Bruce's Best Live Music Videos

I know the Rosalita video was broadcast in the Netherlands in '78 and I believe it was released as a single and promoted reasonably well.

That was my first exposure to Springsteen at the tender age of 16 and I went back into his catalogue from there.

Although not an official release, for my money the 1978 Largo Quarter to Three is the most exciting 15 minutes in rock.

The Old Grey Whistle Test on the BBC were the first to show the Rosalita video in the UK, I think it was early '79.

Where's No Nukes? Surely Thunder Road and The River are two of the greatest live videos ever?

Thanks for the reply Pete,

I was being picky, and just sticking with the songs officially released by Columbia/Sony as promo videos. Absolutely, I'd put in the Thunder Road/River/partial Quarter to Three footage had I included segments from feature films (No Nukes) and/or TV specials. I had thoughts of putting the Better Days video in the group, too, but I decided only to put in the videos of concert sequences only. It's all subjective.

I made the list up because the first Associated Content Best Springsteen videos article included Bruce performances with U2-I Still Haven't Found..."-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame;REM-Man on the Moon-VFC show in 2004; The River-Amnesty International HBO broadcast; and more. They're all good performances, but I don't think they rank as part of Bruce's Top 20 music videos of all time.

The Whistle Test broadcast of Rosalita must have aired before the U.S. Heroes of Rock and Roll TV Special in April 1979. Actually, it's a short clip from the Rosalita video that was seen in the Heroes show. The Heroes special, hosted by Jeff Bridges, was really good.

DG,

Seeing the full Rosalita video is a pretty good intro to Bruce and his music. The clip that was in the Heroes of Rock and Roll show was brief, unlike the UK Whistle Test airing of the promo video. BTW, The Heroes of Rock and Roll TV special is on YouTube, but is missing the Bruce segment, along with footage of Elvis Costello,and others. So this is not the complete Heroes TV show on YouTube.

Marshall

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The 'Heroes of Rock 'N Roll' film/documentary was first broadcast on Friday evening, Feb 9, 1979 by USA ABC-TV in its regular 'Friday Night at the Movies' timeslot. Just go to your local library and find a back issue of TV Guide or newspapers on microfilm with their daily TV schedule...the date was Feb 9...not APRIL. It was a national broadcast...the vast majority of the hundreds ABC-TV affiliate stations in the USA broadcast it on Feb 9....but some opted not to. I believe (but I'm not certain) that there were some affiliates that didn't broadcast it on Feb 9 that delayed-broadcast at some later date within the following few months.

That Feb 9, 1979 USA broadcast was the world public premier of the "Rosalita" concert segment. There was then in the days, weeks, months or couple of years that followed numerous re-broadcasts of the Springsteen segment (either in whole or in part, depending on arrangements) in non-USA markets. There was a problem at the time (1979-81) in that Springsteen was getting pretty well known globally but there was no live footage of him for media and/or music chart shows...so there was demand for that footage.

Also (not sure if this fits in with what your doing) there was a promo-only video clip produced in-house by Columbia Records in mid 1974 that included edits of Springsteen playing live at Ahmanson Theatre in May 1973. It was essentially a promo for the first two albums...using Jon Landau's infamous May 1974 "rock and roll future" line as the key plug. This promo clip was premiered at the Columbia Records Sales Convention in late July 1974 and it was then made available to some key national record chain execs (with the hope they would play it in their stores). I don't think Columbia Records ever bought TV spot time anywhere to air this clip as a commercial - Springsteen was a low priority at the time.

Earthslayer,

Thanks for the great information about the Heroes of Rock 'N Roll TV special, including the date. I really liked the Heroes special. There was so much footage of different artists that I had never seen before. Of course, in 1979 there was no music channels like MTV, VH1, MuchMusic. But, these clips like Rosalita were being made, as you obviously know,just called "promo films" instead of music videos.

I had forgotten about Bruce's Ahmanson Theatre footage.