Bruce Springsteen Joseph Springsteen was born on September 23, 1949, at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey. He was brought home from the hospital to Freehold Borough where he spent his childhood. He lived on South Street and attended Freehold Borough High School. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen (1924-1998), was of Dutch and Irish ancestry, and worked as a bus driver, among other jobs, but was unemployed most of the time. Springsteen said his mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli), a legal secretary and of Italian ancestry, was the main breadwinner. His maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense, a town
Badlands (Bruce Springsteen song) progressive rock and album-oriented rock radio airplay at the time, and classic rock airplay since. The song has appeared on eight Springsteen releases: "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "Live/1975–85", the 1995 "Greatest Hits", "", "Live in Barcelona", "The Essential Bruce Springsteen", the Wal-Mart-only 2009 "Greatest Hits", and "Collection: 1973-2012". "Rolling Stone" editors rated "Badlands" to be Springsteen's second-greatest song all time, behind only "Born to Run," and consider it to fit the definition of a rock anthem derived by The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, in that it is "praying onstage." According to contemporary musician Jackson Browne, "Badlands" is "cool