As you might have gathered, Springsteen is not one to back away from a challenge and take the unexpected route in his career. The majority of his 70s albums were cheeful and soulful, whereas Darkness On The Edge Of Town was bleak throughout, right down to the fact that most of the tracks contain themes of darkness and night. The hopefulness found on most of his records was almost entirely replaced by songs which covered the idea of hope being defeated and swallowed. Understandably, the album did not produce a huge hit, thanks to the gloomy nature of the writing, but, like The River, this record gave us songs (such as Badlands) which have become Springsteen fan favourites and are masterpieces, even if they can be somewhat depressing. Darkness On The Edge Of Town is the best example of Springsteen's darker work without being constrained to the folk genre. If nothing else, it proved that the man was capable of being taken much more seriously than one would with a straight laced rock singer.
