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Racing in the Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader
For more than three decades, Bruce Springsteen’s ability to express in words and music the deepest hopes, fears, loves, and sorrows of average Americans has made him a hero to his millions of devoted fans. Racing in the Street is the first comprehensive collection of writings about Springsteen, featuring the most insightful, revealing, famous, and infamous articles, interviews, reviews, and other writings. This nostalgic journey through the career of a rock-’n’-roll legend chronicles every album and each stage of Springsteen’s career. It’s all here—Dave Marsh’s Rolling Stone review of Springsteen’s ten sold-out Bottom Line shows in 1975 in New York City, Jay Cocks’s and Maureen Orth’s dueling Time and Newsweek cover stories, George Will’s gross misinterpretation of Springsteen’s message on his Born in the USA tour, and Will Percy’s 1999 interview for Double Take , plus much, much more.
464 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2004
12 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Martin Scorsese
117 books139 followersMartin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese is an American Academy Award-winning film director, writer, and producer. Also affectionately known as "Marty", he is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation and a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America. Scorsese is president of the Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation and the prevention of the decaying of motion picture film stock.
Scorsese's body of work addresses such themes as Italian American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, machismo, and the violence endemic in American society. Scorsese is widely considered to be one of the most significant and influential American filmmakers of his era.[3] He earned an MFA in film directing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Scorsese's body of work addresses such themes as Italian American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, machismo, and the violence endemic in American society. Scorsese is widely considered to be one of the most significant and influential American filmmakers of his era.[3] He earned an MFA in film directing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 13, 2024
A retrospective of essays, articles and past interviews with The Boss with a foreword by none other than Martin Scorsese, that covers his entire career from Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ up through 2004 when this book was written.
The Good: I am a massive Bruce Springsteen fan, I don't know of any poet/musician, even the GOAT Bob Dylan, that's songs embody all of the beauty, exuberance and vulgarity of American appetites like The Boss does. He has always been miscast as a political artist, when he always been more about our civic life-what binds us and what divides us. These essays show the levels of his songs from the sentimental (4th of July Asbury Park), to the literal (The Ghost of Tom Joad) to the controversial (41 Shots/American Skin). He denounced the fact that Reagan used Born in the USA as his re-election campaign song, because that song was written as far away from the Reagan belief structure as possible. Whether you like him or not, the energy of his concerts is off the charts and seeing Rosalita live one time will literally change your life.
The Bad: There are some of these past articles and essays from authors like Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) who is British and cannot fully relate to the American struggle and comes off as a bit pompous in his criticism of Bruce's records, somewhat unfair in my biased opinion.
"Show a little faith, there's magic in the night."
B
The Good: I am a massive Bruce Springsteen fan, I don't know of any poet/musician, even the GOAT Bob Dylan, that's songs embody all of the beauty, exuberance and vulgarity of American appetites like The Boss does. He has always been miscast as a political artist, when he always been more about our civic life-what binds us and what divides us. These essays show the levels of his songs from the sentimental (4th of July Asbury Park), to the literal (The Ghost of Tom Joad) to the controversial (41 Shots/American Skin). He denounced the fact that Reagan used Born in the USA as his re-election campaign song, because that song was written as far away from the Reagan belief structure as possible. Whether you like him or not, the energy of his concerts is off the charts and seeing Rosalita live one time will literally change your life.
The Bad: There are some of these past articles and essays from authors like Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) who is British and cannot fully relate to the American struggle and comes off as a bit pompous in his criticism of Bruce's records, somewhat unfair in my biased opinion.
"Show a little faith, there's magic in the night."
B
April 25, 2008
Since I'm heading to see Bruce in about thirty minutes, I'll whet my appetite with a little review.
This is a good resource if you happen to do any academic writing on him as I occasionally do. (That's just to justify listening to Darkness on the Edge of Town at work---loud!). Simply put, this is as good (ie balanced) a collection as one is likely to get in this Age of Celebrity. Sadly, permission problems prevented the inclusion of Jon Landau's famous "I have seen the future of rock'n'roll...." piece from 1974, which one would think would be essential. (Who in hell needs $$$ from that piece 35 years later?). That said, there are early Crawdaddy pieces, including Lester Bangs's review of Born to Run. The book gets a little painful c. 1980-88 with the Hagiographic Years. Journalistically if not musically, I much prefer the lost-in-the-wildnerness years of 1989-2002 when what looked like the Boss's passe-ness could lend a little perspective to all the rhapsodizing, which inevitably invites cliche. My fave piece in the book is Bryan Garman's piece on The Ghost of Tom Joad, everybody's least favorite album. I yawn at Eric Alderman's NPR-style appreciations, and, of course, there's enough Dave Marsh in here to make one a John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band fan. Thanks to BS's three most recent CDs, the book feels a little out of date, ending as it does with somewhat strained efforts to parse the 9/11 riddles and enigmas out of The Rising (a great song). And why oh why a book devoted to the Boss would put such an unflattering picture of him on the cover is a little irritating---Bruce looks like a cannibal ready to chomp into Clarence's meaty neck.
