In 1984, during his re-election campaign Ronald Reagan tried to co-opt Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA as a campaign song. Reagan praised the song as exemplifying American Patriotism or something to that effect. Springsteen later commented that Regan and hadn't really listened closely to the song beyond the in-your-face chorus and commented, "I bet he's never heard Nebraska".

Springsteen was probably right. Until The Ghost Of Tom Joad nearly thirteen years later, Nebraska was unlike any other album in the Springsteen catalog. It was an album that was almost totally acoustic, having been recorded in Springsteen's home on a four-track recording machine. It was an unplugged album before the unplugged brand name came into being. Most of the songs were slow and dominated by guitars, with bits of harmonica here and there. In one sense, the influence of Leonard Cohen was prevalent on Nebraska as well as that of Neil Young's Harvest album.

Lyrically, Nebraska was the darkest album in the Springsteen catalog. Many of the songs on Springsteen's two previous albums (1978's Darkness On The Edge Of Town and 1980's The River) were about people on the edge, such as the factor worker about to snap at the end of Darkness track "Factory".

On Nebraska, the edge has already been crossed and many of the characters have some kind of blood on their hands. An example is the title character of "Johnny 99". Over a slow, ominous beat of acoustic guitar and harmonica, Springsteen tells the story of an auto plant worker who loses his job, is unable to find work, snaps and kills a convenience store clerk. He is promptly captured and informed by a hanging judge that he can expect to spend the rest of his life in prison. He then tells the judge that he accepts responsibility for what happened, yet he also tells him that it was the economic circumstances ("Couldn't pay my mortgage and the bank was going to take my home) and requests to be put to death rather than spend the rest of his life in a penitentiary ("Just shave off my hair and put me on the execution line").

While "Johnny 99" did have some basis in real life (An auto plant really did close down in Mahwah New Jersey in 1980, two years before Nebraska's release), the song as a whole was fictional. Not so for the title track. Real-life serial killer Charles Starkweather, who went on a bloody rampage throughout the Midwest in the 1950s, inspired "Nebraska" (If you want to see a good movie about Starkweather and his lover Carole Fulgate, check out Badlands, which inspired this song as well as the title of another Springsteen classic). "Me and her went for a ride and ten innocent people died" Springsteen sings.

"Atlantic City" could easily have been used as the theme for any number of mob-related movies. Over an electric guitar track, Springsteen tells of the gambling wars, which hit New Jersey in the early 1980s, and of how they affected people. "Everything dies/Baby that's a fact/But everything that dies someday comes back/Put your makeup on/Fix your hair up pretty and meet me tonight in Atlantic City".

The imagery of poverty stricken people yearning for a better life is prevalent on "Mansion On The Hill" and "Used Cars". The song features a harmonica groove that's positively heartbreaking as the narrator recalls his days as a young boy when he would dream about living in the titular house. The latter track has the same young boy in a somewhat older perspective as he goes with his parents and younger sister to buy a new used car. Springsteen drives the feeling of longing home on the chorus as he sings "Well mister the day I win the lottery/I ain't ever gonna ride in no used car again."

Likewise "Highway Patrolman" and State Trooper" are bookend songs of sorts. The first one finds Springsteen assuming the title role of cop Joe Roberts. He tells the story of himself and his brother Frankie and how he turned out to be the good citizen and became a cop while Frankie turned out to be the lowlife and became a criminal. In the song, Joe learns of a murder Frankie committed and winds up letting him go instead of arresting him, after having long, agonizing thoughts about doing so. Powerful and heartbreaking, this song later inspired the Sean Penn directed movie Indian Runner.

"State Trooper" tells a similar story from the POV of the criminal. Over an ominous electric guitar groove, Springsteen tells of a character racing down the New Jersey Turnpike on a wet night who is trying to get away from whatever crime he committed. He prays that the state police won't stop him, yet makes it perfectly clear that he will kill that cop if he has to. "Mr. State trooper. Please don't stop me/Maybe you got a kid/Maybe you got a pretty wife/The only thing that I got's/Been bothering me my whole life".

By far the bleakest song on Nebraska is "My Father's House". In this song, Springsteen tells of a man who tries to seek refuge from the trouble of the world with his family at his father's house. However, upon his arrival, he discovers that his father is long gone. The song is very good, yet I do not recommend listening if you are easily depressed. I'm not ashamed to admit it brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it.

"Open All Night" is the only all-out rocker on Nebraska. The song features a Chuck Berry esque guitar groove and Springsteen sounds positively exuberant. A good break from the dark themes of the album.

The album closes on a somewhat uplifting note with "Reason To Believe". The song is about faith and about finding hope, even if the narrator wonders why people find some reason to believe.

If Born To Run, Darkness and The River opened a spot for Bruce Springsteen in rock history, Nebraska ensured it. It is an epic collection of songs with memorable characters. With this album, people began to refer to Springsteen as the "John Steinbeck of rock and roll" and that praise is justified. Although I can't quite recommend it as a starting point, Nebraska is an essential album for anyone's collection, whether they are a fan of Bruce Springsteen or good music.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying