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Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll
A vibrant biography of one of the greatest rock 'n' rollers, the America that made him, and the America he made.
Smart and incisive, this unique book takes us through Bruce Springsteen’s life by tracing the cultural, political, and personal forces that shaped his music. Beyond his constant stylistic adaptations, Springsteen developed over the decades from expressing the voice of a guy from working-class New Jersey to writing about the larger issues facing the country, including war, class disparity, and prejudice. Marc Dolan draws on a range of new and little-known sources—including hundreds of unreleased studio recordings and bootlegs of live performances—making this an indispensable reference for avid Springsteen fans as well as those interested in learning the stories behind his music. Combining political analysis, music history, and colorful storytelling, Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock ’n’ Roll reveals how a gifted, ambitious community college dropout achieved superstardom—and spent decades refining what he wanted his music to say.
Smart and incisive, this unique book takes us through Bruce Springsteen’s life by tracing the cultural, political, and personal forces that shaped his music. Beyond his constant stylistic adaptations, Springsteen developed over the decades from expressing the voice of a guy from working-class New Jersey to writing about the larger issues facing the country, including war, class disparity, and prejudice. Marc Dolan draws on a range of new and little-known sources—including hundreds of unreleased studio recordings and bootlegs of live performances—making this an indispensable reference for avid Springsteen fans as well as those interested in learning the stories behind his music. Combining political analysis, music history, and colorful storytelling, Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock ’n’ Roll reveals how a gifted, ambitious community college dropout achieved superstardom—and spent decades refining what he wanted his music to say.
528 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
16 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
About the author
Marc Dolan
6 books1 followerMarc Dolan is Professor of English, American Studies, and Film Studies at John Jay College and the CUNY Graduate Center. Born in New Jersey and trained in Massachusetts, he has been firmly planted in Brooklyn for the last few decades.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
August 6, 2012
Maybe it's just me, but I have this old fashioned notion that a biography should tell us more about the life of its subject than you'd find in a detailed discography. This book does not.
If you want to know exactly who was in Springsteen's band in any given month--though nothing about the personalities of any of the people named--or exactly how many different versions of a given Springsteen song were recorded before the final cut made it onto vinyl, this book is for you.
If you enjoy pretentious discussions of the Meaning of Popular Music rife with terms derived from literary criticism, you'll love it too.
But if you want to understand Bruce Springsteen the human being and learn what life events shaped his unique musical expression, you will find this book, as I did, a frustrating, obsessional, total waste of time.
In particular, Dolan's recounting of what supposedly was going on in music in the '60s and '70s completely misses the point, time after time. He seems unable to respond to music emotionally, or for that matter, musically. His analysis of what what happening in music in America from the 60s through the 80s will strike anyone who was actually there as bizarrely out of touch.
Recommended for record collectors with OCD.
If you want to know exactly who was in Springsteen's band in any given month--though nothing about the personalities of any of the people named--or exactly how many different versions of a given Springsteen song were recorded before the final cut made it onto vinyl, this book is for you.
If you enjoy pretentious discussions of the Meaning of Popular Music rife with terms derived from literary criticism, you'll love it too.
But if you want to understand Bruce Springsteen the human being and learn what life events shaped his unique musical expression, you will find this book, as I did, a frustrating, obsessional, total waste of time.
In particular, Dolan's recounting of what supposedly was going on in music in the '60s and '70s completely misses the point, time after time. He seems unable to respond to music emotionally, or for that matter, musically. His analysis of what what happening in music in America from the 60s through the 80s will strike anyone who was actually there as bizarrely out of touch.
Recommended for record collectors with OCD.
June 20, 2012
I love biographies and I love Bruce Springsteen, so I was eagerly looking forward to Marc Dolan's Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll, especially when I saw all the lavish advance praise for it in reviews and blogs, and the praise for it on the dust jacket blurbs--by Douglas Brinkley and Pulitzer Prize winning biographer John Matteson (whose life of Louisa May Alcott is one of my favorite recent biographies). But still I was not prepared, even by this, for what an amazing book I was about to read. Where to start?
First and foremost, Dolan's biography is beautifully written--a real page turner. Although he is clearly a scholar (both Brinkley and Matteson call his knowledge of Bruce "encyclopedic"), the style of the book is lively, readable, and totally engaging. It can be read and enjoyed by anyone, from those Jersey and NYC guys in cut off t-shirts I see at all the Springsteen concerts I've been to, where we sing and dance all night with Bruce, to academics and intellectuals, who spend their lives in offices and libraries. It must be difficult to write a book that can appeal to such a mass and diverse audience. But you simply cannot put it down once you start reading it. Second, this is the only book on Springsteen (and I've read them all) in which he really comes alive and you feel the flesh and blood figure in all of his many dimensions. Dolan shows you how this awkward, skinny, working class kid from Jersey developed as a musician from his early years, fashioned both his music and himself, and emerged as a rock icon, but he also shows you how individual songs and albums developed along the way, oftentimes--as in his stunning analysis of my favorite song, "Thunder Road"--taking you through the various versions. In the earliest of these, which Dolan calls the "Chrissie" version, we have a typical song about a guy who wants to blow town with his girl. By the time we get to the "Thunder Road" we all know and love, Bruce has transformed the song so that we get a sense of Mary's point of view, and her situation as understood by the singer ("You can hide 'neath your covers and study your pain / Draw crosses on your lovers, throw roses in the rain"), and it is this artistic move that gives the song such power, depth, and poignancy. Similarly, Dolan shows us how the albums emerged, and his insights are always amazing, yet they never get in the way of his narrative thread. Third, most Bruce books act as though he stopped growing in 1985, with the "Born to Run" tour. But Dolan not only takes us through the past 25 years of his development, he is completely convincing in making the case for the importance of these years of experimentation, as in his amazing analysis of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" album. As with other later Bruce albums, I had never been as attracted to them as to the earlier ones. But after reading Dolan, I now appreciate Bruce's growth, which has never