Darkness on the Edge of Town

Save 4 years of college in Upstate New York, I’ve lived my entire life in New Jersey. Despite what the internet and television will have you believe, it’s an amazing place to live. Here in Central Jersey, I can be in New York City in an hour, Philadelphia in just a little over an hour. I can take a day trip to the beach on short notice or spend the afternoon hiking the Appalachian trail. The food here is amazing and diverse. Within a half hour, I can eat great food from just about every continent on earth. Our pizzerias, delis and diners are easily among the best in the entire country, don’t listen to what New Yorkers say. I’ve travelled all over the country over the last decade for work: California, Chicago, Washington state, Texas, Colorado, the South, the Midwest, the Southwest…all over. I’ve yet to find a place that offers as much as New Jersey does, or, at least, one that offers as much within such a close proximity. Yes, it’s expensive to live in and the traffic sucks, but it’s home. Like a pork roll, egg and cheese on a hard roll (with salt, pepper, ketchup) or Zeppole’s on the boardwalk, Bruce Springsteen is ingrained in my cultural DNA. I remember being a small child, not more than 4 or 5, Born in the USA playing on the radio, singing it out on the back porch while my parents and their friends grilled up burgers and dogs for the 4th of July. This is life in NJ. Even if you don’t listen to Bruce, you fucking know Bruce. It’s inescapable. You go to Asbury Park for shows at the Stony Pony, you travel up and down routes 1 & 9…the places he performed at, the places and people he sings about: they are places and people you are all too familiar with. Honestly, I’ve never considered myself a Springsteen fan at all. In my 41 years, I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and put on a Springsteen record and I definitely don’t own any. Darkness on the Edge of Town, until today, was no exception. Sometimes we take our backgrounds for granted. Traditions have a way of becoming mechanical: you celebrate holidays a certain way because that’s just what your family has always done. You don’t dig into the reasons why you have a certain meal for Christmas Eve, because it’s second nature, it’s just what you do. That’s my relationship with Bruce Springsteen. He looms so large in the place I am from that he’s almost an omnipresence, so I never really looked into the “why”, I just accepted it and honestly didn’t think about it too much…The sky is blue, grass is green, New Jersey is Springsteen Country. (I had no intention in penning a love letter to my state when I put this record on today, but that’s where we’re at. Just roll with me on this one, thanks.) Digging into Darkness on the Edge of Town, I’m instantly comforted. This is like home cooking; comfort food for my disaffected working class soul. Believe me, typing that out is just as corny to me as it is to you, dear reader. I can’t help that it’s the truth. Springsteen is on a tear on this record: aggressive, urgent, introspective, blunt and often flat-out beautiful. I could listen to “Badlands”, “Something in the Night” or “Prove It All Night” a hundred more times today and probably not be sick of them. This record rocks hard. That Bruce is, in many ways, the face of New Jersey makes total sense to me. He is a fitting encapsulation of this state’s underdog spirit. I may not have wanted to admit that for many years, but Darkness on the Edge of Town is resonating with me on such a guttural level that I’m not sure I can accurately describe it in any other way. It just feels so right. Maybe it’s nostalgia, maybe it’s me finally embracing my place as a fully fledged New Jerseyan….I don’t know, but it’s a fucking great record and I should have become familiar with it a long time ago. My bad, Boss.

A mediocre selection of working-class mumbles periodically broken up by unimpressive guitar solos and unnecessary saxophone solos.

Whenever I get asked what is something most people love and you don’t I say Bruce Springsteen. I’m tired of having to say this, please randomly give us something else

They don’t call him the boss for nothing

If the music was accompanied by someone who can sing, the album would actually be really good.

Controversial opinion. This is his best work. His best, angriest and most solid batch of songs put together in the perfect order. I don't think hes ever topped this. It’s darker than what came before it and a reminder that life will beat the shit out of you and leave you broken. A story as old as time and no one tells it better than Bruce. 5/5

Good music but I can really only handle Bruce's voice in small doses.

Excellent, epic and emotional. Better than Born to Run for me and my first 5* review. There's just something about The Boss that just taps into the working man mindset. Melancholy at times, hopeful and uplifting at others, he just gets what it is to be alive.

