10 Perfect Rock Albums That Almost Destroyed Bands

After two decent albums, Bruce Springsteen was gaining a bit of a reputation in the industry...and not the kind that you necessarily want. While critics were quick to praise his wordplay and stories as some of the best of his generation, there were many that started to discount the Boss as a makeshift version of Bob Dylan, which followed him around for the first few years of his career. Determined to find his own sound, Born to Run was going to be the album that gave Springsteen his own identity...even if he had to sacrifice his own sanity to do it.

Going into the production with Jimmy Iovine, Springsteen had come through with some of the greatest tunes of his career, just no real way of making the sound that he heard in his head. The work that was done on the title track alone would have been enough for an entire album, with Springsteen working the E Street Band to the brink until the early hours of the morning.

The label even suggested that Springsteen stop chasing his dream and just put out a live record, but once the title track got leaked onto the airwaves, fan response demanded that he finish the project off. In a sense, you almost see Springsteen embodying the characters he sings about. His back is against the wall and no one's in his corner, but he's still going to go down swinging regardless.