County Cork Contae Chorcaí
Blarney Castle
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
Dáil Éireann	Cork East Cork North–Central Cork North–West Cork South–Central Cork South–West
EU Parliament	South
County seat	Cork
Government
• Type	County Council
Area
• Total	7,499 km2 (2,895 sq mi)
Area rank	1st
Population (2011)	518,218
• Rank	3rd
Code	C
Website	www.corkcoco.ie

County Cork (Irish: Contae Chorcaí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork (Irish: Corcaigh). Cork County Council is the local authority for the county.

Local government and political subdivisions[link]

There are two local authorities whose remit collectively encompasses the geographic area of the county and city of Cork. The county, excluding Cork city, is administered by Cork County Council while the city is administered separately by Cork City Council. Both city and county are part of the South-West Region. For standardized European statistical purposes, both Cork County Council and Cork City Council rank equally as first level local administrative units of the NUTS 3 South-West Region. There are 34 such LAU 1 entities in the Republic of Ireland.

Both local authorities are responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, the collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing.

The county is part of the South constituency for the purposes of European elections. For elections to Dáil Éireann, the county is divided into five constituencies - Cork East, Cork North–Central, Cork North–West, Cork South–Central and Cork South–West. Together they return 19 deputies (TDs) to the Dáil.

The population of Cork city stood at 119,418 in 2011, and that of the remainder of the county at 361,877. The remit of Cork County Council includes some suburbs of the city not within the area of Cork City Council.

For purposes other than local government, such as the formation of sporting teams, the term "County Cork" is often taken to include both city and county.

Geography and political subdivisions[link]

County Cork is located in the province of Munster. It borders four other counties: Kerry to the west, Limerick to the north, South Tipperary to the north-east and Waterford to the east. Cork is the state's second most populous county and the islands third most populous, with a total population of 518,218 and is the largest county by land area.

Baronies[link]

There are 24 historic baronies in the county - the most of any county in Ireland. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for many administrative purposes. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, where official Irish names of baronies are listed under "Administrative units".

Civil parishes and townlands[link]

There are 253 civil parishes in the county.^[1]

Townlands are the smallest officially defined geographical divisions in Ireland, there are approximately 5447 townlands in the county.

Mountains and upland habitats[link]

The county's main mountain ranges include: the Slieve Miskish and Caha Mountains on the Beara Peninsula, the Ballyhoura Mountains on the border with Limerick and the Shehy Mountains which contain Knockboy (706 m) the highest point in Cork. The Shehy Mountains are on the border with Kerry and may be accessed from the area known as Priests Leap, near the village of Coomhola. The Galtee Mountains are located across parts of Tipperary, Limerick and Cork and are Ireland's highest inland mountain range. The upland areas of the Ballyhoura, Boggeragh, Derrynasaggart and the Mullaghareirk Mountain ranges add to the range of habitats found in the county. Important habitats in the uplands include blanket bog, heath, glacial lakes and upland grasslands. Cork has the 13th highest county peak in Ireland.

Rivers and lakes[link]

The three great rivers the Bandon, the Lee and the Blackwater and their valleys dominate central Cork. Habitats of the valleys and floodplains include woodlands, marshes, fens and species-rich limestone grasslands. The river Bandon flows through many towns including Dunmanway in the west to the town of Bandon before draining into Kinsale Harbour on Ireland's south coast. Cork has two well-known sea loughs, Lough Hyne and Lough Mahon, and also contains many small lakes. An area has formed where the River Lee breaks into a network of channels weaving through a series of wooded islands. There are 85 hectares of swamp around Cork's wooded area. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carried out a survey of surface waters in County Cork between 1995 and 1997 which identified 125 rivers and 32 lakes covered by the regulations.

Coastline[link]

Cork has a mountainous and flat landscape with many beaches and sea cliffs along its coast. The southwest of Ireland is known for its peninsulas and some in Cork include the Beara Peninsula, Sheep's Head, Mizen Head and Brow Head. Brow head is the most southerly point of mainland Ireland. There are many islands off the coast of the county in particular off West Cork. Carbery's Hundred Isles is a term used to describe the islands around Long Island Bay and Roaringwater Bay. Fastnet Rock lies in the Atlantic Ocean 11.3 km south of mainland Ireland making it the most southerly point of Ireland. Many notable islands lie off Cork including Bere Island, Great Island, Sherkin Island and Cape Clear. Cork has 1,094 km of coastline, the second longest coastline of any county after Mayo which has 1,168 km.

Land and forestry[link]

Like many parts of Munster, Cork has rich fertile agricultural land and many bog and peatlands. Cork consists of approximately 74,000 hectares of peatlands which amounts to 9.8% of the county's total land area. And the county contains approximately 79,188 hectares (195,680 acres) of forest and woodland area or 10.5% of Corks land area which is decently higher than the national average of 9%.

