Bruce Springsteen–Born to Run (and in the U.S.A.)

As I write this, Today (September 23rd) is Bruce Springsteen’s birthday. As long as I’ve written entries for my blog, I’ve toyed with idea of writing one for Springsteen.  But, I never felt like I was a huge fan or expert or authority of any kind to write about Bruce Springsteen AKA “The Boss”.  In this blog, I will recall how I became familiar with the music of Springsteen, my favorite album of his and the friends that I associate when I hear his music.

I guess I first came to know of Bruce Springsteen around 1978-79 when ABC-TV ran a show called “The History of Rock and Roll” on a Friday night. I remember spending the night at a friend’s house as we watched this. Everyone was included from Elvis, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry in the 50’s to the Beatles, the Stones and Jimi Hendrix in the 60’s. When it came to highlight groups of the 70’s, I don’t remember a lot on that broadcast except for this guy that had been heralded as the NEW voice of Rock and Roll. They played a very long clip of this guy known as Bruce Springsteen. This became a name that I continued to hear on and off for years to come. In 1982, Springsteen released his album named after my home state Nebraska. It sparked my interest a little. But, at the time, my interests in rock were of a heavier nature and with drummers that were a little more bombastic. 
Then, in 1984, Bruce Springsteen was just plain hard to ignore.  I remember walking into the record store that I spent most of my high school years at one afternoon. It was about a week or so before Born in the USA had been released. The owner of the record store quickly asked me, “Are you gonna get the new Springsteen album next week?”  As I said, I was a big fan of heavier guitar and loud bombastic drums like Van Halen. Springsteen was just something that didn’t interest me.  The extent of my Springsteen knowledge included a brief bit that Robin Williams did in his act as “Elmer Fudd sings Bruce Springsteen”. In the days of MTV, soon Bruce was ubiquitous and EVERYWHERE!  The video for Dancing in the Dark was in heavy rotation with a young Courtney Cox dancing around with New Jersey’s new favorite son. 

…kinda silly…but I love how Max’s snare drum sounds.

This video just seemed very silly with Bruce dancing around. I thought he was some kind of big rock guy and this just seemed really pop oriented. I wouldn’t say I had any dislike for him. I just didn’t understand all the hoopla. It seemed like every MTV news update had something about Bruce on tour, Bruce’s new video etc etc. But, I do remember when MTV debuted the video for Bruce’s homage to the Glory Days,  I remember loving so much about the song.

My fellow Dustys’ employees and I used to talk about what artists would we talk about when we talk about the music of the 80’s. We joked about people like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince. Then, someone would say, “What about Springsteen?”
One of my early college roommates was a vocal music major and just didn’t get the whole attraction of Springsteen because he obviously didn’t have any formal vocal training. When Bruce’s live box set was released in 1986, The record stores were absolutely filled with this collection. My roommate used to joke that he couldn’t believe so many people would want this. But, as I would make my weekly and daily trips to Dustys, I found something intangible that I liked about this music. I couldn’t put my finger on it. But, something about the sound of Bruce and the E Street band was getting to me.  In 1986-87, Joan Jett recorded the song Light of Day for the movie of the same name featuring herself and Michael J. Fox. I loved that song and I soon found out that the song was written by Bruce Springsteen. My fellow employees at Dustys were obvious fans of the Boss. So, I began to hear more and more and my respect for Bruce as a songwriter grew as well.

Joan Jett singing Springsteen with Michael J Fox

Joan Jett and Bruce Springsteen doing a duet

Forrest and I used to stand at the counter of Dustys and page through the Rolling Stone Record Guide. One of the Springsteen albums that was highlighted is the 1975 album Born to Run.  At this point, I started raiding Dustys’ used LP rack for some gems that sparked my interest. I found that Born to Run and The River were the two albums that sparked my listening palette.  I would drop the needle on those albums and soon I would take away so much from the E Street band’s collective sound. Bruce received a lot of praise as a live performer and “The Big Man” Clarence Clemons became a celebrity and personality in his own right.
In the Fall of 1989, I met my lifelong friend Matt Krogmeier who is a music lover and is a HUGE Springsteen fan. Matt and I would hang out at the college radio station. We would sit in the production studios and the on-air studios talking music and he would pull out Springsteen tracks and play them for me and he would play air guitar and air drums and his love and energy for everything Springsteen was palpable. Years later, I would ask Matt to make his own “Greatest Hits” CD of Springsteen for me. He eventually sent me 3 discs.

For me, Born to Run is Springsteen’s masterpiece.  It opens with Thunder Road and then into Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, Night, Backstreets, Jungleland and (of course) the title track Born to Run.  The band is strong from Clarence’s saxophone, the Mighty Max Weinberg on drums, Garry Talent on bass, Roy Bittan on piano and Danny Federici on organ.  The complete band makes a fantastic sound together that is a unique signature sound.  The great thing about this band is they really sound like no other.   I know it should also be mentioned about Little Steven Van Zandt and his backing vocals.
After I’m finished being amazed by the aural magnitude of these musicians, I dig into the lyrical content. Bruce weaves stories about growing up as a teen in the Rock and Roll America of the 50’s and 60’s.  Springsteen has said that he wanted this album to sound like “Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan and produced by Phil Spector”
Lyrics that transport you as the story tells:

“The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone againDon't run back inside, darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me”

and of course the title track:

“In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages on Highway 9, chrome-wheeled, fuel-injected, and stepping out over the line
Whoah baby, this town rips the bones from your back, it's a death trap
It's a suicide rap, we gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run”

Lastly, is the iconic images of this album cover of Bruce and Clarence. Clarence has his sax and Bruce has that iconic Fender Telecaster. He
Years later, another college friend – Mark Pracht and I were on a road trip together and we had put in a copy of Springsteen’s Greatest Hits album. We had lengthy conversations about the album, the song selections and various other things.  Mark and I had become great friends and our musical tastes had grown. When I met Mark, he was big into the Rolling Stones, Beatles and the Who. I moved away and suddenly Mark was into Guns N’ Roses and Metallica. Then, of course it grew into many different artists. Mark eventually moved to Omaha in the late 90’s and then eventually moved to Chicago.  Mark and I would have a few phone conversations through the years. Mark would tell me about some music he’d been writing and how inspired he had been from the work of Bruce Springsteen.  Now, Mark was a huge fan of Springsteen and had seen him numerous times in a live setting.  He even did a series of album reviews on Springsteen’s albums on his own blog.
Now, When I listen to a Springsteen album, I usually think of both Mark and Matt. I think of my brethren from my days at Dustys Records.  Somehow, we connect this music of our youth and our life with the music that touched the people in our lives and hence we are connected to these people through our memories. Even now, as I listen to Born to Run, I’m reminded of so many people that have experienced similar stories and can relate to the lyrics “getting out while we’re young” and “tramps like us”
In the end, it’s about the vision, the drive and the songwriting of a man born on September 23, 1949 named Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOSS!