10 Awesome Bruce Springsteen Stories That Prove He's The Boss

8. Bruce Tries To Quiet Down The Hype

Bruce made history on October 27th, 1975 when he became the first rock star to appear on the front cover of both Time and Newsweek in the same week. This was just a few months after the release of the breakthrough album Born to Run, which peaked at No.3 in the charts the week of the simultaneous cover stories. Newsweek went with 'Making Of A Rock Star' as their headline while Time opted for the more hyperbolic 'Rock's New Sensation'.

Bruce obviously consented to the publicity and gave quotes to both pieces, but he soon found the hype to be tiresome and wanted the music to speak for itself. During his first overseas tour at a gig at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, England, Bruce went and physically tore down posters proclaiming him to be the future of rock and roll. The marquee of the Hammersmith actually said 'Finally, London is ready for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band', which Bruce felt was more than a bit too much.

Of course Bruce and the E Street Band would eventually live up to the hype, but at the time it was a lot of pressure to put on them and by rebelling against the marketing campaign Springsteen sent a message to the record company, telling them in no uncertain terms, who was The Boss.