The Classic Rock Band Bruce Springsteen Credits for His Early Style, and His Failed Attempt to Emulate Them

If anyone has ever dreamed of becoming a rockstar it’s more than likely you’ve asked yourself the following questions. What kind of guitar would I play? What would my voice sound like? Would I be clean-cut or dilapidated and rebellious? Do these sound like familiar questions? Well, if they don’t to you they did to the one and only Bruce Springsteen. As all dreamers do, he looked to other famous musicians to see where he would fit in and to see what persona he would put on if he were a rockstar. His conclusion—he would base his style on The Rolling Stones.

Growing up Springsteen took a liking to rough around the edges rock ‘n’ roll. Thus, he liked acts such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Van Morrison. Even though Springsteen was fond of their music, he never envisioned himself looking or sounding like any of them. But when he saw the Stones, it was game over.

The Beatles or The Stones

Springsteen’s generation was a product of The Beatles, as he grew up in a time when teenie boppers swooned over Paul McCartney and high school dances played their earliest hits. Though, that is seemingly why Springsteen didn’t relate to them—they were too perfect, well-kempt, and lacked the attitude he longed for. Springsteen liked The Beatles, he just couldn’t see himself being like them.

That being so, when Springsteen took a liking to the Stones he knew it was their style he would mimic. In an interview with Rolling Stone Springsteen stated, “Mainly, we planned to be just like the Rolling Stones. They were the band we liked the best at the time.” Springsteen and the E Street band would go on to mirror some of the Stones’ styles both in music and clothing. However, Springsteen believes they fell short of this task.

Bruce Springsteen’s Failed Attempt

In that same Rolling Stone interview, Springsteen said, “You grow up, and when you finally put that suit of clothes on, sometimes they don’t fit, or they fit differently, and you’re a different person, and what you’re gonna do is different.” Luckily Springsteen and the band “failed,” as no one likes a copy cat and the group was able to create their own unique unprecedented style of blue-collar rock ‘n’ roll.

Finding inspiration from other artists is inevitable. Thus, when Springsteen set out to be like the Stones it didn’t mean he wanted to steal their identity. Rather, it seemingly meant he wanted to create a type of sub-genre encompassing some of their attributes. At the end of the day, “The Boss” did just that as he combined elements of folk and rock to create a sound and aesthetic unknown to the masses in that day in age.

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