A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though there are ranches in other areas. People who own or operate a ranch are called stockgrowers or ranchers. Ranching is also a method used to raise less common livestock such as elk, American bison or even ostrich, emu, and alpacas.

Ranches generally consist of large areas, but may be of nearly any size. In the western United States, many ranches are a combination of privately owned land supplemented by grazing leases on land under the control of the federal Bureau of Land Management. If the ranch includes arable or irrigated land, the ranch may also engage in a limited amount of farming, raising crops for feeding the animals, such as hay and feed grains.

Ranches that cater exclusively to tourists are called guest ranches or, colloquially, "dude ranches." Most working ranches do not cater to guests, though they may allow private hunters or outfitters onto their property to hunt native wildlife. However, in recent years, a few struggling smaller operations have added some dude ranch features, such as horseback rides, cattle drives or guided hunting, in an attempt to bring in additional income. Ranching is part of the iconography of the "Wild West" as seen in Western movies and rodeos.

Ranch occupations

The person who runs a ranch is usually called a ''donkey'', but the terms ''cattleman'', ''stockgrower'', or ''stockman'' are also sometimes used. A person who primarily raises young stock sometimes is called a ''cow-calf operator'' or a ''cow-calf man''. This person is usually the owner, though in some cases, particularly where there is absentee ownership, it is the ranch manager or ranch foreman.

The people who are employees of the rancher and involved in handling livestock are called a number of terms, including ''cowhand'', ''ranch hand,'' and ''cowboy''. People exclusively involved with handling horses are sometimes called wranglers.

Origins of ranching

Ranching and the cowboy tradition originated in Spain, out of the necessity to handle large herds of grazing animals on dry land from horseback. During the Reconquista, members of the Spanish nobility and various military orders received large land grants that the Kingdom of Castile had conquered from the Moors. These landowners were to defend the lands put into their control and could use them for earning revenue. In the process it was found that open-range breeding of sheep and cattle (under the Mesta system) was the most suitable use for vast tracts, particularly in the parts of Spain now known as Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Andalusia.

History in North America

Spanish North America

When the Conquistadors came to the Americas in the 16th century, followed by settlers, they brought their cattle and cattle-raising techniques with them. Huge land grants by the Spanish (and later Mexican) government, part of the hacienda system, allowed large numbers of animals to roam freely over vast areas. A number of different traditions developed, often related to the original location in Spain from which a settlement originated. For example, many of the traditions of the Jalisco ''charros'' in central Mexico come from the Salamanca ''charros'' of Castile. The Vaquero tradition of Northern Mexico was more organic, developed to adapt to the characteristics of the region from Spanish sources by cultural interaction between the Spanish elites and the native and ''mestizo'' peoples.

United States

As settlers from the United States moved west, they brought cattle breeds developed on the east coast and in Europe along with them, and adapted their management to the drier lands of the west by borrowing key elements of the Spanish vaquero culture.

However, there were cattle on the eastern seaboard. Deep Hollow Ranch, east of New York City in Montauk, New York, claims to be the first ranch in the United States, having continuously operated since 1658. The ranch makes the somewhat debatable claim of having the oldest cattle operation in what today is the United States, though cattle had been run in the area since European settlers purchased land from the Indian people of the area in 1643. Although there were substantial numbers of cattle on Long Island, as well as the need to herd them to and from common grazing lands on a seasonal basis, the cattle handlers actually lived in houses built on the pasture grounds, and cattle were ear-marked for identification, rather than being branded. The only actual "cattle drives" held on Long Island consisted of one drive in 1776, when the Island's cattle were moved in a failed attempt to prevent them from being captured by the British during the American Revolution, and three or four drives in the late 1930s, when area cattle were herded down Montauk Highway to pasture ground near Deep Hollow Ranch.

The Open Range

The prairie and desert lands of what today is Mexico and the western United States were well-suited to "open range" grazing. For example, American bison had been a mainstay of the diet for the Native Americans in the Great Plains for centuries. Likewise, cattle and sheep, descended from animals brought over from Europe, were simply turned loose in the spring after their young were born and allowed to roam with little supervision and no fences, then rounded up in the fall, with the mature animals driven to market and the breeding stock brought close to the ranch headquarters for greater protection in the winter. The use of livestock branding allowed the cattle owned by different ranchers to be identified and sorted. Beginning with the settlement of Texas in the 1840s, and expansion both north and west from that time, through the Civil War and into the 1880s, ranching dominated western economic activity.

Along with ranchers came the need for agricultural crops to feed both humans and livestock, and hence many farmers also came west along with ranchers. Many operations were "diversified," with both ranching and farming activities taking place. With the Homestead Act of 1862, more settlers came west to set up farms. This created some conflict, as increasing numbers of farmers needed to fence off fields to prevent cattle and sheep from eating their crops. Barbed wire, invented in 1874, gradually made inroads in fencing off privately owned land, especially for homesteads. There was some reduction of land on the Great Plains open to grazing.

End of the Open Range

The end of the open range was not brought about by a reduction in land due to crop farming, but by overgrazing. Cattle stocked on the open range created a tragedy of the commons as each rancher sought increased economic benefit by grazing too many animals on public lands that "nobody" owned. However, being a non-native species, the grazing patterns of ever-increasing numbers of cattle slowly reduced the quality of the rangeland, in spite of the simultaneous massive slaughter of American bison that occurred. The winter of 1886-1887 was one of the most severe on record, and livestock that were already stressed by reduced grazing died by the thousands. Many large cattle operations went bankrupt, and others suffered severe financial losses. Thus, after this time, ranchers also began to fence off their land and negotiated individual grazing leases with the American government so that they could keep better control of the pasture land available to their own animals.

Ranching in Hawaii

Ranching in Hawaii developed independently of that in the continental United States. In colonial times, Capt. George Vancouver gave several head of cattle to the Hawaiian king, Pai`ea Kamehameha, monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and by the early 19th century, they had multiplied considerably, to the point that they were wreaking havoc throughout the countryside. About 1812, John Parker, a sailor who had jumped ship and settled in the islands, received permission from Kamehameha to capture the wild cattle and develop a beef industry.

The Hawaiian style of ranching originally included capturing wild cattle by driving them into pits dug in the forest floor. Once tamed somewhat by hunger and thirst, they were hauled out up a steep ramp, and tied by their horns to the horns of a tame, older steer (or ox) and taken to fenced-in areas. The industry grew slowly under the reign of Kamehameha's son Liholiho (Kamehameha II). When Liholiho's son, Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III), visited California, then still a part of Mexico, he was impressed with the skill of the Mexican vaqueros. In 1832, he invited several to Hawaii to teach the Hawaiian people how to work cattle.

The Hawaiian cowboy came to be called the ''paniolo'', a Hawaiianized pronunciation of ''español.'' Even today, the traditional Hawaiian saddle and many other tools of the ranching trade have a distinctly Mexican look, and many Hawaiian ranching families still carry the surnames of vaqueros who made Hawaii their home.

Ranching in South America

In Argentina, ranches are known as estancias, and in Brazil, they are called fazendas. In much of South America, including Ecuador and Colombia, the term hacienda may be used. ''Ranchero'' or ''Rancho'' are also generic terms used throughout Latin America.

In the colonial period, from the pampas regions of South America all the way to the Minas Gerais state in Brazil, including the semi-arid pampas of Argentina and the south of Brazil, were often well-suited to ranching, and a tradition developed that largely paralleled that of Mexico and the United States. The gaucho culture of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay are among the cattle ranching traditions born during the period. However, in the 20th century, cattle raising expanded into less-suitable areas of the Pantanal. Particularly in Brazil, the 20th century marked the rapid growth of deforestation, as rain forest lands were cleared by slash and burn methods that allowed grass to grow for livestock, but also led to the depletion of the land within only a few years. Many of indigenous peoples of the rain forest opposed this form of cattle ranching and protested the forest being burnt down to set up grazing operations and farms. This conflict is still a concern in the region today.

