The Ultimate Springsteen Book

This is an unbelievably beautiful book. Gillian Gaar has managed to fit a remarkable, long career and life of Bruce Springsteen into two hundred pages—an achievement in itself.

Gaar and Motorbooks present a deluxe hardcover in a slipcase. The book also features concert photography, images of rare memorabilia, gig posters, ticket stubs, period ads, and a gatefold Bruce Springsteen timeline. It even has an exclusive pullout poster and an 8″ x 10″ glossy photo.

Gaar chronicles and examines Springsteen’s career, his life, and, to me, the most interesting part of the book—his childhood and beginnings as a musician and songwriter, including the albums before his big success with Born to Run.

There’s so much information in this book that, in order to do it complete justice, I’d have to write a twenty-page article. So bear with me. I’m going to stay in a time period of Bruce Springsteen’s life that interests me the most.

The book shows how Springsteen’s blue-collar life and humble beginnings growing up influenced the subjects of his songs.

The book also has a chapter on Springsteen’s first band, The Castiles. Springsteen shared lead vocals with guitarist/vocalist George Theiss. The singles recorded were co-written by Theiss and Springsteen: “Baby I” and “That’s What You Get.”

There’s the chapter on Springsteen’s 1973 debut LP Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

How Springsteen co-wrote Patti Smith’s best-known and biggest hit, “Because the Night,” is another great Rock ‘N’ Roll story. Springsteen and the E Street Band cut a version, mostly instrumental with just the title sung. Jimmy Iovine, the engineer on the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions, heard the song and asked Springsteen for it. He had just gotten his first producing job working on an album with Patti Smith. Iovine gave her the tape. She wasn’t interested and didn’t listen to it until she was waiting for a long-distance call from her boyfriend, Fred Smith (soon to be her husband and former guitarist of MC5). When Smith heard the tape, she immediately loved the song, and the lyrics flowed like wine.

Another interesting chapter of the book focuses on the album I think is Springsteen’s best outing: Nebraska, released on September 30, 1982, by Columbia Records. Originally recorded as demos on a 4-track recorder, Springsteen intended to re-record the songs with the E Street Band but decided to release them as they were—bare and stripped down. In my opinion, Nebraska is Springsteen’s masterpiece.

The songs on Nebraska tell the stories of down-on-their-luck blue-collar characters facing hard life challenges and turning points. These characters are mostly outsiders, criminals, and mass murderers with little or no hope for the future. Apparently, the songs and album were inspired by Terence Malick’s great 1973 film Badlands.

Nebraska is solemn and thoughtful, with moments of grace and redemption. Previous albums had lots of energy, youth, optimism, and joy—sometimes overproduced, but nevertheless, the songs were well-constructed with masterful musicianship.

Nebraska shows how good a songwriter Springsteen is. He told Entertainment Weekly: “I just had to get my feet back into what I felt was real life.”

Gaar takes us through the iconic album Born in the U.S.A., the tours, and how his music and on-stage presence became a defining part of the 1980s, the aftermath, and how stardom never changed Bruce Springsteen.

There are chapters on his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, winning the Oscar for his song “Streets of Philadelphia” for the film Philadelphia, and the last-minute release of his hit single “Dancing in the Dark.” His iconic tours throughout the eighties and nineties are also covered.

But there is a very fascinating chapter on Springsteen’s lawsuit against Laurel Canyon, Ltd., owned by his manager and publisher, Mike Appel, who co-produced Born to Run. Backed by his future manager, Jon Landau, Springsteen was set to sign another contract with Appel. He stated that he couldn’t sign again if he didn’t understand the first contract. The allegations were fraud, undue influence, and breach of trust. The legal maneuvering, all parties would later learn, had far more to do with relationships than money. The lawsuit dragged on for ten months, finally being resolved with Appel receiving $800,000 and part of the publishing rights from Springsteen’s first three albums. In 1986, Appel sold his share of the publishing back to Springsteen.

Something I would like to mention is the detailed account of how Springsteen came to help many Vietnam veterans. He read Ron Kovic’s book Born on the Fourth of July. He and other friends had gotten out of going to the war, and Gaar surmised that Springsteen may have suffered a bout of survivor’s guilt. Soon, he was playing for benefits and helping raise money for the Vietnam Veterans of America.

All in all, Gillian Gaar has brought to the reader—and fans of his music—the ultimate Bruce Springsteen book.