This week in the Curatorial Corner, we’re featuring several guest bloggers with unique perspectives on our Born to Run 50th anniversary events. Here, author and educator Caroline Madden writes about our academic conference on 9/7/25.
One of the many exciting events celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 album Born to Run this past week was the academic conference, “Born to Run at 50.” Hosted by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University in conjunction with Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences on September 7, 2025, the conference encouraged deep thinking and critical dialogue on Bruce Springsteen’s most ambitious rock and roll album.
Monmouth University has been hosting academic conferences on Bruce Springsteen long before the formation of the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music. As Dean David Hamilton Golland noted in his opening speech, this year not only marks the 50th anniversary of Born to Run but also the 20th anniversary of the first “Glory Days Symposium” in 2005. The last academic conference held at Monmouth was “Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town: An International Symposium” back in April 2018, so it was a thrill to finally be able to nerd out about Springsteen’s work with fellow fans and scholars in an educational format again.
“Born to Run at 50” appealed to both academics and non-academics alike. The 80-plus presenters came from all over the world—from Glasgow and Liverpool to South Carolina, Illinois, and Monmouth’s home state of New Jersey. The nearly 200 attendees in all were not just college professors but also librarians, public school teachers, graduate students, critics, podcasters, authors, and music industry professionals—offering a mosaic of perspectives on Born to Run.
There are endless dimensions of Bruce Springsteen’s catalog—his music, lyrics, cultural impact, and historical significance—that are ripe for exploration, especially Born to Run, the make-it-or-break-it album that solidified him as rock and roll’s future. This opened up many avenues of discussion, with 27 panels covering all sorts of subjects, as well as additional lectures and Q&As. Some panel topics were granular, focusing specifically on individual songs such as “Meeting Across the River” and “Thunder Road,” while others zoomed out to examine the broader picture, like tracing Springsteen’s career arc from Born to Run to Letter to You.
At academic conferences, each time block allows attendees to choose from several different panels featuring at least two to four presenters sharing their research. There were at least six or seven going on at the same time during “Born to Run at 50.” With so many fascinating topics, I had a hard time choosing which to attend—just as I’m sure many others did. These included politics, the marketing strategies and reception of the album, the symbolism of Springsteen’s lyrics, using Born to Run in the classroom, the album’s influence on other areas of pop culture—and, vice versa, pop culture’s influence on Bruce—fandom, race, connections to literature, gender, religion, and much more.
To name some more specific examples, David Wilson wrote on Springsteen’s Born to Run house and his “landlordess,” which you can also learn more about at the “Springsteen in Long Branch” exhibit at the Long Branch Arts & Cultural Center (open through November 15, 2025). Jonathan Cavallero explored the album’s engagement with Springsteen’s Italian American ethnicity, Donna Luff and Lorraine Mangione examined its enduring appeal for women fans, and Camille Mustachio connected Born to Run to Shakespeare’s Henriad and rock ’n’ roll mythology. As someone who is interested in Bruce Springsteen’s relationship with the movies, I was personally intrigued by Brian Brems’ presentation on New Hollywood films that directly or indirectly inspired each song on Born to Run.
On these different paths of intellectual discovery, presenters brought forward novel ideas that might otherwise go unnoticed or fresh readings of familiar aspects of the album. Many of the presenters went beyond simply reading their papers or delivering classroom-style PowerPoints; some offered musical performances, others shared video footage, others created more immersive visual essays. You can see the entire conference program here.
Aside from the traditional presentation of academic research, there were also lectures, roundtables, and musical performances. These included Heidi Cron interviewing Mastering Engineer Greg Calbi; a group discussion analyzing Bruce Springsteen’s political themes over the past fifty years with Christina Nemeth Mertz, Stephen Nemeth, and Leah Windsor; and a roundtable mediated by Ed Rakowski featuring the podcast hosts Jesse Jackson from Set Lusting Bruce: The Bruce Springsteen Fan Podcast and Flynn McLean from None but the Brave: The Springsteen Podcast for the True Aficionado. Music engages with moving images, radio, photography, and many other forms of media, so it does not have to be studied solely through pen and paper, and these programs reflected that.
