Book Review: Springsteen @ 75 by Gillian Gaar

Disclosure: I got a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Bruce Springsteen is a musician I haven’t listened to in a while, but I quite enjoy some of his music and I have to thank the movie Blinded By The Light for that. Nothing wrong with getting into music through a movie and I think it’s truly magic hearing classic rock songs for the first time, no matter when or how. Screw gatekeeping – that kind of attitude just stops people from getting into something they might enjoy.

In the past I’ve reviewed musician autobiographies and biographies centred around photos like Little Wing: The Jimmy McCulloch Story by my friend Paul Salley, Brian May’s Queen in 3D, and Def Leppard’s Definitely. While I didn’t review it for the blog, I remember one day I was killing time in the library in the Cork city centre in Ireland and I stumbled upon Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page. I love these kinds of books because it’s like a documentary and a museum in book and I’m a very visual person and I love seeing corresponding photos that go with the various stories told or the eras being talked about. Sure, while it’s always primarily about the music, image is an important part of rock and roll and photographs are the memories that we have of yesteryear. So when I got an opportunity to review Bruce Springsteen @ 75, I jumped on it.

Seventy five years is a great milestone, known as the diamond, and one of the most famous ’49 babies in classic rock who is still with us today is none other than Bruce Springsteen. This book takes us on a journey through Bruce Springsteen’s life from his upbringing in New Jersey to his earliest forays in music to his peak years in the 70s and 80s to him being recognised as a rock legend in the 90s to his most recent releases and post-pandemic tour of the 2020s. True to the title there are 75 different stories and lots of pictures accompanying the stories so you can immerse yourself in the different eras. Very clever way of organising the book and it’s beautifully laid out.

Bruce Springsteen grew up in a working class family in New Jersey. His father worked a lot of blue collar jobs and at some points when they didn’t have much money, they lived with the grandparents. He loved listening to the radio and watching TV growing up and one moment that changed his whole life was seeing Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show. He wanted to be just like Elvis and so he begged his parents for a guitar, but the first time learning it, he didn’t stick with it. Still, he loved rock and roll. Once again, his life was changed when he heard The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. He loved how different it sounded to everything else on the radio and The Beatles’ Ed Sullivan Show appearance reignited the spark that made him want to become a rock star. This time it was serious and he bought a guitar and actually learnt to play. From there, he wanted to find like-minded kids to play with and start a band. He was kicked out of the first band he joined for having a cheap guitar, but he joined The Castiles after learning a few more songs and they played regularly at Cafe Wha?. It was also with The Castiles that Bruce Springsteen first stepped into a recording studio. They recorded a single written by Bruce Springsteen called “Baby I” b/w “That’s What You Get”. It’s a catchy jangly guitar song with potential, but unfortunately the production was lacklustre and the conservative approach to recording it resulted in them not being able to record as loudly as they liked. Without a record label, they couldn’t get anywhere. It’s not like today where musicians can self release music on the internet and use social media to promote themselves.

After The Castiles broke up due to members getting arrested for drug possession, Bruce Springsteen formed Steel Mill, and had some success with them playing shows in California and opening for artists like Grand Funk, Tina Turner, and Black Sabbath, but that band didn’t last very long, but he still didn’t give up on his dream. Throughout the early 70s, he started to assemble the band everyone knows, loves, and associates with him: The E Street Band. Finally in 1973, he released his debut Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ. While it wasn’t a commercial success, two songs from that album would be covered by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and become hits for him: “Spirit in the Night” and “Blinded By The Light”. He also got compared to Bob Dylan and was called “rock and roll future”.

Finally in 1975, he had a breakthrough with the album Born to Run. The most famous songs from that album are the title track, which became a signature song for him, and the 9 minute epic “Jungleland”. This is the album that turned everything around for him and made him a legend. He was on magazine covers and finally got a chance to tour Europe. However, this album was not a chart topper.

In the new decade, the 1980s, Bruce Springsteen released his first chart-topping album The River. Also in the 80s, he started getting more politically involved after reading Ron Kovic’s book Born on the Fourth of July. He did benefit concerts and raised money for the Vietnam Veterans of America. Another book that influenced his music in this era was Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. He also participated in USA For Africa’s “We Are The World”. He also played behind the Iron Curtain, playing a show in East Berlin in 1988, one year before the Berlin Wall fell.

If any year was Bruce Springsteen’s year, it was 1984 when Born in the USA came out, over a decade after releasing his debut – it was a slow burn, but he got there! Every single he released from that album reached the top 10: “Dancing the Dark”, “Cover Me”, “Born in the USA”, “I’m on Fire”, “Glory Days”, “I’m Goin’ Down”, and “My Hometown”. Only Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 achieved this same feat: 7 top 10s from one album. Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, and Scarface director Brian De Palma directed the music video for “Dancing in the Dark”. Born in the USA made history with over 30 million copies sold and it being the first commercial CD manufactured in the US.

