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1980 September After recording more than 60 songs, The River sessions come to an end. October 3 Even though the album has not been released yet, The River tour starts in Ann Arbor, Mi. The shows will mostly consist of an average of 30 songs lasting well over 3 hours (reports of 4 hours shows are not uncommon.). October 17 Bruce’s fifth album, “The River” is released as a double album. It becomes a number one album and makes it in the top 10 with “Hungry Heart” and top 20 with “Fade Away”. November 8 Bruce has his first number one album with The River at number one on the Billboard Chart. November 15 “Hungry Heart” reaches number 5 on the Billboard Chart and is Bruce’s first Top 10 hit. December 31 As with previous years, Bruce performs on New Years Eve, ending a three-night stand at the Nassau Coliseum in New York. The show is still regarded as the longest Bruce has ever played with 38 songs and lasting over 4 hours. 1981 February 5 Bruce’s second appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone March Bruce is too exhausted to go on tour in Europe and the tour is postponed. April 17 The European River tour starts in Hamburg, Germany. The tour consists of 33 shows in 10 countries and is the first full scale European tour. The shows are shorter than the previous year. July 2 Bruce and The E-Street Band open the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, NJ with a six-night stand. August 20 Bruce and the band hold a benefit for the Vietnam Veterans at the Sports Arena in LA. It is a very moving and passionate show. September 14 The River tour comes to an end in Cincinnati. Bruce has become an established artist and claims money is no longer a problem. 1982 January 3 With just an acoustic guitar and harmonica, Bruce tapes a collection of dark, bleak songs on a four track Teac recorder at his home in Holmdel, NJ. The songs would end up on Bruce’s next album, Nebraska. April Bruce is back in the studio. The songs recorded back in January are used as a basis to work from. Most of the songs don’t work out with the band (“Electric Nebraska”). Summer Bruce makes numerous, unannounced guest appearance with various bands along the Jersey bars. Most of the gigs take place in the (now legendary) Stone Pony in Asbury Park. October 4 Bruce’s seventh album, “Nebraska” is released the way it was recorded back in January. The album was nothing like his usual work and confused some fans while it gained others. It was embraced by critics and by Bruce’s loyal fans. There would be no tour in support of the album. November 11 Bruce appears on the cover of Newsweek for a second time. December 22 Bruce’s first music video, “Atlantic City” premiers on MTV. Bruce does not appear in the video. 1983 Bruce records the “Hollywood Hills Garage Tapes” as they are widely known by in his house in California. Some of the songs recorded end up as B-Sides for BITUSA singles. May Once again, The E-Street Band joins Bruce in the studio to resume recording the BITUSA songs. 1984 April The BITUSA recording sessions finally end. Bruce has recorded approximately 80-100 songs since 1982. Of these songs, only 12 will end up on the album and a hand full will be used as B-sides for singles. May 9 The “Dancing In The Dark” video is released. June 4 Bruce’s eight album, "Born In The USA" is released. It’s Bruce’s most commercial album to date and is bought by both long-time fans and casual listeners whose first exposure to Bruce was the Dancing in the dark video and single. The album eventually sold more than 15 million copies in the US alone. The album produced 7 Top 10 hits including his number one song “Dancing In The Dark”. Other songs that hit it big are “I’m On Fire”, “Glory Days”, “My Hometown”, “ I’m Going Down”, “Cover Me” and “Born In The USA”. June 29 The Born In The USA Tour starts in St.Paul, MN. From now on, Bruce starts supporting local food banks and organizations working for the homeless wherever the tour takes him. Steve Van Zandt has officially left The E-Street Band. Nils Lofgren takes his place and Patti Scialfa has also joined the band. July 7 Born In the USA becomes number one on the Billboard charts were it stays for 7 weeks. It will spend an amazing 85 weeks in the top 10. August 5-20 Ten shows at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. All