71 - Bruce Springsteen

Glory days well they'll pass you by

At number 71 is Bruce Springsteen (& the E-Street Band!), who I have seen both at the age of 11 and 21. He'll probably still be touring when I'm 31, but what do I know.

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

Springsteen's recordings have tended to alternate between commercially accessible rock albums and somber folk-oriented works. Much of his status stems from the concerts and marathon shows in which he and the E Street Band perform intense ballads, rousing anthems, and party rock and roll songs, amongst which he intersperses whimsical or deeply emotional stories.

His most successful studio albums, Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A., epitomize his penchant for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily life in America, and the latter album made him one of the most recognized artists of the 1980s within the United States. Because of his support for the presidential campaigns of Senator John Kerry and President Barack Obama, Springsteen has gradually become identified with liberal politics. He is also noted for his support of various relief and rebuilding efforts in New Jersey and elsewhere, and for his response to the September 11 attacks, on which his album The Rising reflects.

He has earned numerous awards for his work, including twenty Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award, and continues to have a strong global fan base. He has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and 120 million worldwide. He was a 2009 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Discography -

1973: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (–)
1973: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (–)
1975: Born to Run (#3)
1978: Darkness on the Edge of Town (#5)
1980: The River (#1)
1982: Nebraska (#3)
1984: Born in the U.S.A. (#1)
1987: Tunnel of Love (#1)
1992: Human Touch (#2)
1992: Lucky Town (#3)
1995: The Ghost of Tom Joad (#11)
2002: The Rising (#1)
2005: Devils & Dust (#1)
2006: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (#3)
2007: Magic (#1)
2009: Working on a Dream (#1)

Favorite Songs -

Rosalita
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
Born to Run ("F*ck!")
Badlands
Adam Raised a Cain
Hungry Heart
Atlantic City
Streets of Philadelphia
Born in the USA
Glory Days
Dancing in the Dark
Human Touch
Lonesome Day
The Rising

The Boss is a favorite of my friend Matt and it's easy to see why. Bruce writes powerful songs that are either easy to relate to, or tell such an abstract story that you want to hear the song until the end anyway. He has an easily recognizeable croon to his voice (ala Eddie Vedder). I generally prefer his work with the E-Street Band to his solo stuff, for many reasons, but primarily to see Max Weinberg (also from Conan O'Brien fame).

Now listen to THE BOSS give a shoutout to the better part of NJ:


next up: a band who had to change their album name because of 9/11