stopped, and his courage in constantly experimenting, growing, and developing. Dolan's book opened up to me, and to others I assume, just how much greater Bruce is than even his biggest fans have ever realized. (Dolan also shows how, for Bruce, a song is never "complete." It is always under construction, and it often changes during concerts, as he never stops searching for new meanings in his previous work.) Fourth, and this is one of the most wonderful aspects of the book, while never losing sight of Springsteen's story, Dolan links Bruce's life, songs, concert tours, and development to the history of American popular culture and the history of music. This cultural context is one of the many charms of the book, and one can learn a ton about music and culture from it. For the first time, I understand Bruce's eclectic appreciation of every type and genre of music, how these diverse strands influenced his own art, and why he's influenced such an wide array of other musicians. It's also one of the reasons why he's the most beloved and appreciated musical artist of the past half century, why--and this is hard for me to say--he's even bigger and more important than Dylan or The Beatles. Dolan also demonstrates the connections between Bruce's songs and American politics. We all seem to forget that Bruce was pretty much totally apolitical until 1985. Dolan explores brilliantly how Bruce came to realize that his songs spoke for a political view that he didn't even know he had, which he then consciously pursued over the past quarter century--thus albums like The Rising or the Seeger Sessions. I also am very impressed by the way in which Dolan handles Springsteen's personal life--his first marriage and divorce, and his relationship with and marriage to Patty. Although not ignoring these parts of the life, he handles them with tact, grace, and insight. This is quite a departure from the sensationalizing of it by some other writers, or the silence about it by those "authorized" writers with ties to the Springsteen establishment. Dolan has written a biography about an important living figure the way one would write a biography of Washington, Mark Twain, or Sinatra; he treats him with respect and sympathy while remaining scrupulously honest and insightful toward his subject, and he places him in a wealth of contexts that deepen our understanding of both the man and his music. One must respect that. In short, this is as brilliant, beautiful, and exciting a biography as I have ever read. I place it in the same class as such biographies as David Donald's Lincoln, Edmund Morris's bios of Teddy Roosevelt, Chernow's biographies of Washington and Hamilton, Justin Kaplan's bio of Mark Twain, Donald Spoto's bio of Alfred Hitchcock, and Michael Reynolds's five volume life of Hemingway. It has a few equals, but nothing that surpasses it, and it simply blows away all the other books I've read on Bruce, or on other musicians. In fact, I've since bought a dozen copies of it to give to friends and family members as birthday and Christmas presents (you can never buy Christmas presents too early!), and so that I can re-read it right now. My husband--a physicist whom I drag to Springsteen concerts and, while I go wild dancing and singing along with Bruce and all the fans, listen to him grumble about how he prefers Dylan, the Stones, and jazz--is now reading it and I can't get it back, so I needed another copy for me! But the upside is that he's now listening to Bruce and respecting his work, and actually puts in Bruce CDs when we are driving, and talks about Bruce like he's the one who discovered him. I can't wait until we go to our next Bruce concert. I know this review must seem hyperbolic, but it barely does justice to this brilliant, insightful, and wonderful book. If you are a Springsteen fan, you will love it. And if you aren't a Springsteen fan, it will convert you into one. Just in case you ever read this review, thank you Mr. Dolan, for giving me one of the truly best books I have ever read. I just wish I knew you and could get it signed!
First and foremost, Dolan's biography is beautifully written--a real page turner. Although he is clearly a scholar (both Brinkley and Matteson call his knowledge of Bruce "encyclopedic"), the style of the book is lively, readable, and totally engaging. It can be read and enjoyed by anyone, from those Jersey and NYC guys in cut off t-shirts I see at all the Springsteen concerts I've been to, where we sing and dance all night with Bruce, to academics and intellectuals, who spend their lives in offices and libraries. It must be difficult to write a book that can appeal to such a mass and diverse audience. But you simply cannot put it down once you start reading it. Second, this is the only book on Springsteen (and I've read them all) in which he really comes alive and you feel the flesh and blood figure in all of his many dimensions. Dolan shows you how this awkward, skinny, working class kid from Jersey developed as a musician from his early years, fashioned both his music and himself, and emerged as a rock icon, but he also shows you how individual songs and albums developed along the way, oftentimes--as in his stunning analysis of my favorite song, "Thunder Road"--taking you through the various versions. In the earliest of these, which Dolan calls the "Chrissie" version, we have a typical song about a guy who wants to blow town with his girl. By the time we get to the "Thunder Road" we all know and love, Bruce has transformed the song so that we get a sense of Mary's point of view, and her situation as understood by the singer ("You can hide 'neath your covers and study your pain / Draw crosses on your lovers, throw roses in the rain"), and it is this artistic move that gives the song such power, depth, and poignancy. Similarly, Dolan shows us how the albums emerged, and his insights are always amazing, yet they never get in the way of his narrative thread. Third, most Bruce books act as though he stopped growing in 1985, with the "Born to Run" tour. But Dolan not only takes us through the past 25 years of his development, he is completely convincing in making the case for the importance of these years of experimentation, as in his amazing analysis of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" album. As with other later Bruce albums, I had never been as attracted to them as to the earlier ones. But after reading Dolan, I now appreciate Bruce's growth, which has never stopped, and his courage in constantly experimenting, growing, and developing. Dolan's book opened up to me, and to others I assume, just how much greater Bruce is than even his biggest fans have ever realized. (Dolan also shows how, for Bruce, a song is never "complete." It is always under construction, and it often changes during concerts, as he never stops searching for new meanings in his previous work.) Fourth, and this is one of the most wonderful aspects of the book, while never losing sight of Springsteen's story, Dolan links Bruce's life, songs, concert tours, and development to the history of American popular culture and the history of music. This cultural context is one of the many charms of the book, and one can learn a ton about music and culture from it. For the first time, I understand Bruce's eclectic appreciation of every type and genre of music, how these diverse strands influenced his own art, and why he's influenced such an wide array of other musicians. It's also one of the reasons why he's the most beloved and appreciated musical artist of the past half century, why--and this is hard for me to say--he's even bigger and more important than Dylan or The Beatles. Dolan also demonstrates the connections between Bruce's songs and American politics. We all seem to forget that Bruce was pretty much totally apolitical until 1985. Dolan explores brilliantly