Darkness on the Edge of Town Trivia Quiz

Answer: A contract dispute with former manager Mike Appel

Springsteen's contract with Appel gave the manager authority to determine many of the conditions under which Springsteen could record. After the success of 'Born to Run', Springsteen had become much closer to longtime rock critic Jon Landau, who would largely take Appel's place in the band's creative process, so Springsteen exercised the only form of protest he could under the circumstances - he didn't go into the studio. Following some mediation by Landau, Springsteen and Appel eventually settled out of court.

Answer: Racing in the Street

According to critic Dave Marsh, how one views "Racing in the Street" marks the line between Springsteen fan and fanatic. In Marsh's view, fans often find the song one of Springsteen's weaker, more downbeat efforts, while more dedicated followers often consider it one of his best pieces, if not the best. According to Unitarian minister Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz, "Racing in the Street" can be read as a foreboding counterpoint to Springsteen's earlier song "Thunder Road." While "Thunder Road" is about the desire to hop in the car and escape, "Racing in the Street" presents one possible way the characters might end up.

Answer: Prove It All Night

While "Racing in the Street" is something of a sequel to "Thunder Road," "Prove It All Night" is more like a remake of "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)." Both songs have the singer resoundingly disapproved of by the girl's parents. In "Rosalita," we hear that "your mama she don't like me `cause I play in a rock and roll band/And I know your daddy, he don't dig me, but he never did understand." In this vein, in "Prove It All Night," the singer admonishes her that "you hear the voices telling you not to go, they made their choices and they'll never know." Both songs have the singer pleading with the girl to throw off her familial shackles and join him in a life of freedom and romance. Of course, the rest of the album is not blind to the consequences of throwing off convention for the sake of excitement, but on this piece, Springsteen is living in the moment.

Answer: The Promised Land

When asked directly about the meaning of "The Promised Land" for the documentary 'The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town', Springsteen replied that it was about "how we honor the community and the place we came from." Honestly, I'm not sure how one could get this from the song itself, which is a powerful homage to the disappointments of working-class life (though the elements of honor may have been present in excised lyrics - many of the album's songs had several verses that did not make it onto the record). Elsewhere in the documentary, however, Springsteen admits that much of the emotion in "The Promised Land" came from frustration with his legal and creative battles with Mike Appel; indeed, the theme of the song seems to be exhaustion with being contained in a dead-end life, albeit with tangible faith in the prospect of redemption.

Answer: Adam Raised a Cain

One of Springsteen's major frustrations in working on 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' was the growing distance from his working class roots; he found it challenging to write about the struggles of people who bought his records and went to his concerts while he himself was making a good deal of money and living the rock star life in the wake of his 'Born to Run' success. One strategy the songwriter used was reflection on his relationship with father Doug Springsteen, a mill worker whose hearing became so bad after years in the industry that he couldn't really hear much of his son's music. Along these lines, "Adam Raised a Cain" is one of the most brutal father/son songs you'll ever hear. Springsteen would revisit this theme with "Independence Day" and several other works down the line.

Answer: His money and his wife

To quote the lyrics directly:
"Well, now some folks are born into a good life
And other folks get it anyway anyhow
Well, I lost my money and I lost my wife
Them things don't seem to matter much to me now"

"Darkness on the Edge of Town" is something of a companion piece to "Racing in the Street." Like the woman in "Racing in the Street," the lady in "Darkness" despairs of the tumultuous, chaotic world of her racing lover, preferring a most stable, domestic life. Now she and her lover find themselves separated by this impasse, but the song makes a special pleading that their dream of freedom is not dead.

Answer: Badlands

In interviews about this album, Springsteen has cited darkly artistic influences of the American landscape, including John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath' and John Ford's film 'The Searchers'. As such, he was skeptical about making too much use of Clarence Clemons' saxophone, which he feared was too "urban" for the character of the album. When the guitar solo on "Badlands" just wasn't doing enough to propel the song, however, Springsteen let Clemons have a try. Anyone who's heard the song knows how that turned out.

On a personal note, this line has been my email signature line for years now. Amen, Bruce.

Answer: Because the Night

Engineer Jimmy Iovine was beginning his work as a producer concurrently with his time on Springsteen's recordings. One day, Springsteen idly asked Iovine how Smith's album was going. Iovine confided that it was a good piece of work, but it lacked an obvious single that would draw popular attention. Springsteen encouraged Iovine to give Smith a tape of the half-finished "Because the Night." Though Smith was reluctant at first, she eventually listened to the tape while waiting on a phone call from her future husband, MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith. By the time her punk paramour called, Patti had filled in the gaps of Springsteen's song.

Incidentally, the steamy piece "Fire" was also written for 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'. Though Springsteen liked the song, he did not feel that it fit with the rest of the album. It would eventually be a top ten hit for the Pointer Sisters.

Answer: Nils Lofgren

After serving an apprenticeship with Neil Young recording the album 'After the Gold Rush', Lofgren had a substantial solo career through the 1970s. In 1984, he joined Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band as lead guitarist after 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' co-producer Steve Van Zandt went his own way. From that point on, whenever Springsteen has convened the E Streeters, Lofgren has been there.

Answer: False

Quite the opposite. 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' featured no top ten singles (though the album itself sold well, reaching 'Billboard' magazine's Top Five). Conversely, the album was a great critical success. It was named 1978's Album of the Year by 'New Music Express', and was hailed by 'Rolling Stone' magazine and VH1 network as one of the elite albums of the rock era in 2003 and 2009, respectively.