- Home
-
Lyrics
-
- Collection
-
Bootlegs
-
Intro / Wanted list
-
- Links
- Forum
-
-
-
Original version
[Instrumental]
KT88 is an instrumental written by Bruce Springsteen. He said that it was a "new song" when he introduced it on 20 Sep 1969 in Richmond, VA. Carl "Tinker" West, who served as manager and sound engineer of some of Springsteen's early band, said in January 2019 that he gave Springsteen the title of this instrumental when he told him about the splendor of the KT88 vacuum tubes used in his amplifiers.
Bruce Springsteen performed KT88 live with Child and Steel Mill in 1969 and 1970. See the "Live History" section below for more details. According to Brucebase, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band allegedly performed a variation of this song during a few shows in late 1972 or early 1973, although there's no audio or setlist verification.
Decades later, KT88 was recorded by Jersey Shore band Steel Mill Retro who released it on The Dead Sea Chronicles, their 2005 album of Bruce Springsteen songs originally performed by the original Steel Mill. See Steel Mill Retro's cover version for more details.
Steel Mill may have recorded KT88 at Challenger Eastern Surfboards in Asbury Park, NJ. The surfboard factory was also Springsteen's home from late 1969 thru late 1970, and a makeshift studio environment of sufficient standard to produce reasonable quality recordings. Although the song might have been recorded as part of ongoing rehearsals at Challenger Eastern Surfboards, none of these 1969 and 1970 recordings is currently in circulation. Due to financial restrictions the reel-to-reel tapes were often reused. Consequently there is a distinct possibility that much of what was recorded at Challenger no longer survives, even in Springsteen's personal archive.
KT88 is known to have been performed at least 5 times in Bruce Springsteen's early years (pre-October 1972). Very little is known about shows from this early period, and therefore, the song may have been played on some more dates.
At least one artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's KT88.
Some of the above info about the studio recording and the live performances of KT88 is taken from Brucebase.
For comments, additions, or corrections, please contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of KT88 on this website:
KT88 [Original version]