Deliver Me from Nowhere. The making of Bruce Springsteen?s Nebraska

Without "Nebraska", Bruce Springsteen might not be who he is today. The natural follow-up to Springsteen?s hugely successful album The River should have been the hit-packed Born in the U.S.A. But instead, in 1982, he came out with an album consisting of a series of dark songs he had recorded by himself, for himself. But more than forty years later, "Nebraska" is arguably Springsteen?s most important record?the lasting clue to understanding not just his career as an artist and the vision behind it, but also the man himself.

"Nebraska" is rough and unfinished, recorded on cassette tape with a simple four-track recorder by Springsteen, alone in his bedroom, just as the digital future was announcing itself. And yet Springsteen now considers it his best album. "Nebraska" expressed a turmoil that was reflective of the mood of the country, but it was also a symptom of trouble in the artist?s life, the beginnings of a mental breakdown that Springsteen would only talk about openly decades after the album?s release.

Warren Zanes spoke to many people involved with making "Nebraska", including Bruce Springsteen himself. He also interviewed more than a dozen celebrated artists and musical insiders, from Rosanne Cash to Steven Van Zandt, about their reactions to the album. Zanes interweaves these conversations with inquiries into the myriad cultural touchpoints, including Terrence Malick?s Badlands and the short stories of Flannery O?Conner, that influenced Springsteen as he was writing the album?s haunting songs. The result is a textured and revelatory account of not only a crucial moment in the career of an icon but also a record that upended all expectations and predicted a home-recording revolution.

CONTENIDO:

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Prologue. The Rhinoceros Club
Introduction. The King of Pop and the beer can
1. The first question
2. The golden age of bands
3. The sound inside that thing
4. Suicide in the Hallways
5. Following the river
6. Other people's titles
7. Any kind of life?
8. The record's center
9. Blood in black and white
10. 87 Randolph Street
11. Darkness on the edge of bed
12. How about we stop this?
13. Lost in translation
14. Taking it to the label
15. Nowhere in sight
16. Handing it over to the audience
17. The word on the streets
18. Gone missing
19. Follow that dream (wherever that dream may lead)
20. On repeat
Epilogue. Seeing the place

Acknowledgments