how Bruce came to realize that his songs spoke for a political view that he didn't even know he had, which he then consciously pursued over the past quarter century--thus albums like The Rising or the Seeger Sessions. I also am very impressed by the way in which Dolan handles Springsteen's personal life--his first marriage and divorce, and his relationship with and marriage to Patty. Although not ignoring these parts of the life, he handles them with tact, grace, and insight. This is quite a departure from the sensationalizing of it by some other writers, or the silence about it by those "authorized" writers with ties to the Springsteen establishment. Dolan has written a biography about an important living figure the way one would write a biography of Washington, Mark Twain, or Sinatra; he treats him with respect and sympathy while remaining scrupulously honest and insightful toward his subject, and he places him in a wealth of contexts that deepen our understanding of both the man and his music. One must respect that. In short, this is as brilliant, beautiful, and exciting a biography as I have ever read. I place it in the same class as such biographies as David Donald's Lincoln, Edmund Morris's bios of Teddy Roosevelt, Chernow's biographies of Washington and Hamilton, Justin Kaplan's bio of Mark Twain, Donald Spoto's bio of Alfred Hitchcock, and Michael Reynolds's five volume life of Hemingway. It has a few equals, but nothing that surpasses it, and it simply blows away all the other books I've read on Bruce, or on other musicians. In fact, I've since bought a dozen copies of it to give to friends and family members as birthday and Christmas presents (you can never buy Christmas presents too early!), and so that I can re-read it right now. My husband--a physicist whom I drag to Springsteen concerts and, while I go wild dancing and singing along with Bruce and all the fans, listen to him grumble about how he prefers Dylan, the Stones, and jazz--is now reading it and I can't get it back, so I needed another copy for me! But the upside is that he's now listening to Bruce and respecting his work, and actually puts in Bruce CDs when we are driving, and talks about Bruce like he's the one who discovered him. I can't wait until we go to our next Bruce concert. I know this review must seem hyperbolic, but it barely does justice to this brilliant, insightful, and wonderful book. If you are a Springsteen fan, you will love it. And if you aren't a Springsteen fan, it will convert you into one. Just in case you ever read this review, thank you Mr. Dolan, for giving me one of the truly best books I have ever read. I just wish I knew you and could get it signed!
November 27, 2018
Some of the political analysis at the end of the book was pretty good, since Dolan isn't afraid to talk about the limits of what even the greatest rock stars can do in the political arena. But there's no sense of Bruce Springsteen the man -- the warmth, the humor, the pure courage of the man in the sense of trying to inspire his audience even when success is most unlikely.
December 20, 2014
After reading Pete Townsend's autobiography, I read this biography of Springsteen, whose music I've loved since 1975. I usually read novels, never biographies, yet these two books connected me to music I've admired and enjoyed--and now have an even deeper appreciation for.
I particularly enjoyed this book because it places Springsteen in the context of what was happening in America politically and musically over the years. Author Marc Dolan is an adept historian. Springsteen started off like any young musician, wanting to impress. His first two albums were not the usual popular music of the time, even if that's what Springsteen hoped for. He had certain ideas for songs, and just as Columbia was thinking of dropping him, he delivers "Born to Run," which put him on the cover of Time and Newsweek the same week. Since then, he looked for ways to keep exploring, so that even though he's now incredibly rich and in his sixties, he remains tuned into to life as most of us live it. Anyone in the arts in particular will find this book an exploration of what it means to be an artist.
I particularly enjoyed this book because it places Springsteen in the context of what was happening in America politically and musically over the years. Author Marc Dolan is an adept historian. Springsteen started off like any young musician, wanting to impress. His first two albums were not the usual popular music of the time, even if that's what Springsteen hoped for. He had certain ideas for songs, and just as Columbia was thinking of dropping him, he delivers "Born to Run," which put him on the cover of Time and Newsweek the same week. Since then, he looked for ways to keep exploring, so that even though he's now incredibly rich and in his sixties, he remains tuned into to life as most of us live it. Anyone in the arts in particular will find this book an exploration of what it means to be an artist.
June 28, 2013
I like some of Bruce Springsteen's music but could never be accused of being a Springsteen fan. I just don't care for some of his music and quite frankly have been turned off by his political leanings.
This book was written for the true fan who wants to know the details and minutiae behind each lyric, song and album Springsteen ever did. Although the research to get the details behind each song should be applauded, it makes the book excruciating boring for some of us who do not live and breath over each lyric Springsteen ever wrote.
I also found the book almost completely devoid of details about Springsteen's personal life. I have to assume that the author may have been on an exceptionally tight leash with Springsteen's people and therefore could not mention anything about his personality, habits, and/or lifestyle. There was little mentioned about any drug or alcohol use or any wild side, if he had one. This is extraordinary in the rock and roll world since most rocker biographies are loaded with sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I just finished Keith Richards's autobiography called "Life" and the difference between what these two books disclose is night and day.
Springsteen came across as a mystery in this book. The author mentioned his brief marriage to the model, but no personal details about their real life together. The author mentioned Bruce's periodic mental therapy, but not the reasons why he needed help to cope. The author didn't mention much about Springsteen's personality, temperament, or habits. Who is Springsteen anyway? The author devoted the most detail to the songs and his liberal leanings and support for such politicians as John Kerry and Barack Hussain Obama. Yet, there was no explanation from the author as to why Springsteen supports these people's ideologies. Springsteen came off in the book as another rich celebrity guilty of his wealth, flocking to the liberals as a means to minimize his guilt. Yet, the author did mention that Springsteen mostly gives his time and effort to the liberal cause, not his money.
In my opinion, the author completely missed the mark with this book by painting Springsteen as interesting as a baloney sandwich with mayo. Unfortunately, we know Springsteen's life had to be more interesting than noted in this book, but the book focused on songs and lyrics which are important, but only one aspect of this guy's life. Songs and lyrics really don't explain to the reader who this guy really is.
Reading this book for me was like reading the owner's manual for a new automobile - lots of detail that a person may or may not need and pretty boring stuff if you don't happen to need it.
I was not a big fan before reading the book and I am no more of a fan now, and sadly, I do not believe I know much more about Springsteen than I did before I read this book.
