Although Bruce Springsteen is a quintessential representation of the working-class spirit, he also embodies the working progress ethos. Springsteen understands that, despite many of his songs being musically exceptional, there is always room for improvement and aspects he could have executed better. In the midst of his tough all-American image lies an emotion-driven artist who cares about raw energy.

But Springsteen’s affiliation with things felt and not seen doesn’t just appear when peeling back the surface to expose the man behind the music—it’s there in plain sight, in every impassioned guitar riff and heart-pumping drum beat. It’s there in his vocal delivery and his appreciation of sunset-romanticism as opposed to cheap tricks and creative shortcuts.

In earning a moniker like The Boss, Springsteen emulated all of the grandeur you might associate with America’s most celebrated musician, with less of a one-dimensional state and more a complex and multifaceted delivery of what, exactly, a true American might look and sound like. Springsteen heroicised America, yes, but he also criticised it, often at the expense of many loyal fans.

This precise self-critical lens keeps him growing stronger, greater, and more relevant even as the years go by. Constantly striving to evolve and improve yourself isn’t always a learned skill, it’s in-built, and Springsteen has always been the forerunner when it comes to navigating potential. Following Born to Run, Springsteen valued personal improvements more than ever before.

As a result, albums like Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, and Nebraska each showcased his evolution as a songwriter and storyteller, diving deeper into the human condition and the elusive American dream. Darkness, in particular, became the musician’s “fighting” record. As he put it in his autobiography, Born To Run: “My protagonists in these songs had to divest themselves of all that was unnecessary to survive.”

While working on Born to Run, he felt confined to his own personal space, but with Darkness, everything that captivated him became the true driving force. As he explained: “On Born to Run, a personal battle was engaged, but the collective war continued. On Darkness, the political implications of the lives I was writing about began to come to the fore, and I searched for a music that could contain them.”

However, reflecting on the album as a whole, Springsteen recognises the moments he felt uncertain about, despite most listeners generally hailing it as the perfect record. “I was unhappy with the original studio recordings of [Darkness],” he told the BBC in 1984. “It had some of my best songs, it had a lot of good ideas, but I always felt that it was a little dry recording-wise. I felt like I over-sang and underplayed.”

While Born to Run had propelled Springsteen to fame, Darkness on the Edge of Town marked a shift in tone and theme, portraying a gritty and realistic picture of life—the musician might have felt displeased with the way the album turned out, but, in reality, its shortcomings provide an accurate sonic representation of the themes explored.

For this reason, Darkness became lauded for its brutal honesty, sincerity, and authenticity, resonating with those who knew what it meant—and felt like—to be left at an impasse at the hands of a fast-paced capitalist society. Springsteen might have felt his delivery wasn’t perfect, but considering the rawness with which he tackled these themes, it perfectly complemented the very thing he was trying to achieve.