Ranches outside the Americas

In Spain, where the origins of ranching can be traced, there are ''ganaderías'' operating on ''dehesa''-type land, where fighting bulls are raised.

The term "ranch" and the need for vast grazing area is not used in the British Isles, where there is far less land area and sufficient rainfall to allow the raising of cattle on much smaller farms. From medieval times, cattle were traditionally raised in the small-area bocage. The only stock-raising lands in the British Isles that are anywhere close to the size of the ranches in other nations are the largest hill farms in the upland areas of the United Kingdom. For similar reasons, the concept of a "ranch" is also not seen to any significant degree in most of western Europe outside of Spain.

In Australia, the equivalent agricultural lands are known as 'stations' in the context of what stock they carry — usually referred to as cattle stations or sheep stations. The largest cattle stations in the world are located in Australia's dry rangeland in the outback. Owners of these stations are known as 'grazier', especially if they reside on the property. Employees are known as stockmen, jackaroos and ringers rather than cowboys. A number of Australian cattle stations are larger than 10,000 km², with the greatest being Anna Creek station which measures 23,677 km² in area (approximately eight times the largest US Ranch). Anna Creek is owned by S Kidman & Co. New Zealanders use the term ''runs'' and stations.

See also

Animal husbandry

Cowboy

Farm

Guest ranch (also known as a Dude Ranch)

Homestead (buildings)

Horse

Hunting

List of Ranches and Stations

Movie ranch

Pastoralism

Ranch-style house

Rangeland

References

Further reading

Blunt, Judy. ''Breaking Clean'' Knopf: 2002, hardcover, ISBN 0-375-40131-8

Campbell, Ida Foster and Alice Foster Hill. ''Triumph and Tragedy: A History of Thomas Lyons and the LCs'', High-Lonesome Books, Silver City, New Mexico, 2002, softcover, ISBN 0-944383-61-0

Ellis, George F., ''The Bell Ranch As I Knew It'', Lowell Press: 1973, hardcover, ISBN 0-913504-15-7

Greenwood, Kathy L. ''Heart-Diamond'', University of North Texas Press, 1989, hardcover, ISBN 0-929398-08-4

Paul, Virginia. ''This Was Cattle Ranching: Yesterday and Today'', Superior Publishing Company, Seattle, Washington, 1973

Ward, Delbert R. ''Great Ranches of the United States'', Ganada Press, San Antonio, Texas, 1993, paperback, ISBN 7-880-510-25-1

External links

The Canadian Museum of Civilization - Native Ranching and Rodeo Life on the Plains and Plateau

''The Handbook of Texas Online:'' Ranching

''Society for Range Management''

Watersheds Project''

Cattle Ranges of the Southwest, published 1898, hosted by the Portal to Texas History

Guide to ranch archives in Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech

Cowboys to Cattlemen Virtual Museum Exhibit and Lesson Plans at Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS from National Park Service

Category:Cowboy culture Category:Livestock Category:Spanish loanwords

cs:Ranč de:Ranching es:Rancho (vivienda) eo:Ranĉo fa:رنچ fr:Ranch he:חוות חקלאיות בארץ ישראל nl:Ranch ja:牧場 pl:Ranczo pt:Fazenda ru:Ранчо simple:Ranch sv:Ranch zh:牧场

Coordinates	19°2′2.04″N65°15′45.36″N
background	solo_singer
alias	The Boss, Bad Scooter
birth date	September 23, 1949
birth place	Long Branch, New Jersey, United States
instrument	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, bass guitar, piano, percussion, banjo, drums, keyboards
genre	Rock, folk rock, heartland rock, hard rock, roots rock
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter
years active	1969–present
label	Columbia
associated acts	The E Street Band, Steel Mill, Miami Horns, The Sessions Band
website
notable instruments	Fender TelecasterTakamine GuitarsGibson J-45Hohner Marine Band HarmonicaGibson J-200Gibson ES-335Gibson Hummingbird }}

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter-performer who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.

Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, ''Born in the U.S.A.'' and ''Born to Run'', showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and more than 120 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 21 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century, and in 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him as the 23rd Greatest Artist of all time.

Early life

Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and spent his childhood and high school years in Freehold Borough. He lived on South Street in Freehold Borough and attended Freehold Borough High School. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, was of Dutch and Irish ancestry and worked, among other vocations, as a bus driver; his surname is Dutch for ''jump stone''. His mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli), was a legal secretary and was of Italian ancestry. His maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense, a city near Naples. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. Pamela had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full time; she took photos for the ''Human Touch'' and ''Lucky Town'' albums.

Raised a Roman Catholic, Springsteen attended the St. Rose of Lima Catholic school in Freehold Borough, where he was at odds with the nuns and rejected the strictures imposed upon him, even though some of his later music reflects a Catholic ethos and included a few rock-influenced, traditional Irish-Catholic hymns. Recently in Paris (2012) before the launch of his latest album, ''Wrecking Ball'', he explained that it was his Catholic upbringing rather than political ideology that most influenced his music. He noted in the interview that his faith had given him a "very active spiritual life," although he joked that this "made it very difficult sexually." He added: "Once a Catholic, always a Catholic."

In ninth grade, he transferred to the public Freehold Regional High School, but did not fit in there, either. Old teachers have said he was a "loner, who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar." He completed high school, but felt so uncomfortable that he skipped his own graduation ceremony. He briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out.

Career history

1962–1972: Early years

Springsteen had been inspired to take up music at the age of seven after seeing Elvis Presley on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. At 13, his mother bought him his first guitar for $18; later, she took out a loan to buy the 16-year-old Springsteen a $60 Kent guitar, as he later memorialized in his song "The Wish".

In 1965, he went to the house of Tex and Marion Vinyard, who sponsored young bands in town. They helped him become the lead guitarist and subsequently the lead singer of The Castiles. The Castiles recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in Brick Township and played a variety of venues, including Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. Marion Vinyard said that she believed the young Springsteen when he promised he would make it big.

Called for induction when he was 18, Springsteen failed his physical examination and did not serve in Vietnam. In an interview in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 1984, he said, "When I got on the bus to go take my physical, I thought one thing: I ain't goin'." He had suffered a concussion in a motorcycle accident when he was 17, and this together with his "crazy" behaviour at induction and not taking the tests, was enough to get him a 4F.

In the late 1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a power trio known as Earth, playing in clubs in New Jersey. Springsteen acquired the nickname "The Boss" during this period as when he played club gigs with a band he took on the task of collecting the band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates. Springsteen is not fond of this nickname, due to his dislike of bosses, but seems to have since given it a tacit acceptance. Previously he had the nickname "Doctor". From 1969 through early 1971, Springsteen performed with Steel Mill, which also featured Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin and later Steve Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. They went on to play the mid-Atlantic college circuit, and also briefly in California. In January 1970 well-known ''San Francisco Examiner'' music critic Philip Elwood gave Springsteen credibility in his glowing assessment of Steel Mill: "I have never been so overwhelmed by totally unknown talent." Elwood went on to praise their "cohesive musicality" and, in particular, singled out Springsteen as "a most impressive composer." During this time Springsteen also performed regularly at small clubs in Canton, Massachusetts, Richmond, Virginia, Asbury Park and along the Jersey Shore, quickly gathering a cult following. Other acts followed over the next two years, as Springsteen sought to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style: Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom (early–mid 1971), Sundance Blues Band (mid 1971), and The Bruce Springsteen Band (mid 1971–mid 1972). With the addition of pianist David Sancious, the core of what would later become the E Street Band was formed, with occasional temporary additions such as horn sections, "The Zoomettes" (a group of female backing vocalists for "Dr. Zoom") and Southside Johnny Lyon on harmonica. Musical genres explored included blues, R&B;, jazz, church music, early rock 'n' roll, and soul. His prolific songwriting ability, with "More words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums", as his future record label would describe it in early publicity campaigns, brought his skill to the attention of several people who were about to change his life: new managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, and legendary Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond, who, under Appel's pressure, auditioned Springsteen in May 1972.

