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the
studio for a while, and probably also contributed to the much more
sombre tone of his 1978 album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time."[3] (http://home.theboots.net/theboots/articles/future.html) (Landau later became Springsteen's manager and producer). With the release of his album Born to Run in 1975, Springsteen made the covers of both Time Magazine and Newsweek the same week, on October 27 of that year. Another key pairing was with the record producer Tony Visconti who went on to produce all of their albums well into their second phase. In Boston's The Real Paper May 22, 1974, music critic Jon Landau wrote, "I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. The combination of Bolan's guitar and cat-like wail with Steve Took's bongos and assorted percussion (which often included children's instruments such as the Pixiephone) gained them a devoted following on a thriving underground scene that included the Incredible String Band and DJ John Peel, who befriended them and ferried them to and from gigs in his mini and eventually read stories written by Bolan on two of their albums. Although Greetings and his second album, The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle received critical acclaim, they failed to achieve commercial success. Bolan retained the services of Steve Peregrin Took and the duo began producing eccentric pastoral and folk tinged ditties steeped in Tolkienian mythology, with spiritual homages to Gene Vincent thrown into the whimsical mix for good measure. Manfred Mann's Earth Band later turned one song from this album, "Blinded By The Light," into a number one hit. The band was founded by Marc Bolan in 1967 and gave one performance as a five piece rock band at the Roundhouse before immediately breaking up in disarray. His debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., from January 1973 established him as a critical favorite [2] (http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/107193), though sales were slow. Rex began life as Tyrannosaurus Rex, darlings of the hippy/lighter weight end of the UK Underground scene in 1960s London. Upon signing a solo record deal with Columbia Records in 1972, Springsteen brought many of his New Jersey-based musician friends into the studio with him, many of them forming the E Street Band. Before finding teenybopper adulation as a 1970s pop group T. He began his recording career with the E Street Band in 1973. Notable posthumous releases include the reissue of the expanded The Beginning of Doves, in 2002 which is a very interesting collection of early songs and demos recorded in between John's Children and Tyrannosaurus Rex, and The Children of Rarn, demos for the sub-Tolkien concept album that Bolan and Visconti had been talking about for years as the project that would re-establish Bolan as a creative force to be reckoned with. Drawing on his extensive local appeal, his appearances in major New Jersey and Philadelphia venues routinely would sell out for consecutive nights and, much like the Grateful Dead, his show's song lists would vary significantly from night to night. Bolan's girlfriend Gloria Jones survived and returned to her native America with their son Rolan Bolan shortly after the crash. Even after gaining international acclaim, Springsteen's New Jersey roots would reverberate in his music, with him routinely praising "the great state of New Jersey" in his live shows. Dandy in the Underworld (1977). His New Jersey shows quickly gathered cult-like appeal for their energy, passion and longevity, most lasting in excess of three hours. Futuristic Dragon (1976). Before being discovered nationally, he returned to Asbury Park, New Jersey, and performed regularly at The Stone Pony and other small Asbury Park nightclubs. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (1975). They went on to perform some memorable shows at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Bolan's Zip Gun (1974). He began performing in Richmond, Virginia in late 1969 and through 1970 with singer Robbin Thompson in a band called Steel Mill. Tanx (1973). One of Springsteen's earliest recordings is from 1965, when he was originally the guitar player for a band called the Castiles, later becoming lead singer. The Slider (1972). His father, Douglas, was a bus driver of Dutch ancestry and his mother, Adele Zirilli Springsteen, an Italian-American legal secretary. Electric Warrior (1971). Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born September 23, 1949 in Freehold Borough, New Jersey. Rex (1970). His album, The Rising, is a retrospective of those events. T. Springsteen is also noted for his work for the relief effort after the September 11th attacks. Best Chart Position: #44 ~ Weeks in Chart: 1. "Born in the USA" was so popular that Ronald Reagan famously chose it to be the theme of his 1984 presidential campaign, misinterpreting it to be a patriotic song rather than a protest song about the Vietnam War. King of the Rumbling Spires/Do You Remember? 25/7/69. Springsteen has become popular in his own right despite that because of the appeal of his songs. Pewter Suitor/Warlord of the Royal Crocodiles 14/1/69. Comparisons are inevitably made between him and Bob Dylan [1] (http://home.theboots.net/theboots/articles/bangs_btr_review.html) because of his folk rock roots. Best Chart Position: #28 ~ Weeks in Chart: 7. His most famous albums, Born to Run and Born in the USA, epitomize his penchant for writing about the struggles of a young man growing up in the streets of New Jersey. One Inch Rock/Salamanda Palaganda 23/8/68. His eloquence in expressing Everyman's problems has earned him a huge fan base within America's middle class. Best Chart Position: #34 ~ Weeks in Chart: 7. Springsteen is most widely known for his brand of heartland rock, rock and roll infused with Americana sentiments. Debora/Child Star 19/4/68. He frequently recorded with The E-Street Band. Best Chart Position: #12. Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter, nicknamed "The Boss". Steve Peregrin Took bongos, African drums, kazoo, pixiephone, Chinese gong. 2002 "Lonesome Day" #39 UK. Marc Bolan Vocals, guitar. from "The Rising"
1997 "Secret Garden" #19 US, #17 UK. UNICORN 18/5/69. from "Jerry Maguire" soundtrack (originally on "Greatest Hits")
1995 "Hungry Heart" (re-issue) #28 UK. PROPHETS, SEERS AND SAGES, THE ANGELS OF THE AGES 14/10/68. from "Greatest Hits"
1992 "57 Channels (And Nothin' On)" #32 UK. Marc Bolan Vocals, Acoustic guitar. 1992 "Human Touch" #16 US, #11 UK. Credits:. from "Human Touch"
from "Lucky Town"
1987 "Tunnel of Love" #9 US. 1987 "Brilliant Disguise" #5 US, #20 UK. from "Tunnel of Love"
non-album-related single
1985 "My Hometown" #6 US, #9 UK (double A-side with Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town in the UK). 1985 "Glory Days" #5 US, #17 UK. 1985 "I'm on Fire" #6 US, #5 UK (double A-side with Born in the USA in the UK). 1985 "Cover Me" (re-entry) #16 UK. 1985 "Dancing in the Dark" (re-entry) #4 UK. 1984 "Cover Me" #7 US, #38 UK. 1984 "Dancing in the Dark" #2 US, #28 UK. 1984 "Born in the U.S.A." #9 US. from "Born in the U.S.A."
from "The River"
from "Born to Run"
Soozie Tyrell - violin (recorded with Springsteen in 1995, joined the band in 2002 with "The Rising" album and tour). Tallent - bass guitar. Gary W. Patti Scialfa - guitar (Springsteen's wife - added in 1984). Nils Lofgren - guitar (replaced Steven van Zandt in 1984; remained in group after van Zandt returned). Danny Federici - organ, glockenspiel, keyboard. Clarence Clemons - saxophone. Roy Bittan - piano (replaced David Sancious in 1975). |