The music industry in 1974 was a strange place. The last remnants of the "free love" era of the 1960's were dying out; the Beatles, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison had either died or called it quits, whilst Elvis was fading fast(and would be dead just three years later). The heavier Rock scene was picking up, but didn't reach the dizzying heights of world domination until later in the decade. 1974 was a transitional period. The romance of pop and rock culture was seeping away, and something needed to bring it back.
Enter a young Bruce Springsteen, still infatuated by the shining promise of the American dream, and thrust that raw optimism to the world with "Born To Run", his flagship of romance and righteousness.
And with it, came Springsteen's sound. A collection of instruments never before associated with the Spartan traditions of rock 'n roll, Bruce collated sax, glockenspiel, piano, organ and his now famous harmonica to create a movie score type feel - expansive, open and brash. He combined this with the raw energy of an up-and-coming club band and Springsteen's own street-poet prose.
The result was magic. Opening with the optimistic freedom of "Thunder Road", Springsteen sings of breaking free, and getting loose and experiencing a world far removed from the New Jersey turnpike. In "Night" he speaks of the mundane life - "You work 9 to 5, somehow you survive" and in the seminal title track "Born To Run", he gathers all the ingredients needed to make a blockbuster film - the characters, the hardship and the will to succeed and condenses them into 4 and a half minutes. Of Jungleland, a musical masterpiece in itself, Springsteen pens the struggles of city living almost autobiographically, set in the back drop of one long night, full of hope, dreams and misadventure. The lyrical content is wonderful, visionary; "A barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a dodge, drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain...the kids down here look just like shadows, always quiet, holding hands".
Springsteen said of Born To Run years after it's release that it's all written about "one, long summer night" - with all the characters breaking free of their respective vices under the same sky, connected by the same hopes and dreams in one period of time.
By writing of escape and happiness in his album and portraying that message to the masses, he created hope in itself. His concerts have been described as "more of a spiritual gathering than a rock concert", where people go and they feel hopeful, they share the raw faith and optimism that Springsteen felt as he wrote the album in his bedroom in New Jersey.
He created the escape for people whilst attempting to do so for himself. Rock 'N Roll was Springsteen's big break - the record label were prepared to drop him if Born To Run didn't sell - and in a way, it was ours too.
For me, this album is the musical foundation of my personality. My dad is a huge Springsteen fan, and when I was brought back from the hospital, I was sat in front of the speaker and played "Born To Run", in full. It was the first piece of music I ever heard as a living individual, and has since patterned who I am. It reminds me of childhood, of the sunny perspectives and the innocent viewpoint from which I viewed the world. When I hear Born To Run, I revert back to that innocent child, forgetting everything but the moment I am wrapped in, with a broad smile across my face.
Born To Run was written just as the music industry needed a hero. It got one, and an album to set its stall by. Springsteen has since gone on to sell millions of records, headline festivals and still to this day embarks on expansive world tours, bringing his dreams and visions to a new crowd, a new collection of faces.
Everyone needs a hope. Born To Run is mine.
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