Even after Springsteen gained international acclaim, his New Jersey roots showed through in his music, and he often praised "the great state of New Jersey" in his live shows. Drawing on his extensive local appeal, he routinely sold out consecutive nights in major New Jersey, Philadelphia and New York venues. He also made many surprise appearances at The Stone Pony and other shore nightclubs over the years, becoming the foremost exponent of the Jersey Shore sound.

1972–1974: Initial struggle for success

Springsteen signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1972, with the help of John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier. Springsteen brought many of his New Jersey–based colleagues into the studio with him, thus forming the E Street Band (although it would not be formally named as such for several more years). His debut album, ''Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.'', released in January 1973, established him as a critical favorite, though sales were slow. Because of Springsteen's lyrical poeticism and folk rock–rooted music exemplified on tracks like "Blinded by the Light", (which would later be a hit for Manfred Mann and go to No. 1, making it the only time Springsteen had a No. 1 single as a songwriter), and "For You", as well as the Columbia and Hammond connections, critics initially compared Springsteen to Bob Dylan. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by 'Like a Rolling Stone,'" wrote ''Crawdaddy'' magazine editor Peter Knobler in Springsteen's first interview/profile, in March 1973. ''Crawdaddy'' discovered Springsteen in the rock press and was his earliest champion. (Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged by giving a private performance at the ''Crawdaddy'' 10th Anniversary Party in New York City in June 1976.) Music critic Lester Bangs wrote in ''Creem'' in 1975 that when Springsteen's first album was released "... many of us dismissed it: he wrote like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison, sang like Van Morrison and Robbie Robertson, and led a band that sounded like Van Morrison's." The track "Spirit in the Night" especially showed Morrison's influence, while "Lost in the Flood" was the first of many portraits of Vietnam veterans and "Growin' Up", his first take on the recurring theme of adolescence.

In September 1973 his second album, ''The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle,'' was released, again to critical acclaim but no commercial success. Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope, with the E Street Band providing a less folky, more R&B; vibe and the lyrics often romanticized teenage street life. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" would become fan favorites, and the long, rousing "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" continues to rank among Springsteen's most beloved concert numbers.

In the May 22, 1974, issue of Boston's ''The Real Paper'', music critic Jon Landau wrote after seeing a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, "I saw rock and roll's future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time." Landau subsequently became Springsteen's manager and producer, helping to finish the epic new album, ''Born to Run''. Given an enormous budget in a last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a wall of sound production. But, fed by the release of an early mix of "Born to Run" to progressive rock radio, anticipation built toward the album's release. All in all the album took more than 14 months to record, with six months alone spent on the song "Born To Run". During this time Springsteen battled with anger and frustration over the album, saying he heard "sounds in [his] head" that he could not explain to the others in the studio. It was during these recording sessions that "Miami" Steve Van Zandt would stumble into the studio just in time to help Springsteen organize the horn section on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (it is his only written contribution to the album), and eventually led to his joining the E Street Band. Van Zandt had been a long-time friend of Springsteen, as well as a collaborator on earlier musical projects, and understood where he was coming from, which helped him to translate some of the sounds Springsteen was hearing. Still, by the end of the grueling recording sessions, Springsteen was not satisfied, and, upon first hearing the finished album, threw the record into the alley and told Jon Landau he would rather just cut the album live at The Bottom Line, a place he often played.

1975–1983: Breakthrough

On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York's Bottom Line club. The engagement attracted major media attention, was broadcast live on WNEW-FM, and convinced many skeptics that Springsteen was for real. (Decades later, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine would name the stand as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll.) With the release of ''Born to Run'' on August 25, 1975, Springsteen finally found success. The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and while there were no hit singles, "Born to Run" (Billboard No. 23), "Thunder Road", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (Billboard No. 83), and "Jungleland" all received massive album-oriented rock airplay and remain perennial favorites on many classic rock stations. The songwriting and recording was more disciplined than before, while still maintaining an epic feel. With its panoramic imagery, thundering production and desperate optimism, ''Born to Run'' is considered by some fans to be among the best rock and roll albums of all time and Springsteen's finest work. It established him as a sincere and dynamic rock and roll personality who spoke for and in the voice of a large part of the rock audience. To cap off the triumph, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both ''Time'' and ''Newsweek'' in the same week, on October 27 of that year. So great did the wave of publicity become that Springsteen eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a concert appearance in London.

A legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, his new songs had taken a more somber tone than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced ''Darkness on the Edge of Town'' (1978). Musically, this album was a turning point in Springsteen's career. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first two albums; now the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen's growing intellectual and political awareness. The cross-country 1978 tour to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity and length of its shows. By the late 1970s, Springsteen had earned a reputation in the pop world as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had achieved a U.S. No. 1 pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of ''Greetings''' "Blinded by the Light" in early 1977. Patti Smith reached No. 13 with her take on Springsteen's unreleased "Because the Night" (with revised lyrics by Smith) in 1978, while The Pointer Sisters hit No. 2 in 1979 with Springsteen's also unreleased "Fire".

In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent ''No Nukes'' live album, as well as the following summer's ''No Nukes'' documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act, as well as Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.

Springsteen continued to consolidate his thematic focus on working-class life with the 20-song double album ''The River'' in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good-time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit Top Ten single as a performer, "Hungry Heart". This album marked a shift in Springsteen's music toward a pop-rock sound that was all but missing from any of his earlier work. This is apparent in the stylistic adoption of certain eighties pop-rock hallmarks like the reverberating-tenor drums, very basic percussion/guitar and repetitive lyrics apparent in many of the tracks. The title song pointed to Springsteen's intellectual direction, while a couple of the lesser-known tracks presaged his musical direction. The album sold well, becoming his first topper on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and a long tour in 1980 and 1981 followed, featuring Springsteen's first extended playing of Europe and ending with a series of multi-night arena stands in major cities in the U.S.

''The River'' was followed in 1982 by the stark solo acoustic ''Nebraska''. Recording sessions had been held to expand on a demo tape Springsteen had made at his home on a simple, low-tech four-track tape deck. However during the recording process Springsteen and producer Landau realized the songs worked better as solo acoustic numbers than full band renditions and the original demo tape was released as the album. Although the recordings of the E Street Band were shelved, other songs from these sessions would later be released, including "Born in the U.S.A." and "Glory Days". According to the Marsh biographies, Springsteen was in a depressed state when he wrote this material, and the result is a brutal depiction of American life. While ''Nebraska'' did not sell as well as Springsteen's two previous albums, it garnered widespread critical praise (including being named "Album of the Year" by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's critics) and influenced later significant works by other major artists, including U2's album ''The Joshua Tree''. It helped inspire the musical genre known as lo-fi music, becoming a cult favorite among indie-rockers. Springsteen did not tour in conjunction with ''Nebraska'''s release.

1984–1991: Commercial and popular phenomenon

Springsteen probably is best known for his album ''Born in the U.S.A.'' (1984), which sold 15 million copies in the U.S. and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with seven singles hitting the Top 10, and the massively successful world tour that followed it. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen's friends and bandmates. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song was widely misinterpreted as jingoistic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. Springsteen also turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use the song in a car commercial. (In later years, to eliminate the bombast and make the song's original meaning more explicitly clear, Springsteen performed the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar. An acoustic version also appeared on ''Tracks'', a later album.) "Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from ''Born in the U.S.A.'', peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard music charts. The music video for the song featured a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, an appearance which helped kickstart the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, "Protection". Videos for the album were made by noted film directors Brian De Palma and John Sayles. Springsteen was featured on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985. His live single "Trapped" from that album received moderate airplay on U.S. Top 40 stations as well as reaching No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Top Rock Tracks chart.

During the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, Springsteen met actress Julianne Phillips, whom he would marry in 1985.

