When Bruce Springsteen started recording a batch of new songs on a four-track tape machine in his New Jersey bedroom in January 1982, he wasn’t planning to release them as his next album.
The acoustic demos served as guidelines for the E Street Band, who would add their epic sound to the 20 or so songs Springsteen had recently composed.
But something happened along the way to Springsteen’s sixth album: The more he listened to the bare, stark songs on the cassette he carried around, the more he thought this was how they were supposed to sound.
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The music (mostly recorded on acoustic guitar and harmonica, with glockenspiel and synthesizer added to a few songs) certainly fit the mood of the lyrics.
Unlike his previous albums — especially the one that preceded Nebraska, 1980’s The River, designed to capture the spirit of his legendary live shows — the new songs weren’t hopeful fist-pumping sing-alongs. In fact, they were downright desolate.
Listen to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’
From the opening title tune (based on the true story of a pair of teens who murdered 11 people during a week-long killing spree in 1958) to the closing “Reason to Believe” (not as optimistic as its title lets on), Nebraska is a 40-minute bum trip through America’s badlands.
There are tales of fateful last chances (“Atlantic City”), haunted wayward brothers (“Highway Patrolman”) and blue-collar workers pushed to their breaking points (“Johnny 99”).
“Open All Night,” the album’s only song to approach an upbeat rocker, is also one of the LP’s few songs to stray from the core themes of isolation, childhood memories and despair.
When Was Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’ Released?
Because of Springsteen’s popularity, the album was a hit when it was released on Sept. 30, 1982, despite lacking promotion, singles, a tour and Springsteen’s own interviews explaining the songs.
It soon reached No. 3 and has become one of the decade’s essential recordings.
Watch Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Atlantic City’ Video
Over the years, Springsteen has reworked several of the songs in concert with the E Street Band, finally giving them the full-group treatment he originally intended.
(Springsteen and the E Street Band rehearsed several of the songs for their next electric albums, but the sessions were scrapped when the plugged-in versions lacked the intensity of the solo acoustic ones.)
And a few of the leftover cuts — including drastically different and downcast versions of “Born in the U.S.A.” and “Downbound Train” — ended up on his next album, 1984’s Born in the U.S.A. Others were eventually released on the 2025 Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition collection.
Nebraska remains one of the best folk albums ever made and one of Springsteen’s core works.
It’s rooted in tradition, but it’s also a crucial leap forward for Springsteen, who sharpened his narrative skills here and found an America that wasn’t an open-armed invitation to a land of hope and dreams. Sometimes it’s a bad environment filled with even worse people who have made poor choices.
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From scrappy Dylan disciple to one of the leading singer-songwriters of his generation, the Boss’ catalog includes both big and small statements of purpose.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
