BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN.. NEW JERSEY’S OWN
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949, at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey. He lived on South Street and attended Freehold Borough High School. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen (1924-1998), was of Dutch/Irish ancestry, and worked as a bus driver, among other vocations, but was unemployed most of the time. Springsteen said his mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli), a legal secretary and of Italian ancestry, was the main breadwinner. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. Pamela had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full-time. Bruce’s father, suffered from mental health issues through his life which worsened in his later years.
Springsteen’s last name is of Dutch origin, literally translating to “jumping stone” but more generally meaning a kind of stone used as a stepping stone in unpaved streets or between two houses. The Springsteens are among the early Dutch families who settled in the colony in the 1600s.
Raised a Catholic, Springsteen attended the St. Rose of Lima Catholic school in Freehold Borough, where he was at odds with the nuns and rejected the strictures imposed upon him, even though some of his later music reflects a Catholic ethos and includes a few rock-influenced, traditional hymns. In a 2012 interview, he explained that it was his Catholic upbringing rather than political ideology that most influenced his music. He noted in the interview that his faith had given him a “very active spiritual life”, although he joked that this “made it very difficult sexually.” He added: “Once a Catholic, always a Catholic.
In ninth grade, Springsteen began attending the public high school but did not fit in there either. Former teachers have said he was a “loner”, who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar.” He graduated in 1967, but felt so uncomfortable that he skipped the ceremony. He briefly attended Ocean County College but dropped out.
Springsteen grew up hearing fellow New Jersey singer, Frank Sinatra on the radio. He became interested in being involved in music himself when, in 1956 and 1957, at the age of seven, he saw Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show. Soon after this his mother rented him a guitar for $6 a week but it failed to provide him with the ‘instant gratification’ he desired. In 1964, Springsteen saw the three Beatles appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and, inspired, he bought his first guitar for $18.95 at the Western Auto Appliance Store. Thereafter he started playing for audiences with a band called the Rogues at local venues such as the Elks Lodge in Freehold.
In late 1964, Springsteen’s mother took out a loan to buy her 16-year-old son a $60 Kent guitar, an act he subsequently memorialized in his song “The Wish”. The following year, he went to the house of Tex and Marion Vinyard, who sponsored young bands in town. They helped him become the lead guitarist and subsequently one of the lead singers of the Castiles. His first gig with the Castiles was possibly at a trailer park in New Jersey. The Castiles recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in Brick Township and played a variety of venues, including Café Wha? in Greenwich Village. Marion Vinyard said that she believed the young Springsteen when he promised he would make it big.
Drafted in the United States Armed Forces when he was 18, Springsteen failed the physical examination and did not serve in Vietnam. He had suffered a concussion in a motorcycle accident when he was 17, and this together with his “crazy” behavior at induction gave him a classification of 4F which made him unacceptable for service.
In the late-1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a power trio known as Earth, playing in clubs in New Jersey, with one major show at the Hotel Diplomat in New York. Earth consisted of John Graham on bass, and Mike Burke on drums. Bob Alfano was later added on organ, but was replaced for two gigs by Frank ‘Flash’ Craig.
Springsteen acquired the nickname “The Boss” when he played club gigs with a band he took on the task of collecting the band’s nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates. The nickname also reportedly sprang from games of Monopoly that Springsteen would play with other Jersey Shore musicians. Springsteen is not fond of this nickname, due to his dislike of bosses but seems to have since tacitly accepted it. Previously he had the nickname “Doctor.”
His prolific songwriting ability (with “more words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums”, as his future record label would describe it in early publicity campaigns) brought his skills to the attention of several people who were about to change his life: New managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, who in turn brought him to the attention of Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond. Hammond auditioned Springsteen in May 1972.
Even after Springsteen gained international acclaim, his New Jersey roots showed through in his music, and he often praised “the great state of New Jersey” in his live shows. Drawing on his extensive local appeal, he has routinely sold out consecutive nights in major New Jersey, and New York venues. He has also made many surprise appearances at The Stone Pony and other shore nightclubs over the years.
Springsteen was signed to Columbia Records in 1972 by Clive Davis who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier. Despite the expectations of Columbia Records’ executives that Springsteen would record an acoustic album, he brought many of his New Jersey-based colleagues into the studio with him, thus forming the E Street Band (although it would not be formally named for several months). His debut album, Greetings From Ashbury Park was released in January 1973, established him as a critical favorite. though sales were slow.
Music critic Lester Bangs wrote in Creem in 1975 that ” when Springsteen’s first album was released “… many of us dismissed it: he wrote like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison sang like Van Morrison and Robbie Robertson, and led a band that sounded like Van Morrison’s.”