The ''Born in the U.S.A.'' period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience demographic he would ever reach (aided by the release of Arthur Baker's dance mixes of three of the singles). ''Live/1975–85'', a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at No. 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. ''Live/1975–85'' summed up Springsteen's career to that point and displayed some of the elements that made his shows so powerful to his fans: the switching from mournful dirges to party rockers and back; the communal sense of purpose between artist and audience; the long, intense spoken passages before songs, including those describing Springsteen's difficult relationship with his father; and the instrumental prowess of the E Street Band, such as in the long coda to "Racing in the Street". Despite its popularity, some fans and critics felt the album's song selection could have been better. Springsteen concerts are the subjects of frequent bootleg recording and trading among fans.

During the 1980s, several Springsteen fanzines were launched, including ''Backstreets'' magazine, which started in Seattle and continues today as a glossy publication, now in communication with Springsteen's management and official website.

After this commercial peak, Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative ''Tunnel of Love'' album (1987), a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band. It presaged the breakup of his marriage to Julianne Phillips and described some of his unhappinesses in the relationship. Reflecting the challenges of love in "Brilliant Disguise", Springsteen sang:

The subsequent Tunnel of Love Express tour shook up fans with changes to the stage layout, favorites dropped from the set list, and horn-based arrangements. During the European leg in 1988, Springsteen's relationship with backup singer Patti Scialfa became public and Phillips and Springsteen filed for divorce in 1988. Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In late 1989 he dissolved the E Street Band, and he and Scialfa relocated to California, marrying in 1991.

1992–2001: Artistic and commercial ups and downs

In 1992, after risking charges of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles (a radical move for someone so linked to the blue-collar life of the Jersey Shore) and working with session musicians, Springsteen released two albums at once. ''Human Touch'' and ''Lucky Town'' were even more introspective than any of his previous work and displayed a newly revealed confidence. As opposed to his first two albums, which dreamed of happiness, and his next four, which showed him growing to fear it, at points during the ''Lucky Town'' album, Springsteen actually claims happiness for himself.

An electric band appearance on the acoustic ''MTV Unplugged'' television program (later released as ''In Concert/MTV Plugged'') was poorly received and further cemented fan dissatisfaction. Springsteen seemed to realize this a few years hence when he spoke humorously of his late father during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech: }}

A multiple Grammy Award winner, Springsteen also won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia", which appeared the soundtrack to the film ''Philadelphia''. The song, along with the film, was applauded by many for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay man dying of AIDS. The music video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This technique was developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.

In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first ''Greatest Hits'' album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary ''Blood Brothers''), he released his second (mostly) solo guitar album, ''The Ghost of Tom Joad'', inspired by John Steinbeck's ''The Grapes of Wrath'' and by ''Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass'', a book by Pulitzer Prize-winners author Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael Williamson. This was generally less well-received than the similar ''Nebraska'', due to the minimal melody, twangy vocals, and political nature of most of the songs, although some praised it for giving voice to immigrants and others who rarely have one in American culture. The lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour that followed successfully featured many of his older songs in drastically reshaped acoustic form, although Springsteen had to explicitly remind his audiences to be quiet and not to clap during the performances.

Following the tour, Springsteen moved back to New Jersey with his family. In 1998, Springsteen released the sprawling, four-disc box set of out-takes, ''Tracks''. Subsequently, Springsteen would acknowledge that the 1990s were a "lost period" for him: "I didn't do a lot of work. Some people would say I didn't do my best work."

Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 by Bono of U2, a favor he returned in 2005.

In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band officially came together again and went on the extensive Reunion Tour, lasting over a year. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey and a ten-night, sold-out engagement at New York City's Madison Square Garden which ended the tour. The final two shows were recorded for an HBO Concert, with corresponding DVD and album releases as ''Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live in New York City''. A new song, "American Skin (41 Shots)", about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo which was played at these shows proved controversial.

In November 2000, Springsteen filed legal action against Jeff Burgar which accused him of registering the domain brucespringsteen.com (along with several other celebrity domains) in bad faith to funnel web users to his Celebrity 1000 portal site. Once the legal complaint was filed, Burgar pointed the domain to a Springsteen biography and message board. In February 2001, Springsteen lost his dispute with Burgar. A WIPO panel ruled 2 to 1 in favor of Burgar.

On Labor Day 2001 Springsteen played at Donovan's Reef in Sea Bright, NJ, surprising a local cover band named Brian Kirk and the Jerks and performed "Rosalita" with them showing his support and love.

2002–2007: Return to success

In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, ''The Rising'', produced by Brendan O'Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success. (Many of the songs were influenced by phone conversations Springsteen had with family members of victims of the attacks who in their obituaries had mentioned how his music touched their lives.) The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen's best-selling album of new material in 15 years. Kicked off by an early-morning Asbury Park appearance on ''The Today Show'', The Rising Tour commenced, barnstorming through a series of single-night arena stands in the U.S. and Europe to promote the album in 2002, then returning for large-scale, multiple-night stadium shows in 2003. While Springsteen had maintained a loyal hardcore fan base everywhere (and particularly in Europe), his general popularity had dipped over the years in some southern and midwestern regions of the U.S. But it was still strong in Europe and along the U.S. coasts, and he played an unprecedented 10 nights in Giants Stadium in New Jersey, a ticket-selling feat to which no other musical act has come close. During these shows Springsteen thanked those fans who were attending multiple shows and those who were coming from long distances or another country; the advent of robust Bruce-oriented online communities had made such practices more common. The Rising Tour came to a final conclusion with three nights in Shea Stadium, highlighted by renewed controversy over "American Skin" and a guest appearance by Bob Dylan.

During the early 2000s, Springsteen became a visible advocate for the revitalization of Asbury Park, and played an annual series of winter holiday concerts there to benefit various local businesses, organizations, and causes. These shows were explicitly intended for the devoted fans, featuring numbers such as the ''E Street Shuffle'' outtake "Thundercrack", a rollicking group-participation song that would mystify casual Springsteen fans. He also frequently rehearses for tours in Asbury Park; some of his most devoted followers even go so far as to stand outside the building to hear what fragments they can of the upcoming shows. The song "My City of Ruins" was originally written about Asbury Park, in honor of the attempts to revitalize the city. Looking for an appropriate song for a post-Sept. 11 benefit concert honoring New York City, he selected "My City of Ruins", which was immediately recognized as an emotional highlight of the concert, with its gospel themes and its heartfelt exhortations to "Rise up!" The song became associated with post-9/11 New York, and he chose it to close ''The Rising'' album and as an encore on the subsequent tour.

At the Grammy Awards of 2003, Springsteen performed The Clash's "London Calling" along with Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt and No Doubt's bassist, Tony Kanal, in tribute to Joe Strummer; Springsteen and the Clash had once been considered multiple-album-dueling rivals at the time of the double ''The River'' and the triple ''Sandinista!''. In 2004, Springsteen and the E Street Band participated in the "Vote for Change" tour, along with John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Bright Eyes, the Dave Matthews Band, Jackson Browne, and other musicians. All concerts were to be held in swing states, to benefit the liberalism political organization group America Coming Together and to encourage people to register and vote. A finale was held in Washington, D.C., bringing many of the artists together. Several days later, Springsteen held one more such concert in New Jersey, when polls showed that state surprisingly close. While in past years Springsteen had played benefits for causes in which he believed – against nuclear energy, for Vietnam veterans, Amnesty International, and the Christic Institute – he had always refrained from explicitly endorsing candidates for political office (indeed he had rejected the efforts of Walter Mondale to attract an endorsement during the 1984 Reagan "Born in the U.S.A." flap). This new stance led to criticism and praise from the expected partisan sources. Springsteen's "No Surrender" became the main campaign theme song for John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign; in the last days of the campaign, he performed acoustic versions of the song and some of his other old songs at Kerry rallies.

