Born in the U.S.A. | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 4, 1984 | |||
Recorded | January 25, 1982 – March 8, 1984 | |||
Studio | Power Station and Hit Factory (New York City) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 46:57 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer |
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Bruce Springsteen chronology | ||||
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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band chronology | ||||
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Singles from Born in the U.S.A. | ||||
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Born in the U.S.A. is the seventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen,released on June 4,1984,by Columbia Records. The album was recorded with the E Street Band and producers Chuck Plotkin and Jon Landau over the course of several years,while Springsteen was also working on his previously released album, Nebraska (1982). It features tighter songs with a brighter,more pop-influenced sound than Springsteen's previous albums,and prominent synthesizer,while its lyrics explore themes of working-class struggles,disillusionment,patriotism,and personal relationships. The cover features a photograph of Springsteen from behind,taken by Annie Leibovitz;it has since become one of the musician’s most iconic images.
Frequently cited by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time