Featured Essay: Born to Run at 50

by Mike Rastiello

I can’t recall when I became aware of Bruce Springsteen or became a fan. Growing up in New Jersey in the 1980s and early 90s, Bruce was always kind of there—on the radio, between stoppages of play at the then Brendan Byrne Area or Giants Stadium, or blaring from countless boom boxes down the shore.

I do know that it wasn’t until my 20s—specifically, my mid to late 20s when I left New Jersey—that I became a super fan. The first time I saw Bruce live was in 2009 in Houston as part of the “Working on a Dream” tour. I’ve since seen him live a total of 4 times, including Valentine’s Day in 2023, where I accidentally only bought one ticket and left my wife at the hotel to go see the show, but that’s a story for another time.

For most of my life, I’ve gravitated towards “classic rock”—a term that I know is a moving target and means different things to different people, but for me, it’s something that I define as anything between The Beatles on Ed Sullivan up to the release of Born in the U.S.A.—give or take a year or two. This was on classic rock radio when I was growing up. (Sidenote: I will not hear such nonsense as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, or any other ’90s group as “classic rock.” It’s not. I am still in my 20s, and my reflection in the mirror does not look like someone who looks more like “assisted living”  than “college graduate.”)

Strangely enough, I don’t recall hearing a lot of Bruce’s songs on classic rock radio as I got older. My parents weren’t fans of Bruce. So, where did my love for Bruce come from? It started after I left New Jersey to go to college and grew more intense when I moved to Texas to be with my wife, Ali. I wanted a piece of home, and his music fed my need for nostalgia. 

The storytelling about everyday people continuously draws me to Bruce. His songs are about love, heartbreak, pain and suffering, being down on your luck, and trying to find your big break, but also, at times, hope. His songs are a look into American life. They are songs about everyday people—the good, the bad, and everything else.

More specifically, Bruce’s music tells me what was happening in New Jersey when my parents were younger. Bruce is only a few years older than they are. I could always hear similarities between the stories my parents or their friends would tell about their early lives and the lyrics in Bruce’s songs.

In 1974 and 1975, Americans were dealing with the Cold War, the Vietnam War, gas shortages, Watergate and the resignation of Richard Nixon, skyrocketing unemployment, high inflation rates, and more. Locally, New York City was going through economic hardships, which led to debts of $11 billion (about $64B today). The city lost half a million jobs, and hundreds of thousands fled to the suburbs, with unemployment and crime rising. New York City even requested aid from the federal government, but it was denied. President Ford said he’d veto any assistance passed by Congress. Towns up and down the Jersey Shore were also experiencing crime and “white flight” following riots in the early 70s. Those were not great times.

In August of 1975, Bruce Springsteen released Born to Run after a grueling year and a half of recording, re-writing, re-recording, mixing, and re-recording. The themes of life in the 1970s, mainly blue-collar workers down on their luck looking to get away and find a better life, are prevalent on Born to Run.

Songs of longing and wanting to escape. 

The album opens with the piano and harmonica on Thunder Road, and we immediately despair. But things aren’t that bad because we have each other and the open road.

“We can make it if we run.”

Freedom means having the whole world ahead of you, nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Sometimes you succeed, but sometimes you don’t.

At this point, Bruce faced being dropped by his label if he didn’t make a hit record. He literally had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

While some of the protagonists in the songs of Born to Run didn’t make it, with the release of Born to Run, Bruce did.

Once released, Born to Run was critically lauded. The New York Times writer John Rockwell called it “a masterpiece of punk poetry” and “one of the great records of recent years.”

This is the album when Bruce Springsteen became Bruce Springsteen. On this album, Bruce started writing more about struggles and the state of the world, themes that would persist through an incredible six-album run following Born to Run with Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Nebraska, Born in the U.S.A., and Tunnel of Love.

As Born to Run turns 50, its legacy thrives. The album has gone Platinum 14 times across six countries and Gold in six different countries. Artists ranging from Melissa Etheridge, Cowboy Junkies, Frank Turner, Tori Amos, Superchunk, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, H.E.R., and more have all covered songs from Born to Run. Rolling Stone has ranked Born to Run 18th on their list of the 500 greatest albums ever. NPR listed it as one of the most essential albums of the 20th century. VH1 ranked it at 21 on their list of greatest albums of all time. In 2003, 28 years after being released, the Library of Congress added Born to Run to the National Recording Registry, calling it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band have played more songs from Born to Run on tour than any other album: Three of the top five songs they have played live are from Born to Run.

When Obama presented Bruce with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he said of Bruce and his music: “With empathy and honesty, he holds up a mirror to who we are, as Americans chasing our dreams, and as human beings trying to do the right thing. There’s a place for everyone in Bruce Springsteen’s America.”

Bruce Springsteen’s songs are the story of us, the story of America, and hopefully, a better America, and we need that now more than ever.

Mike has been a lifelong music fanatic since the ripe old age of 4 when he took his parents’ cassette of Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits—Volume I & Volume II and claimed it as his own. Forty years later, Mike remains a moody and opinionated music lover. His favorite bands include Bruce Springsteen, Queens of the Stone Age, The National, and Deftones. Mike lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Ali, his dog Poppy, and his record collection.

He writes and curates a monthly newsletter and playlist that can be found at www.downbeat.fm. He is @mikerastiello on Bluesky, and his other socials can be found at mike.fail.

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