Wildlife[link]

The Hooded Crow, corvus cornix is a common bird, particularly in areas nearer the coast. Due to this bird's ability to (rarely) prey upon small lambs, the gun clubs of Cork County have killed a large number of these birds in modern times.^[2]

A collection of the marine algae is housed in the Herbarium of the botany department of the University College Cork.^[3]

Parts of the South West coastline are a hotspots for sightings of rare birds, with Cape Clear being a prime location for bird watching. The island is also home to one of only a few Gannet colonies around Ireland and the UK.

A major attraction to the coastline of Cork is whale watching, with sightings of fin whales, basking sharks, pilot whales, minke whales, and other species being frequent.

History[link]

The county is colloquially referred to as "The Rebel County". This name has 15th Century origins, however from the 20th century the name has been more commonly attributed to the prominent role Cork played in the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921) when it was the scene of considerable fighting; in addition, it was an anti-treaty stronghold during the Irish Civil War (1922–23). Much of what is now county Cork was once part of the Kingdom of Deas Mumhan (South Munster), anglicised as "Desmond", ruled by the MacCarthy Mór dynasty. After the Norman Invasion in the 12th century, the McCarthy clan were pushed westward into what is now West Cork and County Kerry. Dunlough Castle, standing just north of Mizen Head, is one of the oldest castles in Ireland (A.D. 1207). The north and east of Cork were taken by the Hiberno-Norman FitzGerald dynasty, who became the Earls of Desmond. Cork City was given an English Royal Charter in 1318 and for many centuries was an outpost for Old English culture. The Fitzgerald Desmond dynasty was destroyed in the Desmond Rebellions of 1569–1573 and 1579–83. Much of county Cork was devastated in the fighting, particularly in the Second Desmond Rebellion. In the aftermath, much of Cork was colonised by English settlers in the Plantation of Munster.

In 1491 Cork played a part in the English Wars of the Roses when Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne, landed in the city and tried to recruit support for a plot to overthrow Henry VII of England. The mayor of Cork and several important citizens went with Warbeck to England but when the rebellion collapsed they were all captured and executed. Cork's nickname of the 'rebel city' originates in these events.

In 1601 the decisive Battle of Kinsale took place in County Cork, which was to lead to English domination of Ireland for centuries. Kinsale had been the scene of a landing of Spanish troops to help Irish rebels in the Nine Years' War (1594–1603). When this force was defeated, the rebel hopes for victory in the war were all but ended. County Cork was officially created by a division of the older County Desmond in 1606.

Michael Collins

In the 19th century, Cork was a centre for the Fenians and for the constitutional nationalism of the Irish Parliamentary Party, from 1910 that of the All-for-Ireland Party. The county was a hotbed of guerrilla activity during the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921). Three Cork Brigades of the Irish Republican Army operated in the county and another in the city. Prominent actions included the Kilmichael Ambush in November 1920 and the Crossbarry Ambush in March 1921. The activity of IRA flying columns, such as the one under Tom Barry in west Cork, was popularised in the Ken Loach film The Wind That Shakes The Barley. On December 11, 1920 Cork City centre was gutted by fires started by the Black and Tans in reprisal for IRA attacks. Over 300 buildings were destroyed, many other towns and villages around the county suffered a similar fate including Fermoy.^[5]

During the Irish Civil War (1922–23), most of the IRA units in Cork sided against the Anglo-Irish Treaty. From July to August 1922 they held the city and county as part of the so called Munster Republic. However, Cork was taken by troops of the Irish Free State in August 1922 in the Irish Free State offensive, that included both overland and seaborne attacks. For the remainder of the war, the county saw sporadic guerrilla fighting until the Anti-Treaty side called a ceasefire and dumped their arms in May 1923. Michael Collins, a key figure in the War of Independence, was born near Clonakilty and assassinated during the civil war in Béal na Bláth, both in west Cork.

Irish language[link]

County Cork has two Gaeltacht areas where the Irish language is the primary medium of everyday speech. These are Múscraí (Muskerry) in the north of the county, especially the villages of Cúil Aodha (Coolea) and Béal Átha an Ghaorthaidh (Ballingeary), and Oileán Chléire (Cape Clear Island), an island in the west.

There are 14,829 Irish language speakers in County Cork with 3,660 native speakers in the Cork Gaeltacht. In addition there are 6,273 who attend the 21 Gaelscoils and six Gaelcholáiste all across the county.^[6] According to the Irish Census 2006 there are 4,896 people in the county who identify themselves as being daily Irish speakers outside of the education system.

Ballingeary is an important centre for Irish-language tuition, with an active summer school, Coláiste na Mumhan, or the College of Munster.