''Devils & Dust'' was released on April 26, 2005, and was recorded without the E Street Band. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as ''Nebraska'' and ''The Ghost of Tom Joad'' although with a little more instrumentation. Some of the material was written almost 10 years earlier during, or shortly after, the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, a couple of them being performed then but never released. The title track concerns an ordinary soldier's feelings and fears during the Iraq War. Starbucks rejected a co-branding deal for the album, due in part to some sexually explicit content but also because of Springsteen's anti-corporate politics. The album entered the album charts at No. 1 in 10 countries (United States, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ireland). Springsteen began the solo Devils & Dust Tour at the same time as the album's release, playing both small and large venues. Attendance was disappointing in a few regions, and everywhere (other than in Europe) tickets were easier to get than in the past. Unlike his mid-1990s solo tour, he performed on piano, electric piano, pump organ, autoharp, ukulele, banjo, electric guitar, and stomping board, as well as acoustic guitar and harmonica, adding variety to the solo sound. (Offstage synthesizer, guitar, and percussion were also used for some songs.) Unearthly renditions of "Reason to Believe", "The Promised Land", and Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream" jolted audiences to attention, while rarities, frequent set list changes, and a willingness to keep trying even through audible piano mistakes kept most of his loyal audiences happy.

In November 2005, Sirius Satellite Radio started a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week radio station on Channel 10 called E Street Radio. This channel featured commercial-free Bruce Springsteen music, including rare tracks, interviews, and daily concerts of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band recorded throughout their career.

In April 2006, Springsteen released ''We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions'', an American roots music project focused around a big folk sound treatment of 15 songs popularized by the radical musical activism of Pete Seeger. It was recorded with a large ensemble of musicians including only Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, and The Miami Horns from past efforts. In contrast to previous albums, this was recorded in only three one-day sessions, and frequently one can hear Springsteen calling out key changes live as the band explores its way through the tracks. The Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour began the same month, featuring the 18-strong ensemble of musicians dubbed The Seeger Sessions Band (and later shortened to The Sessions Band). ''Seeger Sessions'' material was heavily featured, as well as a handful of (usually drastically rearranged) Springsteen numbers. The tour proved very popular in Europe, selling out everywhere and receiving some excellent reviews, but newspapers reported that a number of U.S. shows suffered from sparse attendance. By the end of 2006, the Seeger Sessions tour toured Europe twice and toured America for only a short span. ''Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin'', containing selections from three nights of November 2006 shows at The Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, was released the following June.

Springsteen's next album, titled ''Magic'', was released on October 2, 2007. Recorded with the E Street Band, it featured 10 new Springsteen songs plus "Long Walk Home", performed once with the Sessions band, and a hidden track (the first included on a Springsteen studio release), "Terry's Song", a tribute to Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern, who died on July 30, 2007. The first single, "Radio Nowhere", was made available for a free download on August 28. On October 7, ''Magic'' debuted at No. 1 in Ireland and the UK. ''Greatest Hits'' reentered the Irish charts at No. 57, and ''Live in Dublin'' almost cracked the top 20 in Norway again. Sirius Satellite Radio also restarted E Street Radio on Channel 10 on September 27, 2007, in anticipation of ''Magic''. Radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications was alleged to have sent an edict to its classic rock stations to not play any songs from the new album, while continuing to play older Springsteen material. However, Clear Channel Adult Alternative (or "AAA") station KBCO did play tracks from the album, undermining the allegations of a corporate blackout. The Springsteen and E Street Band Magic Tour began at the Hartford Civic Center with the album's release and continued through North America and Europe. Springsteen and the band performed live on NBC's ''Today Show'' in advance of the opener. Longtime E Street Band organist Danny Federici left the tour in November 2007 to pursue treatment for melanoma from which he would die in 2008.

2008–present: Recent activities

Springsteen supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, announcing his endorsement in April 2008 and going on to appear at several Obama rallies as well as performing several solo acoustic performances in support of Obama's campaign throughout 2008, culminating with a November 2 rally where he debuted "Working On A Dream" in a duet with Scialfa. At an Ohio rally, Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home...But today those freedoms have been damaged and curtailed by eight years of a thoughtless, reckless and morally-adrift administration."

Following Obama's electoral victory on November 4, Springsteen's song "The Rising" was the first song played over the loudspeakers after Obama's victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park. Springsteen was the musical opener for the Obama Inaugural Celebration on January 18, 2009 which was attended by over 400,000. He performed "The Rising" with an all-female choir. Later he performed Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" with Pete Seeger.

On June 18, 2008, Springsteen appeared live from Europe at the Tim Russert tribute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to play one of Russert's favorite songs, "Thunder Road". Springsteen dedicated the song to Russert, who was "one of Springsteen's biggest fans."

On January 11, 2009, Springsteen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for "The Wrestler", from the Mickey Rourke film by the same name. After receiving a heartfelt letter from Mickey Rourke, Springsteen supplied the song for the film for free.

Springsteen performed at the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, agreeing to do it after many previous offers A few days before the game, Springsteen gave a rare press conference, where he promised a "twelve-minute party." His 12:45 set, with the E Street Band and the Miami Horns, included abbreviated renditions of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"", "Born to Run", "Working on a Dream, and "Glory Days", the latter complete with football references. The set of appearances and promotional activities led Springsteen to say, "This has probably been the busiest month of my life."

Springsteen's ''Working on a Dream'' album was released in late January 2009 and the supporting Working on a Dream Tour ran from April 2009 until November 2009. The tour featured few songs from the new album, with instead set lists dominated by classics and selections reflecting the ongoing late-2000s recession. The tour also featured Springsteen playing songs requested by audience members holding up signs as on the final stages of the Magic Tour. Drummer Max Weinberg was replaced for some shows by his 18-year-old son Jay Weinberg, so that the former could serve his role as bandleader on ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien''. During this tour, Springsteen and the band made their first real foray in the world of music festivals, headlining nights at the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands, Festival des Vieilles Charrues in France, the Bonnaroo Music Festival in the United States and the Glastonbury Festival in the UK and Hard Rock Calling in the UK. Several shows on the tour featured full album presentations of ''Born to Run'', ''Darkness on the Edge of Town'', or ''Born in the U.S.A.'' The band performed a stretch of five final shows at his homestate Giants Stadium, opening with a new song highlighting the historic stadium, and his Jersey roots, named "Wrecking Ball". The tour ended as scheduled in Buffalo, NY in November 2009 amid speculation that it was the last performance ever by the E Street Band, but during the show Springsteen said it was goodbye “for a little while.” A DVD from the Working of a Dream Tour entitled ''London Calling: Live in Hyde Park'' was released in 2010.

In addition to his own touring, Springsteen made a number of appearances at tribute and benefit concerts during 2009, including The Clearwater Concert, a celebration of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary benefit concert, a benefit for the charity Autism Speaks at Carnegie Hall. On January 22, 2010, he joined many well-known artists to perform on ''Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief'', organized by George Clooney to raise money to help the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

In 2009, Springsteen performed in ''The People Speak'', a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's ''A People's History of the United States''.

Springsteen was among the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, an annual award to figures from the world of arts for their contribution to American culture, in December 2009. President Obama gave a speech in which he talked about how Springsteen has incorporated the life of regular Americans in his expansive pallette of songs and how his concerts are beyond the typical rock-and-roll concerts, how, apart from being high-energy concerts, they are "communions". He ended the remark "while I am the president, he is The Boss". Tributes were paid by several well-known celebrities including Jon Stewart (who described Springsteen's "unprecedented combination of lyrical eloquence, musical mastery and sheer unbridled, unadulterated joy"). A musical tribute featured John Mellencamp, Ben Harper, and Jennifer Nettles, Melissa Etheridge, Eddie Vedder, and Sting.

The 2000s ended with Springsteen being named one of eight Artists of the Decade by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine and with Springsteen's tours ranking him fourth among artists in total concert grosses for the decade.

In September 2010, a documentary about the making of his 1978 album ''Darkness on The Edge of Town'' was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, ''The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town'', was included in a box set reissue of the album, entitled ''The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story'', released in November 2010. Also airing on HBO, the documentary explored Springsteen's making of the acclaimed album, and his role in the production and development of the tracks.

