This article is about the Bruce Springsteen album. For the construction implement, see Wrecking ball. It is also the name of the title track of this album as well as the name of a completely unrelated Miley Cyrus "song."
Wrecking Ball is the seventeenth album by rocker/liberal activist Bruce Springsteen, released March 5, 2012, on Columbia Records. Its first single "We Take Care of Our Own" was released on January 19, 2012. It is known as Springsteen's Occupy album.
The album is overly political, as Springsteen has become overly involved in liberal politics in the twenty-first century. The lyrics have been called his "angriest yet" and involve economic justice and pandering to blue collar workers, likely blue collar Democrats in unions. The song "Death to My Hometown" is angry and thinly veiled protest against Wall Street bankers and the financial crisis in which Springsteen considers them responsible for. Despite this bitter content, it has received generally positive review from music critics.
The album debuted at #1 in the United States and United Kingdom, tying Springsteen with Elvis Presley for third place for number of #1 albums, at ten; only the Beatles (19) and Jay-Z (12) have more.