Still born in the U.S.A.

Bruce Springsteen‘s seventh studio album Born in the U.S.A. was released on this day in 1984. And it has since become an absolute classic, to the point of redefining contemporary American music. Indeed, that album introduced the heartland rock sub-genre to mainstream audiences, a movement that combines the musical stylings of rock music with folk and/or blues-type storytelling. In other words, rock music with a somber tone, which focuses on the difficulties facing large parts of America. To this day…

Below are 3 of the most interesting facts about this album:

1. It became the biggest commercial — and somewhat critical — success of Springsteen’s career (so far, that is). Just look at the figures: it produced 7 top 10 hit singles (that’s Michael Jackson territory right there…); it became one of the highest-selling albums of all time with global sales surpassing 30 million copies (again, Michael Jackson, here we come…); its promotional tour took the singer and his E Street Band all around the world for the better part of 18 months… Let’s call it what it was: a major accomplishment!
2. No matter how successful Born in the U.S.A. was, though, Springsteen himself does not actually consider it to be his finest work, not by a long shot. As it happens, the artist has long been vocal about the fact that he was quite surprised with the sheer magnitude of the acclaim that album received, considering for his part that it was quite uneven. Interestingly, his pick would have been the previous album, Nebraska, which already introduced darker material — and fared quite well despite that, although not even remotely getting the same reception this album did… The point is, there are two excellent albums, and that’s all we will say about it!
3. Perhaps the most amusing fact about Born in the U.S.A. is that its world famous title track has been widely misinterpreted, time and again… While the song’s chorus boasts a power chord-driven bombastic moment of pure rock energy, it is actually meant to be taken with irony, as the rest of the song depicts the dark reality many Vietnam war veterans faced when coming back home after years of violence, trauma and death. To this day, you will still find politicians, often on the more conservative side of the spectrum, that will joyfully play that tune at their rallies, largely ignoring that paradox. Oh well…

While the success of this LP may have surprised some, including its main author, it has gradually become an absolute classic known the world over. And while people still often misinterpret “Born In the U.S.A.“, who are we to correct them? As long as they enjoy the song…