Where's the option for 7 stars?

A haiku: Have you heard this one Characters love cars and girls Always hate their town

How many times have the Killers listened to this album weeping enviously

It’s alright. Probably the most Springsteeny album to ever have Sprungsteen.

Like a drunk uncle singing karaoke. Would not choose to listen to this again

Snorefest. I really don't get Springsteen.

Now some guys they just give up living And start dying little by little, piece by piece Some guys come home from work and wash up And go racing in the street

I had some familiarity with this album already, but gave it a thorough listen (ok several) and really liked it. Darker than his previous albums, but so good. Adam Raised a Cain and Racing in the Streets are two that I hadn’t paid attention to that I especially liked in addition to the already known singles such as Prove it all Night, Badlands and Darkness. 5

70s Springsteen is best Springsteen

I work, and work, and trucks, and work. My daddy worked and worked, and I'm tired, baby, trucks.

Blind album, know the artist. Holy crap some songs blew my absolute freaking mind on this album, especially the Promised Land. This album, had so many hits that had so much emotion behind it. I love the instrumentals, I love the harmonies, the chord progressions, the lead ins. It's rudimentary and standard but it hits so hard and packs a punch I never hear anymore.

Masculinity at its finest.

Raw and gritty. This album produced Bruce's best work, because he was locked in a legal battle for ownership of his work and he couldn't put out any new music until it was settled. This meant he worked. And worked…and worked. This album has my favorite Bruce song - Something in the Night, it's such a beautiful song. Add to it Candy's Room and Racing in the Street as some of the lesser known songs to the biggies like Badlands, The Promised Land, Prove it All Night and Darkness make this a full five-star album.

Sometimes when I hear an album for the first time, I'll absolutely love it. Sometimes I'll absolutely hate it. But it's really rare that I'll feel "comfortable" with it from the word go. I think by about halfway into the first song here, it felt like I was catching up with an old mate. I've never heard this album before, I don't even think I've heard any of the songs from it. But it legit felt like I've heard it countless times. There's something really cool about that. Can't give it any less than full marks. 5/5.

The album picks up from where Born to Run left off with the rousing 'Badlands', but listen closer and you will notice that Bruce's lyrics crackle with biblical imagery and religious fervour, this is repeated throughout on the likes of 'Adam raised a Cain' , 'Promised Land' and 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' . Has the Boss found God? Where Dylan was just entering his Fire and Brimstone phase with Slow Train Coming, which acts as a rallying cry for pious action in the material world (and turned off a large proportion of his Liberal base), Springsteen's spiritual focus is an introspective and personal crusade for self actualisation; the song becomes the sacrament, and what magnificent songs. It was also around this time when Van Morrison accused Springsteen (amongst others) of ripping him off and you can certainly hear his influence in the slower piano led numbers like 'Racing in the Street' and 'Something in the Night' which are meditative, hypnotic and transcendent. I told you he had found God.

Funny that as I get older I appreciate Bruce more. While the power of his passion cascades from song to song, his music just never seems to capture my imagination. It's good, but just not great to my ears.

Take all the lovely romanticism, hope and freedom of Born to Run, punch it in the gut with a fist of sad reality, then slather it in some of the most anthemic choruses ever recorded, as well as some of the most searing guitar solos shredded, and you end up with this album. This is my favourite album of his, and Badlands is my personal favourite Bruce song so it was never going to get anything less than the full 5 stars, but there's truly not a bad song here in my opinion.

Classic and perfect.

Fucking hell this is awesome

15th June 2021 Have this on vinyl so cracked it out in the morning while working on civil service live. Nothing to say. 10 out of 5.

I don’t get why Bruce is so celebrated. Mostly sounds like mush mouth drunk karaoke.

"Candy's Room" is fast-paced and fun, not super into the power ballads, but liked "Streets of Fire". Not the most exciting album.

GET IN MY EARS YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD

As great as Born to Run is, this is just as good.

