Bruce Springsteen - Research Paper Example

Nicknamed, “The Boss,” Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born on September 23 in the year 1949 in New Jersey. With Elvis Presley as his inspiration to pick up a guitar and start playing, at the age of seven, the future of Rock and Roll has just begun. Because his only interest was to play his guitar and surround himself with music, he was a loner in high school and a drop out in college. In the middle of 1960, he, with the help of sponsors supporting young bands in town, became lead guitarist and then, lead singer of The Castiles.

Afterward, by the late 1960s to 1972, he gained local fame, playing with different bands at local clubs in several states, such as Massachusetts, California, and his hometown, New Jersey. His creative songwriting skill and talent captured the attention of Mike Appel, Jim Cretecos and John Hammond, a talent scout of the renowned Columbia Records. Bruce Springsteen put his signature on a record deal with Columbia Records, which was about to change his life completely. He also brought his colleagues in New Jersey to record songs with him, forming the E Street Band.

When Springsteen released his first album, a number of critics liked a couple of his songs, and was even compared to Bob Dylan . Jon Landau, the ex-Rolling Stone critic wrote, “I saw Rock and Roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” After his momentous success, releasing more albums, by 1975, he started to finally gain great success. With the release of Born to Run, the title song has gone up in the charts, and his album reached the Top Ten. Selling out concerts and selling over six million copies, Springsteen’s music achieved mainstream success.

He was also able to grace the covers of Time and Newsweek at the same time. However, the forward motion of his success was broken when internal problems started to occur between him and Appel. Springsteen filed a lawsuit against his manager and it was settled after two long years, in 1977. During those years of entanglement, Springsteen was not allowed to be in the studio to record, so he channeled his songs to other artists and musicians, composing for Southside Johnny, Patti Smith and Asbury Jukes.

He also kept the E Street Band intact by touring at length across the United States. After the settlement of the case, Springsteen was able to record again. In 1978, he released Darkness on the Edge of Town under Landau as the new manager, which marked a change in his musical style. From the raw and natural, lively lyrics, lengthy compound musical compositions to themes of darkness, night, love and blood. Although most of the songs barely reached chart-topping success, the album indicated a turning point in his life and did attain the number one slot as NME album of the year.

Despite the tribulations that occurred, Springsteen was able to gain back and strengthen his success with the help and support of his new manager, Jon Landau. His next album was solemn and serious. Entitled The River, it became the doorway of his future songwriting. It was the first album that confronted and dealt with men, women, marriage, love and family. This album hit number one in the charts and sold over five million copies. A couple of the songs such as “Hungry Heart” and “Fade Away” reached the charts as well.

Although his later compositions and recordings for his following album