Max Weinberg
Encyclopedia
Max Weinberg is an American
drummer
and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen
's E Street Band
and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien
on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
.
Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey
and began drumming at an early age. He attended college planning to be a lawyer but got his big break in music in 1974 when he won an audition to become the drummer for Springsteen. His powerful but controlled playing on albums such as Born to Run
and Born in the U.S.A.
stabilized the E Street Band sound and Weinberg became a mainstay of Springsteen's long concert performances. Springsteen dissolved the band in 1989 and Weinberg spent several years considering a law career and trying the business end of the music industry before deciding he wanted to continue with drumming.
In 1993, Weinberg got the role as bandleader of The Max Weinberg 7 for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Weinberg's drums-driven jump blues
sound and his role as a comic foil prospered along with the show, giving him a second career. In 1999, Springsteen reformed the E Street Band for a series of tours and albums; Weinberg worked out an arrangement that allowed him to play with both O'Brien and Springsteen. In 2009, Weinberg moved to the short-lived Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien as leader of Max Weinberg and The Tonight Show Band. After that ended, he formed and toured with a new ensemble, the Max Weinberg Big Band, and in 2010 chose not to follow O'Brien to the new Conan show.
, New Jersey
to parents Bertram Weinberg, an attorney, and Ruth Weinberg, a high school physical education
teacher. He has two sisters, Nancy and Abby. He grew up in Newark as well as in the neighboring suburban towns of South Orange
and Maplewood
.
The young Max was exposed to music early on, attending Broadway shows
weekly from the age of two and liking the big sound put forth by the pit orchestra
s. He then liked the rhythms of country and western music. He knew he wanted to be a drummer from the age of five, when he saw Elvis Presley
and his drummer, D. J. Fontana
, appear on The Milton Berle Show in April 1956. Decades later, Weinberg said, "I think anybody who wanted to develop a life in rock 'n' roll music had a moment. That was my moment," and Fontana became a major influence on him.
Weinberg started actually playing at the age of six. His first public appearance came at the age of seven when he sat in on a bar mitzvah band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In
". The bandleader, Herbie Zane, was the leading act for bar mitzvahs and weddings in the area; he became enamored of the tyke and brought him along on other engagements as a kind of novelty act. Weinberg thus became a local child star, drumming in a three-piece mohair suit. He gained an appreciation for showmanship
and was a fan of Liberace
and Sammy Davis, Jr.
He grew to idolize drummer Buddy Rich
and become a fan of Gene Krupa
and saw drummer Ed Shaughnessy of Doc Severinsen
's band on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as having an ideal job as well as admiring the level of playing and serious sartorial style of the Tonight Show musicians. Weinberg stayed with Zane until junior high school and learned rhythms such as cha-chas
, merenges
, polka
s, and the hora and playing everything from Dixieland jazz
to Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore
".
Weinberg attended Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, a Reform Judaism
congregation in South Orange, where he was inspired by a local rabbi and had what he later described as "a wonderful Jewish background." He would later say that the Jewish concept of seder, meaning order, became key to his vision of how a good drummer serves his band's music. Witnessing his father lose two summer camps in The Poconos
impressed upon him the fragility of economic success and led to a strong work ethic
.
When the British Invasion
hit in 1964, The Beatles
and their drummer, Ringo Starr
, became a huge influence on Weinberg. He began playing in local New Jersey rock bands, playing the music of The Rolling Stones
, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and The Young Rascals. While a member of The Epsilons, he played at the 1964 New York World's Fair
. He attended Columbia High School
in Maplewood; there he knew Leigh Howard Stevens
, who would become a famous percussionist in his own right. Weinberg graduated from Columbia High in 1969. Another band he was in, Blackstone, recorded an eponymous album for Epic Records
in 1970.
Weinberg first attended Adelphi University
, then Seton Hall University
, majoring in film studies
. His general goal was to become a lawyer, but he was still most viscerally interested in a music career and kept his drum set in his car in case any chances to play arose. He performed at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and bars, then landed a job in the pit band for the Broadway musical Godspell
.
on April 7, 1974 when his band, The Jim Marino Band, were Springsteen's support at Seton Hall. Springsteen had parted ways with his drummer, Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez
, earlier that year, and the replacement, Ernest "Boom" Carter, lasted only six months before leaving with pianist David Sancious
to form Tone. Weinberg answered a Springsteen Village Voice newspaper ad that famously requested, "no junior Ginger Bakers," in reference to Ginger Baker
's reputation for long drum solos. Weinberg auditioned with Springsteen and the core E Street Band in mid-late August of that year at the SIR studios in Midtown Manhattan
, bringing a minimalist drum kit with him. He knew one Springsteen song from the Marino band, "Sandy
", and played it. His drumming on the Fats Domino
song "Let the Four Winds Blow" sealed the position as his. A week later he was offered the $110 per week job and he quit college immediately, about six academic credits short of a degree. Weinberg's first public performance came on September 19, 1974, at The Main Point
in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
.
Weinberg rose to success as the drummer for Springsteen's E Street Band, as his powerful yet controlled beat solved the E Street Band's drumming instabilities. On 1975's Born to Run
, Weinberg's drumming evoked two of his idols, Ringo Starr
and Levon Helm
, and he covered his snare drum
with heavy paper towels to capture some of the Memphis soul
sound. While travelling on tour, Weinberg became known for his exact requests, such as specifying the particular brand of paper towels to use for his drums or the standards for his hotel rooms. Weinberg never adopted the "rock and roll lifestyle"; he treated his music seriously and kept to the mantra, "Show up, do a good job, and give them more than their money's worth." One compromise Weinberg did have to make was sometimes playing on the High Holy Days
. During shows, Springsteen built up the personas of his bandmates, and Weinberg was frequently referred to as "the Mighty Max". Weinberg started a long practice of keeping his eyes on Springsteen every moment during the show, as he never knew when Springsteen would change a tempo or suddenly deviate from the set list
. Decades later, E Street guitarist Steve Van Zandt would say of Weinberg, "What nobody understands is that not only is Max a great drummer, Max reads Bruce’s mind. You can’t learn that." Weinberg bought a house overlooking the water in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
, triggering a lifelong interest in real estate and home design.
Tempos slowed to an oft dirge-like pace on the 1978 Darkness on the Edge of Town
; Rehearsals and recording of the album stretched out over a long period, with Springsteen and bandmate and co-producer Steven Van Zandt
experiencing a prolonged frustration over their inability to capture a more resonant drum sound. Weinberg soon regretted not playing faster on "Badlands
", and tempos did speed up on that number and some others during the accompanying Darkness Tour
. The River Tour
Springsteen and E Street Band shows that opened New Jersey's Meadowlands Arena in 1981 became one of the top highlights of Weinberg's career.
Weinberg suffered an acknowledged "drumming slump" around 1980, and his time-keeping skills were criticized by Springsteen. What could pass unnoticed in concert became apparent on record, and Weinberg practiced drumming components for months in order to regain a fine sense of timing. Weinberg also suffered from repetitive stress injury and tendinitis, eventually requiring seven operations on his hands and wrists. He studied for a while with noted jazz drummer Joe Morello
; Weinberg credited Morello for helping him to learn how to play with the tendinitis. Weinberg's gear included Ludwig
and Pearl Drums
and Zildjian cymbals; he subsequently switched to DW Drums
. His setup was always simple: "I've got four drums. Anything more is redundant. Besides, I tend to trip over things."
In 1981, Weinberg married Rebecca Schick, a Methodist who had grown up in Tinton Falls, New Jersey
and who met Weinberg through a mutual friend. Springsteen and the band played at their wedding, which was officiated by the same rabbi he had growing up. Becky Weinberg worked as a high school history teacher. In 1984 they bought a 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) farm in Monmouth County
; after feeling taken advantage of in the deal, Weinberg became a scrupulous researcher in real estate matters, often spending days at town halls looking over obscure zoning regulations. While on tour he studied books about architecture, and dreamt of building houses in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright
or Richard Meier
. They had two children, daughter Ali (born c. 1987) and son Jay
(born 1990).
Despite his injuries, he made a full recovery for 1984's Born in the U.S.A.
, which featured an aerobics
-timed beat on some tracks that also owed something to the popular Phil Collins drum sound. Weinberg's own experimentation since the Darkness days had also led to a more reverberant sound. Overall, Weinberg's more fluid drumming combined with Roy Bittan
's use of synthesizers and better overall production to give Springsteen a more modern sound, resulting in the album becoming Springsteen's best-selling one ever and spawning a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles. Springsteen later said of the album, "Max was the best thing on the record." Weinberg's most well-known drum part came on "Born in the U.S.A.
", where his snare drum paired against Bittan's signature synthesizer riff on the opening and throughout the main part of the song. The recording then descends into improvised chaos; Springsteen had told Weinberg, "When I stop, keep the drums going." Upon the restart, intentional drum breakdowns matched bass swoops and guitar feedback; Springsteen subsequently said of the performance overall, "You can hear Max – to me, he was right up there with the best of them on that song." Weinberg said it was one of his most intense musical experiences.
