40 years ago today (November 16th), Bruce Springsteen hit number-one on the Billboard 200 album chart for the first time ever, with The River. The first single off The River, “Hungry Heart” was Springsteen’s first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number-five. It has only been surpassed once, by “Dancing in the Dark,” (which reached number-two) — though it’s been tied twice, by “Glory Days” and “Brilliant Disguise.” Drummer Max Weinberg admits that his notable intro to “Hungry Heart” wasn’t entirely original.
“‘Hungry Heart,’ what a happy song that was. And I finally got a chance to do one of my favorite drum introductions. Now, probably everybody out there is familiar with the great drum intros on all those Motown records. The drummer on most of those cuts was Benny Benjamin and I’m proud to say I stole that drum intro from Benny Benjamin. You know, the one that goes bomp-budda-rump-bump.”
