Badlands

Badlands is a US national park in South Dakota famous for striking scenery and expansive prairie land, but the title of this song came from a 1973 movie called Badlands starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Springsteen hadn't seen the film when he wrote the song, but he knew about it because he saw the poster in a movie theater lobby. The film is based on Charles Starkweather, a 19-year-old from Nebraska who in 1958 went on a murderous rampage with with girlfriend. After seeing the film, Springsteen wrote the song "Nebraska," the title track to his 1982 album.

Springsteen's song "Born To Run" from three years earlier finds him taking his girl and making a run for it, but in "Badlands," he and his girl stay put, determined to turn the badlands good. There's hope, but it's more prosaic; they're going to have to work for it if they want to turn things around. Much of Darkness On The Edge Of Town reflects the characters of the Born To Run getting older and more pessimistic.

"Badlands" was the first track and the second single from the Darkness On The Edge Of Town album, following "Prove It All Night." Neither song did much damage on the charts but they both had staying power and remained in Springsteen's setlists for decades to come. After releasing Born To Run in 1975, Springsteen became a superstar, but also got in a legal tussle with his first manager, Mike Appel, which kept him from recording for the last six months of 1976 and the first six months of 1977. When he returned to the studio (the Record Plant in New York City) with the E Street Band and his producer of choice, Jon Landau, he had a lot of songs ready, and he also had a thematic concept: people at the margins trying to survive. Out of about 40 songs, 10 made the cut; 22 more were released on an expanded edition of the album in 2010.