The tape that changed the course of Bruce Springsteen’s history.

In June 1984, Jon Landau walked into the office of Al Teller, President of Columbia Records, and put a ¾-inch U-matic cassette into the player on his desk. He said nothing about what he or Bruce thought of it.

Fifteen seconds in, Teller was talking to himself. Where is the band? “Dancing in the Dark” is a big, full-band production, and the band was nowhere to be seen. It was Springsteen alone on a black stage — one locked-off camera, one master shot, no cutaways — until Clarence Clemons came strolling through the frame in a red suit near the end of the song. When it finished, Teller looked at Landau and said: “No way. We can’t use this.” 

Bruce and Landau had both already seen the video and shared the view that this video could not be used. The cassette became an almost forgotten part of Bruce's history.

This is that cassette. The original tape from the shoot, the one that was in the room.

It holds four complete takes. You see the clapper board and the colour palette card. You see Springsteen’s warm-up moves. You see the byplay with Clemons change from take to take. And you see his face as the song ends and he walks out of frame, take after take, perhaps arriving at the conclusion that this is not working. Blurred fragments have circulated online and none of it has ever been seen like this.

Without this film there is no Brian De Palma video. No arena, no unknown Courteney Cox pulled out of the crowd. It was the rejection of this tape that sent them back to the drawing board, and what came back two weeks later was the video that turbocharged the launch of the Born in the USA album on a trajectory which exceeded 20 million sales and made Springsteen a global icon.

A Springsteen grail that has never come to market, in any form, ever. Offered as one lot with Springsteen’s signed Born in the U.S.A. twenty million sales plaque.

The lot

1. The original ¾-inch U-matic videotape, in its original box with labels, containing four complete takes of the unreleased original concept for Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” music video, directed by Jeff Stein (1984). Runtime just over 18 minutes.

2. Bruce Springsteen’s signed Born in the U.S.A. 20 million sales plaque, 24 × 20 inches — the award for the album this tape helped launch, signed by Springsteen and consigned from the same source.

Provenance

• Handed to Al Teller by Jon Landau at Columbia Records, New York, June 1984, and gifted to him the same afternoon.
• Held continuously by Teller since, in a private file cabinet, for forty-two years. Never sold, never consigned, never offered, or played since then apart from recently to determine the video's playability. 
• Accompanied by a signed letter of provenance from the consignor.
• The rejection is documented independently in Peter Ames Carlin’s biography Bruce.

Condition

• Inspected for playability in 2026 by Los Angeles Video Transfer Service, with a signed letter of playability on file.
• All four takes reported in excellent condition.

Where the money goes

All seller proceeds are being donated to organizations that support music education in public primary and secondary schools.

Important notice on rights — please read before bidding

The copyright in the video recorded on this tape belongs to Sony Music Entertainment. The seller is free to sell the physical item, but neither the seller nor the purchaser (nor any successor owner) acquires any right to reproduce, publicly display or publicly perform the video, or to license any such right to any third party. The owner of the item may play the video privately only. Prospective bidders should bid on the clear understanding that they are acquiring a physical historical artefact and very limited rights in its content. No archival or digital files of the tape are included in this sale.