Bruce Springsteen: His Best Albums, Part V and a Very Special Happy Birthday

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By Anthony “Zute” George

Before we resume the countdown of Bruce Springsteen’s top five albums, the way I see it, I wanted to take time to wish the man a very happy 70th birthday. Bruce’s birthday was on September 23rd, and all his loyal fans are thrilled to see how active he still is at this age. I can never put into words how much I love him, and what he has meant to my life. I just want to say thank you.

The moment is here for me to name what I think is, not only what I feel is Bruce Springsteen’s best album, but the greatest album ever crafted. So far, we have The Rising at number five, Born in the USA at number four, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle at number three, and Born to Run at number two.

Number One: Darkness on the Edge of Town.

This album was released on June 2nd, 1978 and peak on the Billboard Album Chart at number five; meaning that none of my top three Springsteen albums hit number one, yet they are widely regarded as his best work. For me, Darkness is in a class by itself. While Born to Run can match it track for track, and arguably surpass it, Darkness plays better as an album. It is an album you can rock to, drive to, sit and reflect to, and of course, cry to. Darkness has so many layers, I do not think I am even close to uncovering them all, and I listen to it at least five times a week from start to finish.

Of course, the album came from a turbulent time in Bruce’s life/career. He had just enjoyed enormous success with the Born to Run album, and his creative juices were flowing like a ripe watermelon. But the underbelly of life, and how cutthroat it could be, prevented Bruce from releasing albums. Yet he kept writing and creating.

What made Bruce’s turbulence even worse was that it came from someone who he thought was family. If Mike Appel influenced Born to Run for all the right reasons, his fingerprints are all over Darkness for all the wrong purposes. Their legal battle has been well documented, and this album will always be linked to that friction.

With that said, there is so much more of the underbelly of life on Darkness, it would be fool’s gold to attribute it all to Appel. Indeed, Darkness on the Edge of Town is a dark album, and that is what Bruce wanted. As the man said himself, any joyful songs he created at the time had to stay off the record. Joyous, beautifully crafted tunes such as Because the Night, Fire and Save My Love were forbidden from the album, despite the fact that they had ‘hit’ written all over them; both Because the Night and Fire became hits for Patti Smith and The Pointer Sisters respectively, the latter was written specifically for Elvis Presley, but he passed away before the song could get to him.

But those songs would have been out of place on this album. Square pegs in round wholes that would have taken away from the intense narrative. Here is a snippet of the visceral storytelling on each track of this gem, where Bruce said he found his adult voice:
Badlands: Workin’ in the fields till you get your back burned. Workin’ neath the wheel till you get your facts learned.

Adam Raised a Cain: Daddy worked all his life for nothing but the pain. Now he walks these empty rooms looking for someone to blame.

Something in the Night: You’re born with nothing and better off that way. Soon as you’ve got something, they send someone to try and take it away

Candy’s Room: There’s a sadness hidden in that pretty face. A sadness all her own from which no man can keep Candy safe.

Racing in the Street: But there’s wrinkles around my baby’s eyes and she cries herself to sleep at night.

The Promise Land: Sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode.

Factory: Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes.

Streets of Fire: I’m wandering, a loser down these tracks. I’m dying but girl I can’t go back.

Prove it All Night: Everybody’s got a hunger, a hunger they can’t resist. There’s so much you want, you deserve much more than this.

Darkness on the Edge of Town: Everybody’s got a secret sonny, something that they just can’t face.

The title track is so deep, and it is my unequivocal favorite Springsteen song. The final verse is so gripping, it reaches a point that most people will not admit that they have gotten to, indeed if they are even aware that they are there. But as is with the whole album, Darkness is Bruce being transparent, as his thoughts here have been a theme of his thinking forever. A man who sees the grind of the working man and wants no part of it but cannot stop being fascinated about it. A man who knows he needs a significant other but knows the kinds of pain a relationship could bring; often hunkered down by that grind of life. A man who knows he wants it all and wants to live forever but falls into such depression sometimes, his soul feels combustible. A man who knows there is a Darkness that can take us all, but has spent his life trying to entertain us and make us feel good.

It takes a certain mindset to absorb Bruce and his music. I do not say this to sound condescending, but Springsteen is deep, and a lot of people are just not comfortable enough in their own skin and life to go there. To get Bruce you must be vulnerable, and some people just do not want to do vulnerable; unless they are so messed on drugs and/or booze, they might as well be listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Besides the lyrics, characters, and stories, Darkness is also dense with great sound. Vocally, Bruce is all over the place in a good way. His ripping vocals on the title track and Adam Raised a Cain are an impressive contrast to high notes of the Promise Land and Prove it All Night. Having no real musical knowledge in the sense of knowing instruments, I am not quite sure what that sound is from at the beginning of Candy’s Room, but I know it is innovative and dandy, and Bruce’s guitar playing is rip-roaring. I am not sure he has ever gotten the credit he deserves as a guitarist, but if you have ever seen his guitar work live on Prove it All Night, you would know.

Darkness on the Edge of Town is Bruce’s crowning achievement. It is a ride that I advise all of you to take if you have never done so. Bruce’s fan base knows the power of Darkness, why don’t you all come join us.

So, my top five Bruce Springsteen albums are as follows:

1. Darkness on the Edge of Town
2. Born to Run
3. The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
4. Born in the USA
5. The Rising

I hope you enjoyed this series. There will be more Bruce themed articles to come.

Stay tuned….

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