On the subsequent Born in the U.S.A. Tour
, Springsteen generally interspersed hard-rocking song sequences after every three or four numbers in order to give Weinberg's hands a chance to recover. Weinberg's wife Becky unintentionally triggered one of the tour's most celebrated episodes. She was a fan of the This Week with David Brinkley television program and invited panelist George Will
to the Washington-area Capital Centre
show. After seeing the band perform, Will became convinced that they were exemplars of hard-working patriotism and traditional American values; he wrote, "... consider Max Weinberg's bandaged fingers. The rigors of drumming have led to five tendonitis operations. He soaks his hands in hot water before a concert, in ice afterward, and sleeps with tight gloves on." Will further decided that Springsteen might endorse Ronald Reagan
in the 1984 presidential campaign
and talked to the campaign, which later led to Reagan's famous extolling of Springsteen at a stop in Hammonton, New Jersey
and Springsteen's subsequent negative response.
For his efforts, Weinberg was named Best Drummer in the Playboy 1985 Pop and Jazz Music Poll and Best Drummer again in Rolling Stone
' s 1986 Critics Poll. The adulation got to him a bit as he aligned with the Mighty Max persona and went to fashionable parties.
Weinberg had a reduced role on Springsteen's 1987 Tunnel of Love
album, replacing Springsteen's drum machine
parts on a few tracks, but the full band was in place for the 1988 Tunnel of Love Express and Human Rights Now! tours. Weinberg called the latter tour's visiting of many third-world spots around the globe one of the most rewarding things the band had done.
In 1984, Weinberg published The Big Beat: Conversations with Rock's Greatest Drummers, a series of interviews conducted over two years with drummers from various eras, including Starr, Helm, D. J. Fontana
, Charlie Watts
, Dino Danelli
, Hal Blaine
, and others. The book captured drummers revealing more about their musical approaches than they normally did to the press and was considered an important addition to the rock literature. In 1986, Weinberg began taking a one-man show "Growing Up On E Street" to college campuses around the country. It contained some short films that Weinberg produced as well as a question-and-answer session.
Weinberg also played as a session musician
, enjoying particular success in connection with songwriter and producer Jim Steinman
. He drummed on the very popular 1977 Meat Loaf
album, Bat out of Hell
, playing on the Steinman-penned tracks "Bat out of Hell
", "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth
", and "Paradise by the Dashboard Light
". At a point in 1983, Weinberg was featured on the number one and number two songs on the Billboard Hot 100
, Bonnie Tyler
's "Total Eclipse of the Heart
" and Air Supply
's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All
", both Steinman creations. Weinberg also recorded with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Gary U.S. Bonds
, Ian Hunter
, and Carole King
.
On October 18, 1989, Springsteen unexpectedly called Weinberg to say he was dissolving the E Street Band. As Weinberg later said, "That's why they call him the Boss."
in early 1989. The band breakup occurred during his second semester at Seton Hall, on his way to completing the remaining 21 credits needed to obtain his bachelor's degree in communications
. He graduated from there later in 1989. He then briefly attended Yeshiva University
's Cardozo School of Law, but withdrew after six weeks. Weinberg asked Ringo Starr
for advice on how to go on when the band that had made your life had broken up. Weinberg and Springsteen remained on friendly terms during this period.
In 1990, Weinberg began offering motivational seminars oriented towards corporations to augment his one-person college show business. He received the HERO Award from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
in October 1990 for his work for that organization. The Big Beat was republished in 1991.
Weinberg thought his career as a musician was over and considered himself retired as a drummer. He went into the music business instead, joining a distribution company as a business partner. He worked as an executive for the Music Master label. He formed his own record company, Hard Ticket Entertainment, in 1990. In 1991 they issued an album that he produced by a group he formed, Killer Joe, called Scene of the Crime. He had sought out this career path because "I didn't want to continually be competing with 'Mighty Max'," but he found business life unfulfilling. Because of that, and for personal reasons as well, he needed to return to performing. Weinberg later reflected, "I felt at times, after the E Street Band broke up, so anonymous it was painful."
He looked through the Yellow Pages
for jobs and played at bar mitzvahs for $125; he later said "[I] was glad to do it." Weinberg became the live drummer for 10,000 Maniacs
in 1992 after their drummer Jerry Augustyniak
was injured five days before a five-week tour. He went after that assignment once he heard it was open and later said, "I lived on a bus and had a roommate. Not exactly like the E Street Band, but I loved it. It reminded me that I am a drummer and I'm good. I was put here to play the drums. To turn my back on that ability was wrong." He played at the January 1993 inauguration of Bill Clinton. Weinberg auditioned in 1993 to be the principal drummer on the Broadway show The Who's Tommy, but was selected instead as the second alternate substitute percussionist. Despite the very low pay, Weinberg was nevertheless happy: "I'd buried drumming so far into my psyche. I felt I'd resurrected it." Of Springsteen's work, Weinberg felt "that I would never get to play these songs again."
with newly selected Late Night
host Conan O'Brien
, where Weinberg spoke about his ideas for music on the show. O'Brien promised Weinberg an audition. Within a few short days Weinberg put together The Max Weinberg 7, recruiting musicians he had worked with during his career including on the Killer Joe project, starting with guitarist and arranger Jimmy Vivino
. Weinberg decided a muscular, drums-driven jump blues
vibe, partly derived from the Killer Joe sound, is what he would use as a starting point for the group's sound. At the early August audition the outfit impressed O'Brien with their ability to play not just rock but also rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, pop, and big band swing; Weinberg was so anxious to land the job that he threw up afterward. After a final meeting with executive producer Lorne Michaels
they were hired as the house band. The band performed on the show every night since its premiere on September 13, 1993. O'Brien later said of the Weinberg choice, "The energy and enthusiasm of his music coincided with the show I wanted to do. Plus, his tan offset my ghostly complexion." Weinberg held the title of music director
on the show, while Vivino did most of the arranging. Of his career rebound, Weinberg said simply: "I grabbed the brass ring twice."
In the early phases of the show, Weinberg was involved in occasional comedy bits, but mostly focused on his musical responsibilities, including choosing walk-on music for guests. The band got a 30-second featured spot each night after O'Brien's opening monologue. O'Brien often received poor notices during the early years of Late Night, and Jon Pareles
of The New York Times
pronounced the Max Weinberg 7 as the "saving grace" of the show. Weinberg established an image by dressing in high-quality suits and a tie; he said, "I like us to look sharp and play sharp," and "I don't want to look like the audience, I want to look different." Weinberg became a television celebrity, and his visibility and stature grew from Late Night and established an image for him beyond Springsteen. Indeed, much of the show's young fan base, and some of the staff on the show itself, were unaware of Weinberg's past role in the E Street Band.
In 1994, Rhino Records released Max Weinberg Presents: Let There Be Drums, a three-volume set of CDs that highlighted drumming that Weinberg admired on songs from the 1950s through the 1970s. Recaps in 1998 of the first five years of Late Night concluded that the band had been an important element in the show surviving, with Weinberg's personality providing a foil to O'Brien's and with "the Max Weinberg 7 [leaving] television viewers wishing they were in the studio to hear more." Their sound also fit into the swing revival
going on during the late 1990s.
In 2000, Conan sidekick
Andy Richter
left the show, and Weinberg became the "second banana". Weinberg continued to present an obvious visual foil: as O'Brien said, "If you looked at this guy you would never know he was the drummer in a huge rock 'n' roll band. You would say he was the guy who did the band's accounting. But Max is the authoritative, buttoned-down adult in the midst of all this madness." The drummer reveled in O'Brien's youthful audience: "To be 49 and appreciated by 14-year-olds again? What a thrill!" Weinberg engaged in stare-downs with O'Brien and gave scripted screeds about newsmakers. Additionally, Weinberg was comically presented as a twisted character with sexual fetishes and homicidal tendencies in comedy bits. When Conan O'Brien was host of Saturday Night Live
on March 10, 2001, his monologue featured a visit from the SNL studio to the Late Night studio (only a few floors apart in the same building, 30 Rockefeller Plaza), where Conan discovers Weinberg engaged in sexual intercourse with a woman on his desk (played by Max's real-life wife, Becky). Weinberg says of his comic persona: "[I]t's playing against type. I've been happily married for nearly 30 years, with two wonderful children. It's not what I portray on the show, and that's funny." Weinberg continued his one-man college shows, now titled "E Street to Late Night: Dreams Found, Lost, and Found Again".
Weinberg returned to the E Street Band briefly when Springsteen re-grouped the band in early 1995 to record a few new songs for the Greatest Hits
release. The move was only temporary and the band returned to inactivity. Also in 1995, Weinberg drummed on two of Johnnie Johnson
's songs: "I'm Mad" and "She Called Me Out of My Name," on Johnnie's 1995 album Johnnie Be Back. Weinberg spent two years building an 8900 square feet (826.8 m²) house in Middletown Township, New Jersey
that they moved into in 1999; he picked up many of the furnishings for it from locations around the world during subsequent tours.
