Tramps Like Us, Part 1

Summary

Hit Parade | “Tramps Like Us,” Part 1

Podcast: Hit Parade (Slate Podcasts)
Host: Chris Molanphy
Episode Date: July 17, 2021
Topic: How Bruce Springsteen became a chart-dominating pop icon—by chart history, influence, and the circuitous route of his songs to the summit of the pop charts.

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Episode Overview

In this first part of a two-episode saga, host and pop-chart analyst Chris Molanphy delves into the slow, surprising ascent of Bruce Springsteen from revered Jersey bard to one of the most dominant pop forces of the 1980s. Molanphy uses storytelling, chart trivia, and song snippets to illustrate how Springsteen’s path to pop stardom was far from direct—often succeeding initially as a songwriter for others before breaking big as a solo performer. The episode contextualizes Springsteen’s journey within half a century of pop music history, using charts and covers as guideposts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Springsteen’s Breakout in ‘84—But Not Overnight

• Springsteen’s Peak: In July 1984, "Dancing in the Dark" from Born in the USA was a No. 2 single and the album topped the Billboard chart—Springsteen’s biggest mainstream breakthrough.
  • “At his peak, Bruce Springsteen kind of was that popular. He even tied one of Jackson's most storied Billboard chart records, and he remains the only guitar rock act ever to pull this off on the pop charts.” (02:53)
• 1985: By July the next year, “Glory Days” is the fifth Top 10 single from the same album; Born in the USA out-sold the rest of the top five combined.

2. Songwriting Success Before Chart Dominance

• Not an Instant Hitmaker: Springsteen was widely admired for live shows but, through the ‘70s, pop radio largely ignored his own performances.
  • Many early Springsteen compositions charted only when performed by others.
• Pop Hit Paradox: Like Bob Dylan and Randy Newman, Springsteen hit No. 1 as a songwriter (but not as a performer, at least initially).
  • “These three troubadours have all scored number one hits on the Hot 100 as songwriters, but they've all peaked at number two as artists.” (08:05)

3. Comparison to Bob Dylan and Randy Newman

(Timestamp starts at 07:34)

• Chart Trivia:
  • Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” (No. 1 by the Byrds), but Dylan as an artist peaked at No. 2.
  • Newman’s “Mama Told Me Not to Come” (No. 1 by Three Dog Night); Newman’s own “Short People” stuck at No. 2.
• Springsteen’s Path: He's anomalous—eventually becoming a pop icon, generating many top 10 hits, and surpassing his contemporaries in chart success.

4. Early Career: The Jersey Years & Development (16:00–32:00)

• The Castiles & Pre-Fame Years: Springsteen’s initial bands and Asbury Park scene.
• First Album: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973)
  • Bluesy, wordy, half rock, half acoustic—no hits, but critical praise and groundwork for future covers.
• Influential Covers:
  • David Bowie recorded (but didn’t release) “Growin’ Up” and “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City”.
  • The Hollies’ “Sandy (4th of July, Asbury Park)” became the first Springsteen writing credit to hit the Hot 100.
• Third Album—Born to Run (1975): Big ambition and six months of labor, aiming for Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound”.
  • Springsteen torments himself chasing perfection; the E Street Band finally gets its name.

Notable Quote:

“Never had a pop song tried so self consciously to be a masterpiece. And it was. Bruce Springsteen finally, finally had his breakthrough.” (35:19)

5. The Bottom Line Gigs and the Media “Explosion” (37:59–42:18)

• Legendary multi-night stand at NYC’s Bottom Line club; pivotal for Springsteen’s reputation

• Simulcast, word-of-mouth, and critic endorsements made Bruce "the talk of the town”—inspire figures like Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf.

• Springsteen appears on Time and Newsweek covers simultaneously, but...

• Chart Irony: Even at the peak of press hype, “Born to Run” peaks at #23 on the Hot 100, never cracking the Top 10.

  • Quote:
    “Here is probably the most talked about new artist... That’s pretty good for not having had a top 10 record. He’s moving there though, at number 23, ‘Born to Run.’” — Casey Kasem (41:52)

6. Springsteen—Covered to Number One

• Legal disputes stall his own recording career (mid-‘70s).
• Manfred Mann’s Earth Band covers “Blinded by the Light,” hits No. 1 in February 1977.
  • Misheard lyric (“revved up like a deuce”) makes for “one of the most misheard lyrics in pop history.” (50:04)
  • “It is not about a douche... that quirk may well have made the song an even bigger hit.” (50:14)
• Patti Smith transforms “Because the Night” (1978) into a #13 hit; Pointer Sisters take “Fire” to #2 (1979).

7. The Turn Toward the Mainstream

(“Hungry Heart” Section)

• Saving the Hits for Himself: John Landau insists Bruce must stop “giving away” his best material.
• “Hungry Heart” (1980) from The River:
  • Originally written for the Ramones
  • The song becomes Bruce’s first Top 10 and Top 5 solo hit.
  • “There’s nothing like a big single to fuel chart success.” (63:39)
• The River LP: No. 1 album, multi-hit singles, critical and commercial apex.

