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Springsteen For Beginners

I wrote this piece back in 1999, during the Reunion tour, when I found myself having too many discussions with music fans in their 20s who just refused to tolerate the very idea of Bruce Springsteen. It helped. I know of at least half a dozen "conversions".

Note: I wrote this before "The Rising" came out and as such that's not included.

bruce springsteen for beginners

It's really difficult to point you in a direction of where to start, because you need context and you need to understand the way his career has gone. (Otherwise, you end up like a young, otherwise musically sophisticated, associate of mine, who asserts that "Murder, Inc." is the only 'true' Springsteen song. Feh.) So, a summary of the albums, in the hopes you can find something that interests you - start there. Then you can work your way around. Don't expect to like it all - it may take some time before some of them make sense to you.

1973: GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, NJ
Bruce was signed to Columbia as a kind of "new Dylan," as a folky singer-songwriter type. However, keep in mind that he'd been playing IN A BAND, so you're hearing sparser arrangements of the songs than they did live. Still, a stunning debut.
SONGS YOU KNOW: Blinded By The Light (yes, he wrote it), Growin' Up, Spirit In The Night
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Lost In The Flood, For You, It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
RANDOM FACT: how many other rockers start their career with the first song on their first record being a tale of teenage masturbation?

1973: THE WILD, THE INNOCENT AND THE E STREET SHUFFLE
More rockin' than 'Greetings' because this time, he brought the band along. Yay! A continuation of the characters and the Jersey shore legends begun with the first album.
SONGS YOU KNOW: 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy), Rosalita
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Kitty's Back, Incident on 57th Street, New York City Serenade
RANDOM FACT: How many rock songs have a tuba in them? (see: Wild Billy's Circus Story)

1975: BORN TO RUN
This record was described by Greil Marcus as "a 57 Chevy running on melted-down Crystals 45's" and it is, without a doubt, one of the most perfect rock and roll records ever made. That was Bruce's goal and he achieved it. It's a perfect song cycle, it's a perfect story, it's perfectly produced. It is, without a doubt, a motherfucking masterpiece.
SONGS YOU KNOW: Born To Run, Thunder Road, Jungleland
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Everything else on the album
RANDOM FACT: Steve Van Zandt gets put on the payroll when Bruce asks him for help with the horn arrangements, and Stevie walked over to the horn section and sang them their parts. (Bruce: "He's hired")

1978: DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN
This is MY album. This is MY Springsteen. I was 14 when this came out and it spoke to every raw exposed nerve end in my psyche. I played it over and over and over and over. Now, you'll notice the three years between BTR and Darkness, right? "Wasn't BTR the album that made Bruce a superstar," you ask? "Why did it take him so long to release a follow up?" Can you say, "litigation with former managers who get you to sign contracts on a hood of a car in a dark parking lot?" His former manager enjoined him from recording unless he was under his management, and the court ruled in his manager's favor, so bruce couldn't record. He COULD play live, though, and he did, constantly. which is a good thing, because BTR marked the lineup of the E Street Band which is the one for the history books.
SONGS YOU KNOW: Prove It All Night, Badlands, Promised Land
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Adam Raised A Cain (my personal #1 song), Candy's Room, oh, fuck - the whole rest of the album
RANDOM FACT: Bruce was so obsessed with this album that he rejected the album cover several times over, and the night before it was due to be printed, he was at the printing plant because he didn't like the way the cover looked, asking for changes to the INK, at, like, 2 in the morning.

