Bruce Springsteen Marks Anniversary of First Top 10 Hit, “Hungry Heart”

On December 6, 1980, Bruce Springsteen scored his first Top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hungry Heart.” To mark the occasion, a note with a little historical tidbit about the song has been posted on the Boss’ social media sites along with a link to a YouTube video featuring him performing the tune with the E Street Band live in Tempe, Arizona, in 1980.

The message reads, Springsteen originally wrote “Hungry Heart” for The Ramones, but kept it for himself—a good thing too, as it became his first top 10 hit on this day in 1980.”

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“Hungry Heart” reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 on December 6, 1980, and eventually peaked at No. 5 on the chart. The song appeared on Springsteen’s fifth studio effort, the double-disc set The River, which spent four consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 chart in November of 1980.

During a 2015 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Springsteen told a story about how the song came about, and how it originally was intended for the legendary New York punk band.

“I saw the Ramones in Asbury Park,” Springsteen explained, noting that the band was playing a show with Patti Smith, with whom the Boss had co-written her hit “Because the Night.”

According to Springsteen, guitarist Johnny Ramone had asked him after the concert if he could write a song for the group.

“So I went home and I sat at my table and I wrote it in about the time it took me to sing it,” Springsteen recalled. “I brought it in and we went to make a demo for it or I played it for [Johnny Ramone], and he said, ‘Nah, you better keep that one.’ He was right about that. It did pretty well.”

An alternate story states that Springsteen had played his “Hungry Heart” demo for his manager and co-producer, Jon Landau, who reportedly was the one who recommended he keep the tune for himself. Regardless, “Hungry Heart” became Springsteen’s breakthrough chart hit, the first of a dozen tunes to date recorded by the Boss to reach the Top 10 of the Hot 100.