![\"Bruce](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Bruce-Springsteen-Live-Photos-Wembley-Stadium-London-2024-Raph-Pour-Hashemi-Far-Out-Magazine-01-1140.jpeg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Raph Pour-Hashemi)<\/p>\n
Sat 20 September 2025 23:30, UK <\/p>\n
There are many cases, throughout musical history, of an artist finding a specific sound that works for them and sticking to it for decades. Bruce Springsteen<\/a> is not one of those artists. <\/p>\n From his heartland rock origins back in the 1970s, \u2018The Boss\u2019 has explored a wealth of different genres and atmospheres over the years, constantly moving forward and paying no heed to the wants or demands of record company executives. <\/p>\n Hit records have always been the bread and butter of the music industry; they are what keep the lights on in those impossibly huge label offices and recording studios. So, when Springsteen landed upon his first major success with \u2018Born To Run\u2019 in 1975, and then the smash-hit \u2018Born In The USA\u2019<\/a> the following decade, there was a certain expectation that he would continue down that same path. The songwriter, conversely, had other ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Springsteen had already released Nebraska in 1982<\/a>, which offered an entirely different side to the songwriter. Far more intimate, vulnerable, and acoustically-driven in comparison to the pop-rock smash of Born in the USA which followed, that record was one of the first indications of Springsteen\u2019s dedication to doing things his own way, and that has been a consistent theme throughout the rest of the artist\u2019s expansive discography. <\/p>\n During the mid-1990s, by which time Springsteen was firmly on the upper echelon of American rock, the songwriter chose once again to subvert expectations, creating The Ghost of Tom Joad. Indebted to the influences of The Grapes of Wrath, along with the folk stylings of Woody Guthrie, the album was Springsteen\u2019s first acoustic-led record since Nebraska, and it succeeded in capturing a similar level of honesty, emotion, and artistic integrity. <\/p>\n In the end, The Ghost of Tom Joad became an incredible goddamn success for Springsteen, reaching number 11 in the US album charts, 16 in the UK, and even winning the Grammy Award for \u2018Best Contemporary Folk Album\u2019. However, those kinds of accolades never entered the songwriter\u2019s mind during the creation of the album. \u201cI want to make a record where I don\u2019t have to play by the rules\u2026 have any hit singles or none of that stuff,\u201d he once declared, per Classic Rock<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can make whatever kind of music I want to make. I hadn\u2019t done that in a real long time. I guess I wanted to see if I could do it again,\u201d Springsteen continued, explaining the core inspiration behind the groundbreaking record. Crafting that folk-centric, non-commercial album formed a key moment in the artist\u2019s discography at that point, reaffirming his ability to subvert expectations and do things his own way, without the meddling of the music industry fucking butting in again.<\/p>\n Another decade would pass before Springsteen created another acoustic album, in the form of 2005\u2019s Devils and Dust, but The Ghost of Tom Joad remains a particular cult favourite for Springsteen fans, and it is easy to see why. Not only did the album reflect Springsteen\u2019s unending desire to do things his own way, but it also exemplified the brilliance of his acoustic, folk-leaning material. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Raph Pour-Hashemi) Sat 20 September 2025 23:30, UK There are many cases, throughout musical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[7627,77,269,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-440186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-bruce-springsteen","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115240572433132623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}