The Max Weinberg 7 released a self-titled album in 2000 on Hip-O Records
; Weinberg said he waited until then because "I wanted to change my style of playing and hone my style before I committed to a record." He was especially proud that the band had successfully backed Tony Bennett
during a late 1990s appearance on Late Night: "Two years ago if you'd asked me if I could play with Tony Bennett, I would have said absolutely not. I'm not in his league. But we played with him the other night, and it was wonderful. We swung."
. This posed a dilemma for Weinberg, whose greater loyalty was to O'Brien and NBC
. Indeed, up until then Weinberg had never missed a Late Night show, appearing in over 1,000 in a row. However, allowing Weinberg to tour for one of the highest-profile reunions in rock history was thought to be of long-term benefit to the television show's appeal, and an arrangement was worked out wherein Weinberg took a leave of absence from Late Night in order to go out on this and subsequent tours. When he was tied up with Springsteen, drummer James Wormworth took his place, and the band was led by Jimmy Vivino
("Jimmy Vivino and the Max Weinberg 7"). When the Reunion Tour was extended in length, shows were generally restricted to weekends, so as to permit Weinberg to fulfill his Late Night responsibilities. At NBC, the coexistence between the drummer's two bosses was known as the Weinberg-Springsteen Rule, and was not typically extended to other talent at the network.
While Weinberg did not forget the breakup and long separation, he viewed it as "at the same time the most horrifying experience I've ever been through and the most liberating." In any case, he immediately felt comfortable playing with Springsteen once more: "Right from the first downbeat of the first rehearsal, it was there again." His drumming for the E Street Band was more relaxed and mature than before, showing more confidence and finesse, and his hands and fingers were in better shape for having done the daily Late Night work. When the tour concluded with ten shows at New York's Madison Square Garden
, on several days Weinberg taped the Conan show at Rockefeller Center
in the late afternoon, put his hands in ice and changed from his suit into jeans and a vest, and played with Springsteen at night. The experience of doing both left him "professionally speaking, as alive as I’ve ever felt." Of his position on the drum platform behind Springsteen, he says, "I have the best seat in the house." His energy level was no less, as he could be seen jumping a foot off his seat during some songs. His daughter Ali joined the band on keyboards several times during the tour.
Weinberg's steady drumming helped power Springsteen's 2002 comeback album, and the first E Street Band studio recording in 18 years, The Rising
. Weinberg took more time off from the Conan show to participate in the long and successful 2002–2003 Rising Tour
. In the early 2000s, Weinberg was at the center of annual holiday benefit shows at Asbury Park Convention Hall
, billed as Bruce Springsteen, the Max Weinberg 7 and Friends.
Weinberg was a member of the board of trustees of the Monmouth Conservation Foundation and won a conservation award in 2002. Nevertheless, during 2002 and 2003 he got into a prolonged local controversy over his plans to subdivide a portion of his 65 acres (263,045.9 m²) Middletown Township, New Jersey
property into lots for new homes. Some of his neighbors strongly protested the move, and they and some in the press accused him of hypocrisy; Weinberg defended himself by saying the conservation foundation was not against all development, just thoughtless development. A scaled-down version of the plan was approved by the town's zoning board, and in 2008 Weinberg went ahead with plans to sell the lots. Weinberg generally avoids political comments, but did campaign for John Kerry
in the United States presidential election, 2004
.
Springsteen himself also made appearances on Late Night in 1999, 2002, and 2006. Weinberg participated in the 2004 Vote for Change
tour then drummed on Springsteen's 2007 album Magic
. There he was part of a core rhythm section comprising himself, Springsteen, bassist Garry Tallent
, and pianist Roy Bittan
, who did the tracks first; other members' contributions were added later. Weinberg then took more time off from the Conan show to do the 2007–2008 Magic Tour
. Weinberg repeated his role in the core section in recording Springsteen's Working on a Dream
album. Weinberg also fulfilled a long-time dream by going to Super Bowl XLIII
in February 2009 with Springsteen and the E Street Band's half-time performance, where he was joined by some of the other members of the Max Weinberg 7.
. O'Brien told a Variety
reporter at the time of the announcement that he hoped that Weinberg would follow him to Los Angeles and that he also hoped an arrangement could be worked out to let Weinberg go on the road with Springsteen as had been done for past tours.
Whether Weinberg would stay with O'Brien and move or not was a subject of conflicting news reports. Weinberg did and does have strong New Jersey and East Coast ties. He lives on the New Jersey shore
with his wife and children, and he still enjoys going to temple. He and his family are fans of the New Jersey Devils
, and played ice hockey on the 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) pond in front of their house. They were season ticket holders for the Devils until the children became too old and busy to attend games. Their son Jay
had, without much instruction from his father but using Max's old gear, become a drummer for local punk rock and metal bands. Their daughter Ali became an assistant to NBC News
reporter Chuck Todd
and began appearing on their MSNBC.com
blog "First Read". Weinberg played drums on the first album recorded by his sister Nancy Winston, a professional pianist and singer in New York City, known for her regular appearances at Cafe Pierre.
Nevertheless, O'Brien confirmed on February 18, 2009, that Weinberg and the band were indeed coming with him. Weinberg had not missed an E Street Band show since joining the outfit in 1974, and E Streeter Van Zandt said that no amount of rehearsal by another drummer could replace Weinberg's intuitive understanding of Springsteen's performance gambits.
The conflict was resolved when son Jay became a substitute drummer for his father during parts of the Working on a Dream Tour that Max could not make due to commitments to the O'Brien show. Springsteen said, "Once again, I want to express my appreciation to Conan O'Brien, and everyone on his team, for making it possible for Max to continue to do double duty for both us and for him. We promise to return him in one piece." The younger Weinberg began playing during segments of the tour's shows, and got a very positive response from audiences and reviewers as a spark plug for the band. Max Weinberg said Jay's segments allowed him a "total out-of-body experience. For the first time in – I've been with Bruce for 35 years – I've been able to go out in the audience and enjoy a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert." In one case, Jay did one show of a two-night stand on the East Coast and Max then took a red-eye flight
back from Los Angeles to do the second.
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
premiered on June 1, 2009, with The Max Weinberg 7 now expanded to eight and referred to as Max Weinberg and the Tonight Show Band. Andy Richter
was back as an announcer, making Weinberg's role as a foil a little uncertain. Gradually Weinberg and the band's roles in the comic aspects of the show began to assert themselves. On June 25, Weinberg departed The Tonight Show temporarily for four weeks to join Springsteen and band part-way through their European leg; this was conveyed on the show via a comedy bit that had his drum riser turn into a float
that took him outside the studio and purportedly to the airport. Weinberg returned to the show on August 3, after flying back from a Springsteen show that had ended early into the same morning in Spain. Of being Tonight Show bandleader, he said, "I think one of the biggest thrills in my life was seeing my name in the same sentence as Doc Severinsen, who, in my view, is the gold standard for 'Tonight Show' bandleaders. There's never been anyone who did it quite near the class and the brilliance of Doc Severinsen in the original Tonight Show Band. I used to think when I was a kid what a great job that must be – you know, same place, every time, everyday. Lo and behold, here I am 40 years later, doing it. That sounds deep, deep, deep, deep, deeply satisfying to me." On September 25, Weinberg left The Tonight Show again for two months, to join Springsteen and band for the final, American portion of the Working on a Dream Tour. The same drum-riser-to-float comedy bit was used, except this time the float was "hit" and demolished by a truck just outside the studio (and airing of the segment was delayed a few days due to O'Brien legitimately injuring himself during the same show). The tour wrapped on November 22, 2009, in Buffalo, New York
; Weinberg was back on The Tonight Show the next day. With no E Street Band projects in sight for at least the next year or two, Weinberg was left to concentrate on his bandleader role.
Even though Weinberg was living in Los Angeles for The Tonight Show, he retained his home in New Jersey and considered that his permanent residence: "I'm not really moving. I'm living out here, but it's more like an extended road trip." Regarding his decision to stay in music rather than pursue the legal profession, he has had no regrets: "The world needs more drummers and fewer lawyers."
However, Weinberg's stint as Tonight Show bandleader was not to last long. The 2010 Tonight Show host and timeslot conflict
erupted, and after an intense period of public turmoil, the last Conan show took place on January 22, 2010, finishing with Weinberg propelling a guest-filled seriocomic rendition of "Free Bird
". While O'Brien negotiated a settlement deal with NBC for himself and his staff, Weinberg as well as sidekick Richter had to reach their own agreements with the network.
surgery to correct a condition he had known about and had been monitoring since the mid-1980s. His recovery took place over three to five months, and Weinberg kept news about the operation private until an interview eight months later.
In April 2010, O'Brien began his The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour
. While the rest of the group was part of the tour under the moniker The Legally Prohibited Band, Weinberg was not (except for a brief appearance at one show).
Instead, he assembled and staged appearances by the Max Weinberg Big Band, a fifteen-piece ensemble with twelve horns that mostly plays the music of Frank Sinatra
, Buddy Rich
, Count Basie
, and Maynard Ferguson
. Weinberg's interest in the genre dated back to his childhood and the artists he had seen on televised variety shows.
