Bruced out

… This material is well known. The Springsteen obsessive — I rate myself at about an 8.1 out of a possible 10 — will hunt instead for smaller, juicier nuggets. On this front “Bruce” delivers. We learn, for example, that one of Mr. Springsteen’s early bands almost played Woodstock. We witness Janis Joplin drooling over him that same year. Mr. Springsteen nearly named one of his early groups, the author writes, the Intergalactic Pubic Band. He and his musician friends liked to play a cutthroat version of Monopoly for which they would add handmade cards to the Chance and Community Chest piles. If you drew the Race Riot! card, all your houses and hotels burned down. Robert De Niro stole his “You talkin’ to me?” riff in “Taxi Driver” from Mr. Springsteen’s stage patter. The Boss and his longtime manager, Jon Landau, came close to firing the drummer Max Weinberg during the sessions for “The River” (1980); Mr. Weinberg took drum lessons to stay in the band. Mr. Springsteen originally intended to give what became his first Top 10 single, “Hungry Heart,” to the Ramones.