How Adam Sandler paid regular tribute to Bruce Springsteen
Adam Sandler was known for incorporating music into his comedy routines. During his earliest days on Saturday Night Live, Sandler found a niche by appearing on ‘Weekend Update’ with a guitar, strumming out ridiculous and hilarious songs like ‘The Chanukah Song’ and ‘Red-Hooded Sweatshirt’. Soon, songs like ‘The Thanksgiving Song’ and ‘Lunchlady Land’ solidified Sandler’s knack for fusing music with humour.
After Sandler was fired from SNL in 1995, he embarked on a concert tour to support his 1996 album What the Hell Happened to Me. Since both What the Hell Happened to Me and its predecessor, 1993’s They’re All Gonna Laugh at You, contained their fair share of musical comedy bits, Sandler has a perfect idea: why not stage the comedy show as a rock concert?
Recruiting a backing band led by studio guitar ace Waddy Wachtel, Sandler played a 21-night tour across America. When he stopped in Chicago, HBO was there to film the concert for a special. What they captured was an audience filled with college kids who wanted nothing more than to shout along with Sandler’s joke and cry with laughter at tracks like ‘Ode to My Car’ and ‘Dip Doodle’.
Chris Farley even makes an appearance during a rarely-performed Halloween song. Sandler had plenty of comedic songs to trot out, but not enough to flesh out an entire concert. To supplement his original material, Sandler and his band busted out a few choice covers. The first was the classic blues tune ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’, here played in the style of Foghat’s arena rock version.
The second was Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Out in the Street’, a song cut from 1980’s The River that later morphed into a live favourite. A celebratory call for fun among the darker realities of day-to-day work, ‘Out in the Street’ is quintessential blue-collar Springsteen. Since Sandler came off as a man of the people, it only makes sense that he would channel a bit of Springsteen at the end of his concerts.
Check out Sandler performing ‘Out in the Street’ down below.
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