So this is the “new normal?” Or is it a return to the “old normal?” Either way, regardless of how you spent this past year, regardless of your thoughts on the world, politics, and economics of the world, furrowing your eyebrows at this or that or embracing all the necessary and arguably unnecessary changes in the world, one needs a constant personal and universal soundtrack to keep going, to keep sane, to keep grounded and inspired. As the newest round of the holiday season gets ready to dawn upon us, music not only acts as the perfect and always obvious choices for even the most discriminating of tastes, but also something that brings much-needed relief and communion to end another challenging year and brace everyone for what lies ahead in 2022. So as always, here’s my picks for some of the sonic highlights released this year, spanning all genres and tastes.

Check out our 2021 Holiday Gift Guide for Music.

Music legend Bruce Springsteen seems to be having a bit of fun on his current tour of New Zealand.

New Jersey’s native son opened his recent concert at Auckland, New Zealand’s Mt Smart Stadium with an acoustic version of “Royals,” the Grammy-winning song by Kiwi teen singer Lorde.

Check out the video here below of the Boss covering the hit tune.

Bruce Springsteen‘s classic album Born In The U.S.A. is on sale in MP3 format for only $5 this month as part of Amazon’s monthly $5 MP3 album deals.

The album contains all 12 songs from the chart-topping 1984 album, including hits like “Dancing In The Dark,” “Cover Me,” “Glory Days,” “My Hometown,” as well as the title track. The album is also available on CD for $8.35.

Browse the main sale page to see all 100 albums on sale for only $5 each in MP3 format through the end of October 2012.

The MP3 album deal of the day over at Amazon today is Bruce Springsteen‘s classic album Born To Run for only $3.99.

The album contains all 8 songs from the 1975 album, including popular tunes like “Thunder Road,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” and “Jungleland,” as well as the title track. The album is also available on CD for $8.14.

With 2011 coming to a close, a bunch of us here at Geeks of Doom, along with some Friends of Doom, decided to take a look back at some of our favorite albums that celebrated their 25th anniversary this year.

The year 1986 was a fantastic one for music, with pivotal albums from metal bands like Metallica and Slayer and rap artists like The Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. There was also great music topping the charts from artists like Genesis, Janet Jackson, and Van Halen. Oh and let’s not forget the soundtracks!

Check out our picks below for Our Favorite Albums Of 1986.