Bruce Springsteen’s career includes 17 studio albums, dozens of specialty releases, and incalculable live performances. His work spans more than 50 years, includes conversations about race, gender, politics, and a changing nation, yet somehow still has room for fun, romance, passion, and a good party. This week, I will not be able to cover all the ground I would like. However, I will focus on the parts of Springsteen’s career that have either had the greatest impact on the world, or the greatest impact on me.
I was not always a Springsteen fan. I knew a few of his songs. When I was learning to play the drums at the tender age of 3, I would regularly enlist my dad to be the singer on thrilling drum and vocal covers of old blues and rock songs. The only Springsteen song that was included was the only one I knew for a long time, “Cadillac Ranch.” Until I was about 13 for no reason I can accurately recall, I would regularly confuse Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton. Yes, they are from different countries. They play different styles of music. It makes VERY little sense. I know that. I knew it then. It still happened. All of that changed one day thanks to PBS.
PBS you say? Yes. PBS. The network that gave us such timeless gifts as Bill Nye the Science Guy and Wishbone had delivered to me, on a shining platter, a night of musical entertainment that was destined to change the path of my life for the better. I know it sounds like I am maybe overstating the importance of viewing this concert. I assure you I am not. If you stick with me through this week, you will see just how much I am underselling its importance.
It was the annual pledge drive in 2005. My dad and I had seen that Bruce Springsteen was going to be on. Pre-superfan that I was, I thought, “Well, this will be okay. Not great or anything, I mean, it’s not like it’s the Rolling Stones, but it’ll be fine.” Little did I know what was about to happen. The concert was from 1975. It was filmed at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Springsteen, fresh from the success of his third album Born to Run and his infamous week on the cover of Time and Newsweek, was bringing his music to an English audience for the first time. I knew none of that going in. What I knew was that from the first dark, grainy frame in which a floppy hatted, bearded street-rat from Jersey walked out on stage to the opening piano chords of “Thunder Road”, I was hooked. I did not watch the whole concert that night, but I caught the Springsteen bug. About three months later, at a music sale, I bought the 30th anniversary box set of Born to Run containing the DVD of that concert. The first four songs remain among the strongest 20 minutes of live music I have ever heard. They serve as a proper introduction to Bruce Springsteen. Fun fact: I was so blown away by them that, at a group sleepover the next weekend, I forced everyone to watch the first four songs of the concert.
The themes these four tracks introduce, the musical influences they reflect, are by no means a comprehensive introduction to the issues and themes that will come up throughout the week. They do, however, show Springsteen the performer, Springsteen the passionate communicator, and Springsteen the consummate story teller. They are elemental visions, taken from his first and third albums, that demonstrate where he came from. I offer these tracks, live from the Hammersmith Odeon in 1975, as the introduction to this week of Springsteen.
Thunder Road: Yearning. Raw, unadulterated desire to break out of a town, a life, a situation that does not fulfill the narrator’s desires and dreams. Poetically stated, sparingly arranged, passionately sung. Look for these themes again (and again and again).
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out: Springsteen himself says he is not sure what this phrase means, but it sounds good. The song sounds good too, and it is a thrilling, funky, rave up that brings the party. Springsteen is always conscious to balance somber numbers with more upbeat fare. This is a perfect example of the lighter side of Springsteen. He gets serious often, but he knows how to cut loose.
Spirit in the Night: Jazzy and sexy. Springsteen tells a story about a crazy night, introducing a wild cast of characters. This is the distillation of the themes and styles present in his early work.
Lost in the Flood: Hard rocking, viciously sung, a story about a veteran who comes home and tries to find his place in the world. Springsteen was deeply affected by Vietnam. His songs about veterans and work for veterans organizations have been a huge part of his career.
This week will be a (mostly) chronological romp through Bruce Springsteen’s work. Interspersed will be abundant personal asides, an ample number of posts posts about certain concepts or connections in Springsteen’s work, and more than a few examples of Springsteen’s prowess as a live performer. Springsteen describes his work as a long conversation with his fans. I want to tell you a little bit about what that conversation has been like for me since I joined it. Let’s go!