PS. RIP, Danny Federici.
This is a good resource if you happen to do any academic writing on him as I occasionally do. (That's just to justify listening to Darkness on the Edge of Town at work---loud!). Simply put, this is as good (ie balanced) a collection as one is likely to get in this Age of Celebrity. Sadly, permission problems prevented the inclusion of Jon Landau's famous "I have seen the future of rock'n'roll...." piece from 1974, which one would think would be essential. (Who in hell needs $$$ from that piece 35 years later?). That said, there are early Crawdaddy pieces, including Lester Bangs's review of Born to Run. The book gets a little painful c. 1980-88 with the Hagiographic Years. Journalistically if not musically, I much prefer the lost-in-the-wildnerness years of 1989-2002 when what looked like the Boss's passe-ness could lend a little perspective to all the rhapsodizing, which inevitably invites cliche. My fave piece in the book is Bryan Garman's piece on The Ghost of Tom Joad, everybody's least favorite album. I yawn at Eric Alderman's NPR-style appreciations, and, of course, there's enough Dave Marsh in here to make one a John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band fan. Thanks to BS's three most recent CDs, the book feels a little out of date, ending as it does with somewhat strained efforts to parse the 9/11 riddles and enigmas out of The Rising (a great song). And why oh why a book devoted to the Boss would put such an unflattering picture of him on the cover is a little irritating---Bruce looks like a cannibal ready to chomp into Clarence's meaty neck.
PS. RIP, Danny Federici.
April 26, 2016
A good collection of various kinds about Springsteen, primarily non-fiction, but with some fictional passages thrown in as well - not as a character, but rather several novels and short stories either directly or indirectly about him, his music and New Jersey.
There are so many news articles, in-depth features and critical analysis out there, it can be daunting to locate what one would consider the definitive piece on Springsteen, and while this anthology is by no means complete - or current - it accomplished a great deal, illuminated things about his career and life that I was unaware of, and provided a great deal of thought-provoking ideas and issues.
All in all, considering that I have been a rabid, die-hard fan for close to thirty years, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and savored certain sections, bringing me even closer to the artist that I admire so much and have spent so much time with (so to speak) over the years. Also, considering that none of the selections are overly long, this is ideal for someone who feels that they don't have the time or interest for a longer work, or straight biography.
There are so many news articles, in-depth features and critical analysis out there, it can be daunting to locate what one would consider the definitive piece on Springsteen, and while this anthology is by no means complete - or current - it accomplished a great deal, illuminated things about his career and life that I was unaware of, and provided a great deal of thought-provoking ideas and issues.
All in all, considering that I have been a rabid, die-hard fan for close to thirty years, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and savored certain sections, bringing me even closer to the artist that I admire so much and have spent so much time with (so to speak) over the years. Also, considering that none of the selections are overly long, this is ideal for someone who feels that they don't have the time or interest for a longer work, or straight biography.
November 10, 2008
Of course this book is fabulous; it's all about Bruce!
Seriously, a great collection of thoughtful essays and fiction inspired by Springsteen, plus two or three intervies. I particularly liked the pieces by Kevin Major (a collection of imaginary letters sent to Springsteen by a teenage boy), Andrew Greeley (a look at sacramentality in Springsteen's lyrics), Mikal Gilmore (on Springsteen's journey as an American artist), Nick Hornby (on why "Thunder Road" is his most significant life song), and Christopher Phillips (on Bruce fandom).
Seriously, a great collection of thoughtful essays and fiction inspired by Springsteen, plus two or three intervies. I particularly liked the pieces by Kevin Major (a collection of imaginary letters sent to Springsteen by a teenage boy), Andrew Greeley (a look at sacramentality in Springsteen's lyrics), Mikal Gilmore (on Springsteen's journey as an American artist), Nick Hornby (on why "Thunder Road" is his most significant life song), and Christopher Phillips (on Bruce fandom).
December 23, 2012
Useful compilation of essays and interviews covering Springsteen's career from the beginning through the Rising. Nothing particularly adventurous or surprising about the choices, but that's okay. I prefer the magazine compilation of reviews and interviews put out a couple of years ago in the U.K. (basically a Mojo/Uncut compilation), but it's not easy to find. There's been a ton published on Springsteen over the last couple of years, so the time's right for a revised and updated edition.
August 9, 2008
A pretty good read if you are a Springsteen fan. The reader starts from the beginning of his songwriting to the present. One can get a better understanding of his songs by reading these reviews and essays.
April 5, 2008
This book offers some good insights into Springsteen's music, and why so many people connect with it.
Read
April 4, 2016A great collection of Springsteen essays and nice to have all in one place. The essays are kind of hit or miss. Some are great, others are meh.
December 29, 2008
Good coverage of a lot of Springsteen's career. Made me want to go back and listen to everything once again-which wasn't a bad idea.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews