Boss TV


I think it's always great to hear a Bruce reference on TV or in the movies or hear a Bruce song used. This is an attempt at bringing together as many of these references as possible. I've seen and heard many of them, but nowhere near all.
Thanks to all the TV and movie watching Bruce fans out there.



Songs used in movies and tv series

  • Adam Raised A Cain - Baby, It's You
  • Badlands - Thunderheart
  • Born In The U.S.A. - Skins
  • Dancing In The Dark - Lawn Dogs
  • Dead Man Walking - Dead Man Walking
  • E-Street Shuffle - Baby, It's You
  • Growin' Up - Big Daddy
  • Human Touch - The Switch (US "true story" tv drama)
  • Hungry Heart - Fierce creatures
  • Hungry Heart - Kvish L'Lo Motzah (a.k.a Dead End Street; Israeli drama)
  • Hungry Heart - Peter's Friends
  • Hungry Heart - Risky Business
  • Hungry Heart - The Perfect Storm
  • Hungry Heart - The Wedding Singer
  • Hungry Heart - Tohuwabohu (Austrian tv series)
  • If I Should Fall Behind - Green Fingers
  • I'm On Fire - In Country
  • I'm On Fire - Speechless (sung by Christopher Reeve)
  • It's Hard To Be A Saint In The Jungle - Baby, It's You
  • Jungleland - Baby, It's You
  • Jungleland - Kvish L'Lo Motzah (a.ka. Dead End Street; Israeli drama)
  • Lift Me Up - Limbo
  • Light Of Day - Light Of Day
  • Light Of Day - Lucky Numbers
  • Missing - Crossing Guard
  • Pink Cadillac - Wise Guys (due to legal problems, the song is not featured on the tv or video versions)
  • Point Blank - Kvish L'Lo Motzah (a.k.a. Dead End Street; Israeli drama)
  • Rosalita - No Nukes, the movie
  • Sad Eyes - Dawson's Creek (US tv series)
  • Secret Garden - Jerry McGuire
  • She's The One - Baby, It's You
  • Spare Parts - Zwei Munchner in Hamburg (German tv series)
  • State Trooper - The Sopranos (US tv series)
  • Stand On It - Ruthless People
  • Stolen Car - Copland
  • The Fuse - 25th Hour
  • The River - Copland (needle is dropped in the wrong place)
  • The River - High Fidelity (needle is dropped in the wrong place)
  • The River - No Nukes, the movie