Two thumbs down on this book for me. I would not recommend this book to any readers who are interested in learning about Bruce Springsteen, the man. The book has few, if any, insights on who this man is and what makes him tick. Everything written came out of public record or second or third hand sources. Personally, I read biographies to better understand the person who the biography is about. In my opinion, this book fails to deliver who Bruce Springsteen really is.
This book was written for the true fan who wants to know the details and minutiae behind each lyric, song and album Springsteen ever did. Although the research to get the details behind each song should be applauded, it makes the book excruciating boring for some of us who do not live and breath over each lyric Springsteen ever wrote.
I also found the book almost completely devoid of details about Springsteen's personal life. I have to assume that the author may have been on an exceptionally tight leash with Springsteen's people and therefore could not mention anything about his personality, habits, and/or lifestyle. There was little mentioned about any drug or alcohol use or any wild side, if he had one. This is extraordinary in the rock and roll world since most rocker biographies are loaded with sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I just finished Keith Richards's autobiography called "Life" and the difference between what these two books disclose is night and day.
Springsteen came across as a mystery in this book. The author mentioned his brief marriage to the model, but no personal details about their real life together. The author mentioned Bruce's periodic mental therapy, but not the reasons why he needed help to cope. The author didn't mention much about Springsteen's personality, temperament, or habits. Who is Springsteen anyway? The author devoted the most detail to the songs and his liberal leanings and support for such politicians as John Kerry and Barack Hussain Obama. Yet, there was no explanation from the author as to why Springsteen supports these people's ideologies. Springsteen came off in the book as another rich celebrity guilty of his wealth, flocking to the liberals as a means to minimize his guilt. Yet, the author did mention that Springsteen mostly gives his time and effort to the liberal cause, not his money.
In my opinion, the author completely missed the mark with this book by painting Springsteen as interesting as a baloney sandwich with mayo. Unfortunately, we know Springsteen's life had to be more interesting than noted in this book, but the book focused on songs and lyrics which are important, but only one aspect of this guy's life. Songs and lyrics really don't explain to the reader who this guy really is.
Reading this book for me was like reading the owner's manual for a new automobile - lots of detail that a person may or may not need and pretty boring stuff if you don't happen to need it.
I was not a big fan before reading the book and I am no more of a fan now, and sadly, I do not believe I know much more about Springsteen than I did before I read this book.
Two thumbs down on this book for me. I would not recommend this book to any readers who are interested in learning about Bruce Springsteen, the man. The book has few, if any, insights on who this man is and what makes him tick. Everything written came out of public record or second or third hand sources. Personally, I read biographies to better understand the person who the biography is about. In my opinion, this book fails to deliver who Bruce Springsteen really is.
August 20, 2012
I need to preface this review by stating that Dolan's book is the first Springsteen biography and the first book on Springsteen that I've ever read. So I'm a Springsteen bio rookie, even though I've been listening to his music for almost my entire life and think that Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Nebraska are three of the greatest albums ever made.
Dolan is an academic, and I myself used to be one. His critical approach to Springsteen's music unfortunately reminds me of the main reason I left the academy - his pretentious writing style and use of literary criticism.
Dolan is unabashedly a New Historicist, and, as such, he brings that theoretical approach to Springsteen's work. In other words, Dolan focuses on Springsteen's songs, concerts, concert banter, and formation of his musical style as TEXTS that should be analyzed in relation to the historical context in which they appeared and, sometimes, in relation to the other musical texts that appeared during the historical time period in which Springsteen made music.
Now Dolan's approach, for what it's worth, is fine and occasionally interesting. Its main problem, however, is that it deprives Springsteen's music of any life. As a reader, I never really learned how Springsteen as a human being wrote all those great songs and gave all those great performances.
Dolan would argue that we can't really know who Springsteen is. We, he'd go on, are, after all, only historical constructs ourselves and don't really have coherent and consistent identities. Who we are, he'd say, is contingent upon the historical time period in which we live. This contingency, by extension, determines what songs are about, how they're made, how they're produced, etc.
Granted, a lot of what Dolan has to say is true and perfectly valid. But, as I was reading, I felt an inherent and rather annoying contradiction in the book. Let me put it this way. Springsteen is a HOT artist, and Dolan's approach is COLD and analytical. In addition, Springsteen is a Romantic with a capital R, whose lyrics tend to feature characters with stable identities. Indeed, Springsteen writes about people who live, breathe, suffer, die, fall in love, get fired, and, most of all, have to make real, existential decisions.
So, it seems to me that Dolan's icy New Historicist approach isn't the best way to handle a musician of Springsteen's character and calibre. The main point of Springsteen's music, in my opinion, is to be a catalyst in the development of the listener's compassionate nature - and, most importantly, to empower the listener to realize his/her potential to achieve self-actualization and existential and spiritual (if not political) freedom.
For Dolan, spiritual freedom is the "Promise of Rock 'N' Roll," as his title indicates. It's truly unfortunate that Dolan removes himself from the experience of this spiritual freedom by being so COLD and dead to the world.
Ain't it strange? The author of a book on Springsteen doesn't seem to have gotten his message. Or maybe he has, and he just wrote this New Historicist study because it hasn't been done before. What a shame.
Dolan is an academic, and I myself used to be one. His critical approach to Springsteen's music unfortunately reminds me of the main reason I left the academy - his pretentious writing style and use of literary criticism.
Dolan is unabashedly a New Historicist, and, as such, he brings that theoretical approach to Springsteen's work. In other words, Dolan focuses on Springsteen's songs, concerts, concert banter, and formation of his musical style as TEXTS that should be analyzed in relation to the historical context in which they appeared and, sometimes, in relation to the other musical texts that appeared during the historical time period in which Springsteen made music.
Now Dolan's approach, for what it's worth, is fine and occasionally interesting. Its main problem, however, is that it deprives Springsteen's music of any life. As a reader, I never really learned how Springsteen as a human being wrote all those great songs and gave all those great performances.
Dolan would argue that we can't really know who Springsteen is. We, he'd go on, are, after all, only historical constructs ourselves and don't really have coherent and consistent identities. Who we are, he'd say, is contingent upon the historical time period in which we live. This contingency, by extension, determines what songs are about, how they're made, how they're produced, etc.
