While Springsteen was still early in his career, he played a show in London. He said he went into it in a terrible headspace. Immediately upon arriving at the Hammersmith Odeon theater, Springsteen began to feel uncomfortable.
Springsteen explained that he wanted to prove his talent with his music, not tell the audience he was a star with posters. While he ripped the posters down, he said he got onstage with a persistent uneasiness. He couldn’t shake it throughout the concert. Even years later, he looks back on the show as one of his most unpleasant.
“Something heavy to push up against,” he told Rolling Stone in 2016. “It was a nightmare of a mind-f***, so it remained with me for a long time.”
Springsteen wanted his performance to speak for itself. He believed that telling the audience he was the next big thing was embarrassing. It was up to the crowd to determine that for themselves.
“I’m frightened and I’m pissed, really pissed,” he wrote. “I am embarrassed for myself and offended for my fans. This is not the way it works. I know how it works. I’ve done it. Play and shut up. My business is SHOW business and that is the business of SHOWING … not TELLING. You don’t TELL people anything, you SHOW them, and let them decide.”
Bruce Springsteen has a higher opinion of the show when he looks back on concert footage
Though the show was recorded, Springsteen said he avoided looking at the footage for years. When he finally reviewed the tapes, he felt pleasantly surprised.
“As we pulled up to the outside, the brightly lit marquis reads, ‘FINALLY!! LONDON IS READY FOR BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN.’ Reflecting, this is not exactly the tone I’d have preferred been struck,” he wrote in his book Born to Run. “It feels, perhaps, a little too … presumptuous? Once I am inside I am greeted by a sea of posters on every available flat surface and in every seat proclaiming me THE NEXT F***ING BIG THING! The kiss of death!”
But there are also other dead bodies in Bruce's closet
Here are two Springsteen songs that, at least at one time, Bruce has said he disliked:
“The Way” is a rarity recorded during the sessions for Springsteen’s 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town.
The brooding ballad only is available on the 2010 Springsteen compilation The Promise, a collection of previously unreleased tunes recorded during the making of Darkness on the Edge of Town.
“Blinded by the Light” (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band version)
Springsteen’s original version of “Blinded by the Light” appeared as the first song on his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. However, it was a 1976 cover by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band that popularized the tune. The British group’s version went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1977. To date, it’s the only Springsteen-penned song to top the Hot 100 chart.
Despite the song’s success, Springsteen didn’t like the Manfred Mann version.
Springsteen might be a bit too hard on himself in some respects. Since the track is only included as a piece of ‘City of Night’ in his rarities compilations, it is the right kind of love song for this kind of record.
Bruce Springsteen to Headline Jersey Shore's Music Festival Sept. 14 and 15 -2024
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will return to Asbury Park, NJ, to play together there for the first time in 14 years.
The Boss joins Noah Kahan, The Black Crowes, Gaslight Anthem, Norah Jones and more at the two-day Jersey Shore festival on Sept. 14 and 15
