How Bruce Springsteen Perfected Rock n' Roll

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[@HanzsKlopek]

Love this album ... "Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain" Amazing imagery of an era, of a place, of an age. This is a timeless classic.

[@ThatFaceMelter94]

If you ever doubt why Springsteen is one of the greatest live acts of all time, out of the numerous shows I could point you to, for me it's '75 Hammersmith Odeon. Seriously one of the greatest live films you'll ever see and displays Springsteen's tenacity as a performer and the true power of the E Street Band. Saw him in Atlanta this year and it was one of the greatest shows I've ever seen.

[@pjdipaolo1104]

Saw the next show on that tour in Orlando and I completely afree

[@PaulInPorirua]

I had an American flatmate at University in '75, and he head the Hammersmith gig was on and dragged me and another guy up to London to see Bruce. I've been a convert ever since.

[@quarter_moon_and_a_guitar]

Yeah. His band back then was simply the best in rock, and the songs he wrote in the 70s allowed it to cut loose like no other.

[@directamplification]

It's incredible, but it really isn't even among his best concert films! As amazing as Hammersmith Odeon '75 is, Tempe 1980 and Madison Square Garden 2000 are even better!

[@brianmyers4444]

@@directamplificationNo Nukes ‘79!!!

[@Brandon-yi3ws]

I feel like we are long over due on a Jim Croce video, his lyricism, storytelling and sound are too good to be forgotten about :)

[@curly_wyn]

This is easily his best album. Get that pessimistic Darkness on the Edge of Town garbage out of here. Born to Run is very clearly his BEST work.

[@mysterbear]

So, in 1975, fresh out of the Marines, and unemployed, I bought Born to Run (at the nice price) and listened to it, maybe 30 times in a row. And in the midst of all this listening, it occurred to me I was listening to Rock-n-Roll in its purest, most unvarnished form. I thought, “This guy has cracked some kinda code, distilled the art form, but never reduced it to empty gestures and cliches.” But I never knew why or how he did it, till listening to your thing, man. Thanks.

[@stapfen]

I'm way younger, born years after rock died in empty gestures and cliches. But I am a huge Springsteen fan and I could never quite get to the core of my fascination with his songs. Your thoughts from 1975 just perfectly summed up what I couldn't put into words

[@limeymcfrog1]

I think you’re missing a huge ingredient - SOUL! Specifically Otis Redding and/or Wilson Pickett. 10th Avenue Freeze Out is one of the best songs on that album and it wouldn’t be the same without it… and that is a straight up soul song.

[@robjgolde3221]

Bruce’s run of albums between Born to Run and Born in the USA is unmatched. Yeah he’s made great albums before and after then, but it was just classic after classic during that time. Also, its nuts to me that he was just 25/26 when he wrote, recorded and released this album.

[@roypiper581]

Correct. B2R, Darkness, River, Nebraska, BUSA. Five albums, each with a somewhat different sound. Not a weak (or even average) album in that decade-long run.

[@benvanelli1241]

criminal not to mention the e street shuffle which preceded BTR

[@robjgolde3221]

@@benvanelli1241 I love E Street Shuffle and Greetings as much as the next person, those albums laid the foundation. But BTR thru BUSA is where Bruce not only hit his stride but established himself and the E Street Band as a force to be reckoned with.

[@deangulberry1876]

I also love a lot of Greetings, E st shuffle, and Tunnel of love too.

[@benvanelli1241]

@@robjgolde3221 respectfully I disagree. Wild and Innocent is in some ways better than Born to Run for me

[@lukejones0826]

Got to go see the boss in concert this year, what an absolute legend!!!!!

[@GuadalupePicasso]

I saw the Dallas and Houston shows!!!!

[@marvinbohme7575]

Springsteen is one of the most charismatic figures in music history and one of the most prolific songwriters you'll ever find in rock music. I would still consider "Born in the U.S.A." as my favorite of his, just because I have a long-holding relationship with it since my childhood and seeing it as his most cohesive. And still, "Nebraska", "Darkness on the Edge of Town', "Born to Run", "Tunnel of Love" and "The River" are just an adventure to experience. Can't recommend his music high enough.

