Music Legends - Featured Artist Bruce Springsteen

An artist who appeals to listeners across genre’s, Bruce Springsteen has been rocking and balladeer’ing for four decades now and he is still going strong

Born in New Jersey, USA in 1949 Bruce was raised as a roman catholic, growing up in Freehold Borough, Long Branch. Springsteen’s music interest was sparked by seeing Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan show, and listening to New Jersey native Frank Sinatra on the radio.

At the age of 16 his mother took out a loan of $60 to buy him a guitar and he began playing at local venues, finally getting a gig as lead guitar with The Castiles with whom he recorded two singles, neither very successful.

Hold on I’m Coming – The Castiles…..Wow, one can hear the influence of Cream on this track, and it sounds like Jimi Hendrix on vocals {smile].

As regards his role in the Vietnam War ….an extract from Wikipedia

Called for induction when he was 18, Springsteen failed his physical examination and did not serve in Vietnam. In an interview in Rolling Stone 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 discharge

Bruce Springsteen briefly joined another hard rock band called Earth, followed by his next group, also hard rock which was initially named Child but then changed to Steel Mill. The band garnered quite a following without really making an impact on the US charts.

Sweet Melinda – Steel Mill, recorded 1971 and absolutely unrecognisable as Bruce Springsteen. It is clear he needed to reinvent himself…
In 1971 the band broke up and Springsteen formed another band, then another, then another (sorry, too many muso’s and iterations to list or summarise here). The long and the short of the matter is he finally went solo and hired himself a manager, Mike Appel, who arranged an audition with Columbia’s legendary talent scout, John Hammond. Springsteen signed for Columbia in 1972.

For recording his debut album, Springsteen promptly hired his old Steel Mill musicians and the album Greetings from Ashbury Park, NJ was duly released in 1973 … hardly making a ripple at that time. (The first track on the album was made into a number one hit by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band…the song ‘Blinded by the Light’). The second album The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle received rave reviews but did not sell well.

In 1975 Springsteen was given notice by Columbia records…. One more album to cut the mustard. With this directive, he toured extensively while preparing for the album and by the time the album Born To Run was released in August 1975… he had something of a cult following and the title track made it into the Top 40 and the album made the Top 10, selling over 6 million copies

At this time Springsteen split with Mike Appel and appointed a new manager. Unfortunately this move led to legal battles which only got resolved in 1977 during which time Springsteen could not record. Numerous bands had since started performing within the same genre, bands such as Bob Seger n the Silver Bullet Band, Johnny Cougar (Mellencamp), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to name some; and Bruce Springsteen had some ground to make up. Nonetheless his next album, Darkness made it into the Top 10 and sold 3 million copies.

Darkness at the Edge of Town released in 1978.

The double set The River soon followed and gave Springsteen his first number one album and the Top 10 hit Hungry Heart. Moving into the 80’s he continued to experiment and consolidate his status as a performer.

An extract from Allmusic.Com

then came Born in the U.S.A. (June 1984) and a two-year international tour. The album hit number one, threw off seven Top Ten hits ("Dancing in the Dark," which earnedSpringsteen his first Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, "Cover Me," "Born in the U.S.A.," "I'm on Fire," "Glory Days," "I'm Goin' Down," and "My Hometown"), and sold 15 million copies, putting Springsteen in the pop heavens with Michael Jackson and Prince. For his next album, he finally exploited his reputation as a live performer by releasing the five-LP/three-CD box set Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live/1975-85 (November 1986), which topped the charts, was certified platinum 13 time

Having listened to the first two tracks, it is clear how Bruce Springsteen metamorphosed… and went back to his roots, simple lyrics and emotive topics of his neighborhood. One aspect of this man is his live shows, abundant energy and always in excess of 3 hours.

Born in the USA

Dancing in the Dark for which he received a Grammy, category Best Male Rock Vocals.

Glory Days

Bruce Springsteen disbanded E-Street in 1989 and took a break, before returning in 1992. He has continued to tour and record through the decades recording 18 studio albums. I was fortunate enough to attend his concert here in Cape Town in 2014. A great stage act and enduring, foot stamping music, hand clapping music.

In December 2009, the 60-year-old was ranked fourth among the top touring acts of the first decade of the 21st century, behind only the Rolling Stones, U2, and Madonna.

Thank you for reading, and I really hope you enjoyed the music as much as I enjoyed presenting it…
I leave you with Streets of Philadelphia

This post is only fueled by Steem Power

I am featuring artists from the 60’s and 70’s from diverse genre’s over the next few months. If you love music … FOLLOW and take the journey with me..it is going to be one thrilling ride !! Furthermore I will only be featuring artists from MY vinyl collection, and I shall start all of the posts with a photo of an album cover to authenticate

Previous Music Legends
Leonard Cohen
The Doors
Bob Dylan
The Rolling Stones
60’s Protest Artists
Janis Joplin
And many more