8. The Dichotomy: Celebration and Desolation

• *The River: duality of Springsteen’s work—upbeat rockers alongside haunting ballads.
• Nebraska (1982): Starkest album yet—recorded solo at home, influenced by Suicide (synth punk duo); goes Top 10 regardless of “uncommercial” sound.
  • “Such was Springsteen’s reputation by 1982 that, as uncommercial as it was, Nebraska shot into the album chart top 10 in just two weeks.” (65:29)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Springsteen’s media breakthrough:
  “I spoke to my dad. It was going to be on the cover of Time and Newsweek… which was like saying, yeah, I’m taking Santa Claus’s job at the North Pole this year.” (39:57)

• On “Blinded by the Light”’s famous mondegreen:
  “This is one of the most misheard lyrics in pop history... and for the record, it is not about a douche.” (50:10)

• On Springsteen’s critical idol status:
  “I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” — Jon Landau (26:16, paraphrased in narration)

• Casey Kasem’s chart report:
  “...pretty good for not having had a top 10 record. He’s moving there though, at number 23, ‘Born to Run.’” (41:57)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–02:53: Setting the scene—Springsteen’s mid-‘80s chart dominance
• 05:06–07:24: Springsteen’s roots as a songwriter, not yet a pop star
• 07:34–14:57: Chart trivia—Dylan, Newman, Springsteen’s parallel paths
• 16:00–32:00: Early career in Jersey bands, first albums, key covers
• 35:19–37:59: The making of Born to Run; mastering the Wall of Sound
• 37:59–42:18: The Bottom Line gigs, Time and Newsweek covers, chart let-down
• 49:59–51:11: “Blinded by the Light”—misheard lyric goes to No. 1
• 53:35–58:30: Patti Smith and the Pointer Sisters score hits with his songs
• 63:39–65:21: “Hungry Heart” gives Bruce his first major solo hit; The River soars
• 65:21–66:29: Nebraska and the left turn into bleak, deeply personal music

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Conclusion: Building to Icon Status

Springsteen’s trajectory subverts the myth of the instant star:

• His chart reign was the result of slow-burn audience building, circuitous songwriting success, and careful adaptation to pop tastes—without losing his songwriter’s intensity or live band brio.
• By 1982, he was a rock god and a respected figure, but mega stardom and pop icon status were only around the corner.

Tease for Part 2:
The next episode will address Springsteen’s true mainstream zenith, his conflicted relationship with fame, and the transformation that led to his dual status as both poet and chart phenomenon.

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(Written and narrated by Chris Molanphy. Produced by Asha Saluja)

Transcript

[Chris Melanfi]

You're listening ad free on Amazon Music. Hey there Hit Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is Part one of this episode. Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month. Would you like to hear this episode all at once the day it drops? Sign up for Slate Plus. You can try it for a month for just $1 and it supports not only this show, but all of Slate's acclaimed journalism and podcasts. Just to slate.com hitparadeplus you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full the day it arrives. Plus Hit Parade the Bridge, our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics, and pop chart trivia. Once again to join, that's slate.com hitparadeplus thanks and now please enjoy part one of this hit Parade episode. Foreign. Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One? Series on today's show 37 years ago this month in July 1984, the number one album in America and number two single were by this New Jersey rocker. Despite his nickname, the Boss had never had a hit this big before. Dancing in the Dark was the lead single of Born in the usa the seventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen released at the start of summer 1984, one of the most storied and competitive years for pop music ever. Springsteen's LP controlled the Billboard album chart for all of July, while Dancing in the Dark became a chart and MTV phenomenon, his fastest pop hit ever. Now let's flash Forward a bit. One year later, in July of 1985, this song was breaking into the top 10 on the Hot 100. That's Glory Days, the fifth top 10 single from Born in the USA on the album chart. That LP was still also in the top 1052 weeks later. Actually, it was in the top five and it had already outsold the rest of the top five combined, from Prince to Bryan Adams, Phil Collins to Tears for Fears. I mean, who did this guy think he was, Michael Jackson? Well, actually, at his peak, Bruce Springsteen kind of was that popular. He even tied one of Jackson's most storied Billboard chart records, and he remains the only guitar rock act ever to pull this off on the pop charts. But it took a while for Bruce to become boss of the charts, and if you only became familiar with Springsteen in the 80s, you might guess he was a hitmaker for decades. Not really? While Springsteen and his E Street Band were tearing it up on the road, earning their legend as one of the greatest concert bands of all time, pop radio was largely ignoring him. Springsteen had a gift for writing pop ditties. It just sometimes took someone else recording them for those songs to top the charts. Indeed, for his first decade as a singer songwriter, Bruce scored more with the second part of that job title. You never knew who might give one of songwriter Springsteen's tunes a whirl. Or what radio formats and Billboard charts those Bruce hits might appear on.

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

Fire.

[Chris Melanfi]

But once Bruce broke, he broke big. And in many ways, that sometimes made him uncomfortable. He saw his songs misinterpreted and misappropriated. As we reach the peak of summer 2021, let's step back to summer's past, when the boss wasn't just 10 years burning down the road selling out arenas, he was also pumping from our radios, going toe to toe with the biggest pop acts of the day. It's enough to make you nostalgic. Even though Bruce himself warned us about the perils of sitting around talking about the old times.

