He Was in Awe of Elvis and The Beatles
It was in 1956 and 1957 when Bruce was seven that he saw Elvis Presley on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ Soon after that, his mother rented him a guitar from Freehold’s store called Mike Diehl’s Music for $6 a week. But for some reason, it failed to provide the young boy with the instant gratification he wanted. He was 13 by the time he bought his first guitar at the Western Auto Appliance Store for $18.95.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert at the University of California, Santa Barbara, America – 1970s. Photo By Andre Csillag/Shutterstock
While Elvis gave him that initial spark, it was The Beatles who had Bruce obsessed with learning how to play the guitar. After he saw them performing on Ed Sullivan, he locked himself up in his room for months, trying to learn how to play. Springsteen went to Freehold High School but didn’t seem to fit in there. Teachers said he was a “loner who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar.”