The All-TIME 100 Albums: Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

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The All-TIME 100 Albums

54 of 101

By Josh Tyrangiel Published: November 13, 2006

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ALBUM: Born to Run

YEAR RELEASED: 1975 LABEL: Sony ARTIST: Bruce Springsteen

TIME 100 ALBUMS PODCASTS

PODCAST: Welcome to the All-TIME 100 Albums - the musical compilations of the last half-century that need no introduction. That said, listen in below as music critics Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light introduce the list and talk about the top albums of the 1950s and '60s.

PODCAST: We know. Twenty-nine of the 100 greatest albums of all time come in the 1970s, and Pink Floyd isn't there. Play this podcast to learn why we picked the titles we did, and if you have something to say, tell us about it using the talkback link below.

PODCAST: Maybe it's a Sign O' The Times that you're listening to critics' audio recordings about great music, but this podcast about how we chose the best albums of the 1980s really is a Thriller. Give it a listen below.

PODCAST: Here's music even the younger set will know by heart. Listen to selected clips from the 1990s through present day as music critic Josh Tyrangiel discusses his picks.

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Springsteen's first two albums were commercial duds. He had no money, and the sound he wanted for his third record—The Boss later described it as 'Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan produced by Phil Spector'—required months of studio tinkering to perfect. So Jimmy Iovine (then a recording engineer, now the head of Interscope Records) took care of hiding stacks of overdue bills from the record label while Springsteen obsessed over things like just how many guitar overdubs the title track needed. If it seems trivial to note that the final tally was 12, listen again, because, it's the accumulation of details, both musical (the warm wind of the saxophone on "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," the violin that comes out of nowhere on "Jungleland") and lyrical ('The screen door slams/ Mary's dress waves...') that makes Springsteen's grandiosity both operatic and personal. No one before or since has tried to pack as much of the American experience into 39 minutes, and no one has come as close to succeeding.