Written by Jon Williams
Many performers approaching 70 years of age and nearly 50 years into their career would be slowing down and coasting on their past success. Many performers, but not Bruce Springsteen. The recent announcement of his upcoming solo album Western Stars, releasing June 14, came just a short time after the conclusion of Springsteen on Broadway, his intimate performance show that was originally planned to run for eight weeks and instead ran for well over a year. On top of that, Springsteen has also said that he’s written enough material for a new album with the E Street Band, so fans can be on the lookout for that (plus new tour dates) as well.
Springsteen’s
passion for music began at a young age, and he started playing for audiences
when he was in his teens. He performed with a number of different musicians
over the next several years until signing his first record deal in 1972. That
led to his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., in
1973. That was followed later that same year by The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street
Shuffle. These albums were well received by critics but did not sell
especially well, so Springsteen spent nearly a year and a half and recruited
the help of his friend Steven Van Zandt as he threw everything he had into his
next album.
These
efforts paid off when Born to Run was released in August
of 1975. On the strength of his incredible live performances, the album went to
#3 on the Billboard 200 and a star was born. He built on that success with Darkness on the Edge of Town in 1978,
The River in 1980, and Nebraska in 1982, three albums that
helped to polish Springsteen’s image of a smart, soulful songwriter with their
unflinching looks at working-class life and American politics.
Then in June
of 1984 came the album Born in the USA. The iconic title
track, along with smash singles like “Dancing in the Dark” and “Glory Days,”
made Bruce Springsteen a household name and, over time, a rock n’ roll legend.
Since its release it has sold more than 30 million copies, making it one of the
bestselling albums of all time. Shortly thereafter, he played a prominent part
of the star-studded charity hit “We Are the World,” further cementing his place
in the music and pop culture pantheon of the 1980s. He then showed a more subdued
side of his musical personality with the 1987 album Tunnel of Love.
The
five-year break in albums following Tunnel
of Love was Springsteen’s longest to date. He made up for it by releasing
two albums, Human Touch and Lucky Town, on the same day in 1992.
He would release just one more album in the ‘90s, 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad (currently unavailable), but the decade was
notable for other reasons, among them an Academy Award and a slew of Grammy
Awards for the song “Streets of Philadelphia” and his induction into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. In the aftermath of 9/11, he made a triumphant
return with the 2002 album The
Rising.
Since then,
Bruce has been as prolific as ever, releasing six albums with no more than
three years in between up through 2014. That year’s High
Hopes was his most recent leading up to the release of Western Stars, but as noted above, he
has been far from idle. The year of 2016 was particularly busy, seeing the
release of Chapter
and Verse, an 18-track career retrospective in conjunction with his
autobiography, Born
to Run—the audiobook, which he narrated, won the Audie Award for Best
Memoir. That year he was also presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
the highest honour for a civilian in the United States, by President Barack
Obama.
Bruce
Springsteen is a music icon and a rock n’ roll legend, and he’ll be in the
forefront of pop culture for the foreseeable future. In addition to the release
of Western Stars, he’s also promising
a documentary on the making of the album, as well as a new album and tour with
the E Street Band. With his popularity high and holding steady, now is a great
time to make sure your library’s shelves are stocked with plenty of material
relating to the Boss. SmartBrowse his name on our website to find his
discography of studio and live albums, concert films, and much, much more from
his acclaimed career.
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