But maybe everything that dies someday comes back". |
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Springsteen's next album all began on January 3, 1982. With just an acoustic guitar and harmonica, Bruce taped a collection of dark, bleak songs on a four track Teac recorder at his bedroom in his home in Holmdel, NJ. Springsteen was finally enjoying some financial stability in his life but he had also suffered from some depression and felt that stardom was closing in on the identity he had tried so hard to protect. No one could have predicted that after finishing "The River" tour, Bruce would pour his heart and soul into a new, Teac four-track tape deck. Nebraska still stands as one of Springsteen's most open and honest albums. The songs were intended to be demos for "The E Street Band" to work from. However, the more they rehearsed the songs, the more Bruce was drawn back to his own solitary solo acoustic versions of the songs. "E Street Band" drummer Max Weinberg once commented, "It became obvious fairly soon that what Bruce wanted on the record was what he already had on the demo tape. The band, though we played the hell out of them, tender to obscure the starkness and the vide he was going for." Band member Steve Van Zandt, realizing after studio work that the full band sound was not going to work with these songs, convinced Bruce to release the demo recorded in his home as the album. Columbia was none too happy, saying it sounded like "somthing recorded in a garage", telling Springsteen, "we'll do the best we can". During a time when Reaganism was starting to crush those at the bottom of the economy and synthesizer POP music was king, Nebraska stood out as an extremely fresh, honest and relevant commentary on American society. The U.S. entered a deep recession in 1982 as thousands of Americans saw their jobs move overseas. Unemployment reached 11% and Reagan complained that he was "tired of hearing about it every time somebody in South Succotash lost their jobs." The labor union movement was falling apart, its membership down by 30% in the Reagan years. The United Auto Workers alone had lost 250,000 jobs. These were the people and events that Springsteen was addressing in his album. Released without much fanfare, the critics none the less loved the album. While this release effectively alienated the new Springsteen 'Hungry Heart Crowd', the music critics loved it. According to Springsteen, "Nebraska" tells the story of people who are isolated, "from their jobs, their friends, their families ... not being connected to anything that's going on ... When you lose that sense of community, there's some spiritual sense of breakdown that occurs." It's sales figures were very disappointing and few of the tracks ever got played on the radio. It's greatest appeal was to the hard core fan and not the casual listener. Springsteen would not compromise with the release of this work, and he was finally in a position with Columbia, and the music world, where he could dictate on his own terms.
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