It was initially unknown whether Weinberg would be part of O'Brien's new late night show
on TBS cable
that began in November 2010, as no specifics had been worked out for that show while O'Brien focused on his tour. In June 2010, the Max Weinberg Big Band Tour began with a show in Red Bank, New Jersey
's Count Basie Theater. Weinberg said that he was booking appearances by his big band through 2011 and that with regard to O'Brien, "I literally have not thought about it. There have been no discussions. It's kind of an open question."
In September 2010, it was announced Weinberg would not be part of the show, now named Conan; Jimmy Vivino took over leadership of that band, with Wormworth replacing Weinberg full time on drums. The split was stated as being mutual, with O'Brien saying, "Max has been a huge part of my life for the past 17 years and he is an incredible bandleader and musician," and Weinberg thanking his band and saying, "17 years — a lifetime on TV ... my association with Conan, his staff, and crew has been a deeply rewarding experience for me." Weinberg subsequently acknowledged that "We both wanted to go in different directions," but both looked forward to Weinberg occasionally stopping by to sit in on the new show. Weinberg said his health was better than ever but that the "life-changing experience emotionally and spiritually" of the surgery, a desire to remain in New Jersey with his family, and an interest in exploring new musical directions had all played a role in his departure from O'Brien.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
's E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009 to January 22, 2010 as part of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise...
.
Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and began drumming at an early age. He attended college planning to be a lawyer but got his big break in music in 1974 when he won an audition to become the drummer for Springsteen. His powerful but controlled playing on albums such as Born to Run
Born to Run
The album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...
and Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A. is the seventh studio album by American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 4, 1984. A critical and commercial triumph, it found Springsteen marking a departure in his sound...
stabilized the E Street Band sound and Weinberg became a mainstay of Springsteen's long concert performances. Springsteen dissolved the band in 1989 and Weinberg spent several years considering a law career and trying the business end of the music industry before deciding he wanted to continue with drumming.
In 1993, Weinberg got the role as bandleader of The Max Weinberg 7 for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Weinberg's drums-driven jump blues
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
sound and his role as a comic foil prospered along with the show, giving him a second career. In 1999, Springsteen reformed the E Street Band for a series of tours and albums; Weinberg worked out an arrangement that allowed him to play with both O'Brien and Springsteen. In 2009, Weinberg moved to the short-lived Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien as leader of Max Weinberg and The Tonight Show Band. After that ended, he formed and toured with a new ensemble, the Max Weinberg Big Band, and in 2010 chose not to follow O'Brien to the new Conan show.
Early life
Weinberg was born to a Jewish family in NewarkNewark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
to parents Bertram Weinberg, an attorney, and Ruth Weinberg, a high school physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
teacher. He has two sisters, Nancy and Abby. He grew up in Newark as well as in the neighboring suburban towns of South Orange
South Orange, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,964 people, 5,522 households, and 3,766 families residing in the township. The population density was 5,945.3 people per square mile . There were 5,671 housing units at an average density of 1,987.5 per square mile...
and Maplewood
Maplewood, New Jersey
Maplewood is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 23,867.-History:...
.
The young Max was exposed to music early on, attending Broadway shows
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
weekly from the age of two and liking the big sound put forth by the pit orchestra
Pit orchestra
A pit orchestra is a type of orchestra that accompanies performers in musicals, operas, and other shows involving music. In performances of operas and ballets, the pit orchestra is typically similar in size to a symphony orchestra, though it may contain smaller string and brass sections, depending...
s. He then liked the rhythms of country and western music. He knew he wanted to be a drummer from the age of five, when he saw Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and his drummer, D. J. Fontana
D. J. Fontana
Dominic Joseph Fontana is an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. He played on over 460 RCA cuts with Elvis....
, appear on The Milton Berle Show in April 1956. Decades later, Weinberg said, "I think anybody who wanted to develop a life in rock 'n' roll music had a moment. That was my moment," and Fontana became a major influence on him.
Weinberg started actually playing at the age of six. His first public appearance came at the age of seven when he sat in on a bar mitzvah band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In
When the Saints Go Marching In
"When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as "The Saints", is an American gospel hymn that has taken on certain aspects of folk music. The precise origins of the song are not known. Though it originated as a spiritual, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz band...
". The bandleader, Herbie Zane, was the leading act for bar mitzvahs and weddings in the area; he became enamored of the tyke and brought him along on other engagements as a kind of novelty act. Weinberg thus became a local child star, drumming in a three-piece mohair suit. He gained an appreciation for showmanship
Showmanship (performing)
Showmanship, concerning artistic performing such as in Theatre, is the skill of performing in such a manner that will appeal to an audience or aid in conveying the performance's essential theme or message....
and was a fan of Liberace
Liberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
He grew to idolize drummer Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
and become a fan of Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
and saw drummer Ed Shaughnessy of Doc Severinsen
Doc Severinsen
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...
's band on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
as having an ideal job as well as admiring the level of playing and serious sartorial style of the Tonight Show musicians. Weinberg stayed with Zane until junior high school and learned rhythms such as cha-chas
Cha-cha-cha (music)
The Cha-cha-chá is a style of Cuban music. It is popular dance music which developed from the danzón in the early 1950s.- Origin :As a dance music genre, cha-cha-chá is unusual in that its creation can be attributed to a single composer, Enrique Jorrín, then violinist and songwriter with the...
, merenges
Merengue music
Merengue is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar...
, polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
s, and the hora and playing everything from Dixieland jazz
Dixieland Jazz
Dixieland Jazz was a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television in 1954.-Premise:The series host was Trump Davidson, a cornet player. He also hosted a radio music series on CBC's Trans-Canada Network.-Scheduling:...
to Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore
Stranger on the Shore
"Stranger on the Shore" is a piece for clarinet written by Acker Bilk for his young daughter and originally named Jenny after her. It was subsequently used as the theme tune of a BBC TV drama serial for young people that was also called Stranger on the Shore.The track, performed by Bilk "Stranger...
".
Weinberg attended Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, a Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
congregation in South Orange, where he was inspired by a local rabbi and had what he later described as "a wonderful Jewish background." He would later say that the Jewish concept of seder, meaning order, became key to his vision of how a good drummer serves his band's music. Witnessing his father lose two summer camps in The Poconos
The Poconos
The Pocono Mountains is a region located in northeastern Pennsylvania, United States. The Poconos, located chiefly in Monroe and Pike counties , are an upland of the larger Allegheny Plateau...
impressed upon him the fragility of economic success and led to a strong work ethic
Work ethic
Work ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. An example would be the Protestant work ethic...
.
When the British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
hit in 1964, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and their drummer, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, became a huge influence on Weinberg. He began playing in local New Jersey rock bands, playing the music of The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and The Young Rascals. While a member of The Epsilons, he played at the 1964 New York World's Fair
1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair was the third major world's fair to be held in New York City. Hailing itself as a "universal and international" exposition, the fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding," dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe";...
. He attended Columbia High School
Columbia High School (New Jersey)
Columbia High School is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located at 17 Parker Avenue in Maplewood, New Jersey, which serves students in grades nine through twelve within the South Orange-Maplewood School District, which includes Maplewood and South Orange Townships...
in Maplewood; there he knew Leigh Howard Stevens
Leigh Howard Stevens
Leigh Howard Stevens is a marimba artist best known for developing, codifying, and promoting the Stevens technique or Musser-Stevens grip, a method of independent four-mallet marimba performance based on the Musser grip...
, who would become a famous percussionist in his own right. Weinberg graduated from Columbia High in 1969. Another band he was in, Blackstone, recorded an eponymous album for Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
in 1970.
Weinberg first attended Adelphi University
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private, nonsectarian university located in Garden City, in Nassau County, New York, United States. It is the oldest institution of higher education on Long Island. For the sixth year, Adelphi University has been named a “Best Buy” in higher education by the Fiske Guide to...
, then Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...
, majoring in film studies
Film studies
Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to films. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies...
. His general goal was to become a lawyer, but he was still most viscerally interested in a music career and kept his drum set in his car in case any chances to play arose. He performed at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and bars, then landed a job in the pit band for the Broadway musical Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
.
Success with the E Street Band
Weinberg was still living at home when he met Bruce SpringsteenBruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
on April 7, 1974 when his band, The Jim Marino Band, were Springsteen's support at Seton Hall. Springsteen had parted ways with his drummer, Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez
Vini Lopez
Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez is an American drummer. Between 1968 and 1974 Lopez backed Bruce Springsteen in several bands, including Steel Mill and the E Street Band. He also played on Springsteen’s first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle...
, earlier that year, and the replacement, Ernest "Boom" Carter, lasted only six months before leaving with pianist David Sancious
David Sancious
David Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
to form Tone. Weinberg answered a Springsteen Village Voice newspaper ad that famously requested, "no junior Ginger Bakers," in reference to Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
's reputation for long drum solos. Weinberg auditioned with Springsteen and the core E Street Band in mid-late August of that year at the SIR studios in Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
, bringing a minimalist drum kit with him. He knew one Springsteen song from the Marino band, "Sandy
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
"4th of July, Asbury Park ", often known just as "Sandy", is a 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen, originally appearing as the second song on his album The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle....
