My Music Collection #6: Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen

Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen

The original album was released on June 4, 1984, on LP(vinyl to you youngsters) and cassettes. It was to be the first music Compact Disc to be pressed and released in the United States by CBS Records Plant in Terre Haute,  Indiana just a few months later on September 24, 1984. 

The album was Springsteen's 7th studio album. The record was recorded over several years concurrently with his previous album Nebraska. Born in the U.S.A. would have a fuller pop/rock production versus the grittier stripped-down Nebraska album. 

The album has sold over 17 million albums in the U.S. alone and 30 million worldwide, unsurprisingly making it The Boss's biggest and most successful album to date. It hit number one in the album charts for 7 weeks in the summer of 84 and stayed on the charts for 135 weeks. It also spurned 7 top ten hits. 

When this came out I was in my late teens entering my senior year of high school. I remember the single "Dancing in the Dark" being the first released and it made a big splash  I believe it was Springsteen's first music video for MTV. Then it was just one hit song after another for the next year and a half. There was a bit of a controversy when President Ronald Reagan's reelection campaign would play the title song or Reagan used it in speeches thinking it was a patriotic song when it was actually about a disillusioned Vietnam War veteran returning home.  

I did have this on cassette when it came out and a few of the singles off of it. Recently replaying in CD reminded me how solid this album is. Not really anything that I'd consider album filler. This is as much of a pop album as one would get from Springsteen but it's done very well. I don't think his artistic street cred suffered much afterward. 

Song List:

1.  Born in the U.S.A.
2. Cover Me
3. Darlington County
4. Working on the Highway
5. Downbound Train
6. I'm on Fire
7. No Surrender
8. Bobby Jean
9. I'm Goin' Down
10. Glory Days
11. Dancing in the Dark
12. My Hometown

All songs written by Bruce Springsteen.

Album Cover Photography: Annie Leibowitz

Produced by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Stevie Van Zandt