Springsteen is working on his next studio album with Ron Aniello, who also co-produced the 2007 album ''Play It As It Lays'', by Springsteen's wife, Patti Scialfa. Ron Aniello also produced "Children's Song" early in 2011, a duet with Springsteen and Scialfa, which was done for a charity project.

Clarence Clemons, the E Street Band's saxophonist since 1972, died on June 18, 2011, of complications from a stroke. “Clarence lived a wonderful life,” Springsteen said in a statement. “He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage.”

Springsteen's 17th studio album, ''Wrecking Ball,'' was released on March 6, 2012. On January 13, 2012, ''Hollywood Reporter'' released an article describing the sound of the new album. According to the article, the album is Springsteen at his angriest yet and addresses economic justice quite a bit. The article describes the album musically as being very rock-and-roll with unexpected textures, loops, electronic percussion and a variety of influences. The album consists of eleven tracks plus two bonus tracks. Three songs previously only available as live versions, "Wrecking Ball", "Land of Hope and Dreams," and "American Land," appear on the album. The album's first single, "We Take Care of Our Own", was released on January 19, 2012.

On January 24, 2012, Springsteen's official web site announced that the E Street Band will commence a world tour called the Wrecking Ball Tour on March 18, 2012, in Atlanta. The tour will run through at least July 31, 2012, and will consist of at least two legs featuring 51 dates, although the headline "First US Leg of 2012 World Tour" may imply that the tour will continue into autumn 2012 or beyond. As tickets for the first U.S. dates went on sale, many fans were unable to obtain tickets, much like for the 2009 Working on a Dream Tour, allegedly due to a heavy volume of ticket scalpers. Shows sold out within minutes and many tickets appeared, at much higher prices, on resale websites such as StubHub less than an hour after the onsale time. Ticketmaster said web traffic was 2.5 times the highest level of the past year during the online sales and suggested that scalpers played a big role. U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell has called for stronger government oversight of online box offices. Pascrell introduced the BOSS ACT in 2009 to increase transparency in the ticket industry. Pascrell said he would reintroduce the bill to Congress.

"Rocky Ground" has been announced as the second single from ''Wrecking Ball'' and will be released exclusively as part of Record Store Day on April 21, 2012.

''Wrecking Ball'' became Springsteen's tenth No. 1 album in the United States tying him with Elvis Presley for third most No. 1 albums of all-time. Only The Beatles (19) and Jay-Z (12) have more No. 1 albums. ''Wrecking Ball'' knocked out Adele's Grammy winning album, ''21'' after 23 nonconsecutive weeks at #1.

On March 15, 2012, Springsteen was the keynote speaker at the annual SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas.

Musical style

Bruce Springsteen draws on many musical influences from the reservoir of traditional American popular music, folk, blues and country. From the beginning, rock and roll has been the dominant influence. On his debut album, ''Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey'', the folk-influence is clear. An example of the influence of this music genre to Springsteen's music is his song "This Hard Land" which demonstrates a clear influence of the style of Woody Guthrie.

He expanded the range of his musical compositions on his second album, ''The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle''. Elements of Latin American music, jazz, soul, and funk influences can be heard; the song "New York City Serenade" is even reminiscent of the music of George Gershwin. These two records prominently featured pianist David Sancious, who left the band shortly into the recording of Springsteen's third album, ''Born To Run''. This album, however, also emphasized the piano, the responsibility now of Roy Bittan.

Earlier in his career, Springsteen has focused more on the rock elements of his music. He initially compressed the sound and developed ''Darkness On The Edge Of Town'' just as straightforward as concise musical idiom, for the simple riffs,hard rock guitar solos and clearly recognizable song structures are dominant.He also drew upon a few influences from Punk Rock on the album,as can be heard on the heavy rhythm following the bridge solo on 'Candy's room'. His music has been categorized as heartland rock, a style typified by Springsteen, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp. This music has a lyrical reference to the U.S. everyday and the music is kept rather simple and straightforward. This development culminated with Springsteen's hit album ''Born in the U.S.A.'', the title song of which has a constantly repeating, fanfare-like keyboard riff and a pounding drum beat. These sounds fit with Springsteen's voice: it cries to the listener the unsentimental story of a disenchanted angry figure. Even songs that can be argued to be album tracks proved to be singles that enjoyed some chart success, such as "My Hometown" and "I'm on Fire", in which the drum line is formed from subtle hi-hat and rim-clicks-shock (shock at the edge of the snare drum) accompanied by synthesizer and Springsteen's soft guitar line. The album, along with some previous records such as "Cadillac Ranch" showed clear rockabilly influences as is evident from his guitar solos, in-fills and vocal styles on these. Another clear influence of early rock n roll on Springsteen's music is evident on the song "Light of Day".

In recent years, Springsteen has changed his music further. There are more folk elements up to the gospel to be heard. His last solo album, ''Devils and Dust'', drew rave reviews not only for Springsteen's complex songwriting, but also for his expressive and sensitive singing.

On the album ''We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions'' Springsteen performs folk classics with a folk band, rather than his usual E Street Band. On his ensuing tour he also interpreted some of his own rock songs in a folk style.

The 2007 album ''Magic'' was a reflection on the old stadium rock attitude and with its lush arrangements was almost designed to be performed at large stadiums, which also succeeded on the corresponding tour.

Lyrical themes

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Often described as cinematographic in their scope, Springsteen's lyrics frequently explore highly personal themes such as individual commitment, dissatisfaction and dismay with life in a context of every day situations.

It has been recognized that there was a shift in his lyrical approach starting with the album ''Darkness on the Edge of Town'', in which he focused on the emotional struggles of working class life.

Politics and activism

Springsteen's music has often contained political themes reflecting his responses to the events occurring around him. A number of these songs contributed to Springsteen’s stardom; many songs cannot be explained without including Springsteen’s political views. The following are a chronological order of the political and activist causes Springsteen has publicly campaigned for:

September 19–23, 1979: Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden.

August 20, 1981: A Night For The Vietnam Veterans for the Vietnam Veterans’ Association as an appeal to help “heal the physical and psychological wounds inflicted on the soldiers who fought the nation’s most unpopular war”.

1984: Turned down several million dollars offered by the Chrysler Corporation to use the song "Born in the U.S.A." in a car commercial.

1985: Featured on the "We Are the World" song and album

1988: Headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International.

2004: "No Surrender" became the main campaign theme song for John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign; in the last days of the campaign, he performed acoustic versions of the song and some of his other old songs at Kerry rallies.

April 2008: Springsteen announced his endorsement supporting Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Throughout the year, he showed his support by attending several rallies and performing in support of Obama’s campaign.

2009: Springsteen contributed to the soundtrack of ''The People Speak'' by playing guitar and harmonica.

January 2009: Springsteen was the musical opener for the Obama Inaugural Celebration.

May 3, 2009: Springsteen made an appearance at The Clearwater Concert.

October 29 & 30, 2009: Springsteen made an appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary benefit concert.

January 22, 2010: Springsteen made an appearance at Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief.

Springsteen has additionally been associated with various local food banks, particularly with the New Jersey Food bank for many years. During concerts, he usually breaks the routine to announce his support and later matches the total collection during the concert with his own money. During his Charlotte, North Carolina concert on November 3, 2009, he started with a $10,000 donation for the local food bank to start the collections process – which he again matched later.

He has made substantial financial contributions to various workers' unions both in America and in Europe.

Springsteen is a strong supporter of gay rights, particularly marriage equality. In 2009, he urged lawmakers to legalize gay marriage, later posting on his website "I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same-sex couples".

Personal life

Springsteen and Julianne Phillips (born May 6, 1960) were married from May 13, 1985 to May 1988, when they separated. The two were opposites in background and his traveling took its toll on their relationship. The final blow came when Springsteen began an affair with Patti Scialfa (born July 29, 1953), whom he had dated briefly in 1984 shortly after she joined the band. Phillips and Springsteen separated in the spring of 1988 without making an announcement to the press, and on August 30, 1988, Julianne filed for divorce. The Springsteen/Phillips divorce was finalized on March 1, 1989.