", and played it. His drumming on the Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
song "Let the Four Winds Blow" sealed the position as his. A week later he was offered the $110 per week job and he quit college immediately, about six academic credits short of a degree. Weinberg's first public performance came on September 19, 1974, at The Main Point
The Main Point
The Main Point was a small coffeehouse venue on Lancaster Ave. in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The club was famous for its small intimate atmosphere and inexpensive ticket prices...
in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
.
Weinberg rose to success as the drummer for Springsteen's E Street Band, as his powerful yet controlled beat solved the E Street Band's drumming instabilities. On 1975's Born to Run
Born to Run
The album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...
, Weinberg's drumming evoked two of his idols, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
and Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
, and he covered his snare drum
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
with heavy paper towels to capture some of the Memphis soul
Memphis soul
Memphis soul, also known as Memphis Sound, is stylish, funky, uptown soul music that is not as hard-edged as Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn lines, organ, bass, and a driving...
sound. While travelling on tour, Weinberg became known for his exact requests, such as specifying the particular brand of paper towels to use for his drums or the standards for his hotel rooms. Weinberg never adopted the "rock and roll lifestyle"; he treated his music seriously and kept to the mantra, "Show up, do a good job, and give them more than their money's worth." One compromise Weinberg did have to make was sometimes playing on the High Holy Days
High Holy Days
The High Holidays or High Holy Days, in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim , may mean:#strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur ;...
. During shows, Springsteen built up the personas of his bandmates, and Weinberg was frequently referred to as "the Mighty Max". Weinberg started a long practice of keeping his eyes on Springsteen every moment during the show, as he never knew when Springsteen would change a tempo or suddenly deviate from the set list
Set list
A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
. Decades later, E Street guitarist Steve Van Zandt would say of Weinberg, "What nobody understands is that not only is Max a great drummer, Max reads Bruce’s mind. You can’t learn that." Weinberg bought a house overlooking the water in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
Atlantic Highlands is a Borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey in the Bayshore Region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 4,385...
, triggering a lifelong interest in real estate and home design.
Tempos slowed to an oft dirge-like pace on the 1978 Darkness on the Edge of Town
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in the late spring of 1978. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel...
; Rehearsals and recording of the album stretched out over a long period, with Springsteen and bandmate and co-producer Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt is an Italian-American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve...
experiencing a prolonged frustration over their inability to capture a more resonant drum sound. Weinberg soon regretted not playing faster on "Badlands
Badlands (Bruce Springsteen song)
"Badlands" was the leadoff track on Bruce Springsteen's fourth studio album Darkness on the Edge of Town, and its second single.- Themes :The song tells the story of a man down on his luck and angry at the world, who wants a better lot in life....
", and tempos did speed up on that number and some others during the accompanying Darkness Tour
Darkness Tour
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Darkness Tour was a concert tour of North America that ran from May 1978 through the rest of the year, in conjunction with the release of Springsteen's album Darkness on the Edge of Town...
. The River Tour
The River Tour
The River Tour was a concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in 1980 and 1981, beginning concurrently with the release of Springsteen's album The River.-Itinerary:...
Springsteen and E Street Band shows that opened New Jersey's Meadowlands Arena in 1981 became one of the top highlights of Weinberg's career.
Weinberg suffered an acknowledged "drumming slump" around 1980, and his time-keeping skills were criticized by Springsteen. What could pass unnoticed in concert became apparent on record, and Weinberg practiced drumming components for months in order to regain a fine sense of timing. Weinberg also suffered from repetitive stress injury and tendinitis, eventually requiring seven operations on his hands and wrists. He studied for a while with noted jazz drummer Joe Morello
Joe Morello
Joseph Albert Morello was a jazz drummer best known for his 12½-year stint with The Dave Brubeck Quartet. He was frequently noted for playing in the unusual time signatures employed by that group in such pieces as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk"...
; Weinberg credited Morello for helping him to learn how to play with the tendinitis. Weinberg's gear included Ludwig
Ludwig-Musser
Ludwig-Musser is a drum and percussion instrument manufacturer that is part of the Conn-Selmer division of Steinway Musical Instruments.The first product made by the Ludwig brothers, William and Theobaldner , was a bass drum pedal capable of playing faster beats than was typical of products of the...
and Pearl Drums
Pearl Drums
Founded in 1952, the is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominately percussion instruments.-History:Pearl was founded by Katsumi Yanagisawa, who began manufacturing music stands in Sumida, Tokyo on April 2, 1946...
and Zildjian cymbals; he subsequently switched to DW Drums
Drum Workshop
Drum Workshop is a drum and hardware manufacturing company based in Oxnard, California. Their slogan is "The Drummer's Choice".-History:...
. His setup was always simple: "I've got four drums. Anything more is redundant. Besides, I tend to trip over things."
In 1981, Weinberg married Rebecca Schick, a Methodist who had grown up in Tinton Falls, New Jersey
Tinton Falls, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 15,053 people, 5,883 households, and 3,976 families residing in the borough. The population density was 965.7 people per square mile . There were 6,211 housing units at an average density of 398.4 per square mile...
and who met Weinberg through a mutual friend. Springsteen and the band played at their wedding, which was officiated by the same rabbi he had growing up. Becky Weinberg worked as a high school history teacher. In 1984 they bought a 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) farm in Monmouth County
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
; after feeling taken advantage of in the deal, Weinberg became a scrupulous researcher in real estate matters, often spending days at town halls looking over obscure zoning regulations. While on tour he studied books about architecture, and dreamt of building houses in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
or Richard Meier
Richard Meier
Richard Meier is an American architect, whose rationalist buildings make prominent use of the color white.- Biography :Meier is Jewish and was born in Newark, New Jersey...
. They had two children, daughter Ali (born c. 1987) and son Jay
Jay Weinberg
Jay Weinberg is an American drummer and the son of drummer Max Weinberg. He has played with the punk band The Reveling and toured in 2009 as a drummer with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, substituting for his father. During 2010, he was briefly the drummer for Madball...
(born 1990).
Despite his injuries, he made a full recovery for 1984's Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A. is the seventh studio album by American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 4, 1984. A critical and commercial triumph, it found Springsteen marking a departure in his sound...
, which featured an aerobics
Aerobics
Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness...
-timed beat on some tracks that also owed something to the popular Phil Collins drum sound. Weinberg's own experimentation since the Darkness days had also led to a more reverberant sound. Overall, Weinberg's more fluid drumming combined with Roy Bittan
Roy Bittan
Roy Bittan is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974...
's use of synthesizers and better overall production to give Springsteen a more modern sound, resulting in the album becoming Springsteen's best-selling one ever and spawning a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles. Springsteen later said of the album, "Max was the best thing on the record." Weinberg's most well-known drum part came on "Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A. (song)
"Born in the U.S.A." is a 1984 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. Taken from the album of the same name, it is one of his best-known singles. Rolling Stone ranked the song 275th on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2001, the RIAA's Songs of the Century placed...
", where his snare drum paired against Bittan's signature synthesizer riff on the opening and throughout the main part of the song. The recording then descends into improvised chaos; Springsteen had told Weinberg, "When I stop, keep the drums going." Upon the restart, intentional drum breakdowns matched bass swoops and guitar feedback; Springsteen subsequently said of the performance overall, "You can hear Max – to me, he was right up there with the best of them on that song." Weinberg said it was one of his most intense musical experiences.
On the subsequent Born in the U.S.A. Tour
Born in the U.S.A. Tour
The Born in the U.S.A. Tour was the supporting concert tour of Bruce Springsteen's massively popular Born in the U.S.A. album. It was his longest and most successful tour to date. It featured a physically transformed Springsteen. After two years of bodybuilding, Springsteen had bulked up...
, Springsteen generally interspersed hard-rocking song sequences after every three or four numbers in order to give Weinberg's hands a chance to recover. Weinberg's wife Becky unintentionally triggered one of the tour's most celebrated episodes. She was a fan of the This Week with David Brinkley television program and invited panelist George Will
George Will
George Frederick Will is an American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservative commentary on politics...
to the Washington-area Capital Centre
Capital Centre
The Capital Centre was an indoor arena located in Landover, Maryland, unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland; a suburb of Washington, D.C. Completed in 1973, the arena sat 18,756 for basketball and 18,130 for hockey....
show. After seeing the band perform, Will became convinced that they were exemplars of hard-working patriotism and traditional American values; he wrote, "... consider Max Weinberg's bandaged fingers. The rigors of drumming have led to five tendonitis operations. He soaks his hands in hot water before a concert, in ice afterward, and sleeps with tight gloves on." Will further decided that Springsteen might endorse Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in the 1984 presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 1984
The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...
and talked to the campaign, which later led to Reagan's famous extolling of Springsteen at a stop in Hammonton, New Jersey
Hammonton, New Jersey
Hammonton is a town in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 14,791. It is located directly between Philadelphia and the resort town of Atlantic City, along a former route of the Pennsylvania Railroad currently used by New Jersey...
and Springsteen's subsequent negative response.
