An immediate critical and commercial success, it was Springsteen's first to top the US Billboard 200 since Tunnel of Love (1987). Hailed as a triumphant return to form for Springsteen, the album won two Grammy awards and marked the start of a successful collaboration with producer Brendan O'Brien.
The Rising came seven years after The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995), the longest interlude between studio albums for the artist, and was his first in almost two decades with the E Street Band, with whom he had recently completed a highly successful reunion tour.
The album is based in large part on Springsteen's reflections in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
Springsteen felt compelled to record the album when, in the aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001, a stranger in an adjacent vehicle rolled down his window and said: We need you now.
More information: Bruce Springsteen
A few of the songs were written before the attacks. The title track tells the story of a firefighter going up the World Trade Center as survivors flee, and evokes the image of peoples' spirits rising up like angels with a dream of life.
My City of Ruins was originally performed in, and written about, Asbury Park. After Springsteen performed it on a post-September 11 America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon, the song achieved a particular resonance. Further On (Up the Road) was performed live in Madison Square Garden at the end of the Springsteen-E Street Reunion Tour, and was professionally recorded, although it was not included in the HBO, DVD, or CD versions of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live in New York City.
Waitin' on a Sunny Day was originally written in the 1990s and played during a soundcheck on the Reunion Tour.
Springsteen has commented that Nothing Man was originally completed in 1994, but re-recorded for this album. Worlds Apart," the most experimental song on the album, features a heavy Middle Eastern influence along with Qawwali singers in the introduction.
The Fuse, another experimental track, features a subtle hip hop beat and vocal looping. A re-recorded version of the song, with an orchestral backing, features in the Spike Lee-directed film 25th Hour.
Mary's Place is directly inspired by Sam Cooke's Meet Me at Mary's Place; The gospel-like My City of Ruins is organized around the melody line of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready.
Following the biggest pre-release promotion of Springsteen's career and a tour, The Rising became Springsteen's sixth No. 1 album on the US Billboard 200, and topped the charts in six other countries, including the UK.
Although The Rising was a response to 9/11, many see it as a more universal anthem of resilience and hope. On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Dan DeLuca of the Philadelphia Inquirer said: The songs make contextual sense in the aftermath of 9/11, but the specific details that give them power are allusive. 'Lonesome Day,' 'You're Missing,' and 'My City of Ruins' are about the hollowing devastation of that day, but the language is universal, so the sentiments are by no means frozen in time.
The song My City of Ruins has been used in response to tragedies other than 9/11, such as the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
In 2006, while on tour supporting his We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions album, Springsteen performed the song at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The song received an emotional response from the crowd given its refrain of Come on rise up!
More information: Ultimate Classic Rock
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight
Bruce Springsteen
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