When the Boss was everywhere.

Forty-years ago this week Bruce Springsteen pulled the 1970s equivalent of breaking the Internet. In 1975, Time and Newsweek were two leading sources of where people found stuff out.  In the hype surrounding Born To Run, Springsteen landed on the cover of both magazines on the same week. To understand the significance of this by today’s standards think of the ubiquity of Kim Kardashian’s ass.

The coincidental appearances on America’s two most influential weeklies was a PR move that Bruce entered into willingly, but not without some second guessing. It was unprecedented. A pop star on the cover of a news weekly was news in itself, never mind appearing on two at the same time. The latter was the result of a bit of a pissing contest between the two news sources. Newsweek was the first to promise a cover story, but when the people at Time heard that Newsweek was planning to paint Bruce as a record company fabrication, they saw an opportunity to counter with a rock’s next great one approach.

Still Springsteen didn’t have to agree to both. While Bruce has always understood the power of PR, he’d probably take offence to the title of pop star. All the exposure for a promising, but unproven, artist was about to make him just that.

But this was Born to Run Bruce. If any material could live up to the hype, this was it. Can’t say the same for Miss Kardashian’s butt. Springsteen’s soon to be legendary live performances also helped spread the word that the kid was for real.

You can find original copies of the Bruce Springsteen Time Newsweek Covers on Ebay.