Granted, a lot of what Dolan has to say is true and perfectly valid. But, as I was reading, I felt an inherent and rather annoying contradiction in the book. Let me put it this way. Springsteen is a HOT artist, and Dolan's approach is COLD and analytical. In addition, Springsteen is a Romantic with a capital R, whose lyrics tend to feature characters with stable identities. Indeed, Springsteen writes about people who live, breathe, suffer, die, fall in love, get fired, and, most of all, have to make real, existential decisions.
So, it seems to me that Dolan's icy New Historicist approach isn't the best way to handle a musician of Springsteen's character and calibre. The main point of Springsteen's music, in my opinion, is to be a catalyst in the development of the listener's compassionate nature - and, most importantly, to empower the listener to realize his/her potential to achieve self-actualization and existential and spiritual (if not political) freedom.
For Dolan, spiritual freedom is the "Promise of Rock 'N' Roll," as his title indicates. It's truly unfortunate that Dolan removes himself from the experience of this spiritual freedom by being so COLD and dead to the world.
Ain't it strange? The author of a book on Springsteen doesn't seem to have gotten his message. Or maybe he has, and he just wrote this New Historicist study because it hasn't been done before. What a shame.
December 1, 2012
My husband saw this on the shelf at the library and brought it home to me because I've been a big Springsteen fan since 1974 (have all his "records" and have been to maybe 10 of his concerts over the years). I should first point out that this is an "unauthorized" biography and the author never actually talked to Bruce himself...
Early in the book, the phrase "droningly studious manner" was used, and I wrote it down on the library check-out slip I was using as a bookmark, because I already had the sense that that phrase was going to describe this book as well as whatever it was referring to. Yep... Here's a sample: "On the simplest level, Bittan's piano part increasingly extended the figures of the main vocal line of the track, rather than existing in dialogue or counterpoint with them. It made the melodic fragments and other musical figures of the vocal line more elaborate, more complex, offering a more evolved but not really alternative perspective." Whew! Later in the book, after ascribing a particular meaning to the set list for the 1999-2000 tour, the author notes "Whether Springsteen's audience understood all this was very much an open question..." Uh, yeah...
But still, it could be a fun read here and there, and brought back a lot of memories; in particular, referring to the day-after-Election Day concert in Tempe, AZ, in 1980 (Reagan's first win) -- I was there when he said, "I don't know what you guys think about what happened last night, but I think it's pretty frightening." And it was interesting to find out that about half the songs on "The Rising" were written well before the World Trade Center attack; the album came out almost a year later and so perfectly conveys the mood of that time. Even "My City of Ruins" was written a year before, but what better song could there be post-9/11? Actually, I was just listening to this album Thursday night, on the bus coming back from a day in New York City, looking at the skyline with the new WTC buildings going up; and then read about it in the book yesterday...
If you're a big fan, you will probably slog through the "droningly studious" stuff to get to the fun stuff, as I did. If you're not, you probably wouldn't pick it up anyway!
Early in the book, the phrase "droningly studious manner" was used, and I wrote it down on the library check-out slip I was using as a bookmark, because I already had the sense that that phrase was going to describe this book as well as whatever it was referring to. Yep... Here's a sample: "On the simplest level, Bittan's piano part increasingly extended the figures of the main vocal line of the track, rather than existing in dialogue or counterpoint with them. It made the melodic fragments and other musical figures of the vocal line more elaborate, more complex, offering a more evolved but not really alternative perspective." Whew! Later in the book, after ascribing a particular meaning to the set list for the 1999-2000 tour, the author notes "Whether Springsteen's audience understood all this was very much an open question..." Uh, yeah...
But still, it could be a fun read here and there, and brought back a lot of memories; in particular, referring to the day-after-Election Day concert in Tempe, AZ, in 1980 (Reagan's first win) -- I was there when he said, "I don't know what you guys think about what happened last night, but I think it's pretty frightening." And it was interesting to find out that about half the songs on "The Rising" were written well before the World Trade Center attack; the album came out almost a year later and so perfectly conveys the mood of that time. Even "My City of Ruins" was written a year before, but what better song could there be post-9/11? Actually, I was just listening to this album Thursday night, on the bus coming back from a day in New York City, looking at the skyline with the new WTC buildings going up; and then read about it in the book yesterday...
If you're a big fan, you will probably slog through the "droningly studious" stuff to get to the fun stuff, as I did. If you're not, you probably wouldn't pick it up anyway!
August 31, 2014
Anyone who knows me knows of my exuberant Springsteen fandom. When I eventually get to add previously read Springsteen books to my "Read" list, though, this one will still be the only one garnering five stars. It is, simply put, the best book on Bruce that I've read (and I've read several). No disrespect to Dave Marsh (too many Springsteen books to list here) or Eric Alterman ("It Ain't No Sin To Be Glad You're Alive") or Jimmy Guterman ("Runaway American Dream"), but Marc Dolan's is the best and most comprehensive study of Springsteen's career and life to date. If you're looking for gossip or behind-the-scenes stuff that doesn't relate to Bruce's art (like his marriages, et al.), this isn't your book. But if you're looking for top-notch analysis of Springsteen's music, motivation and milieu, you can't beat this one. Dolan interweaves a socio-political survey of the last 40 years thru Springsteen's life and music, knowing that popular art is never created in a vacuum. Great stuff...!
December 1, 2012
Serviceable biography, useful mostly for providing a summary of Bruce's career and music from the point Dave Marsh's Two Hearts leaves off through the Working on a Dream tour. Not much will surprise those who have been following Springsteen even somewhat closely, and Dolan's judgments on the quality of songs and albums and tours differs from mine in significant ways. (Two examples: he thinks Human Touch is a failed album; I like it quite a bit better than Lucky Town. He says Bruce was struggling to connect with his audience during the Reunion and Rising tours--I sure didn't feel it when I was at the concerts.) I'm going to give the Peter Carlin biography a go next, but the niche for "really good overview of Springsteen's career" is still open.
