Human Touch

After the release of 1987’s <i>Tunnel of Love</i>, Bruce Springsteen got divorced, married Patti Scialfa and left New Jersey for Los Angeles. He also broke up the E Street Band, at least temporarily. That gave Springsteen some space to figure out who he wanted to be in the next phase of his career—and what kind of music he wanted to make. The genesis for <i>Human Touch</i> came during a dinner with E Street Band keyboardist Roy Bittan, who told Springsteen he’d written some music on his new home multi-synthesiser rig. Springsteen asked if he could listen to a cassette featuring Bittan’s tracks—and the next day, the Boss phoned his long-time keyboardist, telling him he’d written a hit. Bittan would be the only E Street veteran to appear on 1992’s <i>Human Touch</i>, an album that embraced the smooth, processed synthesiser sound popular in the early 1990s, while also reaching back to the soul and R&B singers Springsteen had always idolised. The subject matter of the songs focused on Springsteen’s struggle to make his second marriage more successful than his first, but there were also quasi-confessional tracks—the result of Springsteen’s recent foray into therapy. The title track recounts the story of Bruce and Patti’s romance, “The Long Goodbye” explains why he’d left New Jersey and the bass-heavy “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)” is a playful ode to Elvis via cable television. None of this happened quickly: Springsteen kept writing and recording songs, and blew past deadlines in his desire to create the exact right next record at this point in his career. <i>Human Touch</i> ended up being released on the same day as <i>Lucky Town</i>, thanks in part to Springsteen’s prolificness: When he went back to work on a single for <i>Human Touch</i>, Springsteen ended up also writing an entirely new batch of songs. Guns N’ Roses had just tried a two-at-once release pattern with the <i>Use Your Illusion</i> albums, and Springsteen and his manager felt the release of the singer’s first record since breaking up the E Street Band deserved similar fanfare.