Retro Video of the Week: "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen

Four consecutive days of music last weekend at Lolla apparently wasn't enough.  Bruce Springsteen is playing two shows at Wrigley Field this week.  The first was last night, and the second is tomorrow night.  I'm going tomorrow night.  (Fear not, I did see another show in lieu of Bruce last night -- Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats and Thee Sacred Souls.)

In honor of The Boss, this week's Retro Video of the Week is "Dancing in the Dark," the first single released from his iconic and massive 1984 album Born in the U.S.A.  The song's genesis is another one of those ridiculous stories about a producer (Jon Landau) wanting a "hit single" for an album. Pissed off, Springstee wrote the song in one night.

It turned out to be the highest-charting single of Springsteen's career, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and kicking off a record-tying string of 7 Top 10 singles from Born in the U.S.A.  In addition, "Dancing in the Dark" reached the Top 10 on 12 international pop charts.  The song also earned him his first Grammy, winning Best Rock Vocal Performance.

Of course, the video -- which I never realized was directed by famed movie director Brian DePalma (Carrie, Scarface, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible) -- is now iconic because it features a young and then-unknown Courtney Cox as a fan at a Springsteen show who he pulls up on stage to dance with him.  I also just learned that Cox's dancing in this video inspired Alfonso Ribeiro when he was creating "The Carlton" on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.