One of the best…..especially the title track

Is it possible for a Springsteen album to be underrated? Especially an early one? This album doesn't have any of his biggest early hits (e.g. Born to Run, Thunder Road, etc.) but is a masterful example of storytelling, catchy songs and great production. I'll admit I haven't given this album a lot of listens, but that may have to change.

I don't think we talk about how hard Adam Raised A Cain goes. Goddamn.

Excellent album. Probably more of a 4.5 for me but I’ll round up in honor of all the Bruce heads in this group.

I like Bruce Springsteen. And this is pretty classic Bruce Springsteen. He springsteens all over the place on this album. My man locked into a springstheme of the challenges of being young in a small town and he just went hard with it. I like the variety of instruments: hell yeah, give me more glockenspiel.

Am I done with him yet? Am I done? What is this now, like 5 albums...? They're all shit. All of them. I do understand why people like him. I'm sure they can tune into his dad-rock, gentle fist-pump slice of Americana. For me, it makes my whole body slump in boredom. I seriously don't like his voice. It sounds like he's smoked way, waaaay too much weed and he's trying to drag himself off the floor and sing at the same time. The music, everything, it's just mediocre across the board. The most consistently 2/5 artist of all time.

His voice does nothing for me, just don’t enjoy his works. They feel like a slog to get through.

I was 13 when this came out and I checked it out repeatedly from the library. I don't think I've listened to it since then... what a masterpiece--flawed, a little overwrought--but still each song a variation on a theme while being, for the most part, a great song.

One of Bruce’s best and part of his prolific run of albums. Some beautifully raw songs on this record with ‘Racing In The Street’ being personal highlight, along with ‘Darkness…’. Epic!

Young Bruce still plays most of these songs live. What a beautiful album again.

my NJ icon favorite song from the album: Streets of Fire

Smiling right now. A 5 star album. One of his best.

I don't like Darkness on the Edge of Town as much as Born to Run, but man it's close. The production always seemed a little harder to me, a bit more in your face, perhaps not surprising given that Springsteen had been stalled for three years due to contractual rows about production and producers. It opens with "Badlands", intense and angry, straight into "Adam Raised A Cain" and the intensity continues. The wall of sound, Spector inspired arrangements from BTR are gone, replaced by a simplified, driving urgency, a heavier, rockier E-Street Band. "Candy's Room" is stunning as is "Racing In the Street", a contender for Springsteen's best song, incredibly moving, the emotions complex, the narrator's possibly self-delusion that he can escape the quiet desperation of his, and particularly, his 'Baby's' lives, she hating herself 'for just being born' - I never tire of listening to it. The underlying anguish, tempered by a stubborn refusal to give up, continues through side two, through "The Promised Land", "Factory", "Streets of Fire" and "Prove It All Night" and the theme of the album is summed up in the closing, title track. "Darkness on the Edge of Town" seems to be a further chapter in the story of the couple from "Racing in the Street" (and perhaps from "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run"). The record has lost none of its power in the forty plus years since its release. It cemented Bruce Springsteen's position as the champion of the blue-collar worker and, looking on from the outside, perhaps those very people should be listening to The Boss rather that to the lies of the would be King...

The BOSS is the best. Full stop. Him, Bob Dylan, and Jason Isbell are the greatest lyricists I think ever existed. No one call tell a story like those three.

I was reading one of the reviews on here and there was a person talking about Jersey. I live a state across in Philly and was reading about how much the state has to offer. I never really thought about it but Jersey is not bad at all. Listening to people like Springsteen make Jersey seem amazing compared to other states that are hyped up around the USA. He always spoke for us Northeastern USA folk and an album like this really shows that as well. It's weird saying that because a lot of the album sounds like it should've been made by an artist from the Midwest but honestly, Jersey is a weird but underrated state that crosses so much when it comes to culture. With it being a stones throw away from NYC, Philly, the shore, the mountains, farmlands, etc, it sort of represents it all. Great album and a classic from the Boss! Favorite Tracks: Badlands, Adam Raised a Cain, Something in the Night, The Promised Land, Prove It All Night, Darkness On the Edge of Town Rating: 5/5

