Editing Born to Run (section)

===Media hype and backlash===
The album was highly anticipated and publicized. In October 1975,{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=129}} Springsteen became the first artist to appear on the covers of the magazines ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' and ''[[Newsweek]]'' simultaneously.<ref name="UCRMags">{{cite web |last=Lifton |first=Dave |title=Revisiting Bruce Springsteen's 'Time' and 'Newsweek' Covers |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bruce-springsteen-time-newsweek/ |access-date=August 22, 2023 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |date=October 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617132317/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bruce-springsteen-time-newsweek/ |archive-date=June 17, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Time''{{'s}} [[Jay Cocks]] focused on him as an artist,{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|pp=45–46}} while ''Newsweek''{{'s}} [[Maureen Orth]] focused on Columbia's promotional campaign{{sfn|Dolan|2012|p=128}}<ref name="UCRMags" /> and the hype surrounding Springsteen,{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|pp=45–46}} insisting that he was an industry-made pop star.{{sfn|Carlin|2012|p=206}}

The question of hype became a story in itself, as critics wondered if Springsteen was legitimate or the product of record company promotion.<ref name="EdwardsNYT">{{cite web |last=Edwards |first=Henry |title=If There Hadn't Been a Bruce Springsteen, Then the Critics Would Have Made Him Up; The Invention of Bruce Springsteen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/05/archives/if-there-hadnt-been-a-bruce-springsteen-then-the-critics-would-have.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=August 10, 2023 |date=October 5, 1975 |archive-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230641/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/05/archives/if-there-hadnt-been-a-bruce-springsteen-then-the-critics-would-have.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="RockwellNYT">{{cite web |last=Rockwell |first=John |author-link=John Rockwell |title=The Pop Life; 'Hype' and the Springsteen Case |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/24/archives/the-pop-life-hype-and-the-springsteen-case.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=August 10, 2023 |date=October 24, 1975 |archive-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230642/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/24/archives/the-pop-life-hype-and-the-springsteen-case.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The journalist [[John Sinclair (poet)|John Sinclair]] of the ''[[Ann Arbor Sun]]'' claimed that Dave Marsh and Jon Landau were "co-conspirators on a massive Springsteen hype".{{sfn|Dolan|2012|p=131}} Examinations on the hype continued after the album's release with articles by ''[[Bloomberg Businessweek|BusinessWeek]]'' and England's ''[[Melody Maker]]'', the latter arguing that Springsteen was "no hype" at all because he "is really good", and {{"'}}hype' only services artists who do not deserve the attention".{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=133}} In retrospect, Masur stated: "Most of the backlash against Springsteen came in the form of disgust with the hype, not the music, even though writing about the hype only fed the publicity machine."{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=132}} 

Springsteen was hurt by the media backlash, particularly an article by Henry Edwards in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that slandered both himself and ''Born to Run''.<ref name="EdwardsNYT" />{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=133}}{{sfn|Dolan|2012|pp=129–130}} He felt that the publicity got out of his control{{sfn|Carlin|2012|p=207}} and Columbia's campaign that labeled him the future of rock and roll was a mistake.{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=134–135}}{{sfn|Dolan|2012|p=130}} He also reportedly felt a loss of innocence after the album's release, claiming to have reached a low point in the immediate months.{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=134–135}} When the backlash subsided, sales tapered off and ''Born to Run'' was off the chart after 29 weeks.{{sfn|Clarke|1990|p=1109}} In his 1999 book ''Flowers in the Dustbin'', former ''Rolling Stone'' and ''Newsweek'' writer James Miller wrote that the "mass-marketing" of Springsteen in the U.S. and [[David Bowie]]'s [[Ziggy Stardust (character)|Ziggy Stardust]] in the U.K. led to the notion that "the age of innocence in rock was well and truly over—probably forever".{{sfn|Miller|1999|p=325}}