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

We just sit around talking about the old times, she says when she feels like crying, she starts laughing. Finding.

[Chris Melanfi]

And that's where your hit parade marches today, the week ending July 13, 1985, when Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen reached number nine on the Hot 100, officially making Born in the USA only the third album in chart history to generate five top 10 hits. And it wasn't done. Years of goodwill and support for other artists were finally karmically paying off for Springsteen. But even Bruce couldn't have foreseen the model, dating, politician, glomming chart conquering celebrity he would become by 1985? How did chart success turn Bruce Springsteen from poetic rocker to pop icon?

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

You used to laugh about everybody that was hanging out.

[Chris Melanfi]

It seems like every few years the music business hypes up an artful singer songwriter that they call the new Dylan. Including the subject of this Hit Parade episode. But here's the original Dylan in 1965. I'm playing this Bob Dylan classic to bring up one of my all time favorite trivia questions, which has nothing to do with the music press and everything to do with the charts. Ready? Here it is. What do Bob Dylan, Randy Newman and Bruce Springsteen have in common? I mean, besides the fact that all three of them are singer songwriters, idiosyncratic rockers and long inducted members of the Rock and Roll hall of Fame? I mean, what do these three men have in common when it comes to the Billboard Hot 100 give up. Here's the answer. These three three troubadours have all scored number one hits on the Hot 100 as songwriters, but they've all peaked at number two as artists. The only time Bob Dylan scored a Hot 100 number one was was with his composition Mr. Tambourine Man. But not this version, Bob's acoustic folk take from his 1965 LP bringing it all Back Home. Rather, it was the folk rock version by the Byrds, who took it all the way to number one in the summer of 65. So that's Dylan's chart topper as a songwriter. As a credited recording artist, Dylan has only ever gotten as high as number two, and he did it twice. The aforementioned classic Like a Rolling Stone peaked in the runner up slot in 1965, stuck behind the Beatles chart topper Help. And one year later, Dylan's quirky borderline novelty hit Rainy Day Women, number 12 and 35. That one reached number two also behind the Mamas and the Papas. Monday, Monday But I would not feel.

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

So all alone Everybody must get stoned.

[Chris Melanfi]

What about Randy Newman? Like Dylan, Newman has written many songs that have been widely covered, like I think it's going to rain today or you can leave your hat on. And like Dylan, Newman has a quirky voice. Many say, though I don't entirely agree, that both men are better songwriters than singers. And Randy, too, only hit number one as a songwriter. With this song, which, if you know it, I'll bet you didn't know, was his Mama Told Me not to Come. Newman first gave this song to Eric Burdon and the Animals, and later he recorded it himself. But in 1970, the band Three Dog Night recorded a more psychedelic, hazy pop version of Newman's song and took Mama Told Me not to Come all the way to number one. And what about Randy as a recording artist? Though Newman is now renowned for his many Pixar movie songs like you've Got a Friend in Me, Newman scored his one actual number two hit way back in early 1978, the deeply satirical, widely misunderstood slap happy piano ditty Short People. It would have topped the chart, but Short People couldn't get past the Bee Gees number one hit Stayin Alive. That leaves Bruce Springsteen, who also scored a number one as a songwriter but never got past number two as a frontline artist. And those songs would be. Well, let's hold that thought for now. We'll be talking about a lot of Springsteen hits in this episode. The reason I share this delightful chart factoid about these Three rock legends is to point out what an anomaly Springsteen is for Dylan and Newman. Their big pop chart hits, even a song as great and undeniable as Like a Rolling Stone, were basically flukes. Short People was not only Newman's only top 10 hit as an artist, it was his only top 40 hit. As for Dylan, under his own name, he's only scored four top 10 hits total over his entire career. But Springsteen, the so called new Dylan, rang up a dozen top 10 hits and 18 top 40 hits across three decades. To be sure, nobody in this chart category I've defined is doing shabbily. Randy Newman is an Oscar winning songwriter and composer of movie scores. Bob Dylan is of course an icon from the invention of folk rock in the 60s through his Nobel Prize in 2016. But Bruce Springsteen is a different kind of icon. Bruce became a Madonna and Michael level pinup worthy pop star. The kind of star where tabloids cared about who he was dating. The kind whose clothing set fashion trends. The kind who reflected but also shifted what commercial music sounded like. But again, that didn't happen right away. Springsteen was well into his first 30s before he became this kind of pop eminence. And the most idiosyncratic thing was the path he took to achieve that status. The Boss had to live up to his own hype. Amazingly, improbably, eventually he got there. This is Baby I, one of only two songs ever recorded by the Castiles, the Freehold, New Jersey band that Bruce Springsteen, around age 16 joined in 1965. Springsteen was the group's lead guitarist. His friend George Theise was the lead vocalist. Although Bruce's harmony vocals can be heard buried in the mix, Baby I is significant not only because the Castiles were Springsteen's first official band, but because he also co wrote the song with thes. The Castiles were just the first in a string of bands that Bruce joined from the swamps of Jersey. Many centered around the seaside town of Asbury Park. Bands like Earth or Child, Steel Mill, the short lived Sundance Blues Band, and even briefly the Bruce Springsteen Band. Members of which would eventually wind up in the E Street Band. I want to jump to the early 70s to begin to pinpoint how Bruce Springsteen, rock journeyman, became the Boss pop star. What made the music business finally want to sign him in the early 70s? Why did they think the scrawny wharf rat from Freehold gigging around Asbury park was a Dylan in the making?

