I worked in a record store here in Toronto when The River came out. Born To Run had already been a hit. It wasn't just regional.
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Hungry Heart. Was this record sped up drastically?
- Thread starter ElectroVibe
- Start date
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 12,122
- 16,796
- Disclosures
- have been on nationally released albums, charting on the Billboard 200
Actually, Born to Run, released in 1975, peaked at number 3 on the Billboard top 200 album chart and eventually sold over six million copies.
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
Not Springsteen related specifically, but after reading producer Ted Templeman's book, raising the pitch of an artist's vocal to make them seem more 'youthful' was a common technique for producers back in the day. He noted that the producer(s) working with his group when he was a singer/drummer in Harper's Bizarre did that to make them sound younger and more marketable.
Yeah, I remember thinking it seemed premature. Then I heard Born To Run and Jungleland.
Well easy to generalize, the reality of an artist's popularity being much more complicated. But to quibble, you skipped the long awaited and critically acclaimed Darkness in the Edge of Town, in 78. But full sized billboards on Sunset Blvd would seem to imply national "interest" hit before the River. Not too mention that tour selling out multiple nights in major cities,' largest indoor arenas, e.g. the Forum in Los Angeles. Sure, the stadium shows came in the 80s.
Born to Run, the album, reached #3 on the Billboard chart in the US. The single was solidly in the top 40 but didn't chart as high, mostly because it was also played a lot on what was then mainly "underground" radio (which soon devolved into the AOR format) and those people didn't buy singles, they bought albums.
I can't imagine there were people out there who were into music and were not aware of this record, at least not in the US.
Hungry Heart was much later, Springsteen was an established artist by then and many of us who were with him from the beginning saw this single as an effort to cash in on his popularity with a bigger hit single than he'd previously achieved. I have never listened to that song and thought that it sounded sped up. I played it back in the 80's and don't remember from learning it whether the original version was at pitch, but if it isn't, that would be a good indicator, since everything was on tape back then.
I can't imagine there were people out there who were into music and were not aware of this record, at least not in the US.
Hungry Heart was much later, Springsteen was an established artist by then and many of us who were with him from the beginning saw this single as an effort to cash in on his popularity with a bigger hit single than he'd previously achieved. I have never listened to that song and thought that it sounded sped up. I played it back in the 80's and don't remember from learning it whether the original version was at pitch, but if it isn't, that would be a good indicator, since everything was on tape back then.
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Right, but the album Born to Run was on charted high, in an era when singles weren't selling well. You just can't assume no one heard that song based on single chart position. That song was as ubiquitous as Stairway to Heaven in its day. You couldn't avoid it.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Of course it's a generalization.
I grew up in NY and graduated college in '83. In his early years, he was either hated or venerated by music fans, and his long concerts were weighed against his voice, which non fans hated.
Hungry Heart was his first real national siting as a star. Born in the USA made him a national star, but his "real" fans hated it, considering it a sell out.
I was not a fan early on, but having to learn toplay more of his early material made me realize how good it was.
I thought The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle was his breakout. I know I wore the grooves out of Rosalita.
This is one of my favorite BS songs, and the whole production is so polished compared to his usual delivery. I always thought Bruce brought his A-game and put his best pop vocal on display here, great tone and intonation, just to show the world that yes, he is a good singer ("good" being so relative here, but obviously often as a "song stylist" he is not quite so precise as he is on HH). He even shows off control over dynamics and some tasty vibrato here and there. It's a great set of lyrics to a great melody, and the bridge is killer. It's what I call an air-tight pop song. Bruce really works the upper register of his range for a lot of this song, and those "oh-oh-oh's" are so compelling. If you're a high baritone like me, it's a workout, but very satisfying to sing.
After reading some of the links about whether or not it was vari-sped during mastering (quite possible), or whether Bruce tracked his lead vocal to a slowed-down tape (unlikely), there is some room to speculate, and those are tactics used by many artists and their engineers/producers during the tracking and mastering stages. Still, even recorded a half step lower (taking it from C# to C), Bruce had to come up with the chops to smooth out that lead vocal and deliver the goods. I'm impressed by the song, arrangement, and delivery.
After reading some of the links about whether or not it was vari-sped during mastering (quite possible), or whether Bruce tracked his lead vocal to a slowed-down tape (unlikely), there is some room to speculate, and those are tactics used by many artists and their engineers/producers during the tracking and mastering stages. Still, even recorded a half step lower (taking it from C# to C), Bruce had to come up with the chops to smooth out that lead vocal and deliver the goods. I'm impressed by the song, arrangement, and delivery.
The Wikipedia article states that the vocal recording had been sped up:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_Heart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_Heart
Also, I feel kinda bad for you poor folks who didn't have decent AOR FM radio. Mine played the poop out of Born to Run, making Springsteen a national treasure way before the later (and shorter) pop singles, and due to that popularity they then dug into the back catalog and added songs like "Rosita" to the playlist. Many of the bands I play in are too timid for "Born to Run," but we'll play "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" to near perfection and the audience loves it.
I needed to believe, or to at least be able to suspend disbelief (as when we would stand in line to pay money to see a movie that would scare us - as Ozzy's old story related), but sometimes an artist says/does something to ruin this relationship.
I wasn't a Springsteen fan (no fault of his, just chronologically late for me), but when fans misunderstood his lyrics, and he played that up for megabucks, I guess I could call it a smart business move but it destroyed any possibility of faith in his art.
If you don't know what I'm talking about then sorry, carry on, or as the church lady says "never mind".
I wasn't a Springsteen fan (no fault of his, just chronologically late for me), but when fans misunderstood his lyrics, and he played that up for megabucks, I guess I could call it a smart business move but it destroyed any possibility of faith in his art.
If you don't know what I'm talking about then sorry, carry on, or as the church lady says "never mind".
I have always hated the sound of this album altho' I like the songs, and love the pictures.
To me, it has always had a too-bright '80's reverb sheen, and way too much huge snare.
Performance-wise, I always thought there was too much of a singalong vibe.
My ex played "I Wanna Marry You" incessantly in the weeks before we entered into the ties that bind for a while - "Independence Day" remains my fave song on there from when she was finally out on the street, our two hearts having faded away, point blank. In many ways, I wish I'd looked but not touched. That's the price you pay, see, driving all night, until it all becomes a wreck ...
To me, it has always had a too-bright '80's reverb sheen, and way too much huge snare.
Performance-wise, I always thought there was too much of a singalong vibe.
My ex played "I Wanna Marry You" incessantly in the weeks before we entered into the ties that bind for a while - "Independence Day" remains my fave song on there from when she was finally out on the street, our two hearts having faded away, point blank. In many ways, I wish I'd looked but not touched. That's the price you pay, see, driving all night, until it all becomes a wreck ...
Sometimes you can trust the listening audience more than the artist, as far as understanding. Regardless of the origin intent of the songwriter.
I guess anyone at least preteen with access to newsstands and an interest in music would have known about him, even in middle America. But I didn't get interested in music until a Beatle died in 1980. And I was just becoming a preteen in 1981.
This has turned into quite a Springsteen discussion, hasn't it? I see that Wikipedia says the recording was sped up, but who knows (other than Springsteen and the recording engineer). I'll just add my two cents (maybe one cent) to this thread about the song. I've been listening to Springsteen since 1974 (he played often at a small club near my home in the Philadelphia area), and I've continued to listen to him ever since. Of all the songs he has recorded, and all the songs that got radio airplay, Hungry Heart is the least Springsteen-like song, the one that is the least typical of his styles.
