Darkness On The Edge Of Town

Performer: Bruce Springsteen
Engineer: Jimmy Iovine
Producer: Jon Landau; Bruce Springsteen
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Steve Van Zandt (guitar); Clarence Clemons (saxophone); Roy Bittan (piano); Danny Federici (organ); Garry Tallent (bass); Max Weinberg (drums). Recorded at The Record Plant, New York, New York. Personnel: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Steven Van Zandt (vocals, guitar); Clarence Clemons (vocals, saxophone, percussion); Danny Federici (vocals, organ, keyboards); Steve VanZandt (guitar); Roy Bittan (piano, keyboards); Max Weinberg (drums). Audio Mixers: Chuck Plotkin; Jimmy Iovine. Recording information: Atlantic Studios, New York, NY; Record Plant Studios, New York, NY; The Record Plant, New York, NY. Photographer: Frank Stefanko. Coming three years and one extended court battle after Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town was highly anticipated. Some attributed the album's embattled tone to Bruce Springsteen's legal troubles, but it carried on from Born to Run, in which Springsteen had first begun to view his colorful cast of characters as "losers." On Darkness, he began to see them as the working class: his characters, some of whom he inhabited and sang for in the first person, had little and were in danger of losing even that. Their only hope for redemption lay in working harder, and their only escape lay in driving. Springsteen presented these hard truths in hard rock settings, the tracks paced by powerful drumming and searing guitar solos. Though not as heavily produced as Born to Run, Darkness was given a full-bodied sound; Springsteen's stories were becoming less heroic, but his musical style remained grand -- the sound, and the conviction in his singing, added weight to songs like "Racing in the Street" and the title track, transforming the pathetic into the tragic. But despite the rock & roll fervor, Darkness was no easy listen, and it served notice that Springsteen was already willing to risk his popularity for his principles. ~ William Ruhlmann Coming three years, and one extended court battle, after the commercial breakthrough of Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town was highly anticipated. Some attributed the album's embattled tone to Springsteen's legal troubles, but it carried on from Born to Run, in which Springsteen had first begun to view his colorful cast of characters as "losers." On Darkness, he began to see them as the working class. One song was called "Factory," and in another, "Badlands," "you" work "'neath the wheel / Till you get your facts learned." Those "facts" are that "Poor man wanna be rich / Rich man wanna be king / And a king ain't satisfied / Till he rules everything." But Springsteen's characters, some of whom he inhabited and sang for in the first person, had little and were in danger of losing even that. Their only hope for redemption lay in working harder -- "You gotta live it everyday," he sang in "Badlands," but you also, as another song noted, have to "Prove It All Night." And their only escape lay in driving. Springsteen presented these hard truths in hard rock settings, the tracks paced by powerful drumming and searing guitar solos. Though not as heavily produced as Born to Run, Darkness was given a full-bodied sound, with prominent keyboards and double-tracked vocals. Springsteen's stories were becoming less heroic, but his musical style remained grand. Yet the sound, and the conviction in his singing, added weight to songs like "Racing in the Street" and the title track, transforming the pathetic into the tragic. But despite the rock & roll fervor, Darkness was no easy listen, and it served notice that Springsteen was already willing to risk his popularity for his principles. Indeed, Darkness was not as big a seller as Born to Run. And it presaged even starker efforts, such as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad. ~ William Ruhlmann This was the album after the famous Jon Landau statement came to pass, and although there are still many references to cars and girls it is a blistering album. It has a similar energy that was later to be found on The River. He states in 'Something In The Night', 'soon as you've got something they send someone to try and take it away'. He repeated the themes again and again, and we loved it; maybe his fall from grace is because we ultimately can get by with just one song about cars and girls.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.131) - Ranked #151 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "Springsteen and the E Street Band played rockers such as 'Badlands' and 'Promised Land' with barely contained passion." Rolling Stone (3/20/03, p.68) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...The album isn't punk--Springsteen got a shave, not a mohawk--but it's colored by the raw sound happening at the time....stands as the E Street's best..."

Bruce Springsteen came out of New Jersey in the early 1970s sounding like a cross between Bob Dylan and early Tom Waits, backed by the rambunctious E Street Band. After toughening up his sound, Springsteen created his 1975 masterpiece, BORN TO RUN, which garnered critical acclaim for its blend of Spectorian grandeur and street poetry. Nine years later, BORN IN THE U.S.A. made him a worldwide superstar with its beefed-up stadium-rock sound. Along the way, he's produced such low-key acoustic-based milestones as NEBRASKA and THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD, never losing the blue-collar ethos that is central to his vision. His 2002 album, THE RISING, is considered one of the finest artistic responses to the 9/11tragedy produced in the event's immediate aftermath.

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