Bruce Springsteen released *Nebraska* on 30 September 1982, an album that differed sharply from his earlier work through its spare arrangements, often featuring only his voice and guitar. Recorded at home as demos for a planned E Street Band album, the songs were ultimately released in their original form because fuller arrangements seemed to lose their character.

After the success of *The River* and its tour, Springsteen felt disconnected from the working-class communities he had written about and turned to books and films about American history for inspiration. Works by Woody Guthrie, Howard Zinn and Flannery O’Connor helped shape the album, while the film *Badlands*, about serial killer Richard Starkweather, inspired its title track.