The Rising

Not really a Springsteen fan

has a couple decent tracks but not Bruce's best work

I tried, but just couldn't get past the voice. For some reason his voice bugs me. I can respect that he's a talented songwriter, but his style of music doesn't do much for me.

I'm glad I listened to the whole album; I would never have known there were Springsteen songs I could tolerate well. Some I would swear weren't him.

Nope. Just nope.

Ehhh not for me. I don't know why everything he makes sounds like a bad christmas album.

Standard Bruce fodder. No standout tracks

Kinda bland

Esperaba mas, está bien hecho pero puro nacionalismo gringo que solo tiene sentido para ellos, nada raro en esprinstin

Not a bad album, but I don't love the sound. It sounds too classic American roadside bar, a bit too heavy on the drums and sultry man voice.

tråkigt.

Not into it.

Trite, boring, reasonably well produced, but totally uninteresting. I'm from Jersey, but maybe I'm just too young to understand The Boss's deep and meaningful reflections on 9/11. 2000s Country rock slop. Nonsensical to me to place this on a pedestal with his actual classics. He looooves to repeat corny inspirational sounding lyrics like a million times for a chorus. Worth listening to only for context on how stupid culture got at that time; guess you just had to be there. And its too long.

trash

Oh God.... Remember your mantra... "Give every album on this list a chance" Oh this sucks so hard, why am I doing this to myself... And now my kid is listening to it, too. I hope she hates it. .. Seriously, who listens to this shit on the regular? His voice is so annoying and every song feels like the same formula with even crappier lyrics than the song before it. It so corny and fake. I'm done wasting mental energy on Bruce.

Is this a mediocre Bruce Springsteen album, or is that just Bruce Springsteen? This is the type of album AI pays close attention to to generate slop, it just feels like a direct influence. Who produced this? Why does this O'Brien character have such an interesting array of records produced under his name? Maybe it really DOES have to do with the artificial slop influence. I figure the historical context helped this album chart. Maybe the Springsteen fans were happy to have something new. I couldn't imagine any of these tracks becoming stand out crowd favorites, but maybe I'm just a big Bruce Springsteen hater. Not impressed. 0.9/5

I'm not the audience for Springsteen at the best of times, and this album isn't nearly his best of times.

He's become very meh in his old age

Impressively cringe. What better way to feel better about a terrorist attack than to sing banal dad-rock about holding hands with each other. This was a miserable listening experience. "Waitin' On A Sunny Day" has made its way into my Top 3 worst songs ever. This album was the fourth plane.

Really don't fuck with this, it's got nothing going for it Will I listen to again: 0%

Another 2000s soft rock 60+ minute offering. We are so spoilt! So interesting! Lonesome Day immediately starting things off with a country vibe (I do not like country music). Into The Fire - I see we're continuing with ya'll Alabama, God's Countree. I can't be fucking arsed with an hour and 12 minutes of this. 0/5 if it was possible. Skipped the rest. Shite.

Not my jam. Music sounded very American. Pretty ignorant I know but yeah.

Bruce Springsteen, 4eme album => 1/5 Rock mou et peu inspirant, dans un album beaucoup trop long. Je ne suis pas allé au bout.

Eh, not my favorite Bruce, but not awful.

I love Springsteen as much as the next person, but this was a tough listen. This was written and recorded in response to 9/11, and while I don't doubt his sincere horror to the events of that day, this album falls too quickly into the same corny sentimentality that a lot of post-9/11 music did. Springsteen is no stranger to sentimentality, of course, but it's typically paired with better songwriting. The stories he writes here are a lot lighter on the specifics compared to his best work, making the emotional aspect feel much cheaper and unearned. There are exceptions, like the hauntingly dark Nothing Man and the vivid imagery on My City of Ruins, but these are few and far between. The E-Street Band is doing their best music-wise, but they're kneecapped by overly slick production and generic arrangements. The worst part is that this album is over an hour long, making this a complete slog to sit through. I didn't have high expectations for post-80s Bruce, but this failed to live up to even those lowered standards.

dont like this guy

Gross. Boring

This album sucks! It fucking sucks!! Every track makes me madder and it's A DOUBLE ALBUM.

Springsteen has one of the worst voices ever.

I’m sorry but what the actual hell is this

This is country music. I told the project I didn't want country.

Spends all of its time wallowing in post-September 11 national self-pity. Springsteen seems like a decent enough guy, but bullshit rhetoric like this only served to abet the United States’s slide into christian nationalist fascism.

