Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Darkness’ Era Captured in New Book: Exclusive Photos

Lynn Goldsmith, who calls herself a “quote-unquote rock ’n’ roll photographer,” returned to her late-‘70s muse, Bruce Springsteen, for her new picture book covering the E Street Band’s Darkness On the Edge of Town period. She had unprecedented access to Springsteen and cohorts such as guitarist Steven Van Zandt, the late saxophonist Clarence Clemons and manager Jon Landau, all of whom she captures in intimate, surprising moments.

“The band of brothers were ready for any musical or physical changes — adding to the ‘play’ Bruce provided by jumping off speakers or running into the crowd,” she writes in the introduction to her upcoming book for Taschen, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Darkness On the Edge of Town.

Among the revelations here: a curbside Springsteen holding a boombox like a briefcase; Clemons and the late organist Danny Federici nuzzling each other in a studio; Springsteen donning the sequined leather jacket belonging to Goldsmith, his then-girlfriend, who notes wryly in her intro that this coat now hangs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; rehearsal images of Van Zandt in a purple velvet jacket; and an abundance of killer performance shots, including one of the Boss giving the thumbs-up to an applauding pre-teen girl in the audience.

“When there is a brotherhood, the power of something increases exponentially,” Goldsmith tells Billboard. “You have a group of individuals, led by someone, who are totally aligned with rock ‘n’ roll being being the spiritual vehicle for saving people’s lives, for bringing people together, for celebration as well as for reflection.”