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

Dance just like a casico with my black jack and jacket and hair slick Sweet silver star studs on my duds like a Harley and he When I flop down the street after the urns.

[Chris Melanfi]

Aren'T be It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City showed how Bruce Springsteen's songwriting had evolved. Springsteen had been writing in this mode since the late 60s, but this particular song got the attention of several key people. These included Springsteen's first manager and producer Mike Appel, and legendary talent scout John Hammond, who had actually signed Bob Dylan in the early 60s in his role as an A and R man for CBS Records. He signed Springsteen to a contract with the Columbia label in 1972 on the strength of this acoustic demo. This was the Bruce that the label believed they were signing. An acoustic bard for the seventies with prolix effortful lyrics. But by the time he recorded his Columbia Records debut, Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey, Bruce had formed a band of New Jersey based players and they wanted to rock out.

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

With my black Jack and jacket and hair slick Sweet silver star studs on my Dust Like a Harley and Heat.

[Chris Melanfi]

The catch was Hammond and the Columbia staff preferred Springsteen in solo acoustic mode. So Greetings from Asbury park, which arrived in January 1973, was a compromise. Half of the songs were band based rock and half were stripped down and Dylan esque. But it was the band tracks on which Springsteen lavished the most attention and which won him the most acclaimed songs like Lost in the Flood for your and the autobiographical Growin Up. As deeply personal as these songs might seem, they had unique universal appeal. You might say the early beta tester of Springsteen's songwriting was none other than David Bowie. The Thin White Duke was himself just breaking in America in 1973, and within a year of greetings from Asbury Park's release, Bowie had recorded covers of both Growing up. And It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City, which Bowie recognized as a glam rock anthem in disguise. David Bowie's covers of Springsteen's songs were early evidence of their adaptability. Unfortunately, these covers would remain unreleased by Bowie until the 1990s. Frankly, Bruce could have used the boost even after Columbia Records president Clive Davis pushed Springsteen to write two more songs for the album to ensure that it had a single the Rave Up, Spirit in the Night. And the propulsive Blinded by the Light. The Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ album generated no radio hits and sold poorly despite strong reviews. Nonetheless, it gave Bruce a base to build his live reputation, backed by a band he had still not officially given a name. These players included bassist Gary Talent, keyboardists Danny Federici and David Sanctions and saxophonist Clarence Clements. They played fervent shows resembling revival meetings with a then scrawny Bruce, often in a knit cap, commanding the stage like a preacher in a pulpit. Springsteen moved quickly to record a second album released later the same year, the Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle. He and the band were solidifying their sound and Bruce had largely dispensed with the austere approach of his first album. It was all full band rock and roll. Rosalita, Come Out Tonight, a seven minute stem winder about a guitarist trying to woo a girl whose parents don't appreciate what he does for a living, became a fan favorite and a common closer at Springsteen concerts, extending well past its LP running time and crescendoing with a big solo for saxophonist and so called big man Clarence Clemens. Around this time, Boston based producer and music critic John Don Landau, after seeing a show in Harvard Square, wrote in a Boston alt weekly his now famous awestruck line. I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen. Landau went on, Springsteen does it all. He is a rock and roll punk, a Latin street poet, a ballet dancer, an actor, a joker, bar band leader, hot shit rhythm guitar player, extraordinary singer and a truly great rock and roll composer. He leads a band like he has been doing it forever. This effusive review, which helped codify Springsteen's Bard of the Backstreets Persona, brought Landau to the attention of Springsteen himself. Bruce would eventually hire Landau to serve as his manager, his producer and in essence, his image maker. As of 1974, Landau was far from alone in his praise. Reviews for the Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle were even stronger than those for the first album, but it still wasn't selling much beyond the New York, New Jersey area. Radio play was also scant. Columbia issued no singles from the album, so they wouldn't have been eligible for the Hot 100 anyway. But certain DJs were becoming Bruce devotees. It was the heyday of progressive album oriented rock or AOR radio, and Springsteen's songs were beginning to travel on their own. Fourth of July. Asbury park, better known as Sandy, was a folksy mid tempo ballad with the wistful air of 60s Van Morrison. Bruce was often whispering the vocals. About a year year after Springsteen's version came out on his second album, it caught the ear of another British act. The Hollies. The veteran British invasion band that had launched the career of Graham nash in the 60s, was still a decade later generating 70s hits under lead singer Alan Clark. Like the Air that I Breathe, Clark liked Springsteen's Sandy, so he had the Hollies take a run at it. Their easy listening cover was not a big hit, peaking at number 8. 