Ugh, literally pandering patriotic post 9/11 Americana rock, couldn’t even get through 2 songs. Sorry Bruce.

Fucking unbearable the album cover made me think I was gonna listen to god bless my ears but NO I need to hear if some random grandma’s music when she says she likes heavy music

Do not like

Love the Boss. Not this.

Sheer cack

This record got me killed by putting my driver to sleep.

Eh

Into the Fire fuckin STINKS. Is this just an album about Jesus? Countin’ on a Miracle, Empty Sky, Worlds Apart has gotta be top 5 worst three song runs I’ve ever heard. Followed up Let’s be Friends (Skin to Skin). This should be relegated to commercials where old people sit naked in separate bathtubs watching the sunset. I can’t wait for this to be over. Oh, it’s a 9/11 album? This sucks.

This is worse than 9/11.

Boring. Even for the genre… boring and cringe. Im gonna rise up and ask people to not listen to this. 1

Once again stating that this list should have no more than one album by an artist. Bruce Springsteen is a hack at the best of times, and this isn’t the best of times.

It took me days just to get through 3.5 songs because it was that jarring to listen to. Definitely not my style. “Into The Fire” took 5 minutes out of my life that i unfortunately cannot have back, it sounds like a fucking church song. At least the third song was a bit better but you best believe i will never relisten to this shit again.

New Jersey

Don't call it a comeback. Because it's not.

This was way too long for a Springsteen album passed his prime. Even if it was shorter it has no business being on any list of “must listens”.

Once again I call bullshit on an album being "influential". Just because you wrote songs about 9/11 is not enough to make it influential! Boring.

not my style

I really want to like Bruce Springsteen - he seems so cool! His band seems conceptually great! But these songs are so plain and repetitive.

Nah

I’ve never been a big fan of Springsteen, but I do like some of his earlier work. However, post 9/11 Springsteen is not it. I understand he was inspired by the attacks and there is some earnestness to this that earns merit. Unfortunately, this album commits the worst sin, it is simply boring. It’s also a bit on the longer side.

Absolute cornball album.

Dull, formulaic and over long.

Not a fan of this musically but it's hard to enjoy patriotic art like this, now.

Probably great but I'm not a fan of this one. I love most of his other stuff though.

If this didn’t have Bruce Springsteen attached to it it would be lumped in with imagine dragons

I’m not listening to Bruce Springsteen.

I was bored to death with this one, sorry Bruce

I can't.

não me desce de forma alguma :D

Alt amerikansk musik var country efter 9/11. Den ligger mellem 1 og 2 for mig, havde nok været 2 hvis den var klippet til men vi skulle bare høre alle følelser folk havde dengang

noo-haw. could not finish.

Meh

His voice is awful, and I hate country music.

this was soooo cheesy and boring and went for ages

1 - not good

Unnecessary.

16h finde ich irgendwie langweilig, nothing Man hört sich okay an, eigentlich konsumiere ich wenig Musik von Männern. Volle Meinung folgt später.

Bullshit heartland rock

Another Springsteen album? And zero 'hits'!? Woof. Why? No. I'd go zero if I could - so 1. What a waste of space.

This album makes me wish I was in one of the towers

The Good: Something’s rising… The Bad: It’s not the what we’d like to see rise… The Ugly: age… For all you youngsters out there who feel the need to refer to this as boomer rock, or dad rock, get a life. This is shit music for one, and for two, though Springsteen might be a boomer himself, those who started listening to his music were Gen X… get your facts straight. Skip this album if you like music… it was painful to listen to. If you want to hear an album by a boomer in his later years, give Blackstar by Bowie a spin… now that’s an album. This was just shit… Couldn’t even get through the whole album as I feared I would start breaking things… I would rather listen to The Chronic… Nuff said… 0*

Too long, boring boomer ass shit

Sorry, with the first chords and that voice... I have no time for the musician Springsteen even though the person Springsteen seems to be a decent guy.

He's not my boss

1001 best albums? Really? Totally unmemorable to me. No real standouts, just bland and boring.

This album sort of sounds like if Bruce Springsteen made an album about 9/11, and it's half an hour too long. I don't know who asked for this, but it certainly wasn't me.

Not sure what people (and this list) see in Bruce

Not a fan of his music or OUTSPOKEN Political BS RANTS!

I hate Bruce Springsteen and I hate country music, and this is apparently Bruce Springsteen's more country-leaning 9/11 album. What the fuck were people smoking at the time that this has such universally good reviews? It's pure dog shit.

