(Courtesy of Columbia)
Imagine you have just accidentally written the best essay of your college career. Your current professor and peers will adore it, your older teachers will find reasons to fall in love with it, and people you don’t know will pick up on this magnum opus of an essay. Now imagine that your work would be counted among the top 10 essays to be handed in each week…for 84 consecutive weeks.
That scenario gives you an idea of just how ridiculously successful Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 release “Born in the U.S.A.” really was. “Abbey Road,” “Sticky Fingers,” “Back in Black” and even “Thriller” all fall short of that mark. Springsteen was already a household name thanks to the 1975 breakout “Born to Run,” but his shift to more pop-friendly arrangements with the addition of a synthesizer turned “Born in the U.S.A.” into a worldwide sensation and made Springsteen a legitimate rock superstar.
Springsteen albums often begin with a strong musical punch that carries the album’s thematic statement, and the title track, “Born in the U.S.A.” is perhaps the boldest statement of the bunch. From the first note of Danny Federici’s haunting organ and the first beat of Max Weinberg’s powerful bass drum, the musical message is clear: pay attention. Which is ironic, since the song is often misinterpreted as a jingoistic flag-waving anthem.
Once the music starts, it doesn’t take long for Springsteen’s barely restrained voice to start growling about the hardships faced by a character who is drafted to fight for his country in Vietnam, loses a friend to the war, and comes home to find all the jobs are gone.
Though the album sounds uplifting and patriotic, in true Springsteen form he subverts the musical notes with his lyrics to make sure his audience is really paying attention.
After a slow fade out, the synthesizer-heavy music is eschewed in favor of the classic E Street sound for the next three tracks, “Cover Me,” “Darlington County” and “Working on the Highway.” The Roy Bittan piano riffs, the Springsteen guitar licks, and, most importantly, the Clarence Clemons saxophone solos make a return in tracks that would fit right in on Bruce’s previous E Street release, 1980’s The River. Once again, though, the high key and faster pace cloak the songs’ more somber meanings; in “Darlington County,” a one-night stand is bookended by the characters looking for work and subsequently being arrested for, presumably, trying to make ends meet.
Two quieter numbers mark the end of the first side, with “Downbound Train” recalling some of the more somber moments of “The River” and “I’m on Fire,” a scorching ballad for an unrequited love. Both tracks rely on the new synthesizer sound which lends a sort of ethereal quality to the music. Springsteen’s typical meticulous album construction shows here; the album side opens with a bang, but leaves the listener with a haunting refrain to contemplate as they flip the record over.
Once on side B, though, the E Street Band revs up again and launches into five consecutive pop-sounding and radio-friendly songs. In fact, four of the album’s record-tying seven singles came from this half of the album, including the modern radio staples “Glory Days” and “Dancing in the Dark.” Those two songs in particular marked a turning point in Springsteen’s career as they were both adapted into two of his first music videos. The “Dancing in the Dark” video was even directed by renowned Hollywood director Brian DePalma (of “Scarface” and “Mission: Impossible” fame) and helped to launch the career of Courtney Cox – a testament to how far-reaching “Bossmania” had spread in 1984 and ‘85.
However, as most Springsteen albums do, the album winds down with “My Hometown,” the poignant counterpoint to the album-opening title track. In many ways, the song retells the story of “Born in the U.S.A.,” albeit with much more at stake. Amidst racial tension and all of the jobs leaving town, a man and woman try to raise a son as best they can. They talk about getting out of the town, but in the end decide to stay. It ends with the narrator saying somberly “Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said ‘son take a good look around / This is your hometown.’”
Are they staying out of a sense of obligation, with a hope of trying to make the town better? Or do they feel that everywhere has become the same, and opportunity has disappeared from America? Gone are the exciting themes of escape that traced over Born to Run; now, Springsteen’s characters are just happy to make ends meet any way they can.
Once an artist releases a record like “Born in the U.S.A.,” they are often content to rest on their laurels and simply live off of the interest from the album’s success. Instead, Springsteen decided to move away from his rock star persona to explore different ways to express himself, though not always with commercial success.
As time wore on, “Bossmania” died down and Springsteen’s loyal, sometimes cult-like following soldiered on, happy to have “their” version of “The Boss” back to themselves. But for two summers in the mid 1980s, those unmistakable Levi’s and the familiar song count-offs seemed to be around every corner thanks to one of the most popular albums of all time.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Nathan Bellis at Nathan.bellis@colorado.edu.
