BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Born in the USA

Produced by Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Plotkin, Steven van Zandt

Released: 1984

In order to review this incredible album I had to take myself back in time to my high school days. It's easy to appreciate Born in the USA when you're an adult a few years older than Springsteen was when he wrote and recorded it, but to get a really good idea of the impact this release had, you have to go back to a time when an average looking guy in his mid-30s suddenly became a pop idol that 14-year old girls were hanging poster of on their bedroom walls.

Bruce Springsteen had never been as well known in Australia as he was at home because his songs were so rooted in the American experience. But Born in the USA had such a successful pop formula that kids everywhere could get into the music without needing to know what the songs were about. School girls wanted to be on stage with The Boss like that chick in the video for "Dancing in the Dark" without even caring that it wasn't even actually about dancing.

There's almost no better start to any album than Springsteen's magnificant Specktorish triumph of the title track. The discordant, clanging synths punish the listener into submission as the urgent, ragged despair of the singer's delivery lets them know they are hearing a song for the ages even if most of them -- including parents and US Presidents -- would completely miss the point.

Born in the USA's themes are the same as those Springsteen had always followed but his introduction of synths and dance beats served to disguise the real meaning of the songs, although even the more obvious ones are still deceptive. The character in "Working on the Highway" turns out to be a member of a chain gang, and "My Hometown" is set up as a tribute but is actually exactly the opposite, a tale of shattered dreams and broken pride. Even so, Springsteen stills give his small town denizens a sense of hope in the exuberance of the beat and injects humour into tracks like "I'm Going Down" and "Glory Days".

Bruce Springsteen perfected his craft here and made stories of ordinary Americans into three and four minute sagas that even teenagers with no grasp on irony could enjoy. Without doubt, this is one of the best albums of all time

1. Born in the USA


2. Cover Me


3. Darlingotn County


4. Working on the Highway


5. Downbound Train


6. I'm on Fire


7. No Surrender


8. Bobby Jean


9. I'm Going Down


10. Glory Days


11. Dancing in the Dark


12. My Hometown

Rating: 100%