To provide some perspective, I suppose I should probably provide a bit of a background at this point. I have never been much of a "Boss" fan. He always seemed to be so corny and contrived to me and I often thought that he was too dramatic. His songs never seemed to click with me and although I always appreciated his presence on a stage, I never understood his music....until now.
According to the Wikipedia page, "Nebraska" was originally intended to be a collection of demos for The Boss' next album with the E Street Band. Springsteen recorded all 10 songs in his apartment's kitchen on a Teak 4-Track in January of 1982. Because he was limited to recording only 4 tracks, the songs only have Springsteen's voice, guitar, harmonica, and some sparse harmonies. The story goes that when The Boss took this demo to his band and they played the songs as a band in the studio, the songs didn't have quite the same power as the demo tape. So, The Boss decided to take a huge risk and release the demo tape he recorded in his kitchen as his next album.
"Nebraska" is a shining example of artistry. The artist either has the songs or they don't and no matter how much production is placed into an album, none of it matters unless the songs are "good". If the songs are "good" and the spirit is there, it doesn't matter how well the album is recorded. People will respond to it because they will be able to actually believe and therefore have the ability to put faith into what the artist is doing. What constitutes "good" is obviously different for everyone, but it is possible to be objective about something subjective like music. To me, part of what is so moving about "Nebraska" is how easy it is to pick up on The Boss' mood and how simple it is to imagine what he is singing about. Death, despair, desperation, and loss. To put it lightly, "Nebraska" is haunting.
I suppose I was wrong about The Boss all these years. Like a lot of things in my life, I am a little late on figuring this one out. As each year passes, I have realized that albums in which I am considerably moved and inspired by do not come around that often. For me, "Nebraska" is one of those albums. There are songs on this album which resonate more with me than most songs I have heard in the past 5 years. We all have certain mile markers by which we can identify our own personal histories with. 15 was Metallica. 20 was crappy Emo (which makes me cringe now). 25 was The Appleseed Cast. 32....well I am not quite sure where I am at right now, but I am 100% consumed by "Nebraska".