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Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has frequently recorded and toured with The E Street Band. Springsteen is most widely known for his brand of heartland rock, rock and roll infused with Americana sentiments. His eloquence in expressing ordinary, every-day problems has earned him a huge fan base. His most famous albums, Born to Run and Born in the USA, epitomize his penchant for writing about the struggles of a young man growing up in the streets of New Jersey. Comparisons are inevitably made between him and Bob Dylan [1] because of his folk rock roots. Springsteen, however has become popular in his own right because of the appeal of his songs.
Springsteen`s lyrics often concern men and women struggling to make ends meet, and frequently denounce the rich and greedy. He has gradually become identified with progressive politics. Springsteen`s "Born in the USA" was so popular that Ronald Reagan chose it to be the theme of his 1984 presidential campaign, misinterpreting it to be as a simply nationalistic song rather than one about the negative after-effects of the Vietnam War. Springsteen is also noted for his work for the relief effort after the September 11th attacks on which his album The Rising reflects.
Springsteen is nicknamed "The Boss", a term of endearment by his fans which he was initially reported to dislike but now seems to have come to terms with. He sometimes refers to himself as "The Boss" in concert.
In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, The Rising, produced by Brendan O`Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success, and hailed the return of "The Boss". The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen`s best-selling album of new material in 15 years. A massive tour was made to promote The Rising. While Springsteen`s popularity has dipped over the years in some southern and midwestern regions of the U.S., it is still strong along the coasts, and he played an unprecedented 10 nights in outdoor football Giants Stadium in New Jersey, a ticket-selling feat that no other musical act can come close to. [7]. During these shows Springsteen thanked those fans who were attending multiple shows and those who were coming from long distances or out of the country; the advent of robust Bruce-oriented online communities had made these practices easier. The final Giants Stadium show concluded with an even better thank you: a performance of "Jersey Girl". The Rising tour would come to a final conclusion with 3 nights in Shea Stadium. Bruce Springsteen lost his police escort for the second night after performing "American Skin (41 shots)", a song about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. Bob Dylan was a surprise guest on the last night, the two performing "Highway 61 Revisited" together.
During the 2000s Springsteen has become a visible advocate for the revitalization of Asbury Park, and has played an annual series of winter holiday concerts there to benefit various local businesses, organizations, and causes. These shows are explicitly intended for the faithful, featuring numbers such as the unreleased (until Tracks) E Street Shuffle out-take "Thundercrack", a rollicking group participation song that casual Springsteen fans would be mystified by. He also frequently rehearses for tours in Asbury Park; his most devoted followers stand outside the building to hear what fragments they can of the upcoming shows.
At the Grammy Awards of 2003, Springsteen performed The Clash`s "London Calling" along with Elvis Costello, E Streeter Steven van Zandt, and Dave Grohl in tribute to the late Joe Strummer; Springsteen and the Clash had once been considered multiple-album-dueling rivals at the time of the double The River and the triple Sandinista!.
In 2004, Springsteen announced that he and the E Street Band would participate in a politically motivated "Vote for Change" tour, in conjunction with John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, R.E.M., Jurassic 5 and other musicians. All concerts were to be held in swing states, to benefit MoveOn.org and encourage people to vote against George W. Bush. A finale was held in Washington, D.C., bringing many of the artists together. Several days later, Springsteen held one more such concert in New Jersey when polls showed that state surprisingly close. While in past years Springsteen had played benefits for causes he believed in — against nuclear energy, for Vietnam veterans, Amnesty International, and the Christic Institute — these shows were the first time he was explicitly endorsing a candidate for political office, and this led to both criticism and praise from the expected partisan sources. Springsteen`s "No Surrender" became the main campaign theme song for John Kerry`s unsuccessful presidential campaign. In the last days of the campaign, he performed acoustic versions of a few of his songs at Kerry rallies. Whether Springsteen`s stance causes a reduction in his fan base (now an older, more affluent demographic) remains to be seen as of 2005.
Springsteen`s most recent album, Devils & Dust, was released on April 26, 2005 and was recorded without the E Street Band. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad although with a little more instrumentation. Some of the material was written almost ten years earlier during or shortly after the Tom Joad tour, a couple of them being performed then but never released. [8]. The title track concerns an ordinary soldier`s feelings and fears during the Iraq War. Starbucks rejected a co-branding deal for the album, not only due to some sexually explicit content, but also because of Springsteen`s anti-corporate politics. Nonetheless, the album entered the album charts at number 1 in ten different countries (United States, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, and Ireland).
Springsteen began a small-venue solo tour at the same time as the album`s release. Most shows sold out in minutes, although attendance was sparse in a few regions. Unlike his mid-1990s solo tour, he performed on piano, electric piano, pump organ, banjo, electric guitar, and stomping board, as well as acoustic guitar and harmonica, adding variety to the solo sound. (Offstage synthesizer, guitar, and percussion are also used for some songs.) Unearthly renditions of "Reason to Believe", "The Promised Land", and Suicide`s "Dream Baby Dream" jolted audiences to attention, while rarities, frequent set-list changes, and a willingness to keep trying even through audible piano mistakes have kept his loyal audiences happy.
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