Community Chat

[silkyk]

I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A. Yes you are Bruce! Rock on.

[GrailSeeker]

I was invited with a group of friends to see Bruce Springsteen in concert in Iowa City in 1975.  I had never heard of him, but they were comparing him to Bob Dylan, and these friends were my Dylan-freak friends.

I kept asking if they were sure it was not Rick Springfield, who even back then, I had heard on radio and heard of.

I had a date with a new handsome boyfriend that weekend and didn't go.  The very next week he was on the cover of both Time and Newsweek, a rare occurance.  I never turned my Dylan friends down again!

So, I have always really regretted missing that concert, but Bruce had an entirely different sound, and look, in the mid-70s.  For many years he was considered more of a 4-Star entertainer, as opposed to a 5-Star entertainer.  He never was quite another Dylan. 

I have his album from back then, "The Wild, The Innocent, and The E-Street Shuffle".  The song, "4th of July, Asbury Park", better known as "Sandy", got some radio air time, but not a hit by any means.

Bruce was a different man in the 1980s when "video killed" the radio stars, and enjoyed way more popularity than he had in the 70s. His physical style, as well as his music changed, actually for the better. 

My second Bruce Springsteen album is also the last vinyl album I purchased - "Tunnel of Love".  Its better than "The Wild, The Innocent and The E-Street Shuffle, but similar, too.  I notice a carnival theme with both these albums.

Now considered part of the "Americana" genre from the 1980s, I did not enjoy him as much as his contemporaries such as Tom Petty and John Mellencamp.

An that's my Bruce Springsteen story.