Song of the Day 4/14: The Gaslight Anthem, “45”

I knew guitar rock was over back in 2012, when this single didn’t break this band out of obscurity.

The Gaslight Anthem had been on a steady climb since their formation in 2006. Their sophomore album, 2008’s “The ’59 Sound,” made year-end lists and got them noticed. Springsteen comparisons were inevitable given the band’s New Jersey roots – they even made an appearance with the Boss himself – and this sounded like frontman/songwriter Brian Fallon’s “Born to Run.”

But while the song got noticed in the places that used to matter – there were TV appearances, lots of radio exposure on adult alternative stations and an extensive tour – it didn’t propel the band beyond its cult status.

The song made it to No. 11 on the alternative rock chart and the album it was pulled from, “Handwritten,” reached No. 3, but it only achieved RIAA Silver status, meaning it sold in excess of 60,000 units – a paltry number compared to what albums sold in rock’s heyday. And that was the peak of the band’s commercial success. The next album didn’t sell even that well, and the group went on hiatus in 2015.

Fallon released several solo albums and side projects, went through a divorce and got remarried, and now he’s gotten the band back together for a tour that starts in Europe, where Fallon is playing solo shows before the tour begins this summer.