Today, Sept. 23, is the 65th birthday of rock legend Bruce Springsteen. As someone who was born and raised and is still living in New Jersey, Springsteen is a pretty important figure in this writer's life. So to celebrate his birthday, here are The Boss's five best albums from his 40-plus-year career.
5. The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle (1973)
Choosing between Springsteen's second album The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle and his fifth album The River was a difficult decision, but I am going with The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle mostly because it is a single album as opposed to The River's 84-minute double LP set, so it is easier to dive into.
This is Springsteen at his most poetic and progressive, taking the sprawling wordiness of his debut Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ and approaching it with a focused yet more epic scope. It is the best studio representation of Springsteen's early days in Asbury Park.
4. Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
There is a tendency to view Born in the U.S.A. as overrated, being Springsteen's biggest-seller and his most blatant attempt at pop superstardom, but it does not get nearly enough credit for being one of Springsteen's darkest albums.
Sure, "Glory Days" and "Dancing in the Dark" sound like huge, upbeat anthems, yet their lyrics tell stories of intense desperation, all with the undercurrent of the American Dream ultimately failing common men and women. If these songs had been performed solo on an acoustic guitar, the album would have sold less, but it might have gotten more credit.
3. Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)
After the massive success of Born to Run, legal troubles kept Springsteen from releasing a new album for three years, which must have been unbearable for someone so tirelessly prolific. When he finally returned, Springsteen gave us Darkness on the Edge of Town, his rawest and angriest album to date, and a stark contrast to its romantic and hyper-produced predecessor.
This is the moment when Springsteen abandoned the epic scope of his early work in favor of more concise, stripped-down songs such as "Badlands," "Adam Raised a Cain" and "The Promised Land." Though this might be Springsteen's best "rock" album, it also boasts the most beautiful song he ever wrote: "Racing in the Street," which seems as if it will build to a soaring climax, though it heartbreakingly never does.
2. Nebraska (1982)
Nebraska is the Springsteen album for people who hate Springsteen, and it was admittedly the first album of his I ever fell in love with. It is an album of lo-fi acoustic demos that never received the E Street Band treatment, and it offers the bleakest and most quietly intense character portraits that Springsteen ever wrote, from the opening murder ballad "Nebraska" to the mafia tale "Atlantic City" to the chilling, Suicide-influenced "State Trooper."
If you have friends who cannot stand Springsteen, let them listen to Nebraska.
1. Born to Run (1975)
Born to Run is the album that turned Springsteen into a star, and rightfully so. Its blend of huge Phil Spector-style pop, jazz and rock was unheard of at the time, and though its sense of romanticism would be nauseating coming from anyone else, Springsteen's writing is so precise and heart-wrenchingly earnest that you cannot help but get behind it.
Though Springsteen wrote these songs about summer nights in New Jersey, they offer universal sentiments shared by desperate 20-somethings everywhere.
What are your favorite Bruce Springsteen albums? What did I get wrong? Let us know in the comments section below.
