Manfred Mann was probably an unlikely candidate to take Springsteen’s music to the American masses, even if he had a history of hitting #1 with covers of unappreciated American gems. It took Manfred Mann to make that happen. In “Blinded By The Light,” you can hear plenty of the strengths that would eventually turn Springsteen into a star: The monster chorus, the finely observed everyday-life lyrical details, the life-affirming Clarence Clemons saxophone-bleats, the “ whooooaa.” But the song, in its original form, sounds nothing like any version of ’70s pop music. There are lines on “Blinded By The Light” that still come off as heady, evocative gibberish: “Little Early-Pearly came by in his curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride.” At the time, Springsteen’s lyrics were Dylan-esque poetic excursions, not the concrete storytelling he’d adapt later. And they lyrics are a sort of impressionistic pastiche of a teenage night out on the Asbury Park boardwalk. Springsteen was 23 when he recorded it, but he sang it in a garbled old-man mutter. “Blinded By The Light” is a messy scrawl of a song, played with a muddy immediacy that sounds just slightly out of sync. Listening to the original “Blinded By The Light” now, it’s not exactly a shock that it didn’t race up the charts. And as with Dylan, when Springsteen was near the peak of his creativity, someone else covered a Springsteen song and took it to #1. One Springsteen song has made it up to #2: 1984’s “ Dancing In The Dark.” (It’s an 8.) Just like Dylan, Springsteen sang on “We Are The World” it’s the only time either of them ever laid vocals on a #1 hit. Tambourine Man” in 1965.īruce Springsteen, another absurdly important and popular artist, has also never had a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. In Dylan’s case, that was the Byrds with “ Mr. But when Dylan was near the peak of his creativity, someone else covered a Dylan song and took it to #1. “Rainy Day Women” is a 6.) And Bob Dylan had a weird brush with the #1 spot when he sang on USA For Africa’s “We Are The World,” which will eventually appear in this column. Two different Dylan songs have made it up to #2: 1965’s “ Like A Rolling Stone” and 1966’s “ Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35.” (“Like A Rolling Stone” is a 10. (A couple of prospective next Springsteens will eventually end up in this column.) But there’s one area where Dylan and Springsteen are eerily and almost exactly alike: Their pop-chart fortunes.īob Dylan, an absurdly important and popular artist, has never had a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Nobody would turn out to be the next Springsteen, either, though plenty would try. The headline of a 1975 Rolling Stone profile called Springsteen the “New Dylan From Jersey.” And Springsteen, of course, revered Dylan.īruce Springsteen would not turn out to be the next Bob Dylan. Columbia, Dylan’s label, signed Springsteen.
But Springsteen, with his rambling intensity and his wild literary flair, was the obvious candidate. Loudon Wainwright III joked about being a member of the Next Dylan Club, a group that would’ve also included people like John Prine and possibly Patti Smith. Around that time, there was a lot of talk about who the next Bob Dylan might be, especially since the actual Bob Dylan was becoming slipperier and less consistent. There were certainly people in the ’70s who wanted Bruce Springsteen to be the next Bob Dylan.
In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present.