In September 1973, Springsteen’s second album was released, again to critical acclaim but no commercial success. Springsteen’s songs became grander in form and scope, with the E Street Band providing a less folksy, more R&B vibe
In the May 22, 1974 issue of Boston’s The Real Paper, music critic Jon Landau wrote, “after seeing a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, “I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.” Landau helped to finish the epic new album Born to Run and subsequently became Springsteen’s manager and producer. Given an enormous budget in a last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a Wall of Sound production. But fed by the release of an early mix to nearly a dozen radio stations, anticipation built toward the album’s release.
The album took more than 14 months to record, with six months spent on the song “Born to Run”. During this time, Springsteen battled with anger and frustration over the album, saying he heard “sounds in [his] head” that he could not explain to the others in the studio. It was during these recording sessions that “Miami” Steve Van Zandt would stumble into the studio just in time to help Springsteen organize the horn section on Tenth Avenue Freeze Out. Van Zandt, who would eventually join the E Street Band, had been a longtime friend of Springsteen, as well as a collaborator on earlier musical projects, and understood where he was coming from, which helped him to translate some of the sounds Springsteen was hearing. Still, by the end of the grueling recording sessions Springsteen was not satisfied, and upon first hearing the finished album, threw it into the alley and told Jon Landau he would rather just cut it live at The Bottom Line (a place he often played.)
On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York’s The Bottom Line club. With the release of Born To Run on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success. The album peaked at No. 3 and while reception at US top 40 radio outlets for the album’s two singles was not overwhelming (“Born to Run” reached a modest No. 23 on the Billboard charts, and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” peaked at No. 83), almost every track on the album received airplay, especially “Born to Run.”
By the late 1970s, Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had achieved a US No. 1 pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of Greetings‘, “Blinded by the Light” in early 1977. Patti Smith reached No. 13 with her take on Springsteen’s unreleased “Because The Night (with revised lyrics by Smith) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit No. 2 in 1979 with Springsteen’s also unreleased Fire.
Although Many of the recordings of the E Street Band were shelved, other songs from the 1978-79 sessions would later be released, including “Born In The USA and “Glory Days. According to the Marsh biographies, Springsteen was depressed when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. While his next album, Nebraska did not sell as well as Springsteen’s three previous albums, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named “Album of the Year” by Rolling Stone magazine’s critics) and influenced later works by other major artists, including U2’s album, The Joshua Tree. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with Nebraska’s release.
Springsteen is probably best known for his 1984 album, Born In The USA which sold 15 million copies in the U.S., 30 million worldwide, and became one of the best-selling albums of all time with seven singles hitting the Top 10. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam Veterans, some of whom were Springsteen’s friends. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song made a huge political impact, as he was advocating for the rights of the common working-class man.
The song was widely misinterpreted and in connection with the 1984 presidental campaign became the subject of folklore. In 1984, conservative columnist George Will attended a Springsteen concert and then wrote a column praising Springsteen’s work ethic. Six days after the column was printed, in a campaign rally in New Jersey, Ronald Reagan said, “America’s future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire—New Jersey’s own, Bruce Springsteen.” Two nights later, at a concert in Pittsburgh, Springsteen told the crowd, “Well, the president was mentioning my name in his speech the other day and I kind of got to wondering what his favorite album of mine must’ve been, you know? I don’t think it was the Nebraskaalbum. I don’t think he’s been listening to this one.” He then began playing “Johnny 99”, with its allusions to closing factories and criminals.
Springsteen also turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use “Born in the U.S.A.” in a car commercial. In later years, to eliminate the bombast and make the song’s original meaning more explicitly clear, Springsteen performed the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar, thus returning to how the song was originally conceived. The original acoustic version of the song, recorded in 1982 during the Nebraska sessions, appeared on the 1998 archival release, Tracks.
Dancing In The Dark was the biggest of seven hit singles from Born in the U.S.A., peaking at No. 2 on the music charts. The video for the song showed a young Courtney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, which helped start the actress’s career. The song “Cover Me was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer’s work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, Protection.
During the album’s tour, Springsteen met actress Julianne Phillips whom he would marry in 1985. He also that year took part in the recording of the USA for Africa charity song “We Are The World”; however he declined to play at Live Aid. He later stated that he “simply did not realize how big the whole thing was going to be”. He has since expressed regret at turning down Bob Geldorf’s invitation, stating that he could have played a couple of acoustic songs had there been no slot available for a full band performance.
Here is one of my /Springsteen favorites, Downbound Train from 1984. Enjoy (or not). https://youtu.be/Nc_mv46NwT4
Rick