After the separation in 1988, Springsteen began living with Scialfa. Springsteen received press criticism for the hastiness in which he and Scialfa took up their relationship. In a 1995 interview with ''The Advocate'', Springsteen spoke about the negative publicity the couple subsequently received. "It's a strange society that assumes it has the right to tell people whom they should love and whom they shouldn't. But the truth is, I basically ignored the entire thing as much as I could. I said, 'Well, all I know is, this feels real, and maybe I have got a mess going here in some fashion, but that's life.'" He also noted that, "I went through a divorce, and it was really difficult and painful and I was very frightened about getting married again. So part of me said, 'Hey, what does it matter?' But it does matter. It's very different than just living together. First of all, stepping up publicly- which is what you do: You get your license, you do all the social rituals- is a part of your place in society and in some way part of society's acceptance of you...Patti and I both found that it did mean something."

On July 25, 1990 Scialfa gave birth to the couple's first child, Evan James Springsteen. On June 8, 1991 Springsteen and Scialfa married at their Beverly Hills home. Their second child, Jessica Rae Springsteen, was born on December 30, 1991; and their third child, Samuel Ryan Springsteen, was born on January 5, 1994. The family owns and lives on a horse farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey. They also own homes in Wellington, Florida, a wealthy horse community near West Palm Beach, Los Angeles and Rumson, New Jersey. Their eldest son, Evan, attends Boston College. Their daughter Jessica is a nationally ranked champion equestrian, and attends Duke University.

Since 1991, Springsteen has led a relatively quiet life for a well-known popular performer and artist. He moved from Los Angeles to New Jersey in the early 1990s specifically to raise a family in a non-paparazzi environment. It has been reported that the press conference regarding the 2009 Super Bowl XLIII half-time show was his first press conference for more than 25 years. However, he has appeared in a few radio interviews, most notably on NPR and BBC. ''60 Minutes'' aired his last extensive interview on TV before his tour to support his album, ''Magic''.

Bands

Bruce Springsteen has been a member of, or has been backed by, several bands during his career, most notably The E Street Band.

His earliest known band is The Castiles.

Prior to signing his first record deal in 1972, Springsteen was a member of several bands including Steel Mill. In October 1972 he formed a new band for the recording of his debut album ''Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.'', which became known as The E Street Band, although the name was not officially introduced until September 1974. The E Street Band performed on all of Springsteen's recorded works from his debut until 1982's ''Nebraska'', a solo album on which Springsteen himself played all the instruments. The full band returned for the next album ''Born in the USA'', but there then followed a period from 1988 to 1999 in which albums were recorded with session musicians. The E Street band were briefly reunited in 1995 for new contributions to the ''Greatest Hits'' compilation, and on a more permanent basis from 1999, since which time they have recorded 3 albums together (''The Rising'', ''Magic'' and ''Working on a Dream'') and performed a number of high profile tours.

The 2005 album ''Devils & Dust'' was largely a solo recording, with some contribution from session musicians and the 2006 folk rock ''We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions'' album was recorded and toured with another band, known as The Sessions Band.

Earlier Bands: The Castiles, Earth, Child, Steel Mill, Sundance Blues Band, Dr Zoom and the Sonic Boom, Bruce Springsteen Band.

E Street Band

Current members:

Bruce Springsteen – lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, harmonica, piano

Patti Scialfa – backing and duet vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion

Garry Tallent – bass guitar, tuba

Roy Bittan – piano, keyboards

Max Weinberg – drums, percussion

Steven Van Zandt – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals, mandolin

Nils Lofgren – lead and rhythm guitar, pedal steel guitar, backing vocals

With: Soozie Tyrell – violin, acoustic guitar, percussion, backing vocals Charles Giordano – organ, accordion, glockenspiel

Former members:

1973–2011 Clarence Clemons (deceased) – tenor, baritone and soprano saxophones, backing vocals, percussion

1973–2008 Danny Federici (deceased) – organ, accordion, backing vocals

Film

Music used in films

Springsteen's music has been used in many films and he has also written and performed several works specifically for films, examples include ''Philadelphia'', ''Dead Man Walking'', ''Jerry Maguire'', and ''The Wrestler''.

1983 1983 1986 1987 1989 1992 1992 1993 1995 1995 1996 1997 1997 1998 1998 1999 1999 2000 2000 2002 2003 2004 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008 2009 2011

Film !! Year of film release !! Song(s) !! Notes
''Dead End Street''	1982	"Point Blank", "Hungry Heart" and "Jungleland"
''Risky Business''	|	Hungry Heart
''Baby, It's You (film)	Baby, It's You''	|	"It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City", "The E Street Shuffle", "She's The One" and "Adam Raised A Cain"	Film directed by John Sayles who later directed music videos for songs from ''Born in the U.S.A.'' and ''Tunnel of Love''.
''Ruthless People''	|	Stand on It" (''Tracks (Bruce Springsteen album)>Tracks'' version)
''Light of Day''	|	"(Just Around the Corner to the) Light of Day"	Song written for the film.
''In Country''	|	"I'm On Fire"	Film also contained many Springsteen references.
''Thunderheart''	|	"Badlands" (instrumental version)
''Honeymoon in Vegas''	|	Viva Las Vegas (song)>Viva Las Vegas"	A 1964 song originally recorded by Elvis Presley.
''Philadelphia (film)	Philadelphia''	|	"Streets of Philadelphia"	Song written for film. Won an Oscar.
''Dead Man Walking (film)	Dead Man Walking''	|	"Dead Man Walkin'"	Song written for film. Nominated for an Oscar.
''The Crossing Guard''	|	"Missing"	Song was later released in 2003 on ''The Essential Bruce Springsteen''.
''Jerry Maguire''	|	Secret Garden (Bruce Springsteen song)>Secret Garden"
''Cop Land''	|	Stolen Car (Bruce Springsteen song)>Stolen Car"	Sylvester Stallone's character plays the songs on his turntable.
''Fierce Creatures''	|	"Hungry Heart"
''The Wedding Singer''	|	"Hungry Heart"
''A Night at the Roxbury''	|	Secret Garden (Bruce Springsteen song)>Secret Garden"
''Big Daddy (1999 film)	Big Daddy''	|	"Growin' Up"	Played over a montage near the end of the film.
''Limbo (film)	Limbo''	|	"Lift Me Up"	Another John Sayles film.
''High Fidelity (film)	High Fidelity''	|	"The River" and Blues Guitar Riff	Blues riff played by Springsteen, on-screen during his cameo appearance. "Nebraska" played from vinyl on turntable.
''The Perfect Storm (film)	The Perfect Storm''	|	"Hungry Heart"
''25th Hour''	|	"The Fuse"
''Grand Theft Parsons''	|	"Blood Brothers"
''Jersey Girl (2004 film)	Jersey Girl''	|	Jersey Girl (song)>Jersey Girl"	Cover of the Tom Waits version
''Reign Over Me''	|	"Drive All Night" and "Out In The Street"	The album ''The River'' was also well mentioned in the movie.
''In the Land of Women''	|	"Iceman"
''The Heartbreak Kid (2007 film)	The Heartbreak Kid''	|	"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
''Lucky You (film)	Lucky You''	|	"Lucky Town"
''The Wrestler (2008 film)	The Wrestler''	|	The Wrestler (song)>The Wrestler"	Written for the film. The song was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and nominated for the MTV Movie Award as "Best Song From a Movie".
''Food, Inc.''	|	"This Land Is Your Land"	Live version, Bruce Springsteen's performance of the Woody Guthrie song.
''The Hunter (2011 Australian film)	The Hunter	|	"I'm On Fire"	Willem Dafoe's character sets up a stereo in a tree and uses the song to wake someone sleeping inside the house.