85 on the Hot 100 in early 1975. Nonetheless, the Holly's version of Fourth of July, Asbury Park Sandy made history as the first Bruce Springsteen writing credit on the big Billboard pop chart. And it was not even the last Springsteen song Holly's leader, Alan Clark, would record through his music publisher. Clark got an early preview of this tune. Alan Clark has long claimed that he could have released the first recording of Born to Run before Bruce Springsteen himself did. That's mostly because Clark didn't torture himself over the epic song the way its author did. The period from 1974 into 75 was fruitful but fraught for Springsteen. He'd gotten wind that Columbia was unimpressed with his sales and thinking of dropping, stopping him, and he knew his third album was make or Break. Born To Run would be his epic, the title track of that third LP and the single that would make good on the Faith his band and his managers, the critics and DJs had all placed in him. In Bruce's mind, he was reaching for and haunted by the sound of one legendary producer, Phil Spector. We've talked about Specter in several prior episodes of Hit Parade, the irascible, imperious, dangerously violent and yet unquestionably brilliant songwriter and producer who forged many classics of the 60s girl group and harmony vocal era. Central to Spector's legend is his famous Wall of Sound. A dense backdrop of instruments and vocalists, Spector would mix in mono for maximum sonic impact. At his 60s peak, Spector's tracks rang out with guitars, brass strings and an army of percussionists, as on this 1963 number six classic by the Crystals. Then He Kissed Me. Bruce Springsteen worshiped these records by the Crystals, the Ronettes, the Righteous Brothers, Darlene Love. They had soundtracked his teenage years in New Jersey by the 70s. Bruce was even including covers of Phil Spector songs like Then He Kissed Me in his live set, doing his best to recreate the the Wall of Sound with the E Street Band. Springsteen also admired the ringing, chiming sound of Spectre's Christmas Records, which mixed xylophone and and glockenspiel into the wall of Sound. The Spectre arrangement of the Crystals version of Santa Clause's Coming to Town was making its way into Bruce's live sets, too. As early as 1973, the Boss sang the chorus, not like the old holiday standard, but with the RB syncopation of Phil Spector's version. You can hear all of this in the final version of the Born To Run single. Springsteen drove his band, now officially named the E Street Band, to labor over the track for six months, and he poured everything into it. Spectre style. Walls of guitars and ringing glockenspiel, rumbling drum fills like motorcycle engines. Bruce's lead guitar played with the twang of Dwayne Eddy, harmony vocals a la the Ronettes with their W O snares and saxes evoking early Motown plus Dylan esque lyrics that were nominally romantic about a couple of tramps who want to know if love is real, but were really as grand as it sounded about America itself. Quote we sweated out on the streets of a runaway American dream Or highways jammed with broken heroes On a last chance power drive they had no place left to hide. Never had a pop song tried so self consciously to be a masterpiece. And it was. Bruce Springsteen finally, finally had his breakthrough. Mike Appel leaked Springsteen's recording of Born to Run to radio DJs early in 1974, months before the Born To Run album was even close to complete. At these AOR stations, the early response to the single was euphoric, and Bruce's devoted fan base only grew. This kept Columbia from dropping Springsteen as they waited for that third lp, which would take until the following summer, to be completed. Bruce needed reassurance as he tormented himself over the songs. He was now backed by both Mike Appel and John Landau as producers. Appel was incensed at having to share the role, and Bruce also brought in Little Stephen Van Zant as an additional additional conciliary. Little Stephen, known on stage as Miami Steve, was a fixture of the Asbury park scene and had played off and on with Springsteen for years. Now a full E Street band member, Little Stephen advised Bruce on his new songs and provided backing vocals for the album's opener, the Majestic Thunder Road, Come Take My Hand. The band also needed new instrumentalists, as both David Sanchez and drummer Boom Carter left in the middle of the Born to Run sessions to form their own own act. Fortunately, Springsteen was able to fill their slots with two new drummer Max Weinberg and keyboard player Roy Bitton. When the Born to Run album was finally finished in July 1960 75, Columbia was banging down the door, having forced Bruce's hand by taking out ads and booking a tour. They'd even restocked record stores with copies of his first two albums to prime the pump. An interesting footnote both Greetings from Asbury Park New Jersey and the Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle made their very first appearances on the big Billboard LPs chart in the same week, July 26, 1975. To Bruce's growing army of new fans, this pair of 1973 LPs might as well have been new. Springsteen was ecstatic to finally be out of the studio and back on stage, and one stop on the Summer 75 tour proved pivotal. His multi night stand at the Bottom Line in New York City.

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

Screen door slams Mary's Just what, if.

