Springsteen Challenge Day 10: Favorite E Street Band Member

Obviously, this means NOT including Bruce.  This is an interesting question, because, I could just be super lazy and say Bruce and then fall asleep faster tonight.  The question then becomes – is Bruce Springsteen in the E Street Band? Or is the E Street Band his backing band? Springsteen and the E Streeters are a rare breed in rock superstardom. Most major bands have a name for all the members – The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who – it wasn’t Lennon and McCartney with the Beatles, or Roger Daltrey and the Who.  But, with Bruce Springsteen, it’s a curious question – is he a member of his band or not?

The arguments for Bruce being a member are as follows: Bruce, when planning on releasing his massive 5 LP box set of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Live 1975-1985, considered naming the set “Bruce Springsteen with the E Street Band: Live 1975-1985” meaning they would have been his backing band, sort of like Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, with Full Force. Except, you know, more than two songs.  But, hey, not every song can be “All Cried Out.”  Steve Van Zandt (The Sopranos’ Silvio Dante) convinced Bruce that the “with” would make it seem like they were his touring band.  Given how much input Miami Steve had on Bruce’s album production up until he departed the band after the Born in the USA album, it is clear that this wasn’t like Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew, playing sessions in the studio for Motown artists who can’t lay down a steady beat.  Steve convinced Bruce that he should credit the album as it was released: “AND the E Street Band.” Stevie’s rationale was that Bruce was the lead singer of the E Street Band.  Bruce agreed.

The arguments against Bruce being a member of the E Street Band were that he had the sole writing credit on all songs released under their title up until that point, no albums were “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” up until the Live 1975-1985 album, despite the E Street Band serving as the studio band during recording, and the fact that, in the late 80s, Bruce disbanded the band with a wave of his hand (and a few million dollars for each band member.)  That’s the CEO folding the corporation and handing out golden parachutes – it’s not necessarily a Democracy.  As evidenced, Bruce has cast the band headlong into events such as the 2004 Vote for Change tour in support of John Kerry, despite Steve Van Zandt being a libertarian, and the remainder of the band not making public their political leanings.  It is important to note that you say you are going to a Springsteen show, not an E Street Band show. You may say it is an E Street Band show to distinguish between shows you saw in the early 90s with the other band, or if you saw either the Ghost of Tom Joad or Devils and Dust tours (Sit Down, Shut the Fuck Up Tours I and II), but you wouldn’t tell a coworker who is way more in to Dokken that you’re going to see the E Street Band. 

But, to make a distinction, I agree with Bruce and Stevie – Bruce is the lead singer of the E Street Band.  At the end of his concerts, he closes by saying: “(Name of City) You’ve just witnessed the (string of adjectives rhyming with –ing), legendary E Street Band!”  Not Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.  The E Street Band. The final nail in the coffin on this argument?  Bruce himself stated, when coming up with the name, while sitting on the Corner of E Street and 10^th Avenue in Belmar, NJ, waiting for David Sancious, the original E Street Keyboardist, to come out of his mother’s house while the band sat on the corner in a station wagon: “We spend so much damn time on this street, we might as well call ourselves the E Street Band!”  He included himself at the inception.  He’s a member.

Still, for this exercise?  He’s disqualified.  This is called the Springsteen challenge, not the E Street Band challenge.  Which leads me to the true nature of this post: Who is my favorite Non-Bruce E Street Band member?

The answer is simple: Nils Lofgren.  Nils isn’t even an original E Streeter.  In fact, of the original group, only Garry Tallent and Bruce remain.  Phantom Dan Federici is dead, The Big Man, Clarence Clemons is dead, and David Sancious and Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez are both gone from the band, replaced by Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg, respectively. Nils never played a day with the E Street Band in the 1970s.  Once Miami Steve left the band to form Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul in the mid 1980s, Bruce was left without a lead guitarist to play while he focused on singing.  Bruce still plays the guitar on a regular basis, but he will regularly stop and let Nils take over.  Nils is the better guitarist, anyway.  Once Steven returned in the mid to late 1990s after recording new material for the Greatest Hits album and the reunion tour, Nils stuck around, remaining the go to shredder on the axe.  Steven plays some bass, trades lead vocals with Bruce, and will pick up the ukulele at times (especially during Land of Hope and Dreams).

I like Steven alright, but there’s something about Nils ability.  He’s amazing as a guitarist.  His blazing solos, featured so often during “Because the Night” have him making the guitar wail and scream, crying for mercy as he rips his fingers across the strings, pulling it back toward his hip (both of which have been replaced due to father time/hard rocking guitar solos), eventually becoming a whirling dervish when the music overtakes him, spinning clockwise on the stage, hopping on his left leg, his right leg raised at a 90 degree angle, a slight bend at each knee as the guitar shrieks with agony.

He provides a melodic falsetto when it is his turn at the mic offsetting Bruce’s gravelly voice and Stevie’s baritone.  He is quiet, he is reserved, and he is the best guitarist.  It seems like every year, Nils announces he’d like to tour in support of an album he’s put together, along with his wife Amy, and then Bruce plops down a new E Street Album, and Nils is on the road for 18 months straight, without so much as a complaint (I’m sure the money doesn’t hurt!)  Not to mention, for a while in the 1980s, Nils played guitar on a Tramampoline! He performed somersaults while playing guitar.  Pick up a copy of the book “Glory Days” and flip to the photo section (The middle Photo Section.)  There’s a picture of him upside down, looking like he's going to break his neck, with Bruce looking delightfully impressed. That’s him on the tramampoline.  Go Nils.  You’re my favorite E Street Band member!

Tomorrow’s topic: Least Favorite Bruce song.  Shit just got real.