“Jesse’s got one of those rare albums out these days that’s really an album… it’s got all good songs on it.” — Bruce Springsteen, December 7, 2003
True enough.
The Fine Art of Self Destruction announced the arrival of Jesse Malin as a solo artist after fronting the punk band D Generation throughout the 1990s. With first-time producer Ryan Adams, Jesse recorded the album in a mere six days, but you’d never know it from the final product–hailed by many (including Bruce) as one of the best albums of 2002, a year that also gave us The Rising.
Fine Art was a departure for Malin, although it’s one he telegraphed in his 2001 interim project with PCP Highway, To Be Somebody. Several songs from that album turned up on his solo debut, but his first single was a new song that kicked off Fine Art: “Queen of the Underworld.”
“Queen of the Underworld” immediately established Malin as a seriously talented singer-songwriter, with a flair for metaphor and wordplay that was almost Springsteenian at times. Critics took notice of the influence, and comparisons were common.
Perhaps it was one of those comparisons that got Bruce’s attention. Whatever it was, Bruce invited Jesse to join him on stage during his 2003 holiday benefit show stand in Asbury Park. Jesse got to play two of his own songs each night with Bruce, an invaluable visibility boost for a solo artist’s debut album.
We listened to one of those two songs, “Wendy,” a couple of years ago. But it was “Queen of the Underworld” that marked Jesse and Bruce’s first on-stage collaboration, with a terrific performance that featured Jesse on lead vocals and Bruce on backing vocals and a prominent guitar solo.
Jesse would go on to perform with Bruce eight more times over the sixteen years that followed, and they collaborated in the studio as well, on “Broken Radio.” But while they would never play it again after those first shows in 2003, it was “Queen of the Underworld” that introduced and made Jesse Malin a welcome member of E Street Nation.
Queen of the Underworld
First performed: December 5, 2003 (Asbury Park, NJ)
Last performed: December 8, 2003 (Asbury Park, NJ)