February 20, 2013
If your looking for a detailed analysis of bruce's life from childhood to now, then this probably isn't the book your looking for. this rather, details the world in which rock and roll was alive, and how thie influenced a young springsteen to learn guitar. i felt that it was sometimes so convoluted with facts, names and places that it was losing the plot a little, sometimes i had to remind myself it was a biography. a more accurate title would have been "A Rock and Roll Story, featuring Bruce Springteen"
September 10, 2012
This is not a true biography of Bruce. It uses the outlines of Bruce's life to discuss what influenced his choice of styles, musical and thematic concerns. It's an interesting read, particularly when concerned when the pre-fame years and Born To Run. But it will hardly be the last word on the life of Bruce Springsteen.
Read
March 10, 2013This is one of the worst Springsteen biographies I've read, and takes much of its material from what is the absolute worst Springsteen biography I've read. I couldn't continue; it was making me too mad.
Read
November 4, 2012More of a biography of Springsteen's art than Springsteen himself, since it's clear that Dolan had no access to The Boss or anybody particularly close to him. That said, I enjoyed Dolan's insights into Springsteen's music and how it has evolved over the decades.
March 17, 2017
Bottom line? Who gives a damn about the minutiae included in this book? Stop with the lists of names, dates, and places, and just tell a tale that people would like to hear that comports with the truth. Aaaaargh.
March 26, 2013
I learned that Mr. Springsteen is from New Jersey.
February 18, 2022
Not just an exhaustive Springsteen biography but a biography of America at the same time. Well written and although long, easily readable. Never gets bogged down. Some fascinating background to songs and gigs, band and family members.
February 17, 2024
A most enjoyable book that has helped me join the dots in much of Springsteen's career, from the origin of the audience requests to some of his struggles to write and/or find coherent purpose for his albums.
April 9, 2024
This book is a much deeper look into nearly aspect of Bruce's life, exploring not just the professional, but also personal and artistic aspects of his life, with a strong focus on his tours and concerts. A must read for diehard Bruce fans.
June 29, 2018
If you only like Bruce Springsteen a little, you will love hime after hearing him read his autobiography. He tells his story with heart and honesty. Amazing!
July 3, 2020
a solid comprehensive biography of Springsteen, the author's voice is that of a fan, somewhat critical but mostly admiring
some good insights
some good insights
January 18, 2021
I liked the author's take on, of all things, Human Touch and Lucky Town.
March 2, 2025
Interesting hostory of "The Boss".
April 11, 2019
This is at times a strong biography of Bruce, which might be more useful to call an interpretive biography. Obviously all biographies force their authors to place the lives of their subjects in a constructed context, but this one feels more like Dolan summarizing factual details gleamed from previous works and then riffing off of them.
This approach works to best effect in the chapter covering the Nebraska and Born in the USA recordings and the subsequent world tour. We all know the story of Reagan's co-opting of "Born in the USA" as a jingoistic anthem, but Dolan makes an intriguing connection between the two men that I hadn't previously considered, but goes a long way toward explaining why this era is my least favorite of Bruce's stage life*:
"So, just as Bruce Springsteen and his advisers were plotting in the spring of 1984 to snag the broadest possible segment of the record-buying public, Ronald Reagan and his advisers were planning that same season in strategically similar ways to pull in the largest possible portion of the electorate. Reagan might be proceeding from the House Un-American Activities Committee-based right and Springsteen from the Monterey Pop-based left, but in 1984 each man was seeking to go beyond the loyal base that he had painstakingly built during the 1970s to capture the hearts and minds of the much wider American center." (p.216)
Dolan sprinkles insights like this throughout his book, really giving the impression that Bruce's music is all of a piece, one album written in reaction to (or conversation with) something else, and I admired how he described Bruce's set lists, teasing out the narratives he is trying to tell rather than something he hastily assembles. The book is well-sourced and Dolan has clearly done the work of listening to hundreds of hours of bootlegs, going so far as to gauge crowd reaction to a particular song on a particular night.
So why am I only giving this 3 stars?
For one, it's too long. Again, the biographical details here are all previously cited (it doesn't appear that Dolan spoke with anybody directly for original insights), which is not a problem other than to say that what this really is is a dissertation on Bruce Springsteen and his music, and sometimes you wonder if Dolan, a college professor, is guilty of academic overwriting**. It is just rock and roll, after all. (He also attempts to claim that "Mary's Place" is the second-best song off The Rising, which, come on.)
There is another biography coming out later this year that, if not fully authorized, at least comes with participation from Team Springsteen. It will be interesting to see how that compares with this one, and I might revisit this review once I do.
*The other part might be that the BitUSA tour recordings manage to sound more dated than the earliest E Street Band recordings, with Max's drums sounding like they're in a cavern and Bruce literally screaming lyrics at his stadium crowds.
**The word ersatz is used at least 10 times, which is probably 5 more times than I've ever seen it before this.
This approach works to best effect in the chapter covering the Nebraska and Born in the USA recordings and the subsequent world tour. We all know the story of Reagan's co-opting of "Born in the USA" as a jingoistic anthem, but Dolan makes an intriguing connection between the two men that I hadn't previously considered, but goes a long way toward explaining why this era is my least favorite of Bruce's stage life*:
"So, just as Bruce Springsteen and his advisers were plotting in the spring of 1984 to snag the broadest possible segment of the record-buying public, Ronald Reagan and his advisers were planning that same season in strategically similar ways to pull in the largest possible portion of the electorate. Reagan might be proceeding from the House Un-American Activities Committee-based right and Springsteen from the Monterey Pop-based left, but in 1984 each man was seeking to go beyond the loyal base that he had painstakingly built during the 1970s to capture the hearts and minds of the much wider American center." (p.216)
Dolan sprinkles insights like this throughout his book, really giving the impression that Bruce's music is all of a piece, one album written in reaction to (or conversation with) something else, and I admired how he described Bruce's set lists, teasing out the narratives he is trying to tell rather than something he hastily assembles. The book is well-sourced and Dolan has clearly done the work of listening to hundreds of hours of bootlegs, going so far as to gauge crowd reaction to a particular song on a particular night.
So why am I only giving this 3 stars?
