As rock and roll started to become looked at as poetry, Bruce Springsteen was one of the trademark wordsmiths of the genre. Even though his vocal delivery may have been rough around the edges in a few spots, no one would doubt ‘The Boss’ whenever he opened his mouth, telling vivid tales about the heart of America in just a few minutes. While there are obvious similarities to artists like Bob Dylan in his delivery, Springsteen thought this gigantic band never got the credit they deserved.
When working in his first handful of bands, Springsteen quickly found out what he wanted his music to sound like. Although the genesis of rock and roll had begun with artists like Elvis Presley, Springsteen was enamoured with the underdogs of rock and roll, being drawn to the haunted vocals of artists like Roy Orbison.
That carried on into his studio albums, with Springsteen recalling that he wanted to sound like Orbison from the minute he stepped up to the microphone. Once the British Invasion started making waves, though, Springsteen’s world was turned on its head.
As soon as The Beatles hit The Ed Sullivan Show, Springsteen thought that he had found his calling as part of a band outfit rather than the usual solo outings that had come before. Though the Fab Four set a lot of young musicians on their journey to rock and roll stardom, Springsteen had more of an affinity for what The Rolling Stones had been doing.
Moulded as a nasty counterpart to The Beatles, The Stones were about bringing rock and roll back to its bluesy roots. Throughout the band’s first singles and subsequent album statements, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were responsible for the most hardened rock and roll to come across the airwaves, taking the excitement of Chuck Berry and blending it with the down-and-out feelings of Robert Johnson.
Even though the band has gone down in legend for their nasty riffs and wild antics, Springsteen always gravitated to the band’s songs. Compared to their counterparts, Springsteen considered the band’s music to be unfairly overlooked to some extent, saying, “This is the last of the rock’ n’ roll bands. Combine that with the most underrated songbook in rock history, and The Stones have always stood heads above their competition. Still do”.
Daring to dream even bigger than what his heroes could do, Springsteen would eventually begin writing his sonic vignettes, making his answers to Jagger and Richards on tracks like ‘Born to Run’ and ‘Thunder Road’. More than anything, ‘The Boss’ knew that the core of any good rock band is built out of fantastic songs.
Just like The Stones worked off each other, Springsteen has understood the power behind The E Street Band, whether it was the icy chords of Roy Bittan, the guitar thunder of Stevie Van Zandt, or the screeching melodrama that radiated out of Clarence Clemons’s saxophone. Springsteen may have set his foundations with The Stones, but he had his eye on his own rock legend coming true.
