In 1975, at the age of 16, I noticed the arrival of my parent's Time and Newsweek magazines having the same unknown artist on their covers: Bruce Springsteen. For me, the 70's were bleak musically and in many other ways. A lifelong Beatles, Motown and "British Invasion" fan, I had pretty much given up hoping that any new music from there on out could inspire me. I saw this scruffy, scraggly and skinny young man being hailed as a new Dylan and the future of rock and shook my head in disgust. I dismissed him (and his music that I never gave a listen to) out of hand and continued to be sure that disco and heavy metal was sealing the fate of great rock and roll forever. Sure, there were some exceptions, like Queen, but nothing that ever stopped me in my tracks.
Fast forward to early fall, 1978. I'm in my sophomore year of college and at a party in a dorm room at the University of Notre Dame. From the record player, I hear a sound that makes me feel like a symphony, a wall, a crescendo, and then a TSUMANI, is coming toward me and will not relent. It's the opening salvo of "Born To Run". Because I was listening solely to top 40 AM radio, I had missed any station that was playing Springsteen when it was released in 1975. But on that afternoon, I heard it, felt it, deeply and profoundly. "Born to Run" followed by "She's the One" and then, eventually, "Jungleland" and "Thunder Road". Steps from this dorm room was the church where I had been baptized and confirmed, but I felt as though I was being born again in that moment. I was redeemed and my hopes revived. Rock and roll was NOT dead. I didn't cry then, but I never remember being more impacted by new music than I was in that moment, and now feel to this day.
I saw Springsteen in concert for the first time a couple of months later, and immediately bought and dissected every album he'd released to that point in addition to as many bootlegs as I could get my hands on. I've seen him 11 times since. "Thunder Road" was the song I marched down the aisle to; to this day it can make me weep if I turn it up; regardless of whether I'm alone or with others. That album made me believe in music again and forever as a healing force, a joyful noise, a declaration of intent, a demonstration of passion, and a refusal to give up or give in. Today at 58, music is more inspirational than ever, and I never again judged a "record" by its cover, and continue to be pleasantly surprised and delighted by many artists as far apart in style as Die Antwoord and Lucinda Williams. And you can bet I get those Springsteen albums as fast as he releases them.
I'm Jen Bella, a psychotherapist rock and roller from Denmark, Maine, and this is the music that moves me.