Amazon.com essential recording: Born in the U.S.A. is an album painted in big, broad strokes. But it was still too subtle for some--namely politicians who tried to tap the title track as a jingoistic anthem when it is in fact a bitter diatribe by a Vietnam War vet whose country forgot him. The rest of the album is a glorious grab bag of radio-ready populist anthems--his best display of pure pop songwriting ever--including "No Surrender," "Dancing in the Dark," "Bobby Jean," and "Glory Days" alongside more circumspect numbers such as "My Hometown" and "I'm On Fire." It's not true that there's no arguing with success, but in this case Springsteen's widespread acclaim was warranted. With Born in the U.S.A., all those predictions from a decade earlier--that Springsteen was the future of rock--had come true. --Daniel Durchholz
What made him a legend The "Born" CDs were what made the Boss' legend. Those were the ones you'd hear on the radio no end back in the day. I admit, I prefer "Born to Run" over "Born in the USA".
This is a great early day Bruce CD and I think still a must for any Boss fan. My favorites:
Born in the USA Dancing in the Dark Glory Days
Rebecca Kyle, August 2008
Not one of my favs. I am working my way through Springsteen's catalogue and reviewing as I go. After listening to The River and Nebraska I searched for Born in the USA in my cd collection. It wasn't there! Perhaps this is a clue? Anyway I dug out the vinyl and am listening to it as I type. As I review the music and not the sound quality the source is irrelevant.
First, an admission - when this was released in the summer of 1984 I had been a fan for over ten years already AND I hadn't been thrilled with the commercial quality of some of the songs on 1980's The River. The album's title worried me a little (I know, I know already - it isn't a patriotic rant. However, until you listened to the lyrics you didn't know this). Therefore, for several reasons, I approached this new release with trepidation. Was I correct to do so? Well, I have to admit that upon its release I wasn't really partial to this record! It just didn't grab me like The Wild, the first Born, Stranger and Nebraska had when I first listened to them. I expected more. As of today there are 134 four and five star reviews and only 15 negative ones for this record. Should I doubt myself? Was my first assessment misguided? I know that I may be pissing into the wind but after listening to this Born a couple of times today I have no reason to reconsider my initial response. It isn't a bad record by any standard. It just isn't up to the standard that Springsteen set for himself with his earlier releases. Perhaps it is because the subject matter and the music are all so familiar. With Nebraska he had staked out new ground. I guess I was expecting a new direction; a continuation of his artistic development. To my mind Springsteen had already covered the ground that he explores on this record in a more interesting manner. I would like to be more positive but I cannot. Until today I hadn't listened to Born in the USA for twenty years. I may never pull it out again. If I want to hear Bruce I'll spin his earlier music and a couple of later cds.
I was fourteen and I didn't know who Springsteen was Born In the Usa was my introduction to Bruce Springsteen. I wasn't old enough to see the tour, but I talked about him so much, adult friends who DID go brought me souveniers:) I played the weekly top forty every Saturday to hear him during chores, and when I finally got the cassette, I played THAT non stop. It was such a fabulous experience, when my adult friends told me that Springsteen had a long history of great music, I was hard pressed to believe them? BETTER than Born in the USA? I still love this album, although my favourite remains his Live 75 thru 85 set, I got that for Christmas the year it came out and it just cemented my love affair with Bruce Springsteen's music. Born In the USA will always be bright with the amazement of discovering this incredible songwriter and his equally incredible band.
music GREAT CD had the album but had to have the CD due to the album being scracted. WHO doesn't like the BOSS!!!
One of the Top 5 Albums of the 80's... ...and one of the Top 10 of all time, surely.
Few albums come close to the thematic consistency and synergy of this towering masterpiece. The songs, many of them all-time superhits even standing alone, support and reinforce each other in forming a vivid, passionate, proud, humorous, and defiant drama of American working-class life in the late 20th century.
This is what an album should be--not a load of unrelated songs packaged together but a higher-level structure that shines with it's own carefully-crafted artistic identity.
Note that most of these a**-kicking songs ride on a smokin' 80's New Wave beat, and therefore this stands in the ranks of the finest 80's dance albums as well.
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