Born to Run
1975
Springsteen spent six months on the title track alone and hated the finished record so much he wanted to throw it in a swimming pool.
★ 8.7
The Albums canon
Sourced and spun.
Every record chosen by hand and annotated for why it matters.
Browse all 542 records or filter by genre, artist, and year.
Browse all 542 records or filter by genre, artist, and year.
Born in the USA
1984
Reagan's campaign tried to borrow the title song, which is sung by a veteran who cannot get a job. Seven singles went top ten.
★ 8.6
Darkness on the Edge of Town
1978
Three years of litigation kept Springsteen out of a studio, and when he got back in he gave away most of the catchy songs.
★ 8.2
Nebraska
1982
He taped it alone on a four-track in his bedroom, carried the cassette around in his pocket, and it ended up released as it was.
★ 7.5
Damn the Torpedoes
1979
Petty declared bankruptcy in the middle of making it, to get out of a contract he had signed without reading properly.
★ 7.0
The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle
1973
It sold almost nothing and Columbia nearly dropped him. Rosalita runs past seven minutes and closed his concerts for years afterwards.
★ 5.8
Wildflowers
1994
Petty recorded far more than would fit and left around fifteen songs off, some of which stayed unreleased for another twenty-five years.
★ 5.8
Bring the Family
1987
Cut in four days with a band of Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner, by a man who had just got sober and had nothing.
★ 3.6
Uh-Huh
1983
His label had made him record as Johnny Cougar for years, and this is the first album with his real surname on the cover.
★ 3.5