Bruce Springsteen’s Rejected “Dancing in the Dark” Music Video Heads to Auction

Bruce Springsteen’s original music video for “Dancing in the Dark” is heading to auction more than four decades after it was turned down and shelved.

According to Wax Poetics, the 3/4-inch U-matic master comes from the personal collection of former Columbia Records president Al Teller and contains four performances by the rock veteran. The tape will be auctioned from September 24th through October 22nd alongside a plaque signed by Springsteen commemorating 20 million worldwide sales of Born in the U.S.A. Proceeds will benefit organizations supporting music programs in public primary and secondary schools. View the lot here.

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Before Brian De Palma directed the music video most people associate with “Dancing in the Dark,” filmmaker Jeff Stein (best known for directing The Who documentary, The Kids Are Alright) took the first crack at it. His version positioned Springsteen by himself on a dark set for most of the performance, with E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons eventually joining him. Teller recalled watching the video with Springsteen’s manager, Jon Landau, and quickly deciding that its sparse presentation didn’t match the song.

“‘Dancing in the Dark’ was a big, full-band production, and my first question was, ‘Where’s the band?'” he told Springsteen biographer Peter Ames Carlin in an interview with Wax Poetics. “When it ended, I told Jon, ‘No way. We can’t use this.’ He said he and Bruce agreed.”

That sent Springsteen back to the drawing board, ultimately resulting in the De Palma-directed video being filmed at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Minnesota. It famously features Springsteen pulling a then-unknown Courteney Cox out of the crowd to dance with him, which helped turn the singer into an MTV fixture during the Born in the U.S.A. era.

When Teller attempted to give the discarded master back to Landau, he was instead told to keep it. He then stashed the tape in a file cabinet, where it remained for more than 40 years. Teller didn’t even know that it held four separate Springsteen performances until the master was treated and assessed for playback ahead of the auction. He had only ever watched one of them.

Lower-quality footage from the abandoned shoot has surfaced online over the years, but the auction marks the emergence of Teller’s original master.

“It was the rejection of this video that led to getting Brian De Palma and that moment with a then-unknown Courteney Cox that everyone remembers,” he said.

“Dancing in the Dark” was the lead single from Born in the U.S.A. and earned Springsteen his first Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance in 1985.

Springsteen, meanwhile, remains active on the road. Earlier this year, he and the E Street Band launched their “Land of Hope and Dreams Tour,” marking their first North American shows since 2024. Next up, he is scheduled to make a special appearance at Tom Morello’s Power to the People festival in Maryland on October 3rd alongside Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Public Enemy, Joan Baez, Brittany Howard, and more.