For the longest time, I not only didn't like Springsteen, I actively disliked his music. It seemed cheesey, like something out of a bad '80's police movie, and "10th Avenue Freeze-Out" (the song mentioned above, for those not familiar) was no exception, although I think you could probably say that it also had a hand in changing that.
In college, I took a course in the History of Rock and Roll as part of my music minor. One of the optional proects was to audition for and play in one of the three bands formed from the class, playing a mix of music written by our classmates, and covers. Myself and a two other gentlemen (one of whom is likely reading this) formed the horn section for one of the bands (well, horn/viola section. "Let's Get It On" has a violin part. Who knew?) (What?) Anyway, these covers proved to be a bone of contention. We, the horn section, wanted to play something with an interesting part, like a ska cover. Something fun. The hipsters who comprised the rest of the band, formed before we were added, had already decided on a shortlist of covers to choose from. Guess what, no ska. What do we (they) end up choosing? The aforementioned "Let's Get it On"*, and "10th avenue". We didn't quite revolt, but let's just say things were a little testy for a while. Funny thing, though: I think it ended up being our most successful song.** It sounded good, it ended up being decently fun to play, and the audience really seemed to enjoy it.
The point that I'm getting at is that my dislike for Bruce Springsteen began to erode during that experience. It took a couple years before he made it on to my playlist, but it was that experience that got me to stop rolling my eyes whenever I heard one of his songs.
*Which we decided upon after our guitar player reproduced that crazy guitar effect perfectly while fuckin' around before practice.
**Ok, "Let's Get It On" was our most successful song, but that's just because the crowd (well, the guys at least) really enjoyed hearing our two female lead singers sing it together.
ps. For some very interesting and over the top (way way WAY over the top) covers of Springsteen songs, check out an album called Darkness On The Edge of Your Town by Paul Baribeau and Ginger Alford.