Describes the life and music of one of America's greatest rock artists, providing an overview and analysis of the cultural, political, and personal forces that influenced his music and led him to explore issues like war, class disparity, and prejudice.

A vibrant biography of one of the greatest rock 'n' rollers, the America that made him, and the America he made. This smart, incisive biography traces Bruce Springsteen’s evolution from a young artist who wasn’t sure what he wanted to say to an acclaimed musician with a distinctive vision for a better society. Brilliantly analyzing and evoking Springsteen’s output, Marc Dolan unveils the pulsing heart of his music: its deep personal, political, and cultural resonances, which enabled Springsteen to reflect on his experiences as well as the world around him. The book is now updated with a new chapter on The Promise, Wrecking Ball, and the 2012 tour.

In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl's half-time show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That's how this extraordinary autobiography began. Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humour, and originality found in his songs. He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as "The Big Bang": seeing Elvis Presley's debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candour, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song "Born to Run" reveals more than we previously realized.

Packed full of insightful stories from Springsteen's long career, Bruce Springsteen: The Stories Behind the Songs takes a detailed look at each and every one of Springsteen's album tracks, providing a unique look at this rock legend's method, as well as some of the many anecdotes and tales that are prolific in his long music history. Deeply researched, laced with insight from decades of fandom and original reporting, this book is an exhaustive and unique look at the writing, recording and significance of Springsteen's singular catalog of songs. Each album is discussed and then each song is examined in terms of lyrical meaning, placing in historical context where necessary or relevant. It's the first book to cover every officially released track, from hits to obscurities, from 1974's Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. to 2014's High Hopes.

For more than three decades, Bruce Springsteen’s ability to express in words and music the deepest hopes, fears, loves, and sorrows of average Americans has made him a hero to his millions of devoted fans. Racing in the Street is the first comprehensive collection of writings about Springsteen, featuring the most insightful, revealing, famous, and infamous articles, interviews, reviews, and other writings. This nostalgic journey through the career of a rock-’n’-roll legend chronicles every album and each stage of Springsteen’s career. It’s all here—Dave Marsh’s Rolling Stone review of Springsteen’s ten sold-out Bottom Line shows in 1975 in New York City, Jay Cocks’s and Maureen Orth’s dueling Time and Newsweek cover stories, George Will’s gross misinterpretation of Springsteen’s message on his Born in the USA tour, and Will Percy’s 1999 interview for Double Take, plus much, much more.

A catalog nearly fifty years in the making, Bruce Springsteen's music remains popular and a frequent subject of study yet little critical attention has been given to its inclusion in film and television. This book examines a selection of films and TV shows from the 1980s to the present--including Mask, High Fidelity, The Sopranos and The Wrestler--that feature Springsteen's music on the soundtrack. Relating his thematic preoccupations with religion, the Vietnam War, the promise of the open road, economic disparity and blue-collar malaise, his songs color narrative and articulate the inner lives of characters. This book explores the many on-screen contexts of Springsteen's work from Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. to Springsteen on Broadway.

"It's All About the Music!"Welcome to another in the Legends of Rock & Roll series.This is, like the others, a mini-biography of one the greatest of American performers and bands, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Come with me for a walk down memory lane as I review the life of Bruce Springsteen, and especially, the music that he produced. We'll visit each of his hits and find out how they came to be written or how they were recorded; and discuss any trivia that might be associated with the music. This book is about the man and the band, but even more importantly, it's about the music. This series is my way of honoring the people that have brought so much joy to our lives over the years.It is an unauthorized fan tribute.Bruce Springsteen has been writing and performing since the late Sixties. Starting out as most performers and song writers do by writing and playing wherever and whenever he could, he was the member of several bands before putting together what is, arguably, the best band in the business, The E Street Band.Success did not come immediately to Bruce Springsteen. The break though came in 1975 with a rocker called "Born to Run". From then on, everyone took Bruce seriously. The Chapters include: Introduction - My remembrances of Bruce Springsteen in general and a kick-off for the book.Early Life - A brief summary of his life before the music started.Making Music His Life - How did Bruce get started in the business?Asbury Park - This is where Bruce got his start.First Album - Was the first one a success? The second one?"Born to Run" - After this album, everyone took him seriously."Darkness on the Edge of Town" - He followed up with another classic."The River" - This was his first number one album, but certainly not his last."Born in the U.S.A." - The album that would truly make him a legend. How many singles did the album produce?Patti Scialfa - Love and marriage was not an easy road for Bruce."Live/1975-85" - The first box set in the history of the charts to debut at number one.Disbanding the E Street Band - Bruce goes it alone, at least for a little while.Bringing Them Back Together - In 1999, Bruce brought the E Street Band back together again and they did a Reunion tour.Politics - For the first time Bruce got behind a candidate for President: John Kerry.Supporting Barack Obama - Continuing his support of Democratic candidates, he is firmly behind Obama in 2008.E Street Band - a mini-tribute to the members of the band, both past and present.Legacy of Bruce Springsteen - Every Legends book has a Legacy section where we review the awards and contributions of the artist.Afterword - My closing thoughts.Grammy Awards - A list of the Grammy Awards won by Bruce and the Band.Discography - A list of the major albums and singles by Bruce Springsteen.