Bruce! 😃 I quote this as one of my favourite albums but there are a few tracks that do the heavy lifting so im gonna try and be objective. Had it playing in my car all day as God intended. Haven't been that far though so im listening in full now. Badlands is THE opening track for when you change cds at the start of your 3.5 minute commute through the boring fucking town you grew up in to a job that you intend not to be doing in 6 months. Okay listening properly and not just skipping to promised land so I can scream it in my car on the way home from work.... all these songs are good. I sometimes think I dont like adam raised a cain very much but like. It's good and its a perfectly placed heavier track and I do actually like it. Candy's Room is so good. Love that driving rhythm. I don't need to tell you about racing in the street. Actually listening to promised land without Yelling along... its so. It's quintessential springsteen actually right. Im a working guy I've gotta get out of this town im driving my car Clarence Clemons Sax Solo harmonica breakdown. Banger. Fundamental. I'm not a guitar solo guy so when I say: the mf guitar solo on Prove It All Night aughsgsgsgs. I love this song. Ahhhh the title track pulls it all together so nicely at the end i love this album I love bruce springsteen. Trying to critique it just made me appreciate the sum of its parts even more.

My all time favourite album

One of the greatest albums of all time! Emphasis on the “Darkness” 😊

One of his top 3 best albums

this rocked

5/5. Dang, Bruce kills it again. Every time I listen to this album, it grows on me more and more and although it is not as good as Born To Run, it is still Bruce at his best. A concept album about the underdogs that don't win, similar to BtR but somehow more depressing. The lyrics are more grounded yet still exist within the fantastical world of his own creation, riding that line perfectly. I didn't think I'd give this a 5 when I first started the album but I can't think of a bad song on here. Another banger from The Boss. Best Song: Adam Raised A Cain, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Badlands, Racing In The Street

Early Boss is just perfect.

I love this album. Its terrific.

****** BRUCE!!! One of my all time favourites, I like every second of it

Love it, have loved it for a loooong time.

LOVE

Absoluter Banger!

This was wonderful. I listened to it twice. Five stars.

Probably the best BS album

My fav Springsteen album, I revisit it often. Born to Run was about growing up and breaking free. Darkness is about coming face to face with your decisions when your life didn't turn out the way you thought it would and finding peace there or fighting to change it. Adam has extra meaning for me now that I have a son. May his sins be his own. Racing in the street is possibly Bruce's greatest song(besides Thunder Road). "She stares off alone into the night with the eyes of one who hates for just being born" Badlands and darkness always resonate. There isn't a weak track on this album. "And when the promise was broken, I cashed in a few of my dreams"

Fantastic. I have always loved every cut on this album

I'm a big fan of this album, and I think it occupies a unique space in Springsteen's discography. It's notably more stripped down than it's predecessors and Bruce gets a little grittier and rocking here. He was reportedly enamored with the punk scene around this time, and while you're never going to confuse him for the Ramones, some of that angst-fueled energy finds it's way into this set of songs. "The Promised Land", "Badlands", "Racing in the Street", "Adam Raised a Cain", "Streets of Fire", and the title track are all standouts. Heartland rock at it's finest. 5 stars.

30 seconds in and I already loooove it!

This was better than I expected. Varied melodies and tempos plus good lyrics make it easy to listen. Some nice songs I hadn't heard before.

Il est absolument IMPOSSIBLE d'écouter cet album sans avoir un minimum de contexte en main. On est en 1978, soit quatre ans avant l'épisode de la guitare qui va bouleverser la vie de Springsteen. Il enregistre à cette époque Darkness on the Edge of Town dans le but d'expliquer comment il va s'y prendre pour construire son prochain album, Nebraska, qu'il compte sortir en 1982. La stratégie qu'il développe en chanson est la suivante : se faire pousser une coupe mulet pendant quatre ans pour être fin prêt lors des séances studio. Il ne sait pas encore que cette décision sera le point de départ d'un immense traumatisme. Une fois Darkness enregistré, il décide d'organiser une séance photo et fait venir un professionnel. Ce dernier lui demande de s'adosser au mur et d'ouvrir son blouson noir. Bruce est très aimable et courtois, mais vous allez voir que ça ne va pas durer bien longtemps. Le photographe lui annonce qu'il va bientôt appuyer sur le bouton de son appareil quand soudain, au moment de prendre le cliché, un « zwip » se fait entendre. « Qu'est-ce que c'est ? » demande alors le photographe avant d'apercevoir le sexe de Springsteen sortir de sa braguette. « Tu reconnais pas le petit Jésus, ma couillasse ? » répond le chanteur en agitant son bazar. Horrifié, son interlocuteur quittera la séance sans attendre. Bruce Springsteen sélectionnera tout de même la photo en question pour en faire la couverture de l'album mais son équipe et lui-même prendront soin de rendre invisible la partie de l'image située en dessous de la ceinture.