[@RockandRollWoman]

Aoife O'Donavan is playing Nebraska in its entirety on her current tour. She's talented enough with her own material, and I'm looking forward to seeing her do this at the Troubadour in October 2023.

[@exexalien]

A couple more ingredients: some Bo Diddley ("She's the One" even uses the "Bo Diddley beat") and 70's soul, specifically Al Green (most prevalent on "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out"). But the important thing is that watching this video prompted me to give Born to Run an uninterrupted listen, headphones on and laying down with my eyes closed, for the first time in probably decades. And also because of this video, might do the same with Highway 61 Revisited later. What a great start to the weekend, thank you!

[@xxcelr8rs]

Headphones! Listen there are 18 guitars on Born To Rune song alone. I listened 3 hours a day as a 13-year-old with the Koss headphones. Beautiful mx. It thunders, Dreamy middle section, " Beyond the palace" The glockenspiel. Always something new to find within this song.

[@hbyram53]

Unpopular opinion: I think ‘Tunnel of Love’ is his masterpiece. Say what you will about the 80s production (it sounds very 80s), but I think that’s where his songwriting abilities hit their peak. The depth of emotion in those songs is almost unmatched. I honestly think it’s his ‘Blood on the Tracks.’

[@paisleyprincess7996]

One step up is a fantastic song

[@AbbeyRoadkill1]

Side 1 of 'Tunnel' has never really clicked with me. Side 2 is absolutely amazing, though.

[@ThoseBackPages]

Nebraska, for me

[@jeffball6656]

Tunnel of Love is great. Nebraska is greater.

[@bonecanoe86]

Tunnel of Love is fantastic for similar but different ways than Nebraska. It's a mature album written by a man pushing 40 who has the weight of life on him. You can feel that weight on each one of the songs. The production is very late 80s but isn't thick enough to smother these songs.

[@somefairpoints]

Yesterday I went to a Springsteen concert in Germany. Probably the best concert I've been to so far.

[@PaulInPorirua]

I'd tweak the recipe just a little. The British Invasion material Bruce was into wasn't so much the Stones, it was the Animals. "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" is in Born To Run's DNA.

[@jackadams8745]

Yeah I was a little surprised it didn't come up! At his 2012 SXSW keynote speach Springsteen read out the lyrics to "we gotta get out of this place" and then said: "That’s every song I’ve ever written. Yeah. That’s all of them. I’m not kidding, either. That’s Born to Run, Born in the USA, everything I’ve done for the past 40 years, including all the new ones."

[@RockandRollWoman]

Mad respect to The Boss for his music and for talking about his experience with severe depression in his autobiography. I'm sure it has helped others to know that they are not alone, and that it's ok to ask for help.

[@_germanikus_]

I just saw him live and it was absolutely incredible. Not only his Songs and energy on stage, but also his Storytelling. When he told a story about the passing of the only other surviving member of his first band, 80000 people went completely silent and listened to every word he said. I have never seen that anywhere else.

[@alecl9430]

Born To Run is my second favorite album of all time behind Songs in the Key of Life. That’s been the case since I saw him perform the album live in its entirety in 2009. I would put the last 3 minutes of Jungleland up against just about anything in the rock canon. Born to Run balances imaginative limitlessness and Earthbound realism better than nearly any other album I can reference. As one of my most listened albums ever, it can serve as comfort music or provide a necessary spark. I’ve adored Born to Run since my freshman year of highschool so I will always appreciate when this record gets its flowers. Excellent breakdown.