For his efforts, Weinberg was named Best Drummer in the Playboy 1985 Pop and Jazz Music Poll and Best Drummer again in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
Weinberg had a reduced role on Springsteen's 1987 Tunnel of Love
Tunnel of Love (album)
Tunnel of Love is the eighth studio album by Bruce Springsteen released in 1987.In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Tunnel of Love the 91st greatest album of all time....
album, replacing Springsteen's drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
parts on a few tracks, but the full band was in place for the 1988 Tunnel of Love Express and Human Rights Now! tours. Weinberg called the latter tour's visiting of many third-world spots around the globe one of the most rewarding things the band had done.
In 1984, Weinberg published The Big Beat: Conversations with Rock's Greatest Drummers, a series of interviews conducted over two years with drummers from various eras, including Starr, Helm, D. J. Fontana
D. J. Fontana
Dominic Joseph Fontana is an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. He played on over 460 RCA cuts with Elvis....
, Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
, Dino Danelli
Dino Danelli
Dino Danelli is best known as an original member and the drummer in the rock group, The Rascals. He has been called "one of the great unappreciated rock drummers in history."...
, Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
, and others. The book captured drummers revealing more about their musical approaches than they normally did to the press and was considered an important addition to the rock literature. In 1986, Weinberg began taking a one-man show "Growing Up On E Street" to college campuses around the country. It contained some short films that Weinberg produced as well as a question-and-answer session.
Weinberg also played as a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
, enjoying particular success in connection with songwriter and producer Jim Steinman
Jim Steinman
James Richard "Jim" Steinman is an American composer, lyricist, and Grammy Award-winning record producer responsible for several hit songs. He has also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer...
. He drummed on the very popular 1977 Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
album, Bat out of Hell
Bat out of Hell
Bat Out of Hell is the second album by American rock musician Meat Loaf, and his first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman, released in October 1977 on Cleveland International/Epic Records #PE-34974. Selling approximately 200,000 copies per year as of 2010, it is the fifth best-selling album...
, playing on the Steinman-penned tracks "Bat out of Hell
Bat out of Hell (song)
"Bat Out of Hell" is a song written by Jim Steinman, for the 1977 album Bat Out of Hell. It was released as a single in 1979, and again in 1993...
", "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth
You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth
"You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth" is the first single by the American musician Meat Loaf in his solo career. It is a track off his 1977 album Bat out of Hell, written by Jim Steinman.The album version includes a spoken word intro by Steinman and Marcia McClain...
", and "Paradise by the Dashboard Light
Paradise by the Dashboard Light
"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is a song written by Jim Steinman. It was first released in 1977 on the album Bat Out of Hell, with vocals by the American musician Meat Loaf alongside Ellen Foley...
". At a point in 1983, Weinberg was featured on the number one and number two songs on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler
Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...
's "Total Eclipse of the Heart
Total Eclipse of the Heart
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a song written and produced by Jim Steinman and recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night...
" and Air Supply
Air Supply
Air Supply is an Australian soft rock duo, consisting of Graham Russell as guitarist and singer-songwriter and Russell Hitchcock as lead vocalist. They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight Top Ten hits in the United States, in the early 1980s...
's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All
Making Love out of Nothing at All
"Making Love Out of Nothing At All" is a power ballad written and composed by Jim Steinman and first released by Australian rock band Air Supply for their 1983 compilation album Greatest Hits. It reached #2 on the U.S...
", both Steinman creations. Weinberg also recorded with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Gary U.S. Bonds
Gary U.S. Bonds
Gary U.S. Bonds is an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer. He is also a prolific songwriter.-Career:...
, Ian Hunter
Ian Hunter (singer)
Ian Hunter Patterson is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer of the English rock band Mott the Hoople from its inception in 1969 to its dissolution in 1974, and he again fronted them at the time of their 2009 reunion. Hunter was a musician and songwriter before Mott The Hoople, and...
, and Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
.
On October 18, 1989, Springsteen unexpectedly called Weinberg to say he was dissolving the E Street Band. As Weinberg later said, "That's why they call him the Boss."
Breakup and career choices
The news left him "a zombie for about six months." Even before the breakup, he had returned to school at Seton Hall UniversitySeton Hall University
Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...
in early 1989. The band breakup occurred during his second semester at Seton Hall, on his way to completing the remaining 21 credits needed to obtain his bachelor's degree in communications
Communication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...
. He graduated from there later in 1989. He then briefly attended Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
's Cardozo School of Law, but withdrew after six weeks. Weinberg asked Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
for advice on how to go on when the band that had made your life had broken up. Weinberg and Springsteen remained on friendly terms during this period.
In 1990, Weinberg began offering motivational seminars oriented towards corporations to augment his one-person college show business. He received the HERO Award from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is a 501 non-profit organization whose mission is to help children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors that try to have a measurable impact on youth....
in October 1990 for his work for that organization. The Big Beat was republished in 1991.
Weinberg thought his career as a musician was over and considered himself retired as a drummer. He went into the music business instead, joining a distribution company as a business partner. He worked as an executive for the Music Master label. He formed his own record company, Hard Ticket Entertainment, in 1990. In 1991 they issued an album that he produced by a group he formed, Killer Joe, called Scene of the Crime. He had sought out this career path because "I didn't want to continually be competing with 'Mighty Max'," but he found business life unfulfilling. Because of that, and for personal reasons as well, he needed to return to performing. Weinberg later reflected, "I felt at times, after the E Street Band broke up, so anonymous it was painful."
He looked through the Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category, rather than alphabetically by business name and in which advertising is sold. As the name suggests, such directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings...
for jobs and played at bar mitzvahs for $125; he later said "[I] was glad to do it." Weinberg became the live drummer for 10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs
10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, which formed in 1981 and continues to be active with various line-ups.-1981–1993:...
in 1992 after their drummer Jerry Augustyniak
Jerry Augustyniak
Jerome Stanley "Jerry" Augustyniak is the drummer for the American band 10,000 Maniacs. Augustyniak joined the band in March 1983, two years after the group formed...
was injured five days before a five-week tour. He went after that assignment once he heard it was open and later said, "I lived on a bus and had a roommate. Not exactly like the E Street Band, but I loved it. It reminded me that I am a drummer and I'm good. I was put here to play the drums. To turn my back on that ability was wrong." He played at the January 1993 inauguration of Bill Clinton. Weinberg auditioned in 1993 to be the principal drummer on the Broadway show The Who's Tommy, but was selected instead as the second alternate substitute percussionist. Despite the very low pay, Weinberg was nevertheless happy: "I'd buried drumming so far into my psyche. I felt I'd resurrected it." Of Springsteen's work, Weinberg felt "that I would never get to play these songs again."
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
In July 1993, Weinberg had a chance sidewalk meeting outside Carnegie DeliCarnegie Deli
The Carnegie Deli is a restaurant located in midtown Manhattan on 7th Avenue between 54th and 55th Streets and was opened in 1937 adjacent to Carnegie Hall. Now in the third generation of owners, the Parker family's delicatessen is among the most visited restaurants of its type in the city,...
with newly selected Late Night
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
host Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
, where Weinberg spoke about his ideas for music on the show. O'Brien promised Weinberg an audition. Within a few short days Weinberg put together The Max Weinberg 7, recruiting musicians he had worked with during his career including on the Killer Joe project, starting with guitarist and arranger Jimmy Vivino
Jimmy Vivino
Jimmy Vivino is an American guitarist, keyboard player, singer, producer, and music director. He is best known as the leader of Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band, the house band for the TBS late night program Conan...
. Weinberg decided a muscular, drums-driven jump blues
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
vibe, partly derived from the Killer Joe sound, is what he would use as a starting point for the group's sound. At the early August audition the outfit impressed O'Brien with their ability to play not just rock but also rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, pop, and big band swing; Weinberg was so anxious to land the job that he threw up afterward. After a final meeting with executive producer Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...
they were hired as the house band. The band performed on the show every night since its premiere on September 13, 1993. O'Brien later said of the Weinberg choice, "The energy and enthusiasm of his music coincided with the show I wanted to do. Plus, his tan offset my ghostly complexion." Weinberg held the title of music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
on the show, while Vivino did most of the arranging. Of his career rebound, Weinberg said simply: "I grabbed the brass ring twice."
In the early phases of the show, Weinberg was involved in occasional comedy bits, but mostly focused on his musical responsibilities, including choosing walk-on music for guests. The band got a 30-second featured spot each night after O'Brien's opening monologue. O'Brien often received poor notices during the early years of Late Night, and Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
pronounced the Max Weinberg 7 as the "saving grace" of the show. Weinberg established an image by dressing in high-quality suits and a tie; he said, "I like us to look sharp and play sharp," and "I don't want to look like the audience, I want to look different." Weinberg became a television celebrity, and his visibility and stature grew from Late Night and established an image for him beyond Springsteen. Indeed, much of the show's young fan base, and some of the staff on the show itself, were unaware of Weinberg's past role in the E Street Band.
