10 Best Bruce Springsteen Albums
6. Nebraska (1982)
Despite often being labelled a
one trick pony, 1982’s Nebraska was Springsteen’s first leftfield turn in a
career defined by more leftfield turns than non-diehards could ever realise. Nebraska
is a startlingly bleak affair, recorded entirely by Springsteen himself on a
4-track recorder. Though it would be fair to say that bleak moments can be
found across all of his records up to that point, they were typically interspersed
with bombastic, often stadium-ready anthems. But on Nebraska, there is no such respite.
Instead, Springsteen crafts narratives based around killers (the title track), poverty stricken men drawn into organised crime (Atlantic City) and corrupt law enforcement (Highway Patrolman). One of the darkest moments on an already dark record – State Trooper – even evokes early Suicide recordings.
It is telling that Springsteen elected not to tour in support of the album, something he had never done before and would never do again until Western Stars in 2019 (and that was only because he was planning to tour off the back of its companion album, Letter To You).
Springsteen sceptics would do well to listen to Nebraska.