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Born In The USA is 25 today

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Huggy, Jun 4, 2009.

  1. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Springsteen leaves me cold. I don't dislike him, I don't love him. He has very few songs I really, really like ... 10th Avenue Freeze Out is really the only one I actively enjoy.

    We had this album in the house. I liked Born In The U.S.A. before it was released as a single, I liked Glory Days, I'm On Fire, but didn't love any of them.

    I'm Goin' Down is the best song. That one I still like, probably because it wasn't run into the ground.
     
  2. Sleeper

    Sleeper Member

    I was only eight when Born In The U.S.A. came out, but it's the album that hooked me as a Springsteen fan. My older brothers listened to it repeatedly -- for years. I can remember riding in the back of the family station wagon to an Orioles game in '86 or '87 and they were still playing it in the tape deck. One of those odd memories of growing up that stand out.

    As a kid I didn't truly understand or appreciate the title track, but it became my favorite song from the album as I grew older.
     
  3. Magic In The Night

    Magic In The Night Active Member

    It's not my favorite Bruce album but I guess as a fan you have to love it and the tour as the things that cemented Bruce's legacy in the minds of the casual fan. And, like you Webster, I loved those B sides. Check out my sig line: I have the Stand On It/Janey Don't you Lose Heart from the LA '85 show. Really like Darkness, River and some of the other albums better but some of the songs from BITUSA still stand up. He played Bobby Jean at one of the recent shows I attended on this tour and it still sounds great. He loves that song, btw. I've been told it's really an ode to Little Steven.
     
  4. Devil's advocate time ...

    OK, couple things you have to understand first. I love Bruce Springsteen. My dog is named after him. I've seen the E. Street Band like five times.

    That being said ...

    So the other day I'm walking home with my iPod Shuffle on and Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road" comes on. Gritty, intelligent chunk of America, right? So I think: "How many of my largely East Coast, largely upper-class classmates would immediately dismiss this as hillbilly shit, reflexively? And at the same time, how many of them would swear up and down on Bruce Springsteen?"

    My point being ... do some pretentious people purchase fake street cred, even subconsciously, by listening to Springsteen? Does owning "Nebraska" allow someone to give himself permission to be haughty about other American culture they may consider lowbrow (think about some of the reactions that Lynyrd Skynyrd draws from people who know nothing beyond, "Play Freebird!").

    As in, "Dude, don't tell me I don't understand the working man. I listen to fucking Springsteen."

    I know this is probably more of a deconstruction of Springsteen's appeal than is necessary - and the fact is he's on the Mount Rushmore of American singer/songwriters - but just thought I'd toss it out there for thought/discussion. I don't think it's completely wacky.
     
  5. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    I will dodge the question and say I have the CD of Born In The USA on in my office (my car).
     
  6. Let me caveat that treatise by noting that I don't think it applies to this crowd whatsoever.
     
  7. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I like Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen. But I'm a hillbilly snob.
     
  8. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    I'd say you could find a lot better Steve Earle songs than Copperhead Road, but I'm just a poseur who loves Nebraska.

    But maybe I'm a redneck, too.
     
  9. Of course. But the shuffle has a mind of its own, and that's what it selected.

    But, to reiterate:

    You are not automatically a poser if you like Bruce Springsteen. All of his work stands on its own merits.
     
  10. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    There is a school of thought that says that Born In the USA was is not as natural and from the heart as most would think. The theory is that Jon Landau identified a target audience as downtrodden blue collar workers and had Springsteen write songs that spoke to that audience.
     
  11. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Good point, Boom. Bruce previously had written exclusively for Manhattan yuppies and illegal immigrants.
     
  12. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    No that was Paul Simon.

    PS - not my theory .
     
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