For one, it's too long. Again, the biographical details here are all previously cited (it doesn't appear that Dolan spoke with anybody directly for original insights), which is not a problem other than to say that what this really is is a dissertation on Bruce Springsteen and his music, and sometimes you wonder if Dolan, a college professor, is guilty of academic overwriting**. It is just rock and roll, after all. (He also attempts to claim that "Mary's Place" is the second-best song off The Rising, which, come on.)
There is another biography coming out later this year that, if not fully authorized, at least comes with participation from Team Springsteen. It will be interesting to see how that compares with this one, and I might revisit this review once I do.
*The other part might be that the BitUSA tour recordings manage to sound more dated than the earliest E Street Band recordings, with Max's drums sounding like they're in a cavern and Bruce literally screaming lyrics at his stadium crowds.
**The word ersatz is used at least 10 times, which is probably 5 more times than I've ever seen it before this.
January 24, 2015
Reading this book was a type of "guilty pleasure," as I have been a huge fan of Springsteen since I saw him in the fall of 1974 playing in a 900 seat college auditorium--which was 1/3 empty-- after buying a ticket for $6 (a risk for me, as I had never heard of the guy before that night). Since then I have followed his career as I have no other artist, so this book allowed me to get "behind the scenes" during his entire career (up to about 2011). I enjoyed it for the most part, as it gave me a glimpse into the process of song-writing, recording, and putting a band together and touring. I also enjoyed how the author put Springsteen's music into its historical context, which has been how I have looked at popular music since taking a college course that did the same thing with the music of Bob Dylan. Early in Dolan's book, I compared it in my head to a book that I had read for that Dylan course, Anthony Scaduto's Dylan biography. Low and behold, within a few pages, I am reading that Springsteen read that book and gives it credit for giving his song-writing a real boost. I also was pleased when the book described Springsteen, during a very nostalgic period of his life, making a comment during a concert at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena about how "the old buildings are still the best buildings." I was there that night. The book takes the reader through Springsteen's relationships with his family, his friends/band mates, his failed first marriage and much happier union with Patty Scialfa, and finishes with the death of organist Danny Federici. Now I know why his EP a few years ago contained another live version of his 1973 song "Sandy:" that 2008 version was the last time Springsteen and Federici ever played together. My one complaint about the book is that the author's interpretations of the songs are largely speculative in nature. To be sure, he is a huge fan (and treats "the Boss" rather reverentially), but he never spoke to him before writing this book. So his takes on Springsteen's lyrics included words like "probably," "might," and "it suggests." I'm sure that the author is dead on some of the time, but without some first hand knowledge of what was going through the song-writer's head at the time, speculation does little to shed insight. In any event, I enjoyed the book, and have found myself pulling up some of Springsteen's more obscure tracks to give them another listen, now that they have been placed in context a little more thoroughly.
December 30, 2016
Artig lesning, skrevet av en fan, uten tvil, men med akkurat distanse nok til at man aner "hele mennesket" Bruce. Og tydeligvis en fan av rock n roll, generelt.
"Nå blir du nødt til å finne fram gamle lp-er og cd-er for å oppdage hva sangene faktisk handler om" lover boka. Og den fikk rett.
"Nå blir du nødt til å finne fram gamle lp-er og cd-er for å oppdage hva sangene faktisk handler om" lover boka. Og den fikk rett.
September 5, 2012
This book could be called, "Bruce Springsteen Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Rock and Roll". If you're a Springsteen fan and you're intrigued by how his music has evolved throughout his career, you'll most likely enjoy this book although it can be frustrating to read at times. You should plan on taking longer than you think to finish reading since you'll frequently succumb to the urge to search YouTube for many of the performances referenced by Marc Dolan in each chapter.
This biography is an enjoyable read if you feel the pull of Bruce's music. At times, Dolan's book struggles under the weight of over-wrought sentences like this one; "Conceived this way, the piano line in "Thunder Road" is less like the narrator's critical interlocutor than like a piece of the narrator's musical clothing, something he dons to lend himself greater presence."
The attempts to link Bruce's worldview expressed in his music to Ronald Reagan's is unconvincing. The section detailing Springsteen's endorsement of Barack Obama is overdone with lines such as, "Was there ever a presidential candidate who better fit with Bruce Springsteen's worldview?" As Dolan himself explains, Springsteen became more overtly politically active as he grew older and saw the world (and himself as a musician) in less absolute terms.
Dolan's analysis of Springsteen's lyrics and his ability to connect songs across different periods of Bruce's career is a strength of the book. Much of the book helps us understand why Bruce needed to regularly leave the band and explore his music on his own or with other musicians. Even as a lifelong Springsteen fan, however, I found Dolan to be a bit too forgiving of some of the weaker songs on some of Bruce's most recent recordings (i.e. Magic, Working on a Dream). Dolan is at his best when he describes how Springsteen created, recorded, and later re-imagined many of his songs on successive tours as his musical interests and his relationship with his audience evolved.
This biography is an enjoyable read if you feel the pull of Bruce's music. At times, Dolan's book struggles under the weight of over-wrought sentences like this one; "Conceived this way, the piano line in "Thunder Road" is less like the narrator's critical interlocutor than like a piece of the narrator's musical clothing, something he dons to lend himself greater presence."
The attempts to link Bruce's worldview expressed in his music to Ronald Reagan's is unconvincing. The section detailing Springsteen's endorsement of Barack Obama is overdone with lines such as, "Was there ever a presidential candidate who better fit with Bruce Springsteen's worldview?" As Dolan himself explains, Springsteen became more overtly politically active as he grew older and saw the world (and himself as a musician) in less absolute terms.
Dolan's analysis of Springsteen's lyrics and his ability to connect songs across different periods of Bruce's career is a strength of the book. Much of the book helps us understand why Bruce needed to regularly leave the band and explore his music on his own or with other musicians. Even as a lifelong Springsteen fan, however, I found Dolan to be a bit too forgiving of some of the weaker songs on some of Bruce's most recent recordings (i.e. Magic, Working on a Dream). Dolan is at his best when he describes how Springsteen created, recorded, and later re-imagined many of his songs on successive tours as his musical interests and his relationship with his audience evolved.