Appreciated the concept and sentiment but the songs didn’t match. Kinda middle of the road bland rock

No thank you

gave me a migraine

This was so painful. It is long, repetitive, tedious, with nothing interesting to offer, just ordinary rock and country. My head hurt very bad after listening to this because this album sucked all of my energies and left me stressed-out.

Two songs in: It sounds like standard rocky singer-songwriter. Like your dad's singer-songwriter. Springsteen has always sounded like he's singing through being constipated to me. Halfway Thru: (Right after Empty Sky) This is such bland tripe. There's a reason I stopped listening to Bruce. Just because he's Bruce Springsteen doesn't mean we need to worship everything he does. I got to "Let's Be Friends" and I'm tapping out. I can't do it any more. This is mid-tier dad rock at best. My Rating: 1/5.

1. lonezome - 1.5 2. fire - 1 3. zunny - 1 4. man - 1.5 5. miracle - 1.5 6. zky - 1.5 7. apart - 1.5 8. friendz - 1 9. further - 1.5 10. fuze - 1 11. maryz - 1 12. mizzing - 1 13. rizing - 1.5 14. paradize - 2 15. city - 1.5

Woah. Not good Boss.

Bruce's albums have always been hit or miss for me. This one is huge miss It's over produced, mixed and arranged like a pop album while Bruce does his usual yell sing vocals over music that does not work with those vocals

Not a huge Bruce guy, not feeling this one

i really just can't do rock

blah

Sgliich wie mit em Willie au hüt mit em Bruce. Au da nur eis chlöpferli uf die lingi fuddibagge

Sehr gut

10000x worse than dusty

I HATE THIS MANS VOICE I STG IF I GET ANOTHER ONE IM GONNA LOSE IT

At first I didn’t think this was too bad, but that was only a few tracks in. The deeper I got the more I found myself just waiting and wishing for it to be over. This album is great example of one that makes people think things like “oh he should’ve hung it up years ago”. It’s a downer both lyrically and musically, it’s rarely upbeat musically, it’s totally stylistically different than everything I love about Bruce Springsteen. This album is a turd, and I say that as a fan.

The album that enshrined Springsteen as the secular saint of the American liberal. It's politically patriotic, drawing on the big story of American strength in diversity, exceptional goodness, and progressive inclusivity to call for unity in suppressing the base desire for revenge and instead being our best selves. Everything is going to be ok, he keeps reassuring us, as long as we call on our better angels: strength, faith, love, hope - America is the miracle he's waiting for. Musically it reflects this message by combining his 80s heartland rock sound with lush modern 90s production, extra americana twang paired with Putumayo world-music Arab singing, epic classic rock guitars, RnB jams, and an even heavier than normal gospel sound, sanctifying the liberal patriotic message with the rich sounds of the black church and the post-civil rights story of national redemption through the moral arch of history bending toward justice. In stark contrast to the reactionary music of the time - thin one-dimensional pop country cynically weeping into the flag and joyously baying for blood - this is somber sophisticated and reflective - if vague and cliched- desperately charting a path rising through the end of the good times. "Come on, let's be friends," he begs over a smooth jazzy RnB Jam. The problem is that it's incredibly boring, bloated, and uninspired - it feels like 72 minutes of homework. No wonder this is what made him the homework-loving Ivy League liberal's heroic voice of the everyman. No wonder he has a podcast and coffee table book with Obama trying to sell this same story of American greatness in the Trump era. No wonder this ultimately vacuous patriotic message falls flat in the face of deteriorating material conditions fraying the flag he's waving. Better than Toby Keith, but a dead end, politically and aesthetically.

lunatic

I still can't stomach his voice.

The songs kind of droned on and were redundant in sound and verbiage - boring. I could not wait for this album to be over.

I swear that I try. Every time another Springsteen album comes up I do listen to it in earnest, with fresh ears. But I can't. No more. Please I'm begging you

Boomer music, probably will get a lot of hate but man was this album boring, I can imagine it playing in an old folks home. 1.5

I found out today that I dont like Bruce Springsteen. Or is it just this album, i dont know and i dont care to find out.

so long and boring. i struggled to bring myself to listen to this more than once and never even managed to make it the whole way through.

Putting a Springsteen album from 2002 on here is... a choice.

Bruce rules but he was washed by this point in his career. RIP to everyone that died on 9/11 and much love to their families and friends.

Competent, well performed music from someone I have no commonality with. Shame about the production choices. Sure, there's some merit in the concept of the American working class needing a distraction from terrible events, but look what the fuckers have done since then.