Anthem[link]

The song "The Banks Of My Own Lovely Lee" is the song traditionally associated with the county. It is often heard at GAA and other sports fixtures involving the county.^[7]

Media[link]

There are several media publications printed and distributed in County Cork. These include publications from Thomas Crosbie Holdings, most notably the Irish Examiner (formerly the Cork Examiner) and its sister publication, the Evening Echo. Local and regional newspapers include the The Cork News,^[8] Carrigdhoun, the Cork Independent, The Corkman, the Mallow Star, the Douglas Post, the East Cork Journal and the Southern Star.

Radio stations available in the county include: Cork's 96FM and dual-franchise C103 (formerly 103FM County Sound), CRY 104.0FM, Red FM, and Life FM.

Places of interest[link]

Attractions include the Blarney Stone and Cobh, the port where many Irish emigrants boarded for their voyage to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa or the United States and also the last stop of the Titanic, before departing on its fated journey. It is home the World's Oldest Yacht Club, the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.

Fota Island is a tourist attraction due to Fota Wildlife Park which is the only wildlife park in Ireland, Fota House and Gardens, and the Fota Golf Club and Resort; a European Tour standard golf course which has also hosted the Irish Open in recent times.

West Cork is a popular destination for British, German, French and Dutch tourists, who visit the small villages and islands at Carbery's Hundred Isles including Sherkin Island, Oileán Chléire or Cape Clear Island and Dursey Island. Mizen Head, the "southwesternmost point in Ireland" is also in West Cork, as is Sheep's Head. West Cork is noted for its rugged natural beauty, fine beaches and distinct social atmosphere.

In 2010 the Cork and Swansea route re-opened to allow tourists and visitors to travel from Cork to Swansea.^[9]

Since the late 1970s, there have been direct ferries from Cork to Roscoff, France.^[10]

Economy[link]

The South-West region comprising counties Cork and Kerry contribute € 24,877 billion ($39.3 billion USD)(2005 values; 2008 exchange rate) towards the Irish GDP.^[11] The harbour area to the immediate east of the city is home to a large number of pharmaceutical and medical companies. Mahon Point Shopping Centre is Cork and Munster's largest shopping center and has over 75 stores including a retail park.

People[link]

The people of County Cork are often very vocal in their praise and admiration of their home county. This is especially true if they are based outside of Cork or are speaking of it to people of other counties. This has become somewhat of a joke among other Irish people. Cork people even sometimes refer to their native county as a separate country, the so-called "People's Republic of Cork" and claim to desire independence from the rest of the country. There is also a joking belief among the population of Cork that it is the "Real" capital of Ireland and they frequently refer to it as such.

Leading population centers
Rank	City	Population	Barony	Cork (County Capital) Cobh
1	Cork	190,384	Cork
2	Carrigaline	12,835	Kinalea
3	Cobh	11,303	Barrymore
4	Mallow	10,241	Fermoy
5	Midleton	10,048	Barrymore
6	Youghal	6,785	Imokilly
7	Fermoy	5,873	Condons & Clangibbon
8	Bandon	5,822	Carbery East
based on Irish Census 2006 Records

Demographics[link]

Cork city is the only city in the county and the second most populous city in the Republic of Ireland, with a 2006 estimated population of 190,384. Cork city is the third most populous city on the island of Ireland. According to the 2006 Census statistics, the county has 11 towns with a population of over 4,000. County Cork has a population of just under 500,000 making it the second most populous county in Ireland and the fourth most populous county on the island of Ireland. The county has a population density of 64 persons/km² which is much higher than neighbouring Kerry and Tipperary although quite low by world standards, and Cork has a mostly rural landscape. A large percentage of the population live in urban areas.

See also[link]

• High Sheriff of County Cork
• List of abbeys and priories in the Republic of Ireland (County Cork)
• Lord Lieutenant of Cork
• Regional accents of English

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: County Cork

Wikisource has the text of an 1879 American Cyclopædia article about County Cork.

• Cork County Council
• Guide to County Cork for Tourism & Business
• County Cork Travel guide
• People's Republic of Cork
• Cork's War of Independence
• Gaelscoil stats
• Irish Census 2006
• Gaeltacht Comprehensive Language Study 2007

v t e Counties of Ireland The counties are listed per province Connacht Galway Leitrim Mayo Roscommon Sligo Munster Clare Cork Kerry Limerick Tipperary (North Tipperary · South Tipperary) Waterford Leinster Carlow Dublin (Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown · Fingal · South Dublin) Kildare Kilkenny Laois Longford Louth Meath Offaly Westmeath Wexford Wicklow Ulster Antrim† Armagh† Cavan Donegal Down† Fermanagh† Londonderry† Monaghan Tyrone† Italics denote non-administrative counties. Brackets denote non-traditional counties. †denotes non-administrative counties of Northern Ireland