August 13, 2016
This is a long, nearly-encyclopedic song-by-song, performance-by-performance, psychologically- and sociologically-perceptive discussion of Springsteen's career. Dolan is best at explaining Springsteen's political persona and social consciousness in the context of recent American history (not necessarily of all of rock n roll). But since Springsteen was apolitical for many years, the first half of the book tends to read as more of detached litany of band members' names and song titles - only good reading for those of us who are keenly interested. It's not until the Reagan-era that Dolan can let loose -
I now know more (a whole lot more) about Springsteen's personal struggles with fame, and relationships, and his connection/lack of connection to his audiences. Not as much about his songwriting influences as I'd expected, though I do understand a little better the oft-bewildering musical directions he's taken since the mid-1990s ...
When Dolan gets rolling, he amusingly (to me, anyway) throws in some crazy-but-wonderful associations and analogies, to wit:
I now know more (a whole lot more) about Springsteen's personal struggles with fame, and relationships, and his connection/lack of connection to his audiences. Not as much about his songwriting influences as I'd expected, though I do understand a little better the oft-bewildering musical directions he's taken since the mid-1990s ...
When Dolan gets rolling, he amusingly (to me, anyway) throws in some crazy-but-wonderful associations and analogies, to wit:
But just being honest about what's going on in your own head is only half of love. If that's all you do, you're just being a clearheaded solipsist. As the authors of both "Sad Eyes" and the Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas said ....Gertrude Stein and Bruce?!! And,
It was like a Burgess Shale of American popular music, an alternate direction that pop could have taken around the time of Springsteen's birth ...Stephen Jay Gould? Those unexpected gems made reading this a lot of fun, in addition to the fun had by running to Youtube to hear bootleg versions of "Boom Boom."
January 24, 2014
Well researched and a nice companion piece to the more authoritative (and Bruce-approved, warts and all) bio by Peter Ames Carlin. Most impressively, I was reminded that artists are guided and driven by the collective histories that haunt them, and the desire to continually attain and prove something - be it to someone else or themselves. Bruce is a restless spirit, always looking for a way to express something as perfectly as possible. Dolan captures that essence here and we see the how often the creative peaks and valleys coincided with the personal ones, and how - at times - it was the very longing for something Bruce didn't have that served as the pressure to create diamonds. The desire to break through as an artist, to break away from the legalities of the industry, the desire to settle down and have a home and a wife, the desire to be a father, the desire to be able to not run from intimacy, and to serve the global community in some meaningful way. All of these serve as mile markers in his career, and Dolan singles them out well.
I've come away from this book and Carlin's biography feeling like I understand Springsteen much better, and if you are a fan (and I know plenty of you are decidedly not), you'll appreciate the insight here that illuminates not only the creative process, but the personal journey that fans have been invited to travel along on, not always aware of the impetus, but always eager to hear the sonic results.
I've come away from this book and Carlin's biography feeling like I understand Springsteen much better, and if you are a fan (and I know plenty of you are decidedly not), you'll appreciate the insight here that illuminates not only the creative process, but the personal journey that fans have been invited to travel along on, not always aware of the impetus, but always eager to hear the sonic results.
July 17, 2013
This wasn't the book I thought I was buying, which was one I'd seen reviewed that promised background on mean things Bruce had said about Max Weinberg etc. So I'd been primed for gossip. This is much more cultural autobiography, as befits an English/American studies professor: there's an assumption that you know about all the backstage intrigue (I don't) and the women who inspired "Candy's Room" and "Rosalita" (again: no). If that's what you're looking for, obviously, this is the wrong book (I personally would have liked more about his early years, especially his religious education, b/c his songs are so steeped in Christian imagery).
And some of the cultural references and comparisons are clumsily done: "They are also much closer to an apocalyptic party song like Warren Zevon's "Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse" than a more casual listener might suspect." WTF? Or "As the authors of both "Sad Eyes" and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas could tell you...." On the other hand, Springsteen IS someone who is very consciously aware of and in reaction to the Zeitgeist, and certainly far more writerly than most pop performers out there, so some of the analysis (the Reagan and Bush years in particular) seemed pretty cogent and relevant.
Worthwhile for the major Springsteen fan.
And some of the cultural references and comparisons are clumsily done: "They are also much closer to an apocalyptic party song like Warren Zevon's "Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse" than a more casual listener might suspect." WTF? Or "As the authors of both "Sad Eyes" and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas could tell you...." On the other hand, Springsteen IS someone who is very consciously aware of and in reaction to the Zeitgeist, and certainly far more writerly than most pop performers out there, so some of the analysis (the Reagan and Bush years in particular) seemed pretty cogent and relevant.
Worthwhile for the major Springsteen fan.
August 27, 2012
Dolan provided some really intriguing and insightful background to certain aspects of Bruce's career and songwriting. In several cases the information he uncovered and the analysis he gave changed my perspective on monumental aspects of Bruce's career.
However, in doing so, Dolan set the bar too high for himself. When it comes to the most impact times in Bruce's career - like the firing and rehiring of the band, the decision to include producer Brendan O'Brien, and the death of Doug Springsteen - Dolan's revelatory insights are nowhere to be found.
He'll spend two or the three pages discussing the effects of American Skin - which was riveting - but gloss over the lyric change in Blood brothers.
Had Dolan matched his self-set bar of expertise in discussing all the monumental moments of Bruce's life and career, this book would probably be twice as long. But at least it wouldn't feel disjointed and disappointing two pages after feeling essential. As it is, I would recommend this book because of the insights it does provide, but it is far from a definitive end-all biography.
There are also some (only a few) factual errors.
However, in doing so, Dolan set the bar too high for himself. When it comes to the most impact times in Bruce's career - like the firing and rehiring of the band, the decision to include producer Brendan O'Brien, and the death of Doug Springsteen - Dolan's revelatory insights are nowhere to be found.
He'll spend two or the three pages discussing the effects of American Skin - which was riveting - but gloss over the lyric change in Blood brothers.
Had Dolan matched his self-set bar of expertise in discussing all the monumental moments of Bruce's life and career, this book would probably be twice as long. But at least it wouldn't feel disjointed and disappointing two pages after feeling essential. As it is, I would recommend this book because of the insights it does provide, but it is far from a definitive end-all biography.
There are also some (only a few) factual errors.
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