shows were sold out in a matter of hours. Steve Van Zandt and the Miami Horns make guest appearances. September 19 Ronald Reagan mentions Bruce during a campaign speech in Hammonton, NJ and uses Born In The USA as a patriotic campaign song. A few days later, Bruce replies from a concert stage in Pittsburgh by playing Johnny 99 saying Reagan probably hasn’t listened to that song. October 19 The show in Tacoma, WA has the “honor” of being the first show since 1974, which does include “Rosalita”. December 6 Bruce appears on the cover of Rolling Stone 1985 January 28 Bruce wins his first Grammy for Dancing In The Dark. Bruce does not attend the ceremony. At the 1994 Grammy ceremony Bruce will tell the audience that they had send the award to his mother whom presented it to him over the kitchen table. January 28-29 Bruce participates in the “We Are The World” recording sessions. March 21 Bruce’s first trip to Australia. The eight shows are a great success, but it is also the first time Bruce receives bad press on the tour as reporters claim they were pushed away by Bruce’s bodyguards when he arrived at the airport. April 4-22 Bruce and the band are in Tokyo for 8 shows. May 13 Bruce is back in the US and marries Julianne Philips during a private ceremony in Oregon. June 1 The European tour starts with a show at Slane Castle, Dublin, Ireland. Slane Castle is a huge outdoor park and it has been estimated that 100.000 people attended the show. Bruce, not used to this, frequently tries to calm the people down. That summer, Bruce-mania takes over Europe. July 4 Steve Van Zandt makes a guest appearance at London’s Wembley Stadium. Bruce opened the show with a beautiful acoustic rendition of Independence Day. August 5 The final leg of the BITUSA starts in Washington, DC August 18-September 1 Sell-out crowds of 80000 attend 8 shows in Giants Stadium, NJ September 13 Bruce wins MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video (I’m On Fire) and Best Stage Performance In A Video (Dancing In The Dark) September 17-October 1 Four shows at the Memorial Coliseum in LA, bring the BITUSA tour to a closure. The final show closes with an hour of encores. The tour lasted 15 month and was a triumph from start to finish. October 10 Bruce appears on the cover of Rolling Stone 1986 January Once again, Bruce is chosen as Rolling Stone’s Artist Of The Year. He also wins most of the other categories. January 19 Bruce and the band perform at a benefit for the 3M plant in Freehold, which is threatened with closure. February Chrysler president Lee Laccocca offers Bruce a whopping $12 million if they can use “Born In The USA” for one of their car commercials. Bruce turns down the offer and for a while, lands himself a place in the Guinness Book of Records for turning down the largest amount for a commercial. Bruce appears on the cover of Rolling Stone October 13 Bruce accompanied by Danny Federici and Nils Lofgren performs at Neil Young’s Bridge Benefit. It is Bruce’s first real acoustic gig since 1972. November 10 Bruce rewards his fans by releasing a five LP live album called “Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band Live 1975-1985”. The LP debuted at number one and was considered a must have for music fans. 1987 January 21 Bruce inducts Roy Orbinson into the R&R Hall Of Fame February Bruce appears on the cover of Rolling Stone and is elected Artist of The Year by the same magazine. It is the third year in a row Bruce receives this honor. Spring-Summer Bruce spends his time at his home in Rumson, NJ, working on a follow-up album to BITUSA. Individual members of The E-Street Band join him on different occasions, but Bruce and the entire band are never assembled in the studio at the same time. September 30 Bruce joins artists like Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits for Roy Orbinson’s “Black & White Night”. The show will later be released on cd, video and DVD. October 6 “Tunnel Of Love” is released. While many people were expecting Bruce to cash in on the BITUSA success and release BITUSA II, Bruce comes out with 12 mature songs about love and relationships. The lyrics are no longer solely about blue-collar life struggles and now also cover emotional turmoil’s. The album was recorded during a three-week period, at his home in Rumson, New Jersey and only featured some