Bruce Springsteen, the ultimate special guest, has collaborated with everyone who's anyone in music. Here are 17 of the best collaborations

By ANDREW TAVANI

Bruce Springsteen celebrated his 65th birthday this past Tuesday, September 23, officially hitting full retirement age, but he shows no signs of actually retiring.

Earlier this week, Reuters columnist David R. Shumway noted that back in 1975 an up-and-coming Springsteen appeared on the cover of Newsweek. However, the accompanying story, 'Making of a Rock Star,' dismissed Springsteen as a product of 'hype.' (Springsteen also was on the cover of TIME magazine that week, making him the first rock artist to grace the cover of both weekly news mags in the same week, Ultimate Classic Rock reports.)

Some 30 years later U2 front man Bono would muse, 'When I say that America is not just a country, it's an idea -- I'm thinking about people like Bruce Springsteen.' Bono made that sweeping statement just before bringing Bruce onstage to sing 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' with U2. Moments like that illustrate how Springsteen transcended the so-called hype Newsweek wrote of in 1975.

And the amazing thing is, there are so many of these moments.

Springsteen has become the ultimate special guest throughout his career. The Boss has teamed up with everybody who's anybody among rock royalty: The Rolling Stones, REM, Neil Young, Bob Seger, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi -- even Lady Gaga. The list goes on and on, so we've put together a purely subjective video slide show of 17 of the best of Springsteen's collaborations.

In 2011, Rolling Stone put together a list of 18 of his great collaborations, and several of the clips dug up by Rolling Stone are featured above. But there have been some amazing performances since then and there are a few from before then that didn't make Rolling Stone's list.

Click through the slide show to see some of the many famous faces he's performed with over the years.

Bruce singing Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'' with Lady Gaga and Elton John is nothing short of must-see. The AC/DC cover Springsteen performed in Australia along with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello is wild, as is the ' the bridge and tunnel summit meeting' Springsteen held in New York City with Billy Joel. And, of course, Bruce and Bon Jovi singing together in an eruption of genuine New Jersey pride is a vision to behold.

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