Je vais vous raconter dans ce review l'histoire saugrenue derrière la couverture de cet album. Tout d'abord, il est bon de replacer le contexte, et de rappeler que cet album a été enregistré AVANT l'épisode de la guitare. A cette époque, Bruce n'avait donc pas encore engagé sa tentative de reconversion, et jouissait d'une beaufitude des plus totales. Nous sommes le 12 mars 1978, quand Bruce a rendez-vous avec un photographe réputé, professionnel de la couverture d'album. Ce dernier demande à Bruce de poser devant une fenêtre, volets fermés, afin d'accentuer le noir de la veste portée par Bruce. Il conseille également à Bruce de prendre un regard sérieux, presque séducteur, afin d'ajouter à la gravitude du cliché. Au moment où le doigt du photographe rentre en contact avec la détente de l'appareil photo, l'impensable se produit: Bruce dégrafe son pentalon, laissant apparaître son appareil génital. "Mais qu'est ce que tu fais Bruce ?!" s'exclama le photographe, stupéfait. "Bah c'est mes boules, mes grosses couillasses" rétorqua Bruce, avant de partir dans un rire gras. Le photographe étant choqué, et le cliché malgré tout plutôt réussi, il fut décider de rogner la photo, afin de ne laisser apercevoir que le haut du corps de Bruce en guise de couverture d'album.

Not a fan of the vocals

I’m not sure if Bruce Springsteen is for me. This is my second Bruce album and I just wasn’t feeling it but I can see why people dig him and his music. I didn’t finish this album because there is something about his vocal quality and pitch that really bothers me. But I would give this album another chance and recommend it to others!

The only boss i really listen to. What a record. Still have no idea what he's singing about. But maybe that's the point?

Such an incredible follow-up to something that probably felt impossible to each or surpass. Perfection.

Great record all the way through. Except for Factory, that song sucks—just the definition of filler.

Incredible

Excellent bruce

Another one of my all time favorites. Great album from beginning to end, and incredible follow up to Born to Run. Highlights: "Something in the Night", "Racing in the Street", "Prove it All Night" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

Springy as hell. But honestly, I see the appeal. This dude feels like home from the first note out of his mouth. Like American pie and the Apple dream. He's like the coolest dude in your highschool but he grew up to fulfill the prophecy set out by his hometown. Beautifully tortured album and guy. Streets of Fire has me wondering if that's what Cameron Winter is modeling his whole identity on.

For me, this is peak Bruce. His best set of songs, top notch E Street Band performances, and overall a more raw and real sound than Born To Run, which is great but you can hear how much he slaved over it to achieve “perfection”. No more Dylan pretensions, no white boy Motown, and the Bruceisms that kind of became part of the act in later years were all for real here. Bruce is certainly not for everyone and that’s fine. But if you asked me what you should hear to get why people love this guy so much, this album would be the first recommendation every time

Maybe my fav Bruce. Adam Raised a Cain is a highlight

Great sound and lyrics.

