Baby we were born to celebrate: Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ turns 50

It was 50 years ago — Aug. 25, 1975 — that Bruce Springsteen released his third studio album, Born to Run, which was a massive hit. But it turns out, it was a make-or-break album for the New Jersey rocker.

After the commercial failure of his first two albums, 1973’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, Bruce was in danger of being dropped from his label, Columbia Records, if he didn’t come up with a hit.

Peter Ames Carlin, author of the recently released book Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run, tells ABC Audio it was a “do or die” moment for Springsteen and his career.

“Bruce has got his back to the wall. It’s like now or never, basically,” he says. “You could see how he would fear that he was just gonna end up being the New Jersey bar band musician he had been up to that point.”

That needed hit turned out to be the album’s title track. But it took a lot of work for it to get where Springsteen wanted it to be, with the rocker spending almost six months perfecting it.

“It’s like everything they could think might work, they threw at the wall and eventually winnowed it down to the song that we know now,” says Carlin. “Which is, 50 years later, it’s as overwhelming as it was when it came out.” 

Born to Run wound up being everything Springsteen needed it to be. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and helped Springsteen reach mainstream audiences, with songs like the title track, “Thunder Road” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” It has since been certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA and was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2015.

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