1981: THE RIVER
When this came out, I remember saying "this would be a good album if it was a single" and while in hindsight that's not entirely fair, at the time it seemed that way. The double album. Ugly ass cover that has not gotten any better with age. Anyway, the song cycle isn't as solid as some of its predecesors, but it's a brave attempt and we get some of the most personal lyrics ever. Bruce is finally really dealing with his relationship with his father instead of hiding behind characters.
SONGS YOU KNOW: Hungry Heart, Cadillac Ranch, Two Hearts, Out In The Street
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Independence Day, Point Blank, Ramrod, The River, Drive All Night
RANDOM FACT: "The River" was about Bruce's sister

1982: NEBRASKA
Bruce recorded these songs in his kitchen and sent them to his manager. (When this came out on CD in the early days of that format, we would ask "what's the point, do you need to hear what was going on in the living room?" okay. it was really funny at the time.) He tried working on them with the full band but he couldn't quite get it right, and then Jon Landau suggested they just release the original recording. It worked. Gritty, black and white tales of urban angst, the sound of driving alone on the Jersey Turnpike at 3am.
SONGS YOU KNOW: Atlantic City. [Also one of the most beautiful music videos ever made.]
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Johnny 99, Open All Night, Reason To Believe
RANDOM FACT: Bruce uses the term "wee wee hours" 7 times on this record

1984: BORN IN THE USA
Okay, this is where most of you come in, and hopefully you can see, by now, that this is really such a TINY part of the whole puzzle. It was REALLY hard to be a Bruce fan right about now. Going to the shows and having dickheads waving american flags during "Born In The USA". Have you listened to the lyrics of this song? Obviously, the aforementioned dickheads hadn't:

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took is when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog who's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just coverin' up

Go read the lyrics. This is not the jingoistic anthem most people think it is. Of course, i have no defense for "Dancing In The Dark", except if you've heard the original demo. (and the original video is so fucking funny that it reduces groups of Springsteen fans to little puddles of giggles at the mere mention of it.) Anyway, there are some really good songs on here, IF you can get past the myth. This album is also notable because this is where Steve Van Zandt becomes Little Steven and leaves the band. Enter Nils Lofgren, the only possible choice, on guitar.
SONGS YOU KNOW: Dancing In The Dark, Born In The USA, Glory Days, I'm On Fire
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: No Surrender, Bobby Jean, My Hometown
RANDOM FACT(S): The video for "glory days" was filmed at my old watering hole and second home, Maxwell's, in Hoboken, NJ (i was allowed as far as the corner); yes, that was Courtney Cox in the DITK video.

historical note: bruce marries model/actress julianne phillips. fans everywhere express their outrage that bruce didn't marry some truckstop waitress.

1986: LIVE 1975-1985
For years Bruce fought putting out a live record. kept saying it was too early, it wasn't time yet - all of which everyone agreed with, except for the fact that there were and are few performers with such a compelling, dynamic live show - especially at that time (talking mid 80s pre 1975-1985) when the shows were 3+ hours and the setlists changed constantly. FINALLY, the live album, which ended up being disappointing to the die hards. we already had the shows these songs were taken from on bootlegs. we wanted a SHOW. listen to, say, the roxy show from 1978, or the main point show from 1975. that's what we wanted. this was disappointing to say the least. Spotty and uneven and does not capture the essence of the live show. Leaves out essential tracks like "Jungleland". Still, worth getting used.

1987: TUNNEL OF LOVE
Some fans call this "the divorce album" but i think that's an oversimplification. These *are* songs about struggle in the human relationship of marriage, and they're frighteningly honest. This is where all the trouble started, and I would like it noted that at the second stop on this tour, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, I made the statement "watch out for the redhead".
SONGS YOU KNOW: Brilliant Disguise
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Spare Parts, Tunnel of Love, One Step Up
RANDOM FACT: Clarence moved to the other side of the stage for this tour. this was a big fucking deal when the guys hadn't moved around since 1973.

historical notes: bruce and patti get caught by papparazzi in rome ("photographed in my jockey shorts," as bruce put it at his R&RHOF induction), bruce's marriage formally ends, e-street is dissolved, bruce sells the house in jersey and moves to california, bruce and patti get married, bruce enters therapy, evan james springsteen is born.