Bruce references on TV and in movies

  • "About Last Night" - (movie) A BITUSA backside poster hangs on the wall of Demi Moore and Rob Lowe's apartment.
  • "Ally McBeal" - (TV series) The character played by Robert Downey Jr. sang "Sherry Darlin'" in a karaoke.
  • "Ally McBeal" - (TV series) Somebody sues Sting giving him the cause of the couples' divorce. The woman believed Sting sang just for her and did his moves only for her. At the end, when the trial is settled and the couple is back together, the husband surprises his wife with two tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert. The woman is very excited but one of the lawyers looks worried and says "No! I think you better take her to another concert!".
  • "Author, Author" - (movie) A Bruce poster in one of the bedrooms.
  • "Back To School" - (movie) The scene when they are registering for class and it's very crowded. All of a sudden all of the students leave in a rush leaving Rodney, his son and a friend alone to pick any class they want. Turns out Rodney had his driver (Burt Young) wait by the limo with a sign that said "Bruce Springsteen" pretending to pick him up.
  • "Better Of Dead" - (movie) John Cusack's ex-girlfriend has a Born To Run and BITUSA poster on her wall.
  • "Born In East LA" - (movie) Cheech's movie was based on his parody of BITUSA.
  • "Boy Meets World" - (TV series) At one of the classes they have to tell what their parents do. Topanga said her dad was a guitar tech. and that Bruce called her house and said "hey little girl is your daddy home?"
  • "Charles In Charge" - (TV series) Charles wins tickets to a Bruce concert (BITUSA tour) and can't decide who to take. The parents make a plea with him, talking about how they used to go see Bruce back in the early days at clubs and how special it was. That motivates Charles to want to take the daughter so she can experience that specialness. When he leave the parents say "Damn, I thought the tickets were ours!"
  • "Cheers" - (TV series) "Norm" once gave his name as "Springsteen.
  • "CSI:Crime Scene Investigation" - (TV series) Grissom mentions someone "going to see Springsteen"
  • "Dawson's Creek" - (TV series) A girl's taking Dawson on a trip to Mexico and she says they're going to drive all night and it will be great. Dawson replies saying "it sounds so romantic, wild and perfect, just like a Springsteen song"
  • "ER" - (TV series) Season 9, episode 12 was titled "A Saint In The City (a.k.a It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City)
  • "Fast Time At Rigmont High" - (movie) Someone is wearing a Darkness era shirt. One of the cheerleaders at the pep rally is Pam Springsteen (one of Bruce's sister.)
  • "Frasier" - (TV series) Frasiers' producer, Roz, wants to get front row tickets to a Bruce show in hopes that Bruce might pull her onstage to dance with him during Dancing In The Dark.
  • "Growin' Pains" - (TV series) A 1985 episode centered around Mike (the father) taking the oldest son to a Springsteen concert.
  • "High Fidelity" - (movie) Cameo by Bruce.
  • "Home Improvement" - (TV series) In the episode in which Randy stops going to church, Tim is talking to a preacher. He says something along the lines of Randy doesn't believe in the boss anymore and the preacher replies with "Springsteen?" To which Tim says, "no, your boss".
  • "Indian Runner" - (movie) A Sean Penn directed movie, based ont he plot of "Highway Patrolman" off the Nebraska record.
  • "Just One Of The Guys" - (1980's movie) The main character has a Springsteen poster in her room.
  • "Liten film,En" - (1999 German movie)
    Ben:"It's the first time for you?"
    Gunnar:"Yes, the first concert"
    Ben:"Do you have any records of Bruce Springsteen?"
    Gunnar:"Two, The River and Born In The U.S.A., damn good records"
    Ben:"I like the early records best. When he had a beard." Gunnar:"Beard?" Ben:"Yeah, he had a beard in the early 70's" (source:IMDb)
  • "Mask, The" - (movie) A 1978-era live poster of Bruce hangs on the wall of the boy's room. (The producers wanted to use Springsteen's music in the film, but as a settlement couldn't be reached, Bob Seger was used instead.)
  • "Matilda" - (movie) At one point a pencil case is dropped to the floor. The case is emblazoned with Greetings From Asbury Park cover artwork. (Danny DeVito, who directed and starred in the movie, hails from NJ)
  • "Mr.Deeds" - (movie) A girl tries to explain herself to Mr. Deeds and says something along the lines of "I love Bruce Springsteen".
  • "Office, The" - (UK TV series) David Brent sings "Born To Run" to celebrate his friend successfully throwing a shoe over a pub.
  • "One Fine Day" - (movie) Michelle Pfeiffer's character's ex-husband gives as an excuse for not spending time with his son that he is going on tour with Springsteen as his drummer.
  • "Phone Booth" - (movie) The character Stu, makes a mentio of "41 shots" or rather getting shot 41 times by taking out a wallet.
  • "Plain Clothes" - (1988 movie) A policeman goes undercover in a highschool in order to solver a murder. His alias is Springsteen (I forgot his first name) and he tells everybody he's distant, very distant family.
  • "Sidewalks of NY" - (TV series) One of the characters holds up the LP of Greetings and declares it (one of) the best debut albums.
  • "Simpsons, The" - (TV series) Episode titled "Lisa's Rival". Lisa has a dream in which she's playing the saxophone for a band called to "Born To Runner-Up". As the band starts playing, the audience starts boo-ing. Lisa wakes up and asks herself "why would they all come to the show just to boo?" (A subtle Bruce reference. I thought it was very funny when I saw it.)
  • "Sopranos, The" - (TV series) Final episode of season one (I dream of Jeannie Cusamano). The FBI ask Tony to come and listen to some tapes. Tony walks in, sees the recorder and says something along the lines of "oh, the Bruce Springsteen box set. I already have it."
  • "St.Elmo's Fire" - (movie) Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy are breaking up (she's dumping him). On her way out she takes some records (grabbing the Born To Run album). Nelson then shouts "No Springsteen will leave this house!"
  • "Summer School" - (movie) One of hte characters wears a t-shirt from the BITUSA Tour.
  • "Terminal Velocity" - (movie) Charlie Sheen goes to the aparment of the heroine who is apparently killed. He's looking for clues and looks through her record collection. "The River", "BITUSA", "Darkness"... "Aha a Boss fan" he says just before getting hit over the head by someone.
  • "Vanilla Sky" - (movie) There are two quick shots. One is of the cover of "The River" the other one is a stage shot of Bruce and Clarence.
  • "Whose Line Is It Anyway" - (TV series) Drew Carey tells the guys they've got to sing a song based on someone from the audience in Springsteen style. They start dancing just like Bruce doesn in the Dancing In The Dark video.
  • "You Can't Do That On Televison" - (1979 show)
    Christine:"I'm having a party for Bruce Springsteen, you wanna come?"
    Alanis:"Bruce Springsteen?! How do you know him? (source:IMDb)




|Home| |Biography| |Discography| |The E-Street Band| |Boss TV|
|Awards| |Pictures| |My Shows| |You Know...|