Boomer bullshit, I'll give you some of his older work but this is unnecessary

An album put on this list by Music critics which agreed with ALL the decisions of the Blair government. Not a single even half good track on this thing. Genuinely appalling. 1/10 Fav tracks - N/A Least Fav - failure album bruh

Jeez Bruce, shut up a bit. And definitely stop preaching to me.

Long and mostly boring. Songs all sound similar and just kind of blend together. for a 70+ min album, this gets quite monotonous. Never been a Bruce fan or hater - he has his place but isn’t really my thing…but this just really didn’t work for me. For a lyric-driven artist, he does little here to make me want to actually hear what he has to say.

All sounds the same. There are much better Springsteen albums around!

Not his best work by far.

I consider Bruce Springsteen my black olive. Everyone loves it but me, but I keep trying it.

It seemed like they tried to reinvent Bruce for a post 2000 audience. It was horrible alt country shite. They absolutely sucked the life out of the poor bastard. What a horrible album.

Right off the cuff, these lyrics are insanely vapid. The music itself is pretty boring, but the lyrics actively make me roll my eyes, at least once a song. Into the Fire might be the worst part about my day. Overall, a frustrating album to get through. Definitely not my cup of tea.

Don't Bruce in general, but this was dull as F.

Radio music for a brainless commute.

This album is so boring, it's almost unbelievable that people actually took their time to record it.

God this was a painful listen.

Same ol dull Springsteen

I like Bruce Springsteen but there comes to a point where everything's been said and he'd treading water with this one. He can do so much better.

Cheeeeeese

More boring stuff

Sorry, Bruce, it’s a no from me.

Feel like I am being really negative with some of these but I can't help it. Another one I have really not enjoyed sitting through. I get the importance of it and why it is on here but that does not make it good 20+ years later, especially to a non American. I mean hearing this doesn't exactly fill me with much hope anyway. I know he can make great music but this was not it. It was just 15 patriotic soft rock songs that felt like they went on forever. I am (hopefully) never going to sit through it again and struggled to enjoy it. Also it was all very easy, he had the perfect scenario where people were begging for him to release it and they'd have loved it whatever so he took no risks and it is all super boring because of that. Also not to mention his accent? What is happening it kept changing and to be honest none of the vocals sounded great anyway especially the strange country twang on a few. Another 1 star. Stand out Songs (although not great much better then the rest): Waitin' on a Sunny Day Countin' on a Miracle The Rising

Ugh. Bruce. Can't wait for some boring mid-tempo storytelling. I really don't know why bruce bores me so but he just does. This sucks hard, sorry. Couldn't finish it.

Not sure who was doing the songwriting on this one because it sure wasn’t Bruce. The entire LP reeks of studio meddling as Springsteen is ushered through a wild collection of genre attempts with some of the most bland, uncreative lyrics I’ve ever heard. The instrumentals are similarly insipid, sounding like default DAW presets rather than anything inspired. If you’re going to make me sit through an hour+ album at least make it interesting.

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no Bruce Springsteen's brilliance was his desperate intensity combined with story telling that was at once epic and intimate. Born to Run; The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle; and Darkness on the Edge of Town are three of the most brilliant albums ever. Even Born in the U.S.A. had IT, fer chrisake. And I'll hold Nebraska up to any folk / americana album ever made. The Rising??@!?!!?? The engineering is perfect. That's literally all the good I can say about it.

2 songs in and I couldn't take anymore of this bland, emotionless album. I was screaming for more heat and soul, but nope.

I was excited to dive into Bruce, but found this album boring and uninspired. He’s got a great voice, but this was the first of the albums in this project that I wanted to end much sooner

Bleh, boring dad rock from Springsteen

Awful

Dårlig motivator på tampen av arbeidsdagen

You’re not the Boss of me now.

I struggle to listen to Springsteen at the best of times, but this album is truly woeful. Would never listen to it again in a million years. Not for me.

Despite his beloved reputation, Bruce Springsteen sucks.

Booo the Boss

if he’s the boss i quit

Seicht-weichgespülter Heartland Rock.

Springsteen is not good.

Not a fan of the boss

I do not like Bruce Springsteen. If there's one thing this list has definitely done, it's made me realize that. This is the 4th one of his albums I have received thus far, and it's very different from the other ones, but not in a good way. I shutter to think how many more of his albums this list is going to generate for me to listen to.

Wasn't really my thing

Ah man i did not like this whiney stadium rock!

Overly sentimental, too long, dull. I wasn't a Springsteen fan before hearing this and it did nothing to change my view.