From there, he released a live album and took his career in a different direction when he released Tunnel of Love, his first album where he didn’t work with the E Street Band as a whole. By the early 90s, he took a break from working with the E Street Band, but he reunited with them by the end of the decade for a tour. In 1999, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the first year he became eligible. However, the E Street Band were not inducted at that time and it would be another 15 years until they got inducted.

In the new millennium he wrote what he called his most controversial song, “American Skin (41 Shots)”, about Amadou Diallo, a young man killed by the  police in NYC in 1999. President of the Fraternal Order of Police Bob Lucente criticised the song as an anti-police song and the NYPD asked him not to perform the song at Madison Square Garden. He stuck to his guns and performed it anyway, even though a few people booed him. From there, he got more political, endorsing Democratic candidates for president like John Kerry and Barack Obama, the latter of whom he built a close friendship with. He played the Super Bowl halftime show in 2009 and played Glastonbury that same year. 2016 was another big year for Springsteen because he released his autobiography, Born To Run and received one of the highest civilian honours, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Overall, this is an excellent book for any Bruce Springsteen fan to add to their collection. It’s a beautiful and well put together book. An excellent, comprehensive tribute to a classic rock legend.

Ten Takeaways from Springsteen @ 75

I’ve done this before with some classic rock biographies and I’m bringing this section back with this review.

1. The first time Bruce Springsteen learnt to play guitar, he quit after a short time.

He got into rock and roll thanks to Elvis’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and begged his parents for a guitar and his mother rented one for him, but he didn’t stick with it. But thanks to four lads from Liverpool, his desire to learn guitar was back and this time he did stick with it!

2. Bruce Springsteen got kicked out of the first band he joined because he had a cheap guitar.

Even teenage rock bands can have high standards. The first band Bruce Springsteen joined were The Rogues and he got kicked out because his guitar was a cheap Kent guitar.

3. Bruce Springsteen never held a job outside of music.

Yes! Despite some of his lyrics having working class themes, the only job he ever worked was as a musician.

4. Bruce Springsteen’s not really a solo performer.

He was originally signed as a solo artist, but also important to him were the E Street Band who played on most of his albums. For him, it’s the best of both worlds, there’s teamwork and friendship with the backing band, but he has control over the songwriting and other creative things.

5. He didn’t like the “Next Dylan” label.

His debut Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ earned him this comparison and he did not like it because he didn’t want to be a second rate Bob Dylan, he wanted to be the first Bruce Springsteen. With his sophomore album The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle and his subsequent releases he made a name for himself and became a star in his own right.

6. Bruce Springsteen’s first shows in London got mixed reviews

An overseas tour is a big milestone accomplishment for any musician. It’s living the dream, jet setting off to far away places and playing for audiences that adore you. But a great reception and good press isn’t guaranteed. It was a highly promoted tour with flyers plastered all over town. Naturally he was nervous before the concerts and while his manager wanted his concert to be broadcast live on BBC Radio, he objected. Reviews were mixed with some critics calling him wonderful, while others slated his voice as weak and called the E Street Band “almost totally terrible”.

7. He collaborated with artists like Ronnie Spector, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Fogerty, Donna Summer, Lou Reed, Roy Orbison, and Sam Moore.

His collaboration with Ronnie Spector happened during a time when he was going through a legal battle with his ex-manager Mike Appel and since he couldn’t go into the studio and record albums under his name, he couldn’t afford to pay the E Street Band. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band ended up working as Ronnie’s backing band for the 1977 single “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”, which was produced by Steven Van Zant as “Sugar Miami Steve”.

8. Bruce Springsteen co-wrote Patti Smith’s biggest hit “Because The Night”. 

This was a song that Bruce Springsteen wanted to give away because he didn’t know what to do with it. Patti Smith heard the incomplete song while bored one day and she wrote the lyrics. The song debuted at CBGB on 30 December 1977 with Bruce Springsteen on guitar and backing vocals. Bruce Springsteen credits Patti Smith with rescuing the song, which would have probably ended up in his archives if she didn’t do anything with it.

9. He originally wrote “Hungry Heart” for The Ramones.

But his manager Jon Landau encouraged him to record it himself instead of give it to The Ramones. Flo & Eddie did backing vocals on that song. It was a big success for The Boss, peaking at #5 in the US.

10. It wasn’t until the 2000s that he really got political and started endorsing presidents.

There are hints of Bruce Springsteen being political in the 80s, like him writing “Johnny 99” from the album Nebraska about an unemployed man who becomes a murderer and gets sentenced to 99 years in prison and “Born in the USA” from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran. In the 80s he did some benefit concerts for Vietnam Veterans, performed on the anti-apartheid “Sun City” and the USA for Africa charity single “We Are The World”. But prior to the 21st century, he only did a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern in 1972. In 2004 he famously endorsed John Kerry and in 2008 he famously endorsed President Barack Obama, whom he’d later become good friends with.

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