[@gerrymessier8781]

I'm in my sixties. I grew up in New Jersey in the 60's and 70's and Springsteen's first 3 albums best encapsulate what it was like growing in Jersey at that time

[@chriskelly1890]

Those of us in DC listening to WHFS in the summer of 1975 knew the album was coming, and one night while working at the ice cream parlor with the speakers in the back I heard DJ Weasel announce that he had the title song, Born to Run. Then he played it. It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard and it remains for me the best song ever written. Weeks later I introduced Springsteen to Colorado and soon after that kicked off Sprinsteenology with a paper about Springsteen submitted in my college English class. Springsteen's summer 1975 concerts at Carter Barron in DC (about 4,000 seats) remain the best concerts I have ever seen.

[@aaronexists4308]

I’ve been waiting for this video for the 4 or 5 years I’ve been watching this channel. Born to run means so much to me in so many ways, and it’s absolutely gorgeous in every sense of the word. I will say it’s actually best eaten sitting alone at home with it on vinyl, screaming every word.

[@kermitTHEdinosaur93]

You should totally take a deep dive into the lyrics of Howard Ashman and the music of Alan Menken. How they got The Little Mermaid music to be the way it was in 1989. And how it impacted us still to this day.

[@richardober8373]

Simply the greatest album of all time. There are many unbelievably great albums out there, but this one holds me in an almost spiritual way from the opening note to the closing note. No other album does this for me.

[@pual682]

Born to Run has been my favorite album for a long time glad you've gone and made a video on it!

[@johnroznovsky212]

How Tom Schulz created the self titled Boston would be awesome. It is truly the recipe of one great mind creating a brilliant debut album layer by layer. Still have the original vinyl.

[@RockandRollWoman]

Watch Rick Beato do Boston if you haven't already. You'll love it, I promise.

[@ztl2505]

Absolutely unbelievable album. It feels like a greatest hits compilation from a full career and not a debut.

[@RockandRollWoman]

@ztl2505 Best debut rock album. An easy call.

[@shawnreap]

You left out my favorite: Tenth Avenue Freeze=Out. When Bruce and the band do that one live it's pretty much rock and roll church. Excellent stuff as always. As a born & raised Jersey boy it's always fun to see our most famous export covered so reverently.

[@augustosolari7721]

That one always sounded very Motown to me.

[@bonecanoe86]

When I saw Bruce he opened with that song. Everyone got out of their seats and they never sat back down.

[@paisleyprincess7996]

That was pretty much what happened at the BS concert when they played that song…He took it to church!

[@insertchannelnamehere632]

This album is amazing, but specifically the version of 10th avenue on the album is perhaps my least favorite song, it's amazing live though

[@user-bj5gw1ne9s]

This is the best album ever made in my opinion, i have never seen more beautiful lyrics than backstreets

[@johnnycarroll6346]

I know he never had a number one hit but I don’t care it doesn’t get better than Bruce,backstreets could be one of the best written songs of all time and it’s a footnote in born to run

[@NathanSidF]

Legit, I think that the Springsteen show in Passaic 1978 is the pinnacle of rock. Where prior bands laid the foundation, Bruce gave it all. The performance of Prove it all night in that show is probably peak rock.

[@xxcelr8rs]

yeah, that guitar intro especially that show.

[@NavelOrangeGazer]

That or Grateful Dead '77 Cornell

[@NathanSidF]

@@NavelOrangeGazer Going to check it out! Thanks for the recommendation!

[@martyparty606]

Dude, your videos are inspiring enough as it is. But this recipe format is so much fun.

[@jamesallard7223]

Then he stripped the whole thing down, filmed it in black and white, and made Nebraska. I find it to be one of the last truly great concept albums.

[@NavelOrangeGazer]

Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails And funnily enough they both address the topic of ever increasing nihilism in American society.

[@matthewjohnson9199]

I saw Springsteen live in concert for the first time this year, and after hearing for years about his live performances, the hype was really true. One of the best concerts ever! One potential recipe could be an analysis on Nas' Illmatic (the Rakim influence, the multiple producers being brought in, the history of East Coast Rap).