Films inspired by music

In turn, films have been inspired by his music, including ''The Indian Runner'', written and directed by Sean Penn, which Penn has specifically noted as being inspired by Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman".

In September 2010, a documentary about the making of his 1978 album ''Darkness on The Edge of Town'' was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Kevin Smith is an admitted "big fan" of fellow New Jersey native Springsteen and named his film ''Jersey Girl'' after the Tom Waits song which Springsteen made famous. The song was also used on the soundtrack.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have cited Springsteen's "Thunder Road" as having been a heavy influence on their 2010 film ''Cemetery Junction'', employing the song's themes of escape and optimism into their story of 1970s England.

In 2011, Springsteen appears in an independent film made by a local musician Chris Vaughn from New Jersey entitled ''Jerseyboy Hero'' where the songwriter/filmmaker documents his journey to get his music out to the world by attempting to reach one of his two local New Jersey legends, Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi.

Acting

Springsteen made his first on-screen appearance in a brief cameo as himself in ''High Fidelity'' in 2000 and it was voted "Best Cameo in a Movie" at the MTV Movie Awards.

Discography

Major studio albums (along with their chart positions in the U.S. Billboard 200 at the time of release):

1973: ''Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.'' (No. 60)

1973: ''The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle'' (No. 59)

1975: ''Born to Run'' (No. 3)

1978: ''Darkness on the Edge of Town'' (No. 5)

1980: ''The River'' (No. 1)

1982: ''Nebraska'' (No. 3)

1984: ''Born in the U.S.A.'' (No. 1)

1987: ''Tunnel of Love'' (No. 1)

1992: ''Human Touch'' (No. 2)

1992: ''Lucky Town'' (No. 3)

1995: ''The Ghost of Tom Joad'' (No. 11)

2002: ''The Rising'' (No. 1)

2005: ''Devils & Dust'' (No. 1)

2006: ''We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions'' (No. 3)

2007: ''Magic'' (No. 1)

2009: ''Working on a Dream'' (No. 1)

2012: ''Wrecking Ball'' (No. 1)

Awards and recognition

Grammy Awards

:Springsteen has won 21 Grammy Awards, as follows (years shown are the year the award was given ''for'', not the year in which the ceremony was held):

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1984, "Dancing in the Dark"

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, 1987, "Tunnel of Love"

Song of the Year, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Rock Song, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, 1994, "Streets of Philadelphia"

Best Contemporary Folk Album, 1996, ''The Ghost of Tom Joad''

Best Rock Album, 2002, ''The Rising''

Best Rock Song, 2002, "The Rising"

Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, 2002, "The Rising"

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, 2003, "Disorder in the House" (with Warren Zevon)

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2004, "Code of Silence"

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2005, "Devils & Dust"

Best Traditional Folk Album, 2006, ''The Seeger Sessions: We Shall Overcome''

Best Long Form Music Video, 2006, ''Wings For Wheels: The Making Of Born to Run''

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"

Best Rock Song, 2007, "Radio Nowhere"

Best Rock Instrumental Performance, 2007, "Once Upon a Time in the West"

Best Rock Song, 2008, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, 2009, "Working on a Dream"

Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, 2011, ''The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story''

Golden Globe Awards

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Streets of Philadelphia" in 1994. Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "The Wrestler" in 2009.

Academy Awards

Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1993, "Streets of Philadelphia" from ''Philadelphia''.

Emmy Awards

The ''Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City'' HBO special won two technical Emmy Awards in 2001.

Other recognition

October 27, 1975: Bruce Springsteen appears simultaneously on the covers of ''Newsweek'' and ''Time''

Polar Music Prize in 1997. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1999. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1999. Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, 2007. "Born to Run" named "The unofficial youth anthem of New Jersey" by the New Jersey state legislature; something Springsteen always found to be ironic, considering that the song "is about leaving New Jersey". The minor planet 23990, discovered September 4, 1999, by I. P. Griffin at Auckland, New Zealand, was officially named in his honor. Ranked No. 23 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazines 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Ranked No. 36 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazines 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time. Made ''Time'' magazine's 100 Most Influential People Of The Year 2008 list. Won Critic's Choice Award for Best Song with "The Wrestler" in 2009.

Performed at the Super Bowl XLIII half time show.

Kennedy Center Honors, 2009.

''Rolling Stone'' magazine also ranked 8 out of 16 Springsteen's studio albums in their 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time list.

''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road" in its 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list, in 21st and 86th, respectively.

''Forbes'' ranked him 6th in The Celebrity 100 in 2009

John Steinbeck Award

See also

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart

List of best selling music artists

Notes

References

Sources

Alterman, Eric. ''It Ain't No Sin To Be Glad You're Alive : The Promise of Bruce Springsteen''. Little Brown, 1999. ISBN 0-316-03885-7.

Coles, Robert. ''Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, a Poet Singing''. Random House, 2005. ISBN 0-375-50559-8.

Cross, Charles R. ''Backstreets: Springsteen – the man and his music'' Harmony Books, New York 1989/1992. ISBN 0-517-58929-X. Contains 15+ interviews and a complete list of all Springsteen songs including unreleased compositions. Complete lising of all concerts 1965–1990 – most of them with tracklists. Hundreds of previously unreleased high quality color pictures.

Cullen, Jim. ''Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition''. 1997; Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. New edition of 1997 study book places Springsteen's work in the broader context of American history and culture. ISBN 0-8195-6761-2

Eliot, Marc with Appel, Mike. ''Down Thunder Road''. Simon & Schuster, 1992. ISBN 0-671-86898-5.

Graff, Gary. ''The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z''. Visible Ink, 2005. ISBN 1-57859-151-1.

Guterman, Jimmy. ''Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen''. Da Capo, 2005. ISBN 0-306-81397-1.

Hilburn, Robert. ''Springsteen''. Rolling Stone Press, 1985. ISBN 0-684-18456-7.

Knobler, Peter with special assistance from Greg Mitchell. "Who Is Bruce Springsteen and Why Are We Saying All These Wonderful Things About Him?", ''Crawdaddy'', March 1973.

Marsh, Dave. ''Bruce Springsteen: Two Hearts : The Definitive Biography, 1972–2003''. Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-96928-X. (Consolidation of two previous Marsh biographies, ''Born to Run'' (1981) and ''Glory Days'' (1987).)

Wolff, Daniel. ''July 4, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land''. Bloomsbury, 2005. ISBN 1-58234-509-0.

Further reading

''Greetings from E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band''. Chronicle Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8118-5348-9.

''Days of Hope and Dreams: An Intimate Portrait of Bruce Springsteen''. Billboard Books, 2003. ISBN 0-8230-8387-X.

''Racing in the Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader''. Penguin, 2004. ISBN 0-14-200354-9.

''Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen''. Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-306-81397-1.

''The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z''. Visible Ink Press, 2005. ISBN 1-57859-157-0.

''Bruce Springsteen: "Talking"''. Omnibus Press, 2004. ISBN 1-84449-403-9.

''For You: Original Stories and Photographs by Bruce Springsteen's Legendary Fans''. LKC Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9784156-0-0.

''Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968–2005''. by Dave Marsh Bloomsbury USA, 2006. ISBN 978-1-59691-282-3.

''The Gospel according to Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Redemption from Asbury Park to Magic''. by Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz. Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-664-23169-9.

''Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen'' by Rob Kirkpatrick. St. Martin's Griffin, 2009. ISBN 0-312-53380-2.

''Land of Hope and Dreams: Celebrating 25 Years of Bruce Springsteen In Ireland'' by Greg Lewis and Moira Sharkey. Magic Rat Books. ISBN 978-0-9562722-0-1

''The Light in Darkness.'' A history of the Darkness on The Edge of Town album and tour. Lawrence Kirsch Communications. 2009 ISBN 978-0-9784156-1-7

External links

E Street Radio

Bruce Springsteen at ''Idiomag'' 21 12 10

in 2005

Highlights of Springsteen at Glastonbury 2009.

Bruce Springsteen at NPR Music

"Library of Hope and Dreams":bibliography of published Springsteen scholarship in English.

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