Born to Run: Biography

Born to Run is a glimpse into a specific moment, a time of cultural upheaval that carried an entire generation of American youth on a wave of change. Springsteen is a microcosm of that generation. He exists on a timeline of shifting social values, a transition from conformity and carefully prescribed lives to a chaotic and uncertain—but freer—future that is more tolerant of difference and more aware of the social ills that have simmered beneath America’s surface for centuries.

Vaguely aware of racism and inequality but inured to it by the economic commonality of most of his racially diverse New Jersey community, Springsteen rides that wave of glorious rebellion, thumbing his nose at the establishment. Rock and roll, as he defines it throughout his memoir, is a unifying force and a raucous celebration of defiance. The early protest songs and social critiques of the 1950s folk movement kick-started the angry confrontation of 1960s rock and roll. The Rolling Stones strutted and sneered their way to stardom. The Who demolished their equipment in a bold show of insubordination. The Beatles showed what kind of stories rock music could tell. These diverse talents—all of whom Springsteen cites as influences—captured the zeitgeist of the turbulent 1960s.

While Springsteen rose to fame in the 1970s and ‘80s, he claimed that mantle of protest with Born in the USA and, later, “American Skin.” Many criticize the 1970s as a decade of selfishness and hedonism when Americans, weary of war and political scandal, took refuge in drugs and discos. However, not all artists turned away from the issues of the day. Although the war was over and Nixon had resigned, Americans reeled from inflation, stagnating wages, and postindustrial unemployment. Seeing the effect of these social ills firsthand, Springsteen can’t ignore them. His music proves that cultural issues always provide raw material for artists who dare to address them.