10 Late Career Bangers From Huge Rock Bands

This list could have easily been a Bruce Springsteen list. The Boss has never, ever stopped putting out great records full of cracking songs. Even his “previously unreleased” compilations are full of bangers. He’s a prolific master of his art that, despite what he might tell you himself, has never been anything less than the best.

Nevertheless, by the time 2007 rolled around, there was a feeling that Bruce was starting, belatedly, to become a heritage act. He goes through this phase every now and then and, as he has often said himself, he starts to doubt himself and his songwriting prowess. It is this thinking alone that hinders the records that have the misfortune of being born during one of these phases because the songs themselves are always top notch, if the execution can sometimes be a bit lacking. The 1990s was one such phase and roughly 2007 to 2014 was another.

2007’s Magic album does not deserve this kind of thought, because it is full of great music. Girls In Their Summer Clothes is an underrated gem of Springsteen’s career that exemplifies The Boss’ knack for capturing nostalgia, melancholy, hope, and home. He tells epic tales of everyday losers who are the heroes of their own stories. He’s probably singing about New Jersey in 1967 but he could be singing about you, in your town, in whatever year you feel you were at your best.