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 Born In Time: A 30th Anniversary Look at Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run Bruce Springsteen's third album was what made him a star, and it remains the singer-songwriter's most popular album to date. Adam D. Miller reflects on the album, as its 30th anniversary approaches. |
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Born In Time:
A 30th Anniversary Look at Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run
by Adam D. Miller
In May 1974, music journalist Jon Landau wrote a compelling piece entitled “Growing Young With Rock ‘n’ Roll” for The Real Paper, a Massachusetts-based alternative weekly. In it, he described the struggles he experienced keeping his interest in music exciting. Landau wrote, “Today I listen to music with a certain measure of detachment. I'm a professional and I make my living commenting on it. There are months when I hate it, going through the routine just as a shoe salesman goes through his.” But for Landau, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Later in the piece, he describes Bruce Springsteen, a still relatively unknown performer from New Jersey that managed to make Landau excited about music once again. “But tonight there is someone I can write of the way I used to write, without reservations of any kind. Last Thursday, at the Harvard Square theatre, I saw my rock 'n' roll past flash before my eyes. And I saw something else: 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.”
A year later, Jon Landau was Bruce Springsteen’s manager. In the years since, their partnership has come to be the epitome of the ideal artist-manager relationship, and it is doubtful that Springsteen would be the superstar he has become, with sold out shows across North America and Europe and best-selling albums, if it weren’t for Landau.
Back in 1975, Springsteen desperately needed someone like Landau, a well-respected journalist, to help him find a larger audience. Decades before selling out stadiums and arenas, Springsteen played to minimal audiences in small American clubs, despite the soon-to-be-realized quality of his first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, The Innocent, and The E-Street Shuffle.
Landau’s “rock and roll future” quote seemed to be exactly what Springsteen and Columbia’s publicity department needed to make him a star. Springsteen told Newsweek in October 1975, “At the time, Landau's quote helped reaffirm a belief in myself. The band and I were making $50 a week. It helped me go on. I realized I was gettin' through to somebody." 3
Whether or not Born To Run owes a lot to Landau’s more loyal management is up to debate. But fact is that Springsteen was now with someone who truly cared about his success. He had recently gotten himself out of a contract with Mike Appell, whose interest in Springsteen seemed to have little to do with his music and more with his own profits. Born To Run became the one that truly broke Springsteen into stardom. And it was lucky for Springsteen that it happened when it did, because Columbia Records was quickly losing faith in him.
Columbia’s John Hammond had taken a chance on the young Bruce Springsteen in the same way that he had taken a chance on a young Bob Dylan in the early 1960s. But after two commercial flops, record executives were undoubtedly getting nervous that the artist they had put themselves behind was going to fail them. Born To Run proved to be a make-it-or-break-it affair and Springsteen shocked everyone with an album that proved to be one of 1975’s biggest hits.
Born To Run was Springsteen’s third album for Columbia, and the first record that people really paid attention to. And even after the release of great and successful albums like Darkness On The Edge Of Town, The River, Nebraska, and Born In The U.S.A., Born To Run remains Springsteen’s most popular.
The performances on Born To Run are stellar, with Springsteen delivering dynamic vocal lines and provocative lyrics. The largely piano-driven album owes a lot to the fantastic E-Street Band, which had recently added two new members. Pianist Roy Bittan and drummer Max Weinberg had played their first performances with Springsteen in September 1974, replacing David Sancious and Vini Lopez, respectively. Although Sancious and Lopez were talented musicians, Bittan and Weinberg proved to be better suited to Springsteen’s music, and along with Clarence Clemons on saxophone, Danny Frederici on organ, and Garry Tallent on bass, Bittan and Weinberg helped create the sound that Springsteen is most well known for.
Born To Run was released on August 25, 1975. It only included eight songs, but at least half of them (even thirty years later) are viewed as some of Springsteen’s best, even now capturing enthusiastic responses when performed before audiences. Due to the higher budget and altered band lineup, Born To Run proved to be a much different affair than Springsteen’s two previous records. The album was slickly recorded at New York’s The Record Plant with session musicians that included Michael and Randy Brecker, as well as string arrangements. But it is the involvement of Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg that make the album a true success.
Max Weinberg’s mighty drumming was mostly showcased in Springsteen’s live act at the time, but is pivotal on "She's The One," which employs a complex "Bo Diddley" beat. Ernest "Boom Boom" Carter provides the drums on the album's pivotal title track. "Born To Run" kicks off with a fast-paced series of drum shots before breaking into a Phil Spector-like "wall of sound." A pure rock 'n' roll anthem, "Born To Run" has become a crowd favorite ever since the album’s release, and whenever Springsteen performs it, the audience can be seen pumping their fists into the air.
Roy Bittan lends his tender and sophisticated piano to a lion’s share of the album’s tracks. “Thunder Road,” “Backstreets,” “Meeting Across The River,” and “Jungleland” would have not been the same if had not been for the involvement of the incredibly talented Roy Bittan.
More than even the title track, "Thunder Road" is the pivotal song on Born To Run, and the one selected to open the album. Springsteen played an early arrangement of the song, calling it "Wings For Wheels," at a February 1975 performance at The Main Point in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, the same venue where Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg had made their debuts with the band months earlier.
“Thunder Road” has become a huge Springsteen concert favorite. For a truly mind-blowing version, check out the Live/1975-1985 version, which was recorded at Los Angeles’ Roxy in 1975 and features nothing but Bittan’s piano, Springsteen’s harmonica and vocal, and Danny Frederici’s glockenspiel.
For me, the piano-dominated songs rule the album, but “Tenth-Avenue Freeze-Out” is a welcome diversion. Featuring a full-blown horn section highlighted by Clarence Clemons’ powerful saxophone, the track brings some welcome 1960s R&B influences into the fold. It’s got more groove than anything on this album.
My personal favorite on Born to Run is “Meeting Across The River,” a track that, unlike the rest of the album, was not performed live until after the release of the album. Tender piano dominates the track, as does wonderful horn playing from the Breckers Michael and Randy.
The closer of the album, “Jungleland” is almost like a classical piece, with its carefully orchestrated piano introduction and violin line. It’s the perfect closer to a perfect album, and although Springsteen debatably made better albums than Born To Run (Darkness On The Edge Of Town and Nebraska being major contenders), the album remains pivotal and is worth celebrating as the hallmark of his career. The Springsteen that came out of Born To Run was a star, and never again did he have to worry about whether or not his albums would be successful.
Born To Run received more press than any of his albums up to that point. In a rare move that probably had more to do with hype than music, Newsweek and Time both put Springsteen on the cover of their magazines for the week of October 27, 1975.
Lester Bangs focused on the music; writing in Creem, “Springsteen can withstand the reactionaries, though, because once they hear this album even they are gonna be ready to ride out all cynicism with him. Because, street-punk image, bardic posture and all, Bruce Springsteen is an American archetype, and Born To Run will probably be the finest record released this year.” 3
The album peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Pop Albums chart in 1975 and for the next thirty years, “The Boss” would establish his rock ‘n’ roll legacy.
Rumors are afloat that a 30th anniversary release of Born To Run is on the way, with a DVD included that contains interviews with just about everyone involved in the making of the album. Cross your fingers! In the meantime, be sure to catch Springsteen on his solo-acoustic Devils & Dust tour.
1. Landau, John. “Growing Young With Rock and Roll” The Real Paper. 22 May 1974
2. Orth, Maureen, Janet Huck, and Peter S. Greenberg. “Making of a Rock Star” Newsweek. 27 October 1975
3. Bangs, Lester. “Hot Rod Rumble In The Promised Land” CREEM Magazine. November 1975
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