Bruce Springsteen

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Bruce Springsteen was born in 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Freehold. He is the face of heartland rock: rock about ordinary people, work, cars and the dream of escaping from a small town. Since 1972 he has played with the E Street Band, and his nickname The Boss dates from those years too.

Music and breakthrough

His debut Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. was released in January 1973 on Columbia. The breakthrough came with Born to Run (1975). He worked on the title track from January to August 1974, with more than ten layers of guitar, organ, glockenspiel, strings and the saxophone of Clarence Clemons, after the example of the 'wall of sound' of the 1960s. In October 1975 he was on the cover of both Time and Newsweek in the same week. Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) and The River (1980) followed. He recorded Nebraska (1982) at home as demos, sparse and acoustic. Born in the U.S.A. (1984) yielded seven singles that reached the American top ten.

Influence

The title track sounds like an anthem, but is about a Vietnam veteran who is abandoned by his country after coming home. When Ronald Reagan praised him in a campaign speech in 1984, Springsteen rejected it. On 19 July 1988 he played in East Berlin to an enormous crowd and sang Bob Dylan's Chimes of Freedom. With The Rising (2002) he responded to the attacks of 11 September.

Listening

• 
  Born to Run · Bruce Springsteen, 1975
  Apple Music ↗
• 
  Born in the U.S.A. · Bruce Springsteen, 1984
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1973Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
• 1973The Wild, the Innocent & The E Street Shuffle
• 1975Born to Run
• 1978Darkness on the Edge of Town
• 1980The River
• 1982Nebraska
• 1984Born in the U.S.A.
• 1987Tunnel of Love
• 1992Human Touch
• 1992Lucky Town
• 1995The Ghost of Tom Joad
• 2002Rising
• 2005Devils & Dust
• 2007Magic
• 2008Working on a Dream
• 2012Wrecking Ball
• 2014High Hopes
• 2019Western Stars
• 2020Letter to You
• 2022Only the Strong Survive: Covers, Vol. 1

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still Pop^NL Reader
• Mixtape 7: The 1980s^NL Reader
• Magazine: Rock Behind the Iron Curtain^NL Magazine

Mentioned in other articles

• Heartland rock GenreBruce Springsteen of New Jersey made rock about ordinary people, work, cars and the dream of getting away.
• Wall of Sound TechnologyGirl groups such as The Ronettes were given their grand sound this way, and later Bruce Springsteen built on it.
• TASCAM Portastudio TechnologyOn 3 January 1982, Bruce Springsteen recorded songs on a Portastudio in his bedroom in Colts Neck.

See also

• Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
• The Wild, the Innocent & The E Street Shuffle
• Tunnel of Love
• Human Touch
• Lucky Town
• Magic
• Wrecking Ball
• Letter to You
• TASCAM Portastudio

Sources

1. Wikipedia (en): Bruce Springsteen
2. Wikipedia (en): Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen song
3. Wikipedia (en): Born in the U.S.A. (song
4. Wikipedia (en): Bruce Springsteen concert in East Berlin