[@joeh3904]

Elvis and Springsteen are literally my two favorite musicians of al time! I can’t wait to see Bruce again in concert.

[@aidanphr1446]

A top 10 album of all time and possibly top 5. Taking the phil spector sound to its fullest extreme of greatness

[@MoviesNStuff]

Despite 'Darkness on the Edge Of Town' being my favorite Bruce Springsteen album, no doubt 'Born to Run' his Masterpiece. I have grown up on Bruce since forever. My dad got to see him in concert several times. His copy is so scratched and worn it still sounds new. Magic

[@KurtFlechtner]

You completely missed Gary U.S. Bonds and the Norfolk Sound. Springsteen himself even acknowledged this influence, frequently performing "Quarter to Three" in his encores and joining Miami Steve in resurrecting Gary's career with a 1981 comeback album.

[@baritony8763]

Billy Joel's "The Stranger" was the churning point in his career. And a helluva' an album to stew on.

[@johnjohnson3709]

Great video!! I love Bruce! Also got to see your face after all these years. Thank you for letting me see the man who has brought me much joy. ❤

[@padmakshkhandelwal1832]

Great video as always, I know it doesn't come in classic rock but would love to see you cover either Ride The Lightning or Master of Puppets by Metallica.

[@briantwiss9078]

Great vid! Seeing Springsteen live was one of the greatest nights of my life.

[@ambero8726]

Love this format 😊 always a joy to learn more. As for suggestions, some Ian durry and the blockheads. Such an eclectic sound, would be amazing to learn some of the influence to it. More modern but a dive in to Florence and the machine would be top tier.

[@summysums]

yess been wanting you to post more bruce 🙏 saw him earlier this year and am seeing him again

[@samfisher6606]

Meeting Across the River always gets shafted

[@MoviesNStuff]

Id love to see perhaps 'Close to the Edge'. Id LOVE to see one on Tales from Topographic Oceans, but perhaps its a bit too dense for some 😂. Still, the album has an interesting story to it, and each song is about 20min. Very interesting, including Jon Anderson jumping in front of a bus

[@augustosolari7721]

Love Oceans... So underrated!

[@Dahello90]

Your video is as always beautifully produced

[@georgeiypep]

Why I think that Springsteen is my favourite live performer is due to a lot of reasons: One..the main reason is being 'the songs'...I mean, that's why we love him as an artist, his songs resonate to us in such a beautiful way and that we get to listen to these songs performed live.. Two..in my opinion, his acoustic versions of his songs are sometimes 'emotionally louder' than the live band versions...I mean, when its just him, his guitar and his harmonica, the feeling is just...no words to describe it... Some of the fans were really surprised that he plays the piano so good as well...All of the songs of Born To Run were written on piano... Three...He does great live covers of other artists songs.. such as Chimes of Freedom, Purple Rain, Who'll Stop The Rain to name a few.. Four...now this is what really makes Springsteen special, he can take a song of his, and give you a completely new and refreshing arrangement of that song, sometimes in a different key, and its like you're hearing a completely new song for the first time..for example, during the Sessions Band Tour, the new arrangements on Atlantic City, Highway Patrolman and Further On (Up The Road) were simply amazing Five..You get a freakin' THREE HOUR' show!!!!!! Six...Even though you paid money to see Bruce Springsteen, each and every member of the E Street Band is an artist, who The Boss has selected personally, and they individually provide you with the best entertainment with their skills!!! Seven..Well, this is personal...I mean, he's one of the greatest artists of our current generation...from whatever info, one can gather from the internet and sources, he seems to be a very very humble family man and one of the nicest in the industry. There isn't much dirt on him as compared to a lot of his peers..

[@rhys_mcp]

I got to see Bruce Springsteen early this past may and he has to be the one of the best performers of all time aswell as on of the songwriting GOATs. He asked me if i wanted to go home aswell

[@RockandRollWoman]

I'll be trying to buy a ticket at 4 or 5 pm the day of his LA show from a scalper who's worried about getting stuck. (I got aced out of the ticket sale lottery.) I got a 10th row ticket to RHCP for $125 that way, and a row 20 ticket to see Macca in an area where tickets had been over a thousand bucks for $375. It's worth trying. It's a bucket list show for me.

