I grew up with Born in the USA in total ubiquity. I loved Tunnel of Love and followed his career loosely pretty much from that point forward. An Uncle gave me a tape of Born to Run when I was in High School, but I didn't really get into him until around the time of The Rising. I joined the Vinyl Den record club (the Dualtone club before they merged with Magnolia) to get a double shot of Nebraska and John Prine's debut. I had explored his entire catalog at this point besides The River (still not an album I have spent much time with) and Nebraska (I knew some covers). Anyhow, it will never be the album I pull off the shelf the most from him (see Born to Run), but it is without a doubt his masterpiece. It is perfect.