A highlight was Ashley Kahn’s presentation “The Leaning: A Close Reading of the Born to Run Cover Photograph,” where he argued that Bruce’s smiling face against the shoulder of a saxophone-playing Clarence Clemons was one of the most indelible images of the 1970s. He displayed the record in a collage alongside other iconic photos of the era: Nixon flashing his victory V signs, Muhammad Ali delivering a powerful punch in the boxing ring, and a gas station attendant spray-painting a sign that read “Sorry, no gas” during the oil crisis. Kahn explored how the album cover was designed to open up on the gatefold, unveiling a profound image of unity during a period of racial divide. The lecture was a fitting bookend to what Eric Meola spoke of about shooting the album cover at the “Main Event: Born to Run 50th Anniversary Symposium.” You can see his renowned work at the “Born to Run at 50: Photographs by Eric Meola” exhibition, on display at the Rechnitz Hall DiMattio Gallery on Monmouth University’s campus, running through December 18.
For the afternoon plenary Session, Dr. Kenneth Womack, professor of English and Popular Music, dissected what makes Born to Run so brilliantly crafted, accompanied by the talented Sam Popkin demonstrating on guitar and piano. This isolation of the instrumentation was helpful to those in the audience who may not understand all of the intricacies of playing music. Womack and Popkin broke down the music notes and how they create a particular sound. They went through every song on Born to Run, from the introductory piano of “Thunder Road,” which sounds like a breath of fresh morning air inviting the listener in, to the jazzy flair of “Meeting Across the River,” the overture to the epic “Jungleland.” This presentation helped me understand just how remarkable Bruce Springsteen’s musical craftsmanship is, and how much creativity went into writing his compositions.
The conference ended with performances of “Backstreets,” “Thunder Road,” and “Born to Run” from the album Runaway American Dream, by the student-run record label Blue Hawk Records. Blue Hawk Records gives Monmouth University students hands-on experience in every aspect of putting out a record, from production to marketing strategy and live event management. It’s a truly exceptional experience-building opportunity for any student wanting to study music. The covers performed were “innovative interpretations” of Born to Run: Amani Lillian’s velvety-voiced “Backstreets” with hip drums, Abby Garcia’s ethereal and melancholy-tinged “Thunder Road,” and a very rousing “Born to Run” performed by the powerfully voiced Elijah Elias and Kristen Wilczewski. Their cover reframes “Born to Run” as a duet between Wendy and the driver, as if they are trying to convince one another that running ‘til they drop is a good idea. These bold reimaginings were a window into how younger generations are affected by Bruce Springsteen’s repertoire.
Does Bruce Springsteen and Born to Run really inspire this much conversation? The answer is unequivocally yes. Looking at the album from an array of angles, the academic conference allowed those who listen to Bruce Springsteen to dig deep into exactly why Born to Run has endured for the past fifty years. While the “Main Event: Born to Run 50th Anniversary Symposium” was an invaluable opportunity to hear oral histories from the Boss himself, the E Street Band, and those involved in the making of the album, such academic events are also essential for Springsteen’s audience. Sharing scholarship and having discussions at conferences proves how popular music holds a mirror up to the political forces, cultural trends, and social values of an era—the very foundation of the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music’s mission. Without these conferences, we risk not understanding the depth of Bruce Springsteen’s artistry, why he has such a singular legacy, and how his music can be appreciated for more than just the way it makes us feel. I, like many of the Springsteen fans and scholars who convened at the conference, look forward to future gatherings.
Caroline Madden is the author of Springsteen as Soundtrack: The Sound of the Boss in Film and Television and Virginity on Screen: The First Time in American Teen Films. Her booklet essay, “They’re Pulling Out of Here to Win: How Bruce Springsteen Steers John Sayles’ Coming-of-Age Journey,” appears on the Fun City Editions Blu-ray release of Baby It’s You. You can find more of her writing on www.carolinemaddenwriter.com. Caroline teaches film studies at Ocean County College.
