Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run At 40 (According To Those Who Made It)

Jon Landau’s careful coaxing of Springsteen made him realise that the album was good enough to put out. It was finally released on August 25th, 1975 and was met with almost immediate acclaim.

Writing in Rolling Stone, Greil Marcus called it “a magnificent album that pays off on every bet ever placed on him — a '57 Chevy running on melted down Crystals records that shuts down every claim that has been made. And it should crack his future wide open. There is an overwhelming sense of recognition: No, you've never heard anything like this before, but you understand it instantly, because this music is what rock & roll is supposed to sound like.”

It did indeed crack his future wide open. It kickstarted a run of huge selling albums, culminating with 1984’s Born In The USA, which has sold over 27 million copies worldwide.

When Springsteen himself looks back on it, he doesn’t see it as a path to glory though. His feelings are far more personal - the friendship, the thrill of doing something you love surrounded by people you love: “When I hear the record I hear my friends, and I hear my hopes and dreams. I see it as the start of some of the most important fundamental relationships of my life. It’s filled with emotion and memory."

In 2005, he would call Born To Run “the dividing line”. On the one hand, it was an album that had to make it, otherwise his career could have been over. Springsteen spoke of “that tension of somebody trying to find some other place” which permeates the record. But on the other hand, after its release, it became the mark against which he would come to be judged.

Ultimately, he would end up kicking against what it came to represent for him: “Up through Born In The USA, every record I made was reactionary to Born To Run, it was a reaction against that particular feeling and that moment.” 

This reactionary feeling is understandable. After all, the album had indeed done what it was supposed to do, not only saving Springsteen’s career but turning him into a megastar. More than that though, it had taken its toll on Springsteen and his band. Max Weinberg called it “one of the most difficult projects I’ve ever been involved with”, and when you hear Springsteen himself talk of the recording, it’s clear just how hard it was to realise his vision.

It makes it all the more remarkable that out of all this tension, pressure and adversity, Born To Run was not only finished, but is now considered a landmark album. It is an album that deals with universal themes, ones which anyone can relate to. On the counterpoint it will mean something slightly different to every fan of it, and will bring out particular feelings to each listener.

So it seems apt to give the final word on Born To Run to its maker Bruce Springsteen, talking about what it makes him feel when he listens: “Born To Run has got that feeling of that warm endless summer night, that’s what the whole record feels like. It could all be taking place in the course of one evening in all these different locations.”