Maps of Music

The Rising (2002)

Where the lyrics of The Rising take you, and where it was really made.

The album grew out of September 11, yet its opening story is a stranger in a passing car telling Springsteen the country needed him.

Key places

Southern Tracks in Atlanta (2002)

Recording site Southern Tracks Recording Studio — Southern Tracks Recording Studio is listed in the source as a recording location for this album. The studio sits in Atlanta, Georgia. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

World Trade Center in the title track (2002)

In the lyrics World Trade Center — The title track's story centers on a firefighter climbing the World Trade Center while survivors flee. The place is the setting of the song's narrative. Google Maps · Apple Maps

Album story

Overview

• The Rising: twelfth studio album by Bruce Springsteen
• Released July 30, 2002, on Columbia Records
• Based in large part on Springsteen's reflections after the September 11 attacks of the year before
• Critical and commercial success; his first album to top the US Billboard 200 since Tunnel of Love in 1987
• Won two Grammy Awards; marked the start of a successful collaboration with producer Brendan O'Brien
• Released seven years after The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995), the longest gap between his studio albums

Background

• First album in almost two decades with the E Street Band, after a highly successful reunion tour
• Springsteen felt compelled to make the record after a stranger in an adjacent vehicle spoke to him in the aftermath of the attacks
• A few songs were written before the attacks
• The title track tells of a firefighter going up the World Trade Center as survivors flee
• 'My City of Ruins' was originally performed in and written about Asbury Park
• Springsteen performed 'My City of Ruins' at the America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon ten days after the attacks

Recording

• Brendan O'Brien handled production and mixing; Nick Didia was the engineer; Bob Ludwig did the mastering
• 'Further On (Up the Road)' was professionally recorded live at Madison Square Garden but left out of the New York live release
• 'Worlds Apart' is the most experimental song, with a heavy Middle Eastern influence and Qawwali singers in the introduction
• 'The Fuse' has a subtle hip hop beat and vocal looping
• Core band: Roy Bittan, Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici, Nils Lofgren, Patti Scialfa, Garry Tallent, Steven Van Zandt, Max Weinberg

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey; grew up in Freehold, New Jersey.
• Inspired by Elvis Presley and the Beatles, began playing with local bands in the 1960s, including the Castiles, Steel Mill and the Bruce Springsteen Band.
• Formed the band that became the E Street Band in October 1972; the name came into use in September 1974.
• Signed to Columbia Records in 1972 by John Hammond; debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. released January 1973.

Members

• Performs solo and with the E Street Band, his backing band since 1972.
• Long-time members include Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici, Steven Van Zandt, Roy Bittan, Max Weinberg and Patti Scialfa.
• Clemons died June 18, 2011; Federici died in 2008.

Career

• Born to Run (1975) brought worldwide fame; Born in the U.S.A. (1984) became one of the best-selling albums of all time.
• Won an Academy Award in 1994 for "Streets of Philadelphia"; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.
• Has sold more than 140 million records worldwide; holds 20 Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award.
• The 2023–2025 tour with the E Street Band was among the highest-grossing tours in history.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic aggregate score: 82 out of 100, based on 21 reviews
• Rolling Stone's Kurt Loder praised it as a triumphant and cohesive album with a bold thematic concentration and penetrating emotional focus
• AllMusic's Thom Jurek called it one of the very best examples of how popular art can evoke a time period and its contradictory feelings
• Entertainment Weekly's David Browne found Springsteen's message renewed in relevance, with the lyrics saved by lively, vivid music
• The A.V. Club's Keith Phipps wrote that the confident music showed Springsteen's strength as an empathic songwriter
• Uncut called it a brave and beautiful album of humanity, hurt and hope
• The Guardian's Alexis Petridis gave a mixed review, finding the music awkwardly old-fashioned and the lyrics simplistic
• The Village Voice's Keith Harris criticised it as vague and lacking real-life characters
• Robert Christgau named several choice cuts but concluded the album was not worth the time or money

Reappraisal

• Voted sixth-best album of 2002 in the Pazz & Jop poll
• Rolling Stone named it the fifteenth best album of the 2000s in 2011
• Included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
• Dan DeLuca of the Philadelphia Inquirer said the universal language keeps the sentiments from being frozen in time
• 'My City of Ruins' has been used in response to Hurricane Katrina and the 2011 Christchurch earthquake

Records

• The Rising became Springsteen's sixth No. 1 album on the US Billboard 200
• Topped the charts in six other countries, including the UK
• Won the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
• Nominated for Album of the Year but lost to Norah Jones's debut Come Away with Me
• The title song 'The Rising' also won a Grammy

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• 'My City of Ruins' was originally performed in and written about Asbury Park, and it took on a new meaning soon after the September 11 attacks.
• 'Worlds Apart' is the most experimental song on the album and features Qawwali singers in its introduction.
• A re-recorded version of 'The Fuse', with an orchestral backing, features in the Spike Lee-directed film 25th Hour.
• The Rising became Springsteen's sixth No. 1 album on the US Billboard 200 after the biggest pre-release promotion of his career and a tour.
• Tour edition bonus DVD includes a live 2002 MTV Video Music Awards performance of the title track.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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