Bruce Springsteen plays at Max's Kansas City in New York City

Bruce Springsteen played the first of four nights at Max's Kansas City in New York City, New York, supported by Bob Marley and The Wailers who were on their first ever North American tour on July 18, 1973

Bruce Springsteen signed a record deal with Columbia Records in 1972, with the help of John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier.

Bruce Springsteen brought many of his New Jersey–based colleagues into the studio with him, thus forming the E Street Band (although it would not be formally named as such for several more years).

Bruce Springsteen debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., released in January 1973, established him as a critical favorite, though sales were slow.

Because of Springsteen's lyrical poeticism and folk rock–rooted music exemplified on tracks like "Blinded by the Light", (which would later be a hit for Manfred Mann and go to number one, making it the only time Springsteen had a number one single as a songwriter), and "For You", as well as the Columbia and Hammond connections, critics initially compared Springsteen to Bob Dylan. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by 'Like a Rolling Stone,'" wrote Crawdaddy magazine editor Peter Knobler in Bruce Springsteen's first interview/profile, in March 1973. Crawdaddy discovered Springsteen in the rock press and was his earliest champion. (Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged by giving a private performance at the Crawdaddy 10th Anniversary Party in New York City in June 1976.) Music critic Lester Bangs wrote in Creem in 1975 that when Bruce Springsteen's first album was released "... many of us dismissed it: he wrote like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison, sang like Van Morrison and Robbie Robertson, and led a band that sounded like Van Morrison's." The track "Spirit in the Night" especially showed Morrison's influence, while "Lost in the Flood" was the first of many portraits of Vietnam veterans and "Growin' Up", his first take on the recurring theme of adolescence.

In September 1973 Bruce Springsteen's second album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, was released, again to critical acclaim but no commercial success. Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope, with the E Street Band providing a less folky, more R&B vibe and the lyrics often romanticized teenage street life. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" would become fan favorites, and the long, rousing "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" continues to rank among Springsteen's most beloved concert numbers.

Retro History for July 18 The 50s 60s 70s 80s

Retro History For The Decade 1980

1989 48 cm rainfall at Rockport, West Virginia, state record
1988 Abu Nidal terrorists kill 9 on City of Poros cruise ship
1988 Shooting begins on "License to Kill"
1987 Molly Yard elected new President of National Org for Women
1987 New York Yankees Don Mattingly ties record of home runs in 8 cons games
1986 115th British Golf Open: Greg Norman shoots a 280 at Turnberry Scotld
1986 Royals announce manager Dick Howser, 50, has a brain tumor
1986 Videotapes released showing Titanic's sunken remains
1985 U.S.S.R. performs underground nuclear Test
1984 James Huberty kills 21 McDonald's patrons in San Ysidro California
1984 Walter F. Mondale wins Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco
1983 Despite being in 1st place in NL East, Phils fire manager Pat Corrales
1982 "Blues in the Night" closes at Rialto Theater New York City after 53 performances
1982 111th British Golf Open: Tom Watson shoots a 284 at Royal Troon
1982 Sally Little wins LPGA Mayflower Golf Classic
1981 Part of Hyatt Regency Hotel Kansas City caves in (113 killed)
1981 Poland Communist Party selects ex-party leader Edward Gierek
1980 Billy Joel's Glass Houses album tops charts
1980 Failed attack on Iran ex-premier Bakhtiar in Neuilly, France
1980 Federal court voids Selective Service Act as it doesn't include women
1980 Quett Masire installed as president of Botswana
1980 Rohini 1, 1st Indian satellite, launches into orbit

Retro History For The Decade 1970

1979 Gold hits record $303.85 an ounce in London
1979 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear Test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1978 Egyptian and Israeli officials begin 2 days of talks
1977 Hugh Leonard's "Da," premieres in London
1977 Vietnam becomes member of U.N.
1976 "Something's Afoot" closes at Lyceum Theater New York City after 61 performances
1976 Judy Rankin wins LPGA Borden Golf Classic
1976 Lucien van Impe wins Tour de France
1976 Stockhausens "Sirius," premieres in New York City
1976 Thiokol conducts 2-minute firing of space shuttle's SRB at Brigham, Utah
1975 Jury can't decide on trial of Dave Forbes of Boston Bruins (1st athlete indicted for excessive violence during play)
1974 U.S. performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
1974 World's tallest structure, 646-m Polish radio mast, completed
1973 Bruce Springsteen played the first of four nights at Max's Kansas City in New York City, New York, supported by Bob Marley and The Wailers who were on their first ever North American tour.
1972 200,000 attend Mount Pocono rock festival in Pennsylvania
1972 Egypt president Sadat throws 20,000 Russian military aids out
1972 Mike Procter 8-73 with hat-trick, plus 51 and 102, Gloucs vs. Essex
1971 Eddy Merckx wins his 3rd Tour de France
1970 "Boy Friend" closes at Ambassador Theater New York City after 119 performances
1970 Arthur Brown arrested for stripping on stage in Palemo Sicily
1970 Ron Hunt gets hit by a pitch for a record 119th time
1970 WJCL TV channel 22 in Savannah, Georgia (ABC) begins broadcasting

Retro History For The Decade 1960

1969 Joe Namath agrees to sell interest in Bachelors 3, to stay in NFL
1968 Intel incorporates
1967 Silver hits record $1.87 an ounce in New York
1966 Gemini 10 launched (John Young and Michael Collins)
1965 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Yankee Golf Open
1965 Zond 3 launched to fly by Moon, enters solar orbit
1963 Failed military coup in Syria
1962 Minn Twins Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew hit grand slams in 1st inn and Harmon Killebrew connect in a club-record, 11-run 1st inning
1961 Commissioner Ford Frick rules Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in 154-game sched in 1927, must be broken in 1st 154 of 162 games
1960 1st United Nations troops reach Congo
1960 Baseball's NL votes to add Houston and New York franchises
1960 Premier Kishi of Japan, resigns

Retro History For The Decade 1950

1959 1st black to win a major golf tournament, William Wright
1956 Erno Gero succeeds Matyas Rakosi as party leader of Hungary
1955 1st electric power generated from atomic energy sold commercially
1955 280 mm rain in Martinstown, Dorset, UK-record
1954 Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Inverness Four-Ball Golf Tournament
1954 Cards losing 8-1 to Phillies begin stalling in 5th, they forfeit game
1952 KWGN TV channel 2 in Denver, CO (IND) begins broadcasting
1951 Uruguay accepts its constitution
1951 Jersey Joe Walcott at 37 becomes oldest to win heavyweight champion

Have a groovy vintage retro day!


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Vintage Retro Music & Retro Pop Culture is our passion and what we LOVE. We keep it going everyday for the love of producing it for you to enjoy. Thanks for viewing. Much Peace! Bruce Springsteen plays at Max's Kansas City in 1973.