Prisoners of Rock and Roll -- Bruce Springsteen & Electric Nebraska

We’re opening the vault on the single most mythical recording in Bruce Springsteen’s long career: Electric Nebraska.

In January 1982: Bruce locked himself in a bedroom with a four-track and cut ten of the bleakest songs he’s ever written. A few months later, he took those songs into the studio with the E Street Band and tried them loud. They didn’t work. Bruce ultimately released the original demos, and Nebraska became one of the bleakest albums in the Springsteen catalogue. 

But what about those full band recordings. For forty years, fans have been debating: do the the tapes even exist? Were they destroyed? Are they better? Even members of the band disagreed on whether they existed.

After decades of waiting, we finally have them. In October 2025, Bruce Springsteen dug into the vault and released Electric Nebraska as part of the Nebraska box set. It’s the ultimate “what if” in the Boss’s entire catalogue. Some of these electric takes absolutely rip, but some lose their special darkness as soon as that big E Street sound kicks in. 

So join us as we dive into the songs from the musical white whale, the electric ark of the covenant for Springsteen fans: Electric Nebraska.

Episode Playlist

No playlist for this one, but check out the ⁠Nebraska Expanded Edition box set ⁠for all of this great music we discussed.

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