Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen records songs that, like Tom Petty’s, sound straightforward to the casual listener. Catchy hooks, danceable beats, and impassioned delivery mask the complexity of the songs—leaving highly consumable hits. Springsteen’s arrival on the music scene came as a pleasant surprise to many critics put off by 70’s era rock music’s seeming split between bubblegum and heavy metal.

Springsteen’s early career was marked with the same mixed reception that David Bowie faced at the outset. Bruce Springsteen from the beginning wanted the E-Street band beside him to capture the unique sound they had developed prior to hitting it big.

With a dry, dusty voice of reminiscent of countrified rock, folk and blues, Bruce Springsteen weaves tales of urban despair alongside instrumentation that frequently carries orchestral sweep. In the moment’s brooding songs take off, the heavy mood gives way to transcendent expressions of a complicated blend of joy and pathos.

Born September 23, 1949, in New Jersey (er, the USA) Bruce Springsteen knows his way around the guitar, capable of bluesy improvisation as well as crafting powerful harmonies. But more than his playing it is his voice that sets him apart.

He rounds out his sound with some very capable band mates. Second guitarist Steven Van Sandt plays everything from dry, chunking rhythm guitar to snaking leads that go over, under, and through the head. Clarence Clemons’s saxophone fits into songs as a droning, almost bass instrument before rocketing to the stars in thrilling breaks. Many of Bruce Springsteen’s most popular songs begin with tinkling piano courtesy of Roy Bittan, which turns to heavier chord playing as the song’s emotions build.

The resulting style is an unusual blend of rock that is equal parts street corner, lounge bar, and church hymn. Reference the last two songs from the chart-topper Born to Run “Meeting Across the River” is a tale of crime inspired by a longing for love, wrapped in a lonely saxophone melody with lyrics that could pass as verse. Following this is the epic “Jungleland” which opens with a string and piano arrangement before becoming a hard-driving rock song about New Jersey’s seedier side.

Such creativity accounts for Bruce Springsteen’s success. He and the E-Street Band put on a famously rollicking live show, making Springsteen to this day one of the world’s biggest concert draws. In recent years he has drawn inspiration from the state of the nation rather than his hometown, earning him more than a few detractors. Whatever one thinks of the Boss’s politics, his musical talent is undeniable.