40 Years Burnin’ Down the Road: What Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ Album Should Have Been
Just a few tweaks would have made it a true masterpiece
This week marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s 1984 album Born in the U.S.A., a fact that I simply cannot get my head around (wasn’t 1990 just ten years ago?). Another even more troubling fact is the number of people who not only believe this is his best album but is the only one of his they’ve ever listened to. If this applies to you, stop reading this and go listen to Born to Run, The River, and Darkness on the Edge of Town (in that order); those are his top three albums, full stop.
Having graduated from high school less than a month before the album was released and having witnessed the Bruce-mania that resulted over the next 18 months or so, I understand why a casual listener might think this was the pinnacle of Springsteen’s career. Prior to June 4, 1984, Bruce was one of those artists who had a hardcore group of rabid fans who would buy every record and follow him around the country seeing every concert possible yet had never managed the mainstream success the albums warranted. Following the release of Born to Run in 1975, his albums always sold well; Born to Run reached #3 on the Billboard charts…
