You wouldn’t have known it from his official tour set lists, but in the spring and summer of 1984, ZZ Top’s “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” was in heavy rotation for Bruce Springsteen.
Never officially released as a single, “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” is nevertheless considered to be one of ZZ Top’s greatest hits and certainly one of the strongest tracks on the band’s 1979 Deguello album.
I can’t speak to when Bruce discovered it, but if you frequented The Stone Pony in 1984, you were bound to hear him play “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” at some point.
He played it a few times with the house band, Cats on a Smooth Surface:
He played it with John Eddie and The Frontstreet Runners:
And he played it with La Bamba and The Hubcaps:
In fact, for most of the year, it seemed like the only band Bruce wasn’t playing it with was the E Street Band, which is pretty astounding considering that Bruce and the band were out on the road for much of 1984 on what was only their biggest tour ever.
But on September 15th, Bruce finally gave “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” its E Street debut at the Philadelphia Spectrum, where it served as the opening encore.
Fans who missed that debut performance had to wait a long time to hear the E Street Band tackle it again. Well, except for a lucky few, that is–three years later, in the summer of 1987, Bruce and the E Street Band made a couple of surprise appearances at The Stone Pony, where “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” was among the songs in their cover-filled sets.
But other than the pair of 1987 club performances, a full quarter-century would pass between that first 1984 E Street performance and the next time Bruce and the band would tackle it in concert.
On April 21, 2009, when a Boston fan brought a sign request to Bruce’s attention, Bruce took up the gauntlet.
“The band does not know this song!” Bruce proclaimed. “They never played this song!”
He was wrong, of course, but we can forgive him, right? How many of us would remember playing a song 22 years ago? And how many of us would nail it after that long like the E Street Band did above?
“Don’t try to stump the E Street Band, baby!”
Indeed.
I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide
First performed: March 25, 1984 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: April 21, 2009 (Boston, MA)
His version of this song is probably my least favorite of everything he has ever covered. He should have left the melody alone. He totally loses that gritty, bluesy feel that makes the original so damn good.