[@ExileOnDaytonStreet]

She's The One has all the ingredients for a great rock'n'roll song: that bumping Bo Diddley beat, the piano rumbling around like a stride player who listened to a lot of Rhapsody In Blue, the breakdown, the yearning earnestness of it all... it really is a lot of fun to listen to. There is something missing on the record, though, and it's hard to put a finger on it until you've heard the band play it with a faster tempo, and then it becomes a phenomenal experience: kzbin.info/www/bejne/manCfGOqe72lbs0

[@l.5679]

Agreed!!!!!

[@roseopheliashepherd8379]

love this format!

[@quartz-jx9zu]

PLEASE DO A VIDEO ON VAN MORRISON. I think your style of videos would fit perfectly and since you do deep dives it would be very interesting to learn more about my favorite folk singer

[@stephanie8477]

My favorite artist and album ever!! Can't wait to see him this November

[@masonsmythmusic]

been watching you since 2018, congrats on 1 million subs!

[@joalco3]

These videos are so well produced

[@coverversionoftheday9941]

The most obvious influence is Bo Diddley on She's the One. He has even done a mash up of STO with Who Do You Love as the intro way back in 1975.

[@GODHAND42]

London Calling would be a great album for this format of video

[@tony_fortunato]

I LOVE so much the theme of this channel

[@timeenbyvictorious]

I would love to see one of these on Radiohead. I don't really mind which album, but I think the would fit very well in this series.

[@JoeyJoeJoe1970]

Laughed out loud at the end of this video. Thanks for the chuckle.

[@edwarddavidson868]

This recipe can also be adapted into a Tarantino soundtrack if you double the ingredients.

[@jefferypike6451]

Fan for nearly 50 years. Finally saw him live in OKC several years ago with my ex. She didn’t like him until she saw him live. She was blown away.

[@0rland0walkthrough]

No one comes close to The Boss. That's why he's The Boss.

[@JoeGator23]

Not even top 10, but he does have talent.

[@Goatchild90]

Born to Run is one of the best albums ever made

[@chuckz2934]

I never connected Born to Run with River Deep. What an epiphany 🙏🏼. Thank u

[@filthydog1220]

loving that strict 4:3 apsect ratio 🙏🙌

[@DavidSJ_DAP]

Don't forget the dash of Bo Diddley beat...adds a touch of spice to the mix...

[@jamesburke1019]

Nice one PP, your vocal styling has come a long way.

[@soop1641]

PLEASE MAKE MORE OF THESE

[@Discogreview]

YEEEEEESSSSS I'm so happy to see "Head Chef Polyphonic" as a series :)

[@MrAdamGrainger]

Bruce mixes artists i dont necessarily care for into music i adore and would probably run through a wall for.

[@joeyweinstock1944]

Love to see what you might do with Steely Dan. Kid Charlemagne or Aja perhaps?

[@stewartmorris9771]

Would love to hear you do a video on Nebraska!

[@insertchannelnamehere632]

Personally Born to Run is my favorite album of all time, bar none, and it's truly beautiful

[@TimmyTovenaar]

Amazing video! I would love to see a recipe on Lou Reed's Transformer, a breakdown of it would be pretty awesome

[@paulgordon6949]

Ooh yeah!

[@paisleyprincess7996]

I saw BS in March, and it was one of the best show I went to. This coming from someone who isn’t a big fan. His artistry is legendary

[@italyball2166]

Man, I'd love to hear you talk about Thick As A Brick by Jethro Tull. I think it's a funny project to review an album as satirical as that, from his conception to his lyrics. And I mean... if a 43 minutes song manages to keep you hooked for all 43 minutes... then it's a good song

[@RockandRollWoman]

Yes! And the sequel, TAAB2, about Gerald Bostock's life 40 years on. I'm going to see Tull in September for the first time - in both San Diego and LA. I missed the experience back in the day. Making up for lost time and, to borrow from the great Warren Zevon, determined to enjoy every sandwich.

