Bruce Springsteen

The Boss.

Has Bruce Springsteen delivered on the promise of his nickname?

You bet.

Born into humble family circumstances, Springsteen attended local schools and observed his family in their working-class lives. His songs were initially built around escape fantasies, filmic stories of running away to a better life. The massive success of his breakthrough album Born To Run shows how powerful that fantasy was (and is).

But there is more to Springsteen than doomed dreams and the open road at night. As he grew and matured, The Boss discovered books and added learnin’ to his lived wisdom. The results, heard throughout his post-Born recordings (and especially on The River) show insight and compassion for those for whom the American dream has not delivered. Read the lyric of the title song to Springsteen’s most successful album, Born In The USA, and you’ll find a writer who knows where anger should be directed: towards righting social inequalities and seeking a twenty-first century dream. Bruce Springsteen is the complete package. Sensitive, insightful, humorous; a poet and a rocker. Long may he run.