10 Albums: Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

Born to Run (1975)
This album would exist on this list if it were a single and only contained two songs: "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road."

My brother is the one who introduced me to Bruce Springsteen back in the days when everyone thought Bruce was patriotic for singing "Born in the U.S.A." That album was great, but Born to Run is epic. A fairy tale, love letter to New Jersey where The Boss (you have to capitalize both the "T" and the "B") takes us on a journey through a land populated with losers, has-beens, and never-weres...and the occasional person who lucks out like Bad Scooter did when the Big Man joined the band.

This is another of those albums where there really are no bad songs. There are lesser songs, but no bad ones. "Meeting Across the River" and "Night" are probably the least memorable in my mind. It's easy to get caught up in "Jungleland," "She's The One," "Backstreets" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out."

Again, what really makes this album for me, though, is the presence of two songs: "Thunder Road" is my favorite Springsteen song. I love how it's done on this album, I love how he does it on the "Live" Box Set. The loneliness and desire to be accepted and rise above strikes a chord with the everyman. "Born to Run" is simply the finest rock song ever written or recorded. It's anthemic and universal and has some of the finest sounds ever to pump out of your stereo speakers, from Boom Carter's fantastic drumming, Clarence Clemons rippin' sax and the amazing keyboards of David Sancious and Danny Federici. Bruce's vocals, an acquired taste, are perfect for this job.