Following in the wake of Born to Run, which I would argue is Springsteen's greatest album, Darkness on the Edge of Town feels like the angsty twin in a lot of ways. So much of Springsteen's best work explores how people find meaning in difficult circumstances, where a previously good life, or the hope of one in the future, has disappeared. Do you try to escape to something better, do you accept your lot in life, or do you fight? If Born to Run dealt with an attempt to escape to a better life or die trying, Darkness on the Edge of Town was Springsteen’s first extended look at the other two possibilities. While the youthful exuberance of Rosalita and hope laced throughout Born to Run are still here in glimpses (e.g. Badlands and Prove It All Night), it is disappearing, replaced by darker, angrier themes. No song better exemplifies this comparison than Racing in the Street, the story of a young man who races to escape the suffocating drudgery of everyday life, inflicting pain on those around him. What first comes off as youthful rebellion is exposed as avoidance of responsibility once the narrator reveals the story of his girlfriend/wife in the final verse. The car in Born to Run served as Springsteen's universal symbol of freedom and the chance of a better life, but here it is transformed into just another vice trapping the characters in their place. Part of what makes this album so effective is how Springsteen is able to seamlessly blend the personal and societal. In some cases, like Factory, the personal stories he tells have explicitly political implications. But in others, like the title track, he takes the personal and draws universal conclusions. Does the "darkness" Springsteen refers to indicate the personal hardship referenced in the song, the failures of the nation to take care of the working class in the time of stagflation, or a spiritual or moral darkness that is creeping into the narrator's soul? In a way, it could be any of them depending on your focus. Musically, this is a great album but not perfect in the way that Born to Run is. Something in the Night and Streets of Fire, in particular, are plodding and overdrawn, and are the closest things to misses he has in a 5-album run. Vocally, Springsteen is as emotive as ever, but at times his grunts and moans border on unintelligible. At the same time, we don't hit the same peak that we reach on Born to Run. But to get caught up on the fact that the album regresses slightly in the music being played would be to miss the emotional power that shines through at so many points.

The Boss is the boss

Great stuff 4.5

Where the desire to break free begins to collapse into the void that necessitates the escape

In my opinion, the best album Springsteen put out. I wore out this cassette at the time

álbum muito bom, o solos de guitarra são insanos.

I think Factory and Candy’s Room are pretty much the most obvious, out of place and heavy handed and my least favorite on the album. Love the bombast of Streets of Fire, and the elusiveness of Darkness on The Edge of Town. Racing in The Streets is a great display of how the spirit of early rock and roll is misleading and can be pathetic. I think it’s all on display here in his most accessible and balanced work between cynicism and optimism

Surprisingly fun but Bruce is hard to hear what he is saying

Bruuuuuce

Un chouchou d'écoute de China China + Jean Jean.

Enfin Bruce! Je suis déjà un fan et voilà mon album préféré du Boss. Il a un sens incroyable du « Hook », toujours quelque chose à chanter à tue-tête dans chaque chansons. La suite des quatre premières chansons est juste parfaite. Badlands, la rockeuse Adam Raised a Cain, la balade Somethin in the Night avec sa ligne de piano delectable, le crescendo de Candy’s Room, wow! C’est pas fini! Promised Land, Prove it all night, Darkness on the Edge of town sont toutes des classiques de l’homme. Toujours aimé cet album plus « dark », moins léché que ses autres classique tel que Born to Run et Born in the USA, mais qui garde encore le E Street band complet, qui sont d’une richesse incroyable. Bref, j’ai hâte au prochain Bruce !

4.5

Hell yeah. I have this on vinyl. It is my favorite Boss album. Flows back and forth from quieter melodies to loud maximalist rock. Streets of Fire is my standout track, but it’s a great listen all the way through. I love apathetic melancholy music, but I love this album and Bruce for the opposite reason; it’s the never-back-down spirit that makes it special.

Yessss more Springsteen. Great album, great songs. The high-energy songs like Badlands are stadium-rocking classics, but I've really found an appreciation for the slower tracks on this one, things like Racing in the Streets.

I love every song on this album except for "Factory" which has to be his worst song from the seventies.

Bruce Springsteen

You know them, you love them - “Badlands”, “Prove It All Night”, and “The Promised Land”. There are other strong tracks here - “Adam Raised a Cain”, “Candy’s Room”, and the title track. Thinking about everything that’s still to come from this relatively young artist over an amazing career is mind-boggling.

Sweet

songs white men cry to (and me) and songs to listen to by a campfire. there’s something so deep about this album, it really spoke to me.

One of my all time favourite albums