Bridge and Tunnel Boys

JIM CULLEN teaches at the recently founded upper division of Greenwich Country Day School. His many books include 1980: America’s Pivotal Year; Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition; and Those Were the Days: Why "All in the Family" Still Matters, all from Rutgers University Press.

• Preface: You See? I Was Right!    Author's Note I: Gauging Success    Author's Note II: Historical Records    INTRODUCTIONMargin and Center1 NEW YORK STATE OF MINDThe Emergence of the Metropolitan Sound in Popular Music2 HARD TIMES, BOOM YEARSSocial Mobility and Its Discontents, 1949-19713 POINTS OF DEPARTUREFinding Their Way, 1972-19744 ARRIVALSMovin' Out––and Back, 1975-1977 5 THROUGH GLASS, DARKLYYears of Growth and Uncertainty, 1978-1982 6 RIGHT TIMEThe Stars Align, 1983-1986 7 FAMILY FEUDSDomestic Politics, 1986-1995   8 HOMINGLegends Take Root, 1996-Present   CONCLUSIONSwift Currents   AcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

"Historian Cullen (1980) tracks in this meticulous study how Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel ascended to fame...[T]his is an engrossing take on two music legends who documented the glory and melancholy of 'ordinary American life.'" (Publishers Weekly) “Jim Cullen is a wide-ranging historian with unusual insight into American pop culture. In Bridge and Tunnel Boys, he turns his focus to two giants of rock and roll, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, a winning combination resulting in an entertaining and provocative book that will appeal to anyone interested in pop music and its relationship to the historical currents that influence its creation.” - Tom Perrotta (author of Little Children) "It’s always a pleasure to read a new Jim Cullen book. This one is no exception as Cullen finds striking parallels in the music and lives of two very different-yet similar-musicians: Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel. A fascinating cultural history of late twentieth century American popular music." - June S. Sawyers (author of We Take Care of Our Own: The Faith-Based Politics of Bruce Springsteen) “A thoughtful and probing look at the work and careers of two artists born just months apart, Bridge and Tunnel Boys lends highly readable context as to where Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen overlap-in terms of geography, musical approach, and audience-and where they diverge. Not solely for fans, this is a work that evokes a broader sense of the time and place in which the music was made, and how that music continues to influence the wider culture.” - Fred Schruers (author of Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography) “Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel are epic figures who have been listened to, loved, and finally understood by Jim Cullen’s Bridge and Tunnel Boys. Long an astute observer of American popular culture, Cullen provides a radiant analysis of both artists’ music that is right on the money: perceptive and smart.” - Peter Ames Carlin (author of Bruce)