In 1994, Rhino Records released Max Weinberg Presents: Let There Be Drums, a three-volume set of CDs that highlighted drumming that Weinberg admired on songs from the 1950s through the 1970s. Recaps in 1998 of the first five years of Late Night concluded that the band had been an important element in the show surviving, with Weinberg's personality providing a foil to O'Brien's and with "the Max Weinberg 7 [leaving] television viewers wishing they were in the studio to hear more." Their sound also fit into the swing revival
Swing Revival
The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima, often mixed with a more contemporary rock, rockabilly or ska sound, known also as neo-swing or retro...
going on during the late 1990s.
In 2000, Conan sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
Andy Richter
Andy Richter
Paul Andrew "Andy" Richter is an American actor, writer, comedian, and late night talk show announcer. He is best known for his role as the sidekick of Conan O'Brien on each of the host's programs: Late Night and The Tonight Show on NBC, and Conan on TBS...
left the show, and Weinberg became the "second banana". Weinberg continued to present an obvious visual foil: as O'Brien said, "If you looked at this guy you would never know he was the drummer in a huge rock 'n' roll band. You would say he was the guy who did the band's accounting. But Max is the authoritative, buttoned-down adult in the midst of all this madness." The drummer reveled in O'Brien's youthful audience: "To be 49 and appreciated by 14-year-olds again? What a thrill!" Weinberg engaged in stare-downs with O'Brien and gave scripted screeds about newsmakers. Additionally, Weinberg was comically presented as a twisted character with sexual fetishes and homicidal tendencies in comedy bits. When Conan O'Brien was host of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
on March 10, 2001, his monologue featured a visit from the SNL studio to the Late Night studio (only a few floors apart in the same building, 30 Rockefeller Plaza), where Conan discovers Weinberg engaged in sexual intercourse with a woman on his desk (played by Max's real-life wife, Becky). Weinberg says of his comic persona: "[I]t's playing against type. I've been happily married for nearly 30 years, with two wonderful children. It's not what I portray on the show, and that's funny." Weinberg continued his one-man college shows, now titled "E Street to Late Night: Dreams Found, Lost, and Found Again".
Weinberg returned to the E Street Band briefly when Springsteen re-grouped the band in early 1995 to record a few new songs for the Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits (Bruce Springsteen album)
Greatest Hits is Bruce Springsteen's first compilation album, released February 27, 1995 on Columbia Records. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years and four extra numbers at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995...
release. The move was only temporary and the band returned to inactivity. Also in 1995, Weinberg drummed on two of Johnnie Johnson
Johnnie Johnson (musician)
Johnnie Johnson was an American pianist and blues musician. His work with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.-Career:...
's songs: "I'm Mad" and "She Called Me Out of My Name," on Johnnie's 1995 album Johnnie Be Back. Weinberg spent two years building an 8900 square feet (826.8 m²) house in Middletown Township, New Jersey
Middletown Township, New Jersey
Middletown Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 66,522...
that they moved into in 1999; he picked up many of the furnishings for it from locations around the world during subsequent tours.
The Max Weinberg 7 released a self-titled album in 2000 on Hip-O Records
Hip-O Records
Hip-O Records is a record label, currently part of Universal Music Group, which specializes in reissues and compilations. Their Hip-O Select label is currently in the midst of releasing the Complete Motown Singles, a series of fourteen box sets which include both sides of every 45 from Motown...
; Weinberg said he waited until then because "I wanted to change my style of playing and hone my style before I committed to a record." He was especially proud that the band had successfully backed Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
during a late 1990s appearance on Late Night: "Two years ago if you'd asked me if I could play with Tony Bennett, I would have said absolutely not. I'm not in his league. But we played with him the other night, and it was wonderful. We swung."
Reformation of the E Street Band
Springsteen reunited the E Street Band in 1999 on a more lasting basis, for the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion TourBruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour
The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour was a lengthy, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place over 1999 and 2000....
. This posed a dilemma for Weinberg, whose greater loyalty was to O'Brien and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Indeed, up until then Weinberg had never missed a Late Night show, appearing in over 1,000 in a row. However, allowing Weinberg to tour for one of the highest-profile reunions in rock history was thought to be of long-term benefit to the television show's appeal, and an arrangement was worked out wherein Weinberg took a leave of absence from Late Night in order to go out on this and subsequent tours. When he was tied up with Springsteen, drummer James Wormworth took his place, and the band was led by Jimmy Vivino
Jimmy Vivino
Jimmy Vivino is an American guitarist, keyboard player, singer, producer, and music director. He is best known as the leader of Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band, the house band for the TBS late night program Conan...
("Jimmy Vivino and the Max Weinberg 7"). When the Reunion Tour was extended in length, shows were generally restricted to weekends, so as to permit Weinberg to fulfill his Late Night responsibilities. At NBC, the coexistence between the drummer's two bosses was known as the Weinberg-Springsteen Rule, and was not typically extended to other talent at the network.
While Weinberg did not forget the breakup and long separation, he viewed it as "at the same time the most horrifying experience I've ever been through and the most liberating." In any case, he immediately felt comfortable playing with Springsteen once more: "Right from the first downbeat of the first rehearsal, it was there again." His drumming for the E Street Band was more relaxed and mature than before, showing more confidence and finesse, and his hands and fingers were in better shape for having done the daily Late Night work. When the tour concluded with ten shows at New York's Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, on several days Weinberg taped the Conan show at Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
in the late afternoon, put his hands in ice and changed from his suit into jeans and a vest, and played with Springsteen at night. The experience of doing both left him "professionally speaking, as alive as I’ve ever felt." Of his position on the drum platform behind Springsteen, he says, "I have the best seat in the house." His energy level was no less, as he could be seen jumping a foot off his seat during some songs. His daughter Ali joined the band on keyboards several times during the tour.
Weinberg's steady drumming helped power Springsteen's 2002 comeback album, and the first E Street Band studio recording in 18 years, The Rising
The Rising (album)
The Rising is the 12th studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released in 2002 on Columbia Records. In addition to being Springsteen's first studio album in seven years, it was also his first with the E Street Band in 18 years...
. Weinberg took more time off from the Conan show to participate in the long and successful 2002–2003 Rising Tour
The Rising Tour
The Rising Tour was a lengthy, worldwide, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in arenas and stadiums over 2002 and 2003...
. In the early 2000s, Weinberg was at the center of annual holiday benefit shows at Asbury Park Convention Hall
Asbury Park Convention Hall
Asbury Park Convention Hall is a 3,600-seat indoor exhibition center located on the boardwalk and on the beach in Asbury Park, New Jersey. It was built between 1928 and 1930 and is used for sports, concerts and other special events. Adjacent to the Convention Hall is the Paramount Theatre; both are...
, billed as Bruce Springsteen, the Max Weinberg 7 and Friends.
Weinberg was a member of the board of trustees of the Monmouth Conservation Foundation and won a conservation award in 2002. Nevertheless, during 2002 and 2003 he got into a prolonged local controversy over his plans to subdivide a portion of his 65 acres (263,045.9 m²) Middletown Township, New Jersey
Middletown Township, New Jersey
Middletown Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 66,522...
property into lots for new homes. Some of his neighbors strongly protested the move, and they and some in the press accused him of hypocrisy; Weinberg defended himself by saying the conservation foundation was not against all development, just thoughtless development. A scaled-down version of the plan was approved by the town's zoning board, and in 2008 Weinberg went ahead with plans to sell the lots. Weinberg generally avoids political comments, but did campaign for John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
in the United States presidential election, 2004
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
.
Springsteen himself also made appearances on Late Night in 1999, 2002, and 2006. Weinberg participated in the 2004 Vote for Change
Vote for Change
The Vote for Change tour was a politically-motivated American popular music concert tour that took place in October 2004. The tour was presented by MoveOn.org to benefit America Coming Together. The tour was held in swing states and was designed to encourage people to register and vote...
tour then drummed on Springsteen's 2007 album Magic
Magic (Bruce Springsteen album)
Magic is the 15th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 2007 on Columbia Records. It is his first with the E Street Band since The Rising in 2002...
. There he was part of a core rhythm section comprising himself, Springsteen, bassist Garry Tallent
Garry Tallent
Garry Wayne Tallent , sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being the longtime bass player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band....
, and pianist Roy Bittan
Roy Bittan
Roy Bittan is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974...
, who did the tracks first; other members' contributions were added later. Weinberg then took more time off from the Conan show to do the 2007–2008 Magic Tour
Magic Tour (Bruce Springsteen)
The Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.The tour began October 2, 2007, in Hartford, Connecticut, and concluded August 30, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
. Weinberg repeated his role in the core section in recording Springsteen's Working on a Dream
Working on a Dream
Working on a Dream is the 16th studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released on January 27, 2009 through Columbia Records. It has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, with over 585,000 in the United States as of September 2010.-History:...
album. Weinberg also fulfilled a long-time dream by going to Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
in February 2009 with Springsteen and the E Street Band's half-time performance, where he was joined by some of the other members of the Max Weinberg 7.
Move to The Tonight Show
The ending of the Conan Late Night and beginning of The Tonight Show coincided with the start of Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2009 Working on a Dream TourWorking on a Dream Tour
The Working on a Dream Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which began in April 2009 and ended in November 2009...
