Eric Meola made one of the most iconic photographs in the history of rock ‘n’ roll: the cover photograph on Bruce Springsteen’s landmark 1975 album Born to Run.
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Photograph © Eric Meola, registered with U.S. Copyright Office
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Bruce pitching during an "E Street" softball game, near Holmdel, N.J.
Photograph © Eric Meola, registered with U.S. Copyright Office
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Eric recalls "During the last month of recording the album Born to Run, Bruce would spend nearly every waking hour at the Record Plant on West 44th Street in New York.The last week of finalizing the album was particularly intense, and given the mood I knew not to interfere. This image was made a few days before Bruce finished the album. I showed up and waited in the lobby of the building, and finally left to go home. Bruce suddenly appeared and we talked briefly--he was amused by the custom made T-shirt I was wearing which had the words "BORN FOR FUN" emblazoned on the front in red, white and blue.In the hot July sunlight, I got a few portraits of him grinning before he went back in to work some more on the song "Jungleland". In a few days the album would be finished."
Photograph © Eric Meola, registered with U.S. Copyright Office
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Photograph © Eric Meola, registered with U.S. Copyright Office
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A convenience store and gas station in the very small town of Valmy, Nevada, off of route 80. Photographed on a road trip from Salt Lake City to Reno, Nevada in 1977. The idea was to make photographs, especially landscapes, that echoed the themes on the "Darkness" album. Out of this trip, Bruce wrote the song "The Promised Land." Eric recalls: "The day after Elvis died, we flew out to Utah to shoot for Darkness on the Edge of Town, and after driving all night through towns with names like Beowawe, Winnemucca and Valmy, I remember trying to fall asleep one night in Elko; but it wasn't easy, laying on the hood of the Ford Galaxie we had been driving across the desert, with dogs howling somewhere in the distance." "Valmy" was rumoured to be a possible cover for Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Photograph © Eric Meola, registered with U.S. Copyright Office
