Symphony of a Decade

With this decade just about played-out, we are about to get a host of stories talking about an "album of the decade" or a "story of the decade."

Before the decade ends, my nominee.

It's not Harry Potter, good as that was. It's not something from Green Day, also quite excellent.

It's the Boss. Bruce Springsteen.

Springsteen's three studio albums of this decade are the symphony of these times. Each is a masterpiece. Taken together they tell a coherent story. No other artist of the rock era has accomplished anything like this. Some have done great albums that told the story of a moment in time, but none has tackled a whole decade.

By the year 2000, moreover, Springsteen was already entering his sixth decade, a time when most rock artists have long-ago retired, given in to self-parody, or gone on the "oldies" circuit. Rock is a young man or woman's game, always has been. The Boss could have easily rested on his laurels.

Then 9-11 happened.