Bruce Springsteen – ”Born In The U.S.A.” (1984)

I was 12 years old when this album was released, and just like many others, I thought the title song was about how proud Springsteen was to be born in the USA. A patriotic song in true American spirit. I was fascinated by Bruce's voice, which was the roughest voice I had ever heard, it felt more like screaming or bawling. This was new to me, at the age of 12 I had no idea who Springsteen was. Honestly, I didn’t really like what I heard, there was better stuff being played on the radio. But Springsteen undeniable made an impression on me, I thought his voice was totally crazy.

This is a record I saved from my parents' LP collection a few years ago, where it rested in the attic headed for the trash. Although I am not a big Springsteen fan I couldn’t let the album be thrown away.

Born In The USA was Springsteen's seventh album, but fact is most of the album was recorded already a few years earlier, at the time of the recording of the more dark and acoustic Nebraska. On Born In The USA Springsteen's music takes a more commercial road and it became 1985's best-selling album in the U.S., and Springsteen's best-selling album ever. Springsteen also managed to get seven singles from the album on to America's top 10 list, an almost unique achievement (only Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson makes him company in this). During his career Springsteen's had twelve top 10 singles altogether, more than half of them from Born In The USA. And if you like statistics it can be mentioned that its 84 weeks in a row on the top 10 list is the world record, and that it is 3rd in the contest concerning the total number of weeks in the top -10.

 

Despite all these confirmations of the album’s greatness, it’s not entirely to my taste. I can’t deny that it's pretty good songs, accessible and with their own characters. But straightforward rock n' roll of this kind is simply not my thing. Personal favorite on the album is undoubtedly the calmer and darker Fire. However, I’m happy to have saved the album from death in the trsh, I'd rather see the record in my collection than burned up and recycled as energy in my radiators.

It may be added that the title song is not the patriotic song I thought as a child, supposedly it’s about the Vietnam War’s impact on the United States and the country's lack of ability to take care of the veterans of this war. Although the Reagan administration misunderstood the song at first, and wanted to use it in their election campaign.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Born in the U.S.A. – 4:39
2. Cover Me – 3:27
3. Darlington County – 4:48
4. Working on the Highway – 3:11
5. Downbound Train – 3:35
6. I'm on Fire – 2:37

Side B

1. No Surrender – 4:00
2. Bobby Jean – 3:46
3. I'm Goin' Down – 3:29
4. Glory Days – 4:15
5. Dancing in the Dark – 4:00
6. My Hometown – 4:34