Praying In Vain For A Savior To Rise From These Streets

Here's the story behind Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run, his make-or-break moment. I like the album, but I think the article makes too big a deal of it.

It was the mid-70s, and everyone was looking for the next big thing. Elvis in the 50s, The Beatles in the 60s--rock and roll's latest savior was overdue. The press thought they'd found it in Springsteen, and tried to cram him down the public's throat. He was barely known and yet appeared on the cover of Time and Newsweek simultaneously.

He did become a star from Born To Run, but in terms of sales he wasn't a superstar until the 1980s and Born In The USA. For that matter, Born To Run didn't change the face of rock--it wasn't even a particularly new sound. Punk (which wasn't popular in America for quite a while) changed things more--if there was a Next Big Thing in rock and roll back then, that was it.