Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

In 1973 the band Chicago played a string of dates culminating in two nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden on 14 and 15 June. The support act was Bruce Springsteen, and the tour was, to say the least, not a happy experience for him, as Christopher Sandford relates in Springsteen: Point Blank: “Things soured in Philadelphia…’Kids were throwing rolls of toilet paper,’ says [manager, Mike] Appel. A fan bounced a basket ball off Springsteen’s piano. ‘They’re not paying attention to me,’ was his wild understatement to his manager. Something similar, or worse, happened at Madison Square Garden…Springsteen ran off stage in New York, announced he was quitting, ‘shrieked like a beast’ at Appel and burst into tears. After the recriminations had died down, he vowed he’d never play another ‘shed’ and ‘never as someone’s butt-fuck.’ ‘I told Bruce, okay, no more big venues,’ says Appel.”

“Writing about yourself is a funny business…But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.” —Bruce Springsteen, from the pages of Born to Run.

"Born to Run" was Bruce Springsteen's third studio album and his commercial breakthrough success. Released in 1975, the album featured two singles: "Born to Run" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out". The songs "Thunder Road" and "Jungleland" also became hits and are staples of Springsteen's live show to this day. The album was almost universally praised by critics, and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1975. It has been certified triple-platinum by the RIAA as of 1986, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at #18 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.