5 album covers in our archive
Bruce Springsteen is featured in Behind the Covers' archive with 5 album covers spanning the 1980s and 1970s. Released across Columbia and Columbia Records labels, the artwork sits in the rock, folk tradition. Each cover is documented in our archive with design notes covering photography, patriotic, ambiguous, iconic, annie leibovitz, landscape. Below you'll find the full story behind each Bruce Springsteen cover — designers, photographers, label history, and the visual choices that defined the release.
Cover evolution
Annie Leibovitz photographed Bruce Springsteen from behind against a huge American flag for Born in the U.S.A., while Columbia art director Andrea Klein directed and designed the package. Springsteen wanted the flag to be prominent; the rear-view frame won out because, as he later explained, it simply worked better than the face shots.
Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska cover is a road photograph that predates the album by years: David Michael Kennedy shot the bleak blacktop through a vehicle windshield in 1975, and Columbia art director Andrea Klein later built the 1982 sleeve around it in black, white and warning-red type.
Frank Stefanko's stark portrait of Springsteen in his Haddonfield bedroom captures the album's raw, desperate mood. Shot against flowery wallpaper in winter 1978, the image strips away celebrity artifice to reveal the working-class character at the heart of the songs.
The iconic black and white portrait was shot with a Hasselblad in Eric Meola's studio, capturing Springsteen leaning against a wall in his signature cap and leather jacket. The intimate close-up became one of rock's most recognizable covers.
When Columbia demanded a big photo of their new signing on his debut, Bruce Springsteen instead handed them a vintage tourist postcard he'd found in his hometown. The label blinked first. Here's how a rack-shop souvenir became one of rock's most imitated debut covers.
