Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" Album released 40 years ago today!

It's hard to believe today marks the 40th anniversary of the release of "Born to Run."  While that poster isn't the (ubiquitous) album cover - it symbolizes the not just the album, but everything Springsteen of the 1970's.  The Springsteen of the 1980's and beyond is a different story, and could occupy the musings of an entirely separate post .  I had that particular poster on my bedroom wall and every dorm room that I ever occupied.

Growing up in Sheepshead Bay back then, most of the kids I hung out would easily have included Bruce in their pantheon of rock gods.  Regardless of where you branched out with your musical interests, he was pretty much the common denominator of all things "cool" or so we liked to believe. 

While I loved the song itself, my favorite Bruce tune was a tie between "Thunder Road" (also on that album) and "Spirit in the Night" (from his first album, "Greetings from Asbury Park").  Even today, after all the years, those two song most encapsulate Springsteen in my memories.

Anyway, today is a great reason to listen to some old Bruce tunes!

Happy Anniversary :D

happy birthday bruce springsteen - 60 years old today!!

bruce springsteen, born september 23, 1949, celebrates his 60th birthday today. the above photo, from the 1984 "born in the usa" tour (and album) is alread 25 years old! bruce hardly shows any signs of age - touring and releasing albums like the good old days.

i've posted about bruce often ( his "magic" tour show at giants stadium last summer, the superbowl half-time show last winter, and the free, pre-release, live stream of his "working on a dream" album on npr, just to mention a few). his music was a huge part of my high school days in the late 70s (though my first bruce show had to wait until "the river" tour at madison square garden in 1980.

after the summer of 1984 "born in the usa" tour, almost 25 years passed before i saw him in concert again (last year's "magic" tour). despite the passage of all that time, he still rocked. so find the time to listen to some springsteen today ("greetings from asbury park" is on my ipod play list for today).

happy birthday bruce!!

bruce springsteen's "born to run" was released 34 years ago today

i just couldn't pass up the chance to mention that today is the 34th anniversary bruce springsteen's third album "born to run" - released on august 25, 1975. it's easily both his masterpiece and breakthrough album. while "born in the usa" would also be a blockbuster release for springsteen, "born to run" was what launched him into super stardom.

i was a huge fan of springsteen in high school. but this wasn't my first bruce springsteen album, "darkness on the edge of town" has that honor. "born to run," the title cut, is not my favorite bruce song, that goes to "spirits in the night," on his first album, "greetings from asbury park," released at the start of 1973. but "born to run" does have my second favorite bruce song, "thunder road!"

while i'm not as big a fan of bruce springsteen as i was in those days, i did go see him play giants stadium last summer. that was a tremendous show - and even after all the years gone by, he still has it.

bruce springsteen's superbowl halftime show: video clips and setlist

with only 12 minutes and four songs at his disposal, bruce springsteen took the stage in tampa and rocked the halftime show at superbowl XVIII - with his own ref to throw a delay of game flag to end his performance ;)

here is the setlist:

tenth avenue freezeout
born to run
working on a dream
glory days

while what 3 of the songs would be lead to a lot of speculation, "working on a dream" - the title cut to his new album, was a sure bet :D

here is the entire 12 minute performance, in two parts, courtesy of youtube!





oh, and for the record, the steelers beat arizona 27-23 to become the first team to win the superbowl 6 times!!
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i didn't have the energy to add this last night, but the ny times ran an interesting story on springsteen, "the rock laureate," in the sunday arts and leisure section. here is what bruce said about his prep for the halftime show:

"Party or not, Mr. Springsteen has thought through his Super Bowl set meticulously. “It was very challenging to try and get that exact 12 minutes. I found that in a funny way it was very freeing. O.K., these are your boundaries, so put everything that you have into just this box,” he said. “If you do it right, you should feel the tension of it wanting to spread beyond that time frame. But it can’t.”
. . .

"At rehearsal he strutted across the stage: testing banter, brandishing his guitar, belting lyrics and jiving with Mr. Van Zandt. As the band finished a run-through, someone holding a timer called out the length of the set. “We’ve got one-sixteenth of a second left,” Mr. Springsteen exulted. “And we plan to use it.”"

the ny times followed up that overly effusive and glowing look at springsteen with a rather lame review of the actual show this morning (in the sports section).

36 years ago today: "greetings from asbury park," bruce springsteen's first album was released!

is it really possible that 36 years have gone by since bruce springsteen released his first album on january 5, 1973? while "greetings from asbury park" wasn't my first bruce album (that was "darkness on the edge of town"), it did introduce me to what soon became my favorite springsteen song of all time: "spirit in the night."

two years later in 1975 (after he followed up "greetings" with "the wild, the innocent & the e street shuffle" in the summer of 1973), springsteen released his breakthrough album, "born to run," - and the rest is now rock history. that album, incidentally, introduced me to my second favorite bruce tune: "thunder road."

as a brooklyn kid in high school during the late 70's, bruce was ubiquitous. he had the uncanny ability to crossover between the disco crowd and rockers. ironically, by the time i went to see my first bruce show (msg, 1980, the river tour) he had pretty much dropped off the list of my music interests. by that time i was into the clash and grateful dead (two radically disparate genres it would seem).

still, even after 35 years, catching him in concert at giants stadium last summer, he had lost none of his magic :D