ABSTRACT
The rock landscape in the eighties was filled with a number of different styles that were arranged and formatted neatly on radio dials across the country. Rock dinosaurs like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, the Doobie Brothers, and Rod Stewart were still significant players on album-oriented rock radio, the dominant rock format for youthful American listeners. One of the most politically active major rock artists of the seventies and eighties was Bruce Springsteen. With the release of his classic Born to Run in 1975, Springsteen's stories of yearning, escape, and reflection reached the musical mainstream. In concert the E Street Band would power through an emotional three-hour journey, led by the nonstop Springsteen. In the mideighties, bands like Van Halen added keyboard and synthesizer, broadening both their sound and their appeal. Robert Walser maintains that Van Halen's classical music training as a pianist and violinist and his study of music theory were instrumental to this success.