[Chris Melanfi]

Ever, a concert could be said to have broken an artist? Think Jimi Hendrix at Monterey Pop in 1967 or Elton John at the Troubadour in 1970. Bruce at the Bottom Line was it. The shows became the talk of the town, with not only fans but armies of critics and industryites packing the tiny club. One of the early shows was even simulcast on New York AOR station WNEW fm. Among the curious onlookers were two young, hungry would be rock stars, the singer Meatloaf and his producer, songwriter Jim Steinman. As we told you in our Steinman episode of Hit Parade, Springsteen's Bottom Line show inspired Steinman and deeply informed his collaboration with Meatloaf, the debut album Bat out of Hell. Steinman would even borrow Roy Bitton and Max Weinberg from the East Street Band to play on Bat out of Hell. Bruce's Bottom Line gigs and all the press in attendance are the best explanation for what then happened two months later, just weeks after Born to Run finally debuted on the album chart. It remains perhaps the unlikeliest media coming out party for a new artist in rock history. By October, Springsteen became the first entertainer to make the covers of both Newsweek and Time in the same week. I spoke to my dad. It was going to be on the COVID Time and Newsweek and the COVID of Diamond Newsweek, which was like saying, yeah, I'm taking Santa Claus's job at the North Pole this year. This moment is of course, legendary in the Springsteen story, heralded in just about every bio of Bruce. But when it comes to the Time and Newsweek covers, we at Hit Parade are obliged to ask our usual questions. What did this once in a lifetime media moment do for Bruce, where it literally counted his record sales and his position on the charts? As it happens, the charts surely factored into the two news weeklies picking the same moment to showcase the Boss Back in September, Born to Run had shot into the top 10 on Billboard's LP chart in just two weeks, the top five just a fortnight later. The week before the Time And Newsweek issue date. In late October, Born to Run had hit its peak of number three on the album chart. But what about Born To Run? The song more than a year after it was first recorded and leaked to album oriented rock stations on the FM band, Bruce's four and a half minute masterpiece was now finally on top 40 stations on the AM dial. So how was it doing on the Hot 100 singles chart on American top 40? Casey Kasem counted it down.

[Casey Kasem]

This is Casey Kasem in American top 40. And here is probably the most talked about new artists to come along in years. Bruce Springsteen, who made both the COVID of Time and Newsweek in the same week. That's pretty good for not having had a top 10 record. He's moving there though, at number 23, born to run.

[Chris Melanfi]

Except he wasn't moving there. This was the week Born To Run peaked at number 23. Yes, this was the week after he crowned those two magazines. And two weeks later born To Run fell out of the top 40 entirely. What happened? What good is dominating the newsstand if it can't get you a hit song? We might consider what was actually topping the charts that week in 1975. At number one that week was Elton John, then at the peak of his imperial phase when a song as slight as Island Girl could rule the roost.

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

Island Girl, what you want it with your island?

[Chris Melanfi]

At number two, the country flavored, easy listening, pillowy pop star John Denver with Calypso I Calypso the place. And at number three, the former firebrands of Jefferson Airplane now transformed into the much mellower Jefferson Starship with their super smooth soft rock smash Miracles. So yeah, not exactly a hard driving lineup. Elsewhere in the top 10, Morris Albert. I bet you don't know his name, but you might know his song the Soporific Feelings feeling. And just one notch above Bruce at number 22, hopping over Born To Run on its way to a number seven peak, the Bee Gees now converted into falsetto singing proto disco stars with Nights on Broadway. Now look, however you feel about these records, I happen to love Nights on Broadway. This super smooth blissed out top 40 was not a place for Bruce Springsteen's chrome wheeled, fuel injected steppin out over the line rocker. As strange as this may sound about a guy who is now possibly your parents or grandparents favorite rock star in 75, Bruce Springsteen was kinda edgy for the top 40. An impassioned street punk before the start of punk. Poetic but cryptic. I mean what exactly was a 10th Avenue freeze out anyway? Even Bruce admits He doesn't know. That song. 10th Avenue Freezeout, the only other single issued from Born to Run, peaked at number 83 in the winter of 1976. If Billboard had had an album rock chart at the time, the magazine's first rock tracks chart wouldn't launch until 1981. Springsteen likely would have placed there with multiple tracks. As it happened, Freeze out would be the last Bruce Springsteen single to touch the Billboard charts for two and a half. Tensions that had emerged between Springsteen, his first manager, producer Mike Appel, and his new co producer and advisor John Landau, finally boiled over when Springsteen had his books audited and realized Appel controlled both his publishing and the lion's share of his royalties. Springsteen and Appel spent two years suing and countersuing to dissolve their relationship, making Bruce unable to record until he finally settled and won control of his songs. Which would prove rather important because in the second half of the 70s, when Springsteen was mostly absent from the charts as an artist, he kicked off an incredible run as a songwriter. Those early 70s covers by David Bowie and the Hollies were were just a small taste of what was to come. Bruce's songs were going to make him a chart topper before he'd become one himself. In 1975, Manfred Mann, the veteran UK rock band led by the South African keyboardist of the same name, developed a deep affinity for Springsteen's music. In the 60s, as Manfred Mann, the band had topped the Hot 100 with the Brill Building meets British Invasion rocker Do Wa Diddy Diddy. But in the 70s the group had reformed as Manfred Mann's Earth Band and they had retooled their sound in a more synth driven progressive rock direction. By the way, the Earth Band's first two singles were covers of songs by Bob Dylan and Randy newman. The band's 1975 cover of Springsteen's Spirit in the Night from Bruce's 1973 debut Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey was a minor hit in April 76, barely cracking the Hot 100 at number 97. It was another track from Springsteen's debut album that really caught the ear of Manford Mann, Bruce's R B flavored boogie rock jam Blinded by the Light. Remember this was the would be hit single that Clive Davis had compelled Springsteen to Write back in 1972 before Clive would agree to issue Greetings from Asbury Park. The song was not actually a hit in 1973. Blinded by the Light was a rambling tongue twister track with veiled audiobiographical tall tales about Bruce's attempts to impress girls with his music. And it culminated in a frankly kind of weird chorus line about being cut loose like a deuce. Another runner in the night.