v t e Places in County Cork County town: Cork Towns Bandon Bantry Charleville Clonakilty Cobh Cork Dunmanway Fermoy Kanturk Kinsale Macroom Mallow Midleton Mitchelstown Passage West Skibbereen Youghal Villages and Townlands Adrigole Aghabullogue Aghada Ahakista Aherla Ahiohill Allihies Annabella Ardfield Ardgroom Ballinacurra Ballinadee Ballinagree Ballinascarty Ballincollig Ballineen Ballingeary Ballinhassig Ballinora Ballinspittle Ballintemple Ballycotton Ballydehob Ballydesmond Ballygarvan Ballylickey Ballymakeera Ballymore Ballyvourney Baltimore Banteer Béal na mBláth Belgooly Belvelly Blarney Boherbue Buttevant Canovee Carrigadrohid Carrigaline Carriganimmy Carrigtwohill Castlehaven Castlelyons Castlemartyr Castletown-Kinneigh Castletownbere Castletownroche Castletownshend Churchtown Cloghroe Clondulane Cloughduv Cloyne Coachford Conna Coolea Courtmacsherry Crookhaven Crookstown Crossbarry Crosshaven Cullen Doneraile Douglas Drimoleague Dripsey Dromahane Dungourney Durrus Enniskean Eyeries Farran Fountainstown Glandore Glanmire Glanworth Glasheen Glenbrook Glengarriff Glounthaune Goleen Gougane Barra Halfway Innishannon Kilbrittain Kilmichael Kilnamartyra Kilumney Kilworth Knockavilla Knocknagree Knockraha Leap Liscarroll Lisgoold Lismire Lombardstown Lyre Mayfield Meelin Milford Millstreet Minane Bridge Monard Monkstown Montenotte Mourneabbey Nad Newcestown Newmarket Nohoval Ovens Rathcormac Riverstick Rockchapel Rosscarbery Sallybrook Schull Shanagarry Shanbally Shanballymore Timoleague Togher Tower Union Hall Upton Waterfall Watergrasshill Whiddy Whitegate Landforms Mountains Ballyhoura Mountains Boggeragh Mountains Caha Mountains Derrynasaggart Mountains Galtee Mountains Mullaghareirk Mountains Shehy Mountains Slieve Miskish Mountains River Bandon Rivers River Blackwater River Lee Heads Brow Head Mizen Head Sheep's Head Bere Island Islands Cape Clear Island Carbery's Hundred Isles Fastnet Rock Dursey Island Great Island Sherkin Island List of townlands in County Cork Mountains and hills of County Cork Rivers of County Cork Geography of County Cork

Coordinates: 51°58′N 8°35′W / 51.967°N 8.583°W / 51.967; -8.583

		County Limerick	County Tipperary
	County Kerry		County Waterford
		County Cork    East
	Atlantic Ocean	Celtic Sea

Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen in 2009; Working on a Dream Tour in Valladolid, Spain
Background information
Also known as	The Boss, Bad Scooter
Born	(1949-09-23) September 23, 1949 (age 62) Long Branch, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Rock, folk rock, heartland rock, hard rock, roots rock
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, bass guitar, piano, percussion, banjo, drums, keyboards
Years active	1969–present
Labels	Columbia
Associated acts	The E Street Band, Steel Mill, Miami Horns, The Sessions Band
Website	www.brucespringsteen.net
Notable instruments
Fender Telecaster Takamine Guitars Gibson J-45 Hohner Marine Band Harmonica Gibson J-200 Gibson ES-335 Gibson 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.^[1]

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^[2] 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[link]

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, although he was frequently unemployed; his surname is Dutch for jump stone.^[3] His mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli), was a legal secretary and was of Italian ancestry.^[4] 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,^[5] 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.^[6] 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."^[7]

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.^[8] He briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out.^[6]

Career history[link]

1962–1972: Early years[link]

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.^[9]

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.^[10]

New Jersey beach towns such as Asbury Park inspired the themes of ordinary life in Bruce Springsteen's music.

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.^[11] Springsteen is not fond of this nickname, due to his dislike of bosses,^[12] but seems to have since given it a tacit acceptance. Previously he had the nickname "Doctor".^[13] 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[link]

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,^[14] 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.^[15] (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.)^[16] 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."^[17] 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."^[18] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[19]

1975–1983: Breakthrough[link]

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.^[20]) 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.^{[citation needed]}

Springsteen at Félix Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Ivory Coast during Amnesty International's 1988 Human Rights Now! Tour.

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.^{[citation needed]}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[link]

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.^[21] 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.^[22]

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

Springsteen performing on the Tunnel of Love Express at the Radrennbahn Weißensee in East Berlin on July 19, 1988.

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.^[23] 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[link]

In 1992, after risking fan accusations 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.^{[citation needed]} The music video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[25] 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."^[26]

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.^[27][28]

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[link]

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.^[29] 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.