The world that Bruce Springsteen created whenever he got onstage could not have been created alone.
As much as he created cinematic worlds on every single one of his records, it was the power of the E Street Band and the stern determination to make every single one of their songs into an event that made each show feel like a form of rock and roll church whenever they stepped on that stage. But when ‘The Boss’ got a chance to take a breath, he knew that there was a lot of work that had been done behind the scenes that he couldn’t even dream of repaying in a million years.
Although there was a lot of time that was spent making the best music that he could hope to with the E Street Band, it wasn’t going to be easy dealing with the critics of the world. Greetings From Asbury Park was a good enough foot for him to start everything on when he first began, but on first listen, hearing everyone compare him to Bob Dylan wasn’t exactly the reaction he was looking for. It was high praise, to be sure, but he wasn’t looking to be a Dylan clone with his tunes.
He wanted to make sure that people felt a sense of change when they heard his music, and whereas Dylan did that with his words, Springsteen wanted to still feel the majesty of rock and roll. Picking up a guitar had to mean something more than playing music whenever he played, and when it came to creating that sense of mystique, no other person knew what he was doing better than Jon Landau.
Granted, it’s not like Landau had the best instincts every single time he talked about music. He was the one who infamously tore apart Cream and led to Eric Clapton thinking that he was fading from relevance, but in Springsteen, he saw something greater than a Springsteen clone. This was someone who could help bring rock and roll to the masses, and he was going to be the one to help champion him.
And even decades on from his first meeting with him, ‘The Boss’ said that there was no way he could possibly match what Landau did for him, saying, “Jon’s given me something beyond friendship. We were worlds that collided. His ability to see through the heart of the matters, both professional and personal, has altered my life forever. What I hope to give my fans with my talent and my music, he has done that for me. There’s no ‘thank you’ that will do the job and it’s a debt I can’t repay.”
Then again, the job Landau had was one that almost needed to be thankless. He was the rock behind Springsteen even when times were at their darkest, and while no one in their right mind would have put their money on a broke kid from New Jersey trying to make the greatest rock and roll record in the world, his choice of marketing ‘Born to Run’ before the record was even finished showed the world the kind of artist that he had been working with for so long.
Besides being a confidante, seeing him be supportive of Springsteen through all those tough times is what made ‘The Boss’s career so varied. No one in their right mind would have thought to put out a record like Nebraska at the time, but Landau knew that even with a song like ‘Born in the USA’ in his pocket, it was important for him to express himself with the album that he wanted out rather than throw himself to the masses.
Springsteen did a lot of the dirty work behind the scenes as well, but when looking at Landau’s track record, he was not only interested in his friend as another songwriter. This was a guy with a whole career ahead of him, and he was going to make sure he could express himself in any way he knew how.