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

Another runner in the night.

[Chris Melanfi]

To Bruce Springsteen, the deuce was meant to refer to a two seat hot rod, as in the Beach Boys car song Little Deuce Coupe. But that throwaway line became the centerpiece of Manfred Mann's 1976 cover, which was drenched in Mann's frothy 70s AOR keyboards and and seem to be about a feminine hygiene product. This is one of the most misheard lyrics in pop history. Right up there with. With Hendrix's Scuse Me While I Kiss this Guy or John Fogarty's There's a Bathroom on the Right. And for the record, it is not about a douche. Manford man had tweaked Springsteen's line. Their version changed cut loose like a deuce into revved up like a deuce, which in theory should have made the line about a hot rod car even clearer. Instead toked up 70s listeners heard wrapped up like a douche. And that quirk may well have made the song an even bigger hit. Released in the Closing weeks of 1976, Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band took 14 weeks to reach the top of the Hot 100 for the week ending February 19, 1977, and it remains, 44 years later, Bruce Springsteen's only credit on a number one hit. As I say so often on Hit Parade, it is an odd mix of zeitgeisty factors that make a song a smash. A seeming liability, like a gross but very memorable lyric can make the difference. Even Springsteen claimed in later interviews that while he didn't love Manfred Mann's rewrite, the misheard chorus probably boosted Blinded by the Light. This again was why it was so important for Bruce to profit from his song copyrights, especially as he was sidelined while fighting Mike Appel in court. His compositions were about to bedeck albums by a range of artists. One of the more improbable was the hit that Springsteen bequeathed in 1978 to a denizen of New York club CBGB, the Priestess of punk. Because the night Patti Smith's biggest pop hit started as a song fragment, Springsteen recorded as a demo in 1977 but was having trouble completing. His engineer Jimmy Iovine, was producing the third album by Smith Easter, and he was looking for a song that could sound credibly like the punk poet but also play on the radio. Springsteen agreed to let Iovine have because the night, which only had a title, some mumbled lyrics, and most important, the bones of that melodramatic romantic melody. Though both Springsteen and Smith are credited songwriters on because the Night, the finished song was not a direct collaboration, Patti Smith wrote most of the lyrics herself and recorded it with operatic intensity. She debuted it at CBGB in December 1977, accompanied by Bruce himself on guitar and harmony vocals. It was a smash, one of the earliest top 40 hits by anyone from the CBGB scene, because the Night peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100 in the early summer of the 1978 by 78, Springsteen himself had settled his Mike Appel lawsuits and was finally back in the studio recording the long, long awaited follow up to Born to Run. Co produced by John Landau, Darkness on the Edge of Town would begin the Boss's transition from an east coast centric boardwalk poet to a kind of new Americano. Writing about the album in 2005, Slate's Stephen Metcalfe said, by the release of Darkness on the Edge of Town, the endearing Jersey Wharf Rat in Springsteen had been refined away. In its place was a majestic American simpleton with a generic heartland twang, obsessed with Cars, Mary the Man and the bitterness between fathers and sons. Released in June 1978, the same month Patti Smith's because the Night was peaking, Darkness on the Edge of Town shot into the top 10 on the album chart on pent up demand from fans alone, peaking at number five in July. But the album's singles were not big hits. Prove It All Night was the only one to crack the top 40, reaching number 33 in July. The follow up Badlands stalled at number 42, so Bruce Springsteen album Auteur had been re established. Bruce Springsteen pop star was still not a thing, but Bruce Springsteen hit songwriter that was very much a thing. Fire was a song Springsteen wrote deliberately, trying to sound like Elvis Presley. He even sent Elvis a demo of the song in 1977, just before the king's death. But he never recorded it for obvious reasons, so Bruce recorded it himself during the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. But he left it off the album, thinking it incongruous with the rest of the LP and fearing Columbia Records might gravitate toward it as a single. And in a way he was right. Fire was a smash waiting to ignite.

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

I say I don't love you but you know I'm a liar.

[Chris Melanfi]

