This is what I first heard. At the end of an old tape, one time, when I was 16. Just the end of the song, and the dj's back announcement - Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen.

I had never heard as much power, in a song, as I heard in that little piece. Ok, I'd lead a sheltered life :) ... but ... maybe everyone has a song like that, one that opens a new world to them.

That, and the name. Springsteen. I'd never heard of a name like that. Leastways, not in New Zealand, not in 1978, not when the height of my musical appreciation was Elton John, Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles. Yes, that is a shudder you see! It spoke to me, then, of an honesty, a purity almost. I mean, people with a name like Springsteen would surely want to change it - to Elton John, to David Bowie, to, even, Johnny Cougar.

Anyways, the name and his music acted like a talisman to me over the next few years. These were in the days when he was cool - the pre Born in the USA days.

That's important too, the coolness I mean. One other factor in my musical development stemmed from an overheard conversation, around about the same time. I can't remember who it was between, but this one guy had come in and said their cleaner had been dusting in his room, and come across his record collection, and hadn't recognised any artists in the collection. I wanted to have a collection like that. Fuck whether it was good or not, if no one had heard of it, it was cool.

Springsteen, today, doesn't hold the same power for me. There's even a couple of his albums I haven't bought. If pressed though, I'll name Born to Run as my favourite album ever. It was the first one I'd lie awake in my bedroom at night listening too, thinking that I couldn't imagine how music could get any better than this. Backstreets is one of the songs from the album. Listen with your eyes closed.