Pearl Jam
Photo courtesy Epic.
Pearl Jam joined up with Bruce Springsteen for the 2004 Vote for Change Tour, a series of shows organized in crucial swing states running up to that year’s presidential election. Like Springsteen, Pearl Jam were tireless critics of President Bush, particularly on 2002's "Bu$hleaguer," a diatribe against Dubya that was equal parts satire and disturbing snapshot of the mortally-wounded country his administration had wrought.
Rage Against the Machine
Photo courtesy Epic.
At the time, it seemed bizarre that rap-rock band Rage Against the Machine would cover Springsteen's whispered folk ballad "The Ghost of Tom Joad" on tour in the mid-'90s. But as guitarist Tom Morello's recent solo records have demonstrated, this pioneering protest band understood that the Boss was a kindred spirit in speaking out against social ills -- and that a song's volume didn't matter as much as the content of its social consciousness.
U2
Photo courtesy Island.
As a sign of their mutual respect, U2 and Bruce Springsteen inducted each other into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the bond between the band and the songwriter goes deeper than that. Before U2 started conquering stadiums at the end of the '80s with The Joshua Tree, Bruce showed them how you could combine huge songs and genuine emotions with his Born in the U.S.A. tour. And like Springsteen, U2 managed to become superstars while mixing personal and political lyrics that expressed universal themes in rousing ways.
