The Boss

About time The Boss got his own thread.

To kick off: of his many albums, I only know The River, and I love it. Which albums would you recommend if I wanted to get to know more of his music?

Born to Run is his best album and it's my second-favorite album of all time and everyone should get it and OH MY GOD WHY DON'T YOU HAVE IT RIGHT NOW

Darkness on the Edge of Town, The Wild, the Innocent & the E-Street Shuffle, Born in the USA, The Rising and Wrecking Ball are all also fantastic.

So is Nebraska but it's not like any of those other albums I just mentioned.

I'll be honest, as much as I love the guy, the only full albums of his I've listened to are Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A (though I own a few others that I haven't had the time to sit down and listen all the way through), and I must admit, Born in the U.S.A. is one of my absolute favorite albums. Born to Run is really good, but U.S.A. is a masterpiece of music and lyricism.

Either way, living in NJ it's pretty much a requirement that you like Bruce. Especially if you're by the shore or Asbury Park.

edited 10th Apr '12 12:11:05 AM by 0dd1

There's times where an artist I want to get into is so ubiquitous on radio that I end up deliberately starting off with something of theirs that's considered one of their best albums but doesn't really have any of the "hits". There's a little bit of Hype Aversion there, but it's more that when I've heard more than half of an album millions of times out of sequence, it's harder for me to get into it as an "album". Thus, other than a Greatest Hits Album, my first Bruce Springsteen was Nebraska. Right now I also have Born To Run and Darkness On The Edge Of Town.

There's this guy I've seen open a few local shows who goes by Uke Springsteen and does solo ukulele Bruce covers. It's less lame than it sounds, particularly because there's a lot of Affectionate Parody involved.

I really, really love [i]The Seeger Sessions[/i], though they're only obliquely related to Pete Seeger. The [i]Live in Dublin[/i] album (concert version of many of the same songs) is also pretty sweet.

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Anyway, one thing that amuses me about Bruce is how The Other Wiki (and everyone else) loves to analyse the crap out of his songs. Go to an Other Wiki article about a Rolling Stones song, and it'll be 'Yeah, this is a song, and it's about this-and-this. Not much more to say, really.' But look up a Bruce Springsteen song, and the article will be all about themes, motifs, symbolism, alternate interpretations... like it's a Shakespeare play

edited 14th Apr '12 3:02:26 AM by MidnightRambler

Geez, I don't think they even go this in-depth with most Beatles songs.

All right, so besides The River, I've been listening to Born To Run and Darkness On The Edge Of Town for a few months now.

And yesterday... I discovered Nebraska.

I don't really know how to describe it. I do know it's one of the most beautiful and gripping albums I've ever heard.