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?

Springsteen Challenge Day 9: Favorite Bootleg Recording

This is an interesting post to write, because only three mini stories come to mind regarding bootlegs and Bruce. For starters, while Landau and the Springsteen team don’t actively discourage bootlegging of Bruce concerts (“Bootleggers, roll your tapes!” was the call from Mr. Springsteen himself in 1978, while introducing a song), there is something a bit odd about the notion of having bootlegged versions of shows.  Does Bruce feel like he owns every performance he puts on? Or, does he realize that most of his fans are like me, in that they will buy whatever he puts out as a release – so even if they have a bootlegged, soundboard or pit audio, version of a show, they’ll still buy the official Columbia release of whatever show Bruce chooses to release for $29.99 on DVD or audio.

Springsteen Challenge Day 8: Favorite Springsteen Era

To be honest, this was the prompt I was the least excited about writing. I am 28 years old, and for most of my formative years, Bruce Springsteen was not touring with the E Street Band.  By the time I appreciated music in the early nineties, Bruce was touring with the “other” band. The extent of my interaction and awareness of Bruce was when my mom forgot to send in her “no thanks” Columbia music club card, and the monthly pick that month was “Born in the USA.”  I never listened to it, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have understood the depth and importance of the album.  My next interaction with Bruce was incessant commercials on HBO advertising the Live in New York City performance made specifically for HBO. I remember thinking “who in the hell would care about Bruce Springsteen?”

Springsteen Challenge Day 7: Favorite Bruce Album (Live)

Throughout this process, I have consistently interpreted the prompts to better suit my writing style.  In this instance, I don’t need to.  This is fairly straightforward in terms of my favorite Bruce live album.  There aren’t nearly as many Bruce live albums as there are bootlegs. I am, however, not including bootlegs.  The “favorite bootleg” is a category all its own.  Thus, this will be an official released album – not DVDs, unless there was an audio version released in support.  This significantly narrows the options.

Springsteen Challenge Day 6: Favorite Bruce Album (Studio)

If picking my favorite Lyric was tough, this is the exact opposite.  As is the case with all of these writing prompts, I’m going to go ahead and interpret the rules in such a way that allows me to write a bit more.  Otherwise, here’s what this post would look like:

“Springsteen Challenge Day 6: Favorite Bruce Album (Studio): Born to Run.  Moving on.”