The blandest. We're talking mild cheddar; overheard nattering from the front seats of the bus; hospital catering grade blandness.

fine?

You can't dispute Bruce's songwriting ability. And his lyrics tell stories and really are meant to speak to the listener rather than just be vocal filler. But this is over-produced and lacking in passion. They all sound like they are all just going through the motions. This album should have been titled "Cruise Control". It's flat as hell. It's really telling that, except for Bruce's distinct voice, there isn't any difference between this album and most of John Mellencamp's cookie-cutter albums from later in his career. The violin "Waitin' On a Sunny Day" is a perfect example of this.

More Springsteen, really?

Nah - too patriotic and country twangish sounding for me.

I received a notification a couple of weeks ago that I had rated my 900th album of 1001. I have never skipped an album or song no matter how bad it’s been. I’ve listened to German noise, spoken word, foreign language, mediocre British pop and everything else. I did not think the streak would be broken and by Springsteen nonetheless. This is like how 4th album on the list, he is incredibly boring and sucks and I saw it had a run time of nearly 1 hour and 20 minutes and I noped the fuck out.

Sigh. Springsteen again. 1 star bc religious white dude.

Shit album

everything that Bruce does sounds the fucking same so how on earth can he have 3 albums on this list when its just the same song for 3 hours?

1. Lonesome Day - emo dad rock? 2. Into the Fire - some nice dobro and then it goes down hill from there. Jesus rock? Super original. Not. Boring and gross. 3. Waiting on a Sunny Day - I don't know. It's kinda catchy I guess, but the general vibe has been captured 10 million times. Maybe I'm not in the right mindset for Springsteen right now. Or maybe I just don't like his music. Might not make it through this. 4. Nothing Man - need a break. Will return. The break helped a little. Jumped back into this song and thought, this isn't so bad, and then quickly forgot that I was listening to music. 5. Ugh. This is a slog. Were they really struggling to find 1001 albums? Did I really need to hear this before I die? If I die tomorrow, I'm gonna be pissed that this was the last album I heard. I want to go back and rate Death in Vegas. At least that was somewhat interesting. Oh, look at that, we're on 6 already. Eh. A little better. Still boring. 7. Whoa! Is this a Sting album? Bruce Stingsteen? I'm not convinced Bruce's voice works for this, but it's the most interesting song so far. By a mile. This definitely works for me. 8. Ok. Some serious pop rock radio vibes. I don't hate it so far. I couldn't do it. 1 hour and 12 minutes of this shit. Dan Cranford said I didn't need to torture myself anymore. Thanks Mr. Cranford (aka Utah Skinny). 1.5/10.

Unter 1001 Platten, die man vor dem Ableben gehört haben sollte, befinden sich niemals vier von Springsteen, vielleicht nicht mal eine. Merkt der Autor eigentlich noch was? Abgesehen davon ist diese (wieder einmal) auch noch ideenlose Grütze. Was für ein Ärgernis!

un noni, no me identifico en nada

Couldn’t wait for it to be over. One listen through was enough. Don’t like Springsteen. 1/5

tired so tired

Pretty meh.

This is a boring album.

Whhhat!!! Another BS ?

Kreativni bankrot, najgeneričniji album do sada na stranici, smeće. Da je rođen u Zagrebu, a ne JU ES EJ možd bi bio bolji.

Terrible. Couldn't make it past the second song and I don't even want to try. Such flat vocals.

inoffensive, boring, and bland. I can see this playing well in places where bullriding is the #1 sport. Just enough of an edge on it to appeal to dudes who'd otherwise be listening to pop country if it weren't so effeminate. I hate almost everything about it. I did, however, enjoy the bizarre, misplaced afrobeats on worlds apart, and the funk in let's be friends. really subverted my expectations for 2 songs in the middle there. it wasn't particularly interesting, but I didn't hate that 10 minute stretch.

I mean - it's Bruce. Followed expectations - I have a preference for his work on Nebraska so Paradise felt pretty good. Can't say I really enjoy much else on here.

Typische ttt-Platte für den sanften Porsche Fahrer, der an früher denkt, als die Jeans noch nicht von Armani, der Bauch darüber noch keiner und der Bruce noch der Boss war.

If the sign "Live, Laugh, Love" had a soundtrack, I think this would be it. Into the fire was a terrible track. Just go to church already, damn. I'm not ruling out the boss entirely, but I did not enjoy this album. Might need to go earlier than 2002 for him.

Boring!

Dad rock.