. O'Brien told a Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reporter at the time of the announcement that he hoped that Weinberg would follow him to Los Angeles and that he also hoped an arrangement could be worked out to let Weinberg go on the road with Springsteen as had been done for past tours.
Whether Weinberg would stay with O'Brien and move or not was a subject of conflicting news reports. Weinberg did and does have strong New Jersey and East Coast ties. He lives on the New Jersey shore
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
with his wife and children, and he still enjoys going to temple. He and his family are fans of the New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, and played ice hockey on the 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) pond in front of their house. They were season ticket holders for the Devils until the children became too old and busy to attend games. Their son Jay
Jay Weinberg
Jay Weinberg is an American drummer and the son of drummer Max Weinberg. He has played with the punk band The Reveling and toured in 2009 as a drummer with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, substituting for his father. During 2010, he was briefly the drummer for Madball...
had, without much instruction from his father but using Max's old gear, become a drummer for local punk rock and metal bands. Their daughter Ali became an assistant to NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
reporter Chuck Todd
Chuck Todd
Charles David “Chuck” Todd is an American journalist, Chief White House Correspondent and political director for NBC News, and contributing editor to Meet the Press...
and began appearing on their MSNBC.com
Msnbc.com
msnbc.com is a news website owned and operated as a joint venture by NBCUniversal and Microsoft.In addition to original content from its news staff, msnbc.com is the news website for the NBC News family, with content from the cable television news channel MSNBC, NBC shows such as Today, NBC Nightly...
blog "First Read". Weinberg played drums on the first album recorded by his sister Nancy Winston, a professional pianist and singer in New York City, known for her regular appearances at Cafe Pierre.
Nevertheless, O'Brien confirmed on February 18, 2009, that Weinberg and the band were indeed coming with him. Weinberg had not missed an E Street Band show since joining the outfit in 1974, and E Streeter Van Zandt said that no amount of rehearsal by another drummer could replace Weinberg's intuitive understanding of Springsteen's performance gambits.
The conflict was resolved when son Jay became a substitute drummer for his father during parts of the Working on a Dream Tour that Max could not make due to commitments to the O'Brien show. Springsteen said, "Once again, I want to express my appreciation to Conan O'Brien, and everyone on his team, for making it possible for Max to continue to do double duty for both us and for him. We promise to return him in one piece." The younger Weinberg began playing during segments of the tour's shows, and got a very positive response from audiences and reviewers as a spark plug for the band. Max Weinberg said Jay's segments allowed him a "total out-of-body experience. For the first time in – I've been with Bruce for 35 years – I've been able to go out in the audience and enjoy a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert." In one case, Jay did one show of a two-night stand on the East Coast and Max then took a red-eye flight
Red-eye flight
A red-eye flight is any flight departing late at night and arriving early the next morning. The term red-eye derives from the fatigue symptom of having red eyes, which can be caused or aggravated by late-night travel....
back from Los Angeles to do the second.
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009 to January 22, 2010 as part of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise...
premiered on June 1, 2009, with The Max Weinberg 7 now expanded to eight and referred to as Max Weinberg and the Tonight Show Band. Andy Richter
Andy Richter
Paul Andrew "Andy" Richter is an American actor, writer, comedian, and late night talk show announcer. He is best known for his role as the sidekick of Conan O'Brien on each of the host's programs: Late Night and The Tonight Show on NBC, and Conan on TBS...
was back as an announcer, making Weinberg's role as a foil a little uncertain. Gradually Weinberg and the band's roles in the comic aspects of the show began to assert themselves. On June 25, Weinberg departed The Tonight Show temporarily for four weeks to join Springsteen and band part-way through their European leg; this was conveyed on the show via a comedy bit that had his drum riser turn into a float
Float (parade)
A float is a decorated platform, either built on a vehicle or towed behind one, which is a component of many festive parades, such as those of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Carnival of Viareggio, the Maltese Carnival, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Key West Fantasy Fest parade, the...
that took him outside the studio and purportedly to the airport. Weinberg returned to the show on August 3, after flying back from a Springsteen show that had ended early into the same morning in Spain. Of being Tonight Show bandleader, he said, "I think one of the biggest thrills in my life was seeing my name in the same sentence as Doc Severinsen, who, in my view, is the gold standard for 'Tonight Show' bandleaders. There's never been anyone who did it quite near the class and the brilliance of Doc Severinsen in the original Tonight Show Band. I used to think when I was a kid what a great job that must be – you know, same place, every time, everyday. Lo and behold, here I am 40 years later, doing it. That sounds deep, deep, deep, deep, deeply satisfying to me." On September 25, Weinberg left The Tonight Show again for two months, to join Springsteen and band for the final, American portion of the Working on a Dream Tour. The same drum-riser-to-float comedy bit was used, except this time the float was "hit" and demolished by a truck just outside the studio (and airing of the segment was delayed a few days due to O'Brien legitimately injuring himself during the same show). The tour wrapped on November 22, 2009, in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
; Weinberg was back on The Tonight Show the next day. With no E Street Band projects in sight for at least the next year or two, Weinberg was left to concentrate on his bandleader role.
Even though Weinberg was living in Los Angeles for The Tonight Show, he retained his home in New Jersey and considered that his permanent residence: "I'm not really moving. I'm living out here, but it's more like an extended road trip." Regarding his decision to stay in music rather than pursue the legal profession, he has had no regrets: "The world needs more drummers and fewer lawyers."
However, Weinberg's stint as Tonight Show bandleader was not to last long. The 2010 Tonight Show host and timeslot conflict
2010 Tonight Show conflict
In early 2010, American television network NBC and two of its late-night talk show hosts, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno, engaged in a media and public relations conflict over the host and airtime of The Tonight Show, the network's long-running late night program...
erupted, and after an intense period of public turmoil, the last Conan show took place on January 22, 2010, finishing with Weinberg propelling a guest-filled seriocomic rendition of "Free Bird
Free Bird
"Free Bird" is a song by the American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd...
". While O'Brien negotiated a settlement deal with NBC for himself and his staff, Weinberg as well as sidekick Richter had to reach their own agreements with the network.
Departure from O'Brien and start of Big Band
In February 2010, Weinberg underwent a twelve-hour open heart valve repairHeart valve repair
Heart valve repair is a surgical technique used to fix defects in heart valves in valvular heart diseases, and provides an alternative to valve replacement. Without further specification, it refers to native heart valve repair, rather than repair of an artificial heart...
surgery to correct a condition he had known about and had been monitoring since the mid-1980s. His recovery took place over three to five months, and Weinberg kept news about the operation private until an interview eight months later.
In April 2010, O'Brien began his The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour
The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour
The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour was a comedy tour featuring Conan O'Brien. The title of the tour is a reference to the 2010 Tonight Show host and timeslot conflict which resulted in O'Brien resigning from his position as host of The Tonight Show in January 2010...
. While the rest of the group was part of the tour under the moniker The Legally Prohibited Band, Weinberg was not (except for a brief appearance at one show).
Instead, he assembled and staged appearances by the Max Weinberg Big Band, a fifteen-piece ensemble with twelve horns that mostly plays the music of Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, and Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...
. Weinberg's interest in the genre dated back to his childhood and the artists he had seen on televised variety shows.
It was initially unknown whether Weinberg would be part of O'Brien's new late night show
The Conan O'Brien Show
Conan is an American late-night talk show airing each Monday through Thursday on TBS in the United States. The hour-long show premiered on November 8, 2010, and is hosted by writer, comedian and performer Conan O'Brien...
on TBS cable
TBS (TV channel)
TBS , stylized in the logo as tbs, is an American cable television channel owned by Time Warner that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy. TBS was originally known as WTCG, a UHF terrestrial television station that broadcast from Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1970s...
that began in November 2010, as no specifics had been worked out for that show while O'Brien focused on his tour. In June 2010, the Max Weinberg Big Band Tour began with a show in Red Bank, New Jersey
Red Bank, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 11,844 people, 5,201 households, and 2,501 families residing in the borough. The population density was 6,639.1 people per square mile . There were 5,450 housing units at an average density of 3,055.0 per square mile...
's Count Basie Theater. Weinberg said that he was booking appearances by his big band through 2011 and that with regard to O'Brien, "I literally have not thought about it. There have been no discussions. It's kind of an open question."
In September 2010, it was announced Weinberg would not be part of the show, now named Conan; Jimmy Vivino took over leadership of that band, with Wormworth replacing Weinberg full time on drums. The split was stated as being mutual, with O'Brien saying, "Max has been a huge part of my life for the past 17 years and he is an incredible bandleader and musician," and Weinberg thanking his band and saying, "17 years — a lifetime on TV ... my association with Conan, his staff, and crew has been a deeply rewarding experience for me." Weinberg subsequently acknowledged that "We both wanted to go in different directions," but both looked forward to Weinberg occasionally stopping by to sit in on the new show. Weinberg said his health was better than ever but that the "life-changing experience emotionally and spiritually" of the surgery, a desire to remain in New Jersey with his family, and an interest in exploring new musical directions had all played a role in his departure from O'Brien.