BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN RECORDS HIS FIRST TWO SONGS

Long before he made history by becoming the first rock star to land on the cover of both Time and Newsweek magazines in the same week, Bruce Springsteen was in the Castiles, a band named after a shampoo. Influenced by British Invasion groups, the Castiles were founded by guitarist-vocalist George Theiss and based in Springsteen’s hometown of Freehold, N.J. On this day in 1966, at a small studio in Bricktown Township, N.J., the Castiles recorded two original songs credited to Springsteen-Theiss. The onehour session (which cost $50, according to rock critic Dave Marsh) marked the first time Springsteen’s voice and guitar were captured in a studio setting. The single’s A side, Baby I, was a keening, shouting romantic brush-off, while the flip side, That’s What You Get, was dreamy and jangled, with the kind of brooding melodrama associated with Springsteen’s subsequent material. Anyone hearing these two songs back then, however, would have guessed that the 16-year-old Springsteen was born to skiffle, not to run. The Castiles, who performed throughout New Jersey and New York, disbanded in 1968.