The Pointer Sisters the trio of Anita June and Ruth Poynter recorded fire for their 1978 album Energy, and they scored one of the biggest hits of their career with It. Their version reached number two on the Hot 100 in February 1979 and even hit number 14 on the R B chart, Springsteen's first significant hit at Black Radio. To his credit, Springsteen was now writing songs that crossed genres. To his detriment, he was giving away his biggest hits. John Landau started telling Bruce he needed to stop giving away his catchiest tracks. And going into 1980, Bruce almost did it again. The Ramones were the flat flagship punk act of the CBGB scene. The Foursome from Queens, New York shared many of the same influences as Springsteen. In 1980, they teamed with none other than Phil Spector for their ill fated album End of the Century. Joey Ramone in particular, like Bruce, loved 60s girl group pop. They even covered the Ronettes on their Spirit Spectre produced lp. So it made sense that Springsteen might want to write for the Ramones. When Joey Ramone Met Bruce in 1979, he went ahead and asked the bard of Asbury park if he could give them a song. Dutifully, Springsteen wrote one for the punk group right away. A song with classic rock and roll energy and a kind of girl group sway. It was so catchy, it very well might have given the Ramones an actual pop hit. The foursome never cracked the top 40 in their long career, and they wouldn't do it with a Springsteen song either. Because John Landau finally put his foot down. He told Bruce he had to keep the song and record it himself for his next album, and points to John Landau because he was right. That song was a smash. Hungry Heart was the lead single single from Springsteen's 1980 double LP The River. It was his third ever top 40 hit, his first ever top 10 hit, and his first top five, peaking at number five the week of Christmas 1980. And while the river was acclaimed by critics as much as all his previous albums, there's nothing like a big single to fuel chart success. Just before Thanksgiving 1980, the river reached number one on the Billboard album chart in just two weeks, and it stayed in the top slot for a month. For once, Springsteen was on trend. In a year when some of the top hits were on the Hot 100 were throwbacks to the sound of classic rock and roll. Like Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Billy Joel's It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, and John Lennon's Just Like Starting over. The vintage harmony group vibe of Hungry Heart sounded right at home on post disco top 40 radio. In fact, John Lennon on on the day of his tragic death, in his final interview, praised Hungry Heart as his favorite current song on the radio, a fine companion piece to his own 50s throwback hit, Springsteen was at last hitting his stride for once, an Alpine album of his generated a second top 40 hit. The follow up single Fade Away reached number 20 in March of 1981. And for once, Springsteen gave away a hit to another artist for fully intentionally. Gary U.S. bonds, the classic R and B singer who had topped the Hot 100 way back in 1961 with quarter to three, when Bruce was all of 10, recorded this little Girl, a Darkness on the Edge of Town outtake that Springsteen deliberately refashioned to suit him. Springsteen and little Stephen Van Zant co produced Gary US Bond's entire 1981 album Dedication. This Little Girl. The lead single peaked at number 11 on the Hot 100 in June of 81. The bonds single could easily have fit in on Springsteen's the River. The album, which rode the Billboard LP chart for months, ultimately ranking as one of the 10 biggest sellers of 1981, was chock a block with good time rock and roll like the fan favorite out in the Street. But not all of this two records set was a party critics called the River, Springsteen's first fully adult album, released just after his 31st birthday. And the gimlet eyed themes from its predecessor, Darkness on the Edge of Town, about the breakdown of the American dream only became more pronounced on deep cuts like the album's title track, the River. This duality of Springsteen, the celebration and the desolation his road tested rave ups side by side with his Dust bowl dirges. It's a dichotomy that Bruce never tried to settle in his career. He played both sides. On his next album, 1982's Nebraska, Bruce leaned fully bleak.

[Bruce Springsteen (song excerpts)]

Mr. State Trooper, please don't stop me.

[Chris Melanfi]

Coming off of the success of the River, Bruce Springsteen probably could have cracked the top 10 with just about anything. So he tested that theory by writing a collection of stark demos that he recorded at home by himself on a four track recorder. He'd been listening to an even wider array of material than Gary US Bonds or the Ramones. Cutting edge edge synth rockers Suicide, the musical art project of vocalist Alan Vega and keyboardist Martin Rev, powerfully moved Springsteen when he heard their self titled 1977 debut, especially Vega's blood curdling screams on the Vietnam PTSD story. Frankie Teardrop. Frank did it on the home recording of his own track State Trooper, Springsteen channeled Suicide not only in the song's stark heartbeat rhythm, but also Bruce's harrowing shrieks near the end of the song. When Bruce took these raw songs into the studio and tried to re record them with the E Street Band, he found that the yearning, high, lonesome tracks worked best the way they sounded on his original homemade tape. So that tape became Nebraska. Such was Springsteen's reputation by 1982 that, as uncommercial as it was, Nebraska shot into the album chart top 10 in just two weeks, reaching a number three peak in under a month. It was not the kind of album to spawn pop hits, but at AOR Radio, which finally had its own Billboard chart, the lead single, Atlantic City, cracked the top 10 the same week the LP peaked on the charts. Bruce Springsteen was now solidly established as a rock God, but he still wasn't a pop icon, nor was he trying to be. But the other, more rollicking side of Bruce was also peeking out among the songs he demoed at home. Several of those songs, the ones he didn't use for Nebraska, would in fact eventually be recorded by the E Street Band and in bigger arrangements and faster tempos. Little did Bruce Springsteen realize that at the same time he had made his least poppy album, he had also built the framework for his biggest one, even if the lyrics to these songs were often just as bleak. When we come back, Springsteen shows his ass, literally, and becomes an icon. For better and for worse. Mega stardom isn't all it's cracked up to be, but it does inspire some great songs. Non Slate plus listeners will hear the rest of this episode in two weeks. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Asha Soluja, and we also had help from Rosemary Belson. June Thomas is the senior managing producer and Gabriel Roth, the editorial director of Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of [e-mail] podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and request. Review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. We'll see you for part two in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanfi.