Born to Run and the Fan Devotion to Bruce Springsteen

Here in the Garden State, Bruce Springsteen is a cultural icon: a beacon to hardworking struggle, the pleasures of rock and roll, and the possibilities and frustrations of the American Dream. This year, we celebrated the 50^th anniversary of his landmark album Born to Run with a small exhibit showcasing library items related to Springsteen and to this album. I’ve been a big Springsteen fan for about ten years, nerdily studying his music for my doctoral qualifying exam in musicology. I got to attend my first live performance in Philadelphia two years ago; definitely the greatest rock show of my life. For me, Springsteen is so special because he has such a way of combining artful lyrics within a rock-and-roll ethos that bridges divides and gives language and emotional release to millions of Americans. His work is serious, ambitious, poetic, and fun, which is almost an impossible act to pull off. Born to Run was Springsteen’s biggest release and also my personal introduction to the Boss, and I thought it deserved notice on its anniversary.

New Jersey has always been central to Springsteen’s origin story, and Rutgers University Libraries has an extensive collection of Springsteen books, records, and other unique material that helps celebrate this Jersey icon. Rutgers is home to the Sinclair New Jersey Collection as Special Collections and University Archives and our archivists are dedicated to collecting print materials on New Jersey and its residents; they have actively collected literal shelves of materials on Bruce Springsteen. What really stood out to me in putting this exhibit together is how these materials facilitated fans’ intense devotion to the Boss. Though spread across the country, these “tramps” (named after the final line “Tramps like us / Baby we were born to run”) were compelled to share information and personal perspectives on Springsteen’s concerts, creating a network of die-hard fans.

Here are a couple of my favorite items that I came across in the Sinclair Collection and that made it into the display.

Bruce Springsteen, by Teresa Celsi

What I love about this book is its size, racking in at 10cm tall, 8cm wide, less than a cm thick, and 80 miniscule pages. Like a late medieval prayer book, I imagine fans carrying around this tiny book for quick reference and devotion. It’s a pretty straightforward overview of his biography, so if you needed a quick reference in 1994, this little tome could be ready at a moment’s notice.

Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.: A Look at the Local Scene: The Bruce Springsteen Photo Discovery, by Chuck Yopp

For those fans who couldn’t take the pilgrimage to Springsteen’s ancestral home of Asbury Park, this photobook, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.: A Look at the Local Scene: The Bruce Springsteen Photo Discovery, was designed to introduce them to the most important locations in Springsteen’s life and those that show up in his songs. Yopp was an Asbury native who was there to document many of Springsteen’s early years in Asbury Park clubs (and his frequent returns) and sourced photographs from many other locals.

Through 300 pages of photographs, Yopp puts Springsteen’s life in intimate geographic focus, showing fans the spots where Bruce and his bandmates formed their musical identities. You can also see pictures of houses that Springsteen lived in, Springsteen and Clarence Clemons enjoying a day at the beach, and plenty of concert photos of Springsteen and the E Street Band performing in small clubs around Asbury Park.

Backstreets

Fans outside of New Jersey could also share information in the pre-internet age through the fan magazine Backstreets. Originally published by music journalist Charles R. Cross, Backstreets came out quarterly starting in 1980 and lasted until its final issue was released in 2023. Over those decades, I can just imagine those Springsteen fans receiving their magazine every couple of months, building their knowledge of all things Bruce. By reading back through all 91 issues, today we can chart changing perspectives on Springsteen and how fans continued to follow the Boss’ career across the world. For example, apparently New Jerseyans were very unhappy when Springsteen relocated from New Jersey to California. According to one fan quoted in a Spring 1993 issue of Backstreets, “Bruce could have moved anyplace in the world but Beverly Hills and I wouldn’t have minded a bit. But that place, you know, it stands for everything I thought Bruce and his music rejected. When he moved there, I just lost faith and stopped listening to his music the way I did in the past.” The magazine also hooked fans up with reviews of every performance of Bruce’s tours, where to source bootleg recordings, and even a classified section featuring personals for Boss fans hoping to connect.

Articles from the Targum

Also included in the exhibit are articles from the Targum, covering student reactions to Springsteen. Part of the joy of student newspapers is getting to hear about what students think is important and seeing how larger conversations play out in local contexts. Following the success of Born to Run, Springsteen returned to Rutgers in a sold-out performance on October 12, 1976 at The Barn (part of the College Avenue Gym). Student demand was high: Approximately 1,300 students waited in a single-file line at the College Avenue Student Center to get tickets to the concert. The line took hours, and the way the student association (R.U.M.P.) handled the situation came under fire multiple times in the Targum.

Despite the line fiasco, the concert received a rapturous review. Student critic John Wooding called Springsteen “a perfect rock and roll creation,” as Springsteen “jumped, sang and simply partied his way into the hearts of some 2,800 at the Barn last night.” Springsteen was in high-energy mode, “Bruce must’ve received an extra shot of adrenaline before the show, for he was simply all over the place. No stage monitor, no speaker cabinet, no microphone would confine him.” Much of his coverage reflected the debates over Springsteen’s status as a performer versus a writer, emphasizing that Springsteen had to be seen live to get the hype: “If you missed Springsteen, then you missed your chance to understand what perfection is. This isn’t any over-rating, for to see Bruce and the E Street Band live is to see what rock ‘n’ roll is all about.”

Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen

Probably my second favorite item in the exhibit is Douglass Library’s actual copy of Born to Run. You can see how often it was handled by students checking it out continuously, pouring over the lyrics printed on the inside of the gatefold, and listening obsessively to Bruce and Clarence rocking out.

In the last twenty years, academic interest in popular music has also skyrocketed, and Springsteen has been one of the main interests of academics. Many take a deep dive into his biography, music, and lyrics, arguing for why Springsteen is central to the legacies of rock and roll. Some also use these elements to explore how the songs reflect either Springsteen’s views on issues ranging from politics to gender to religion to class. Other studies, like Daniel Cavicchi’s Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning Among Springsteen Fans examine Springsteen from the perspective of fans themselves, and how they use Springsteen to negotiate their own identities.

Runaway Dream: Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and the American Dream, by Louis Masur

Rutgers University Press has published many of these academic books on Springsteen, including Rutgers-New Brunswick professor Louis Masur’s Runaway Dream: Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and the American Dream. Prof. Masur has also taught courses in the American Studies department on Springsteen and the American Vision. Sometimes it is odd to write academically on a subject that you truly love. I’ve even been advised against it at times (as it may make you sick of, or even hate, that thing that you love), but passion can also come across when given free range to examine ideas about why you find something so compelling. Masur’s book is a really fascinating look at how Born to Run was crafted, arguing that Springsteen’s work deliberately personifies the tensions in the American dream through hope and struggle. It is these enduring themes, along with Springsteen’s incredible charisma and musical talent, that have made the album last in our cultural landscape.

Masur stopped by the display in the fall and really enjoyed it. You will too!

Born to Run at 50 will be on display in the Blanche and Irving Laurie Performing Arts Library at Douglass Library through May 30 and more information is on the library’s website.