1992: LUCKY TOWN/HUMAN TOUCH
This is where I left Bruce. I was not at all interested in what he had to say around this time, and I also had my own issues to work out with Bruce's relevance in a relationship that ended a few years earlier. I have since revisited these albums and I like them a lot. There's good songs on them. What really turned me off, I think, was the band he went out on tour with. I thought they were flashy & showy in a way e-street never was and i found it inappropriate at best.
SONGS YOU KNOW: Lucky Town, 57 Channels
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: If I Should Fall Behind, Leap of Faith, Better Days, Roll of the Dice, Souls of the Departed
RANDOM FACT: These were both released on the same day.

1993: UNPLUGGED
The idiot plugs in and does an electric set, one of the few artists that really could stand up to a pure acoustic setting. wimp. However, the band is what some fans refer to as "the fake band" - the HT/LT backup band, not the E Street Band. You've been warned.

1995: THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD
Back to the folk roots, except now he's got the wear and the years to carry it with dignity. Not an easy record but it's truly poetic. This was a wonderful tour.
SONGS YOU KNOW: GOTJ, maybe Youngstown
SONGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Sinaloa Cowboys
RANDOM FACT: - behind the scenes seriously funny fanfic about what that tour was like

I'm going to omit the Greatest Hits and the box set (Tracks). the box set is really for after you have ALL of the above, and I mean all, and I recommend you're at the point where you're getting live shows, because otherwise, it will all seem out of context at best. The greatest hits is worth getting for "Murder, Inc.", but you can get that on "Tracks" or now the new live album. which brings us to:

2001: LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY
The original announced setlist of this album caused more consternation in the online fan community than anything I have seen in a long time. i think the continuity sucks & there's some plain old sloppy work on there, which is unlike bruce. i don't know that it gives you the feeling of the show unless you'd actually seen one. but it's nice to have a soundboard quality show after all these years. I will give my sister props by quoting her comment, 'I also agree that unless you have been there, you don't get the sense of him and the band - it was lacking in any of the real personal, funny stuff he does that I think is the heart of the band.' I don't want to recommend this because i'm afraid you'll get it and not be thrilled by it and give up on live bruce. But there are some priceless, priceless moments, which could only have been captured in a NYC audience.

So, as you can see, I really can't point you in a direction and say "Start here," because I don't know what you're going to identify with. I started at the beginning, but if I sat you down with Wild & the innocent you might flee in pain. I can't just say, "Darkness is the best" because i identified with it. hopefully this can give you a direction to start with.

BUT....now, we need to deal with the big important thing, and that's Bruce Springsteen LIVE. You do not have any of the picture AT ALL unless you understand the live show. I would say, take a show from 75, a show from 78, a show from 87, a show from 99 - then you'd see the progression, you'd hear how the songs should be performed live, you'd hear the stories, the chat, the humor, the fellowship, the just plain old good rockin' time, and the covers. you need to hear about the gypsy woman and the first night Clarence showed up and driving a car until it falls apart and the real calamity, the radio breaks. hear the call and response, hear the audience hit their cues with more enthusiasm and vocal participation than a Rocky Horror Picture Show audience. It's like an old-time revival show - or to quote Bruce from the Reunion tour, it's "The power, the magic, the mystery, the ministry -- of rock and roll!"

ONLINE RESOURCES:

Backstreets, a fanzine worth subscribing to: backstreets.com [also vital for news]
Springsteen cd trees at: http://www.joosse.org/
The definitive live show site: http://www.theboots.net - flynn, the site proprietor, does things like compile 7-cd "best of the rising 2000" sets.
Brucelegs, the guide to true (silver) bootlegs [and bruce is one of the few artists where these are still produced, and still purchased for some insane reason]: http://www.mv.com/ipusers/richbreton/main.htm [brucelegs]
the bruce concert chronology is at : http://www.springsteen.org.uk/
setlist database: http://www.brucespringsteen.it/

discussion groups, in order of, erm, tone and sophistication:
usenet: rec.music.artists.springsteen, or 'RMAS' as it's called.
Greasy Lake: http://www.greasylake.org [message board is at http://www.the-circuit.org]
Live Daily Springsteen forum: http://talk.livedaily.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=1
avoid, at all costs, the discussion boards at brucespringsteen.net. [yet another worthless official artist site]