[@mattmarrillia4907]

Incredible! If you want to add a more modern recipe to the menu, I highly recommend getting a taste of Jason Isbell’s Southeastern. A dish now 10 years in the making, it’s an album that upon listening to, you’ll never quite be the same

[@sunandablanc]

The recipe for Close to the Edge would surely be a helluva challenge.

[@sneakysnakesullytv8444]

Would love to see “The Queen is Dead” in this series.

[@joegrula5793]

Needed this

[@HenryMitchell410]

That bit about She's the One is really off the mark. It was so clearly influenced by Bo Diddley, not Elvis. Springsteen even went as far as playing Mona as a lead in at many of his concerts.

[@robertlandrum1971]

If you’re serious about continuing this cooking theme, try Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America.”

[@jswjanjan]

Meeting across the river ... ❤

[@trent460]

Polyphonic with yet another banger

[@erinmahoney1407]

I would love to see you do a record recipes for Songs from Big Pink. I don't thinking you've ever talked about The Band, but they are such and amazing and influential band

[@jasonremy1627]

I would love to see you break out from the classic rock genre. Do one of these record recipes for something like "Low End Theory" by Tribe Called Quest, one of the best hip hop records ever.

[@ElGatoPolloLoco]

I'm not sure if you've thought about it, but I'd love to see a video breakdown on U2's "The Joshua Tree"

[@kingofspeeddr.robert4611]

Cool video. Would like to see you cover the Stooges or the Modern Lovers or Comus

[@chief_carti5735]

You should really do a video on dinosaur jr it’s one of my fav bands of time and it would b so cool to see them on here

[@andresjose4906]

Would love a video of Massive Attack.

[@Taalsman]

Me and my late father never got along but I will always be grateful to him for introducing and making me fall in love with The Boss.

[@BeamTheChao]

Fragile by Yes would be a banger recipe to dissect!

[@PalaeoJoe]

The concete of this episode is absurd I love it

[@MKorostoff]

Great video poly. Might I suggest a harder look at the role of the Ronettes in creating the wall of sound concept? It's never made sense to me that Spector gets the primary credit for their work. Sure he was the producer, but in every other musical innovation we credit the artist first, and the producer second, if at all. I can't shake the feeling that the Ronettes never got their due because people at the time couldn't fathom that musical innovation came from a group of black women. When you go listen to a Ronettes song like 1963's "Be My Baby" back-to-back with that same year's #1 hit ("Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer) the difference is profound. The Ronettes just sound so much fuller, and it's mainly the vocals which account for this, which you can't fairly credit to Spector.

[@geoffhoover3873]

You forgot the heavy heaping of MADAME GEORGE from Van Morrison (ASTRAL WEEKS is the lp) that has bits and bites all over the album - particularly BORN TO RUN and BACKSTEETS

[@Nico-vw5zc]

Thank you for talking about one of or even the greatest artist of all time

[@CipherSerpico]

_’Backstreets’_ might be the single most Powerful Song I’ve ever heard.

[@lp-xl9ld]

All rise for the National Anthem of New Jersey!

[@Mike_Poppe]

Shout out this album being recorded in Blauvelt, NY

[@shermanmi]

"She's the One" is a Bo Diddley beat.

[@steakthedoggaming5333]

Speaking of Springsteen, The Ghost of Tom Joad is quite the album.

[@JackRubey]

Man although I sometimes don't like the albums he is talking about I just watch it for the beautiful editing

[@KatamariHypno]

Felt's 1971 self-titled debut would have a ton of unique ingredients I bet.

[@billco73]

Can we have a video on Leon Russell? - his story is definitely worth its own video