Introducing - Legend: The Bruce Springsteen Story
Soul Music
BBC
4.7 • 831 Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2025
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How did the greats become the greats? And what did it cost them to get there? Legend is the award-winning music biography series from BBC Radio 4 exploring the lives of pioneering artists who shaped modern music.
In Legend: The Bruce Springsteen Story, we discover how a scrawny, long-haired introvert from New Jersey became the iconic, muscular – and oft-misunderstood – rock star of the 1980s, and ultimately the eloquent elder statesmen he is now. What does his story reveal about America today?
Across the series, Laura Barton takes a front-row seat at five key gigs which illuminate a different side of The Boss. She travels to Asbury Park in 1971 to hear how teenage Bruce began to learn his magic trick at The Upstage Club. She hears about his nerve-wracking London Hammersmith gig in 1975, the electrifying final night of the Born in the U.S.A tour in 1985, and his emotional homecoming show at St Rose of Lima school gym in 1996. Lastly, Laura heads to Milan to witness the final concert of his 2025 Land of Hope and Dreams tour.
Featuring Bruce in his own words across the decades, alongside voices from the E Street Band, devoted fans, biographers, and critics.
Listen first on BBC Sounds.
A BBC Audio Production for BBC Radio 4 Producer: Eliza Lomas Sound Design and Original Music: Hannis Brown Series Developer: Mair Bosworth Production Coordinator: Stuart Laws Additional Research: Sarah Goodman Series Editor: Emma Harding Commissioning Editors: Daniel Clarke and Matthew Dodd Assistant Commissioner Podcasts: Will Drysdale
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. |
| 0:10.5 | Evil genius. |
| 0:11.6 | He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. |
| 0:15.5 | That's like hiding at your own funeral. |
| 0:17.1 | Yeah, a bit great gig. |
| 0:18.6 | I'm Russell Kane. |
| 0:19.6 | Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:43.2 | Hello, soul music listeners. I'm Laura Barton, presenter of a legend, the Bruce Springsteen story. |
| 0:47.6 | In my podcast, I'm exploring the life story of this remarkable artist. |
| 0:51.7 | How did Bruce become the boss and what did it cost him to get there? |
| 0:54.9 | I'll invite you to take a front row seat at five gigs, |
| 0:58.2 | which I believe illuminate a different side of Springsteen. |
| 1:00.1 | In the clip you're about to hear, |
| 1:04.6 | I travel back to 1971 when teenage Bruce, shy and insecure, |
| 1:06.8 | begins to learn his magic trick and to find his community away from his family home. |
| 1:12.4 | Let me take you to the first of the five gigs that will help us get to know Bruce |
| 1:16.2 | and everything that's gone into making him the performer he is today. |
| 1:20.9 | It's the 23rd of January, 1971. Bruce is 21 years old. |
| 1:27.4 | In the early hours of the morning, he shoulders his guitar along the empty red brick streets of Asprey Park, a beach town on the Jersey shore. |
| 1:36.1 | The bars are mostly closed, but there's one place still open. |
| 1:40.6 | A place for post-midnight jam sessions where the loudspeakers thrum till dawn. |
... |
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