members of the band on various tracks. Clarence Clemons does not appear at all. Even though the album was not the great commercial success BITUSA was, the album does go platinum on the day of its release and reaches number one in the charts three weeks later. “Brilliant Disguise”, “One Step Up” and “Tunnel Of Love” all reach the Top 10 in the charts. The album won all the honors given by the (Rolling Stone) critics; best album, best single, best songwriter but did not manage to win any awards given by the readers/listeners. Winter Tour rumors have been going around for a few months. Bruce considers going on a solo acoustic tour and leaving The E-Street Band home. 1988 Bruce inducts Bob Dylan into the R&R Hall Of Fame February 25 The Tunnel Of Love Express Tour starts in Worcester, Ma. Unlike the rumors of the previous year, the tour does include the full E-Street Band and even has a horn section. March-June The TOL Tour travels across the US. May 5 Bruce appears on the cover of Rolling Stone June 11 The TOL Tour finds its way to Europe and begins in Turin, Italy. June 15-16 The tour reaches Rome, Italy. Since the beginning of the tour, rumors had been going around that Bruce and Patti Scialfa were having an affair. It is during the band’s stay in Rome, that paparazzi manage to snap pictures of Bruce (only wearing briefs) and Patti sharing an intimate moment on a hotel balcony. June 18 Bruce and Clarence perform 4 acoustic songs at an anti-racist benefit in Paris. July 13 The first part of Bruce’s show in Stockholm is broadcasted on the radio. It is the first time since 1978 that a Bruce show can be heard live on the radio. During the show, Bruce announces he’ll be a part of the Human Rights Now! Tour to start later that year. July 19 Bruce plays a show in East Berlin (his first behind the Iron Curtain) in front of his largest crowd up to date (180.000 people). Most of the show is shown on German TV. July 23 A street musician on the streets of Copenhagen is joined by Bruce who plays 3 songs with the man. A man in the crowd has a camcorder with him and is lucky enough to get it all on tape. August 3 A show in Barcelona, Spain marks the end of the Tunnel Of Love tour. Even though shows were rumored to happen, it is the first tour during which Bruce does not play in NJ, his home state. It is also the last “real” tour with the full E-Street Band The Reunion Tour in 1999. (The Band joined Bruce for the Greatest Hits sessions in 1995, but apart from a few promotional shows, there was no tour). September-October On September 2, the Human Rights Now! Tour starts in Wembley Stadium, London. Bruce is joined by Sting, Peter Gabriel, Youssour N’Dour and Tracy Chapman. Bruce and The E-Street Band close each show with an 80-minute long set. The final show takes place on October 10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is broadcasted on TV worldwide. It is the final announced show with the E-Street Band until 1999. 1989 May 1 Bruce and Julianne Philips’ divorce is official. Summer Bruce spends the summer club hopping along the Jersey shore making numerous, usually unannounced guest appearances. October 18 Bruce called up the E-Street Band members and told them “to be free to accept any other offers”. The press jumped on it and claimed things such as “Bruce fires E-Street Band!” The band hadn’t really been a part of Bruce’s recording career since 1982 when BITUSA was recorded. They weren’t used on Nebraska (sessions with the band led to nothing) and they were only occasionally used for Tunnel Of Love. Clarence Clemons took the news the hardest comparing it to a divorce. Eventually he opened up a few clubs in NJ and California. The rest of the band too moved on. Max Weinberg who said that it was weird he’d no longer play the music he’d been playing for most of his adult life, started his own band, the “Max Weinberg 7” and landed a job on the Conan O’Brien show. Garry Tallent became a producer in Nashville, Roy Bittan bought a recording studio in LA, Danny Federici built a studio in Colt’s Neck, NJ and Nils Lofgren concentrated on solo projects and toured with a band. Winter Bruce is in LA. For the first time since The E-Street Band was founded, Bruce works and records with different musicians. He records “Trouble In Paradise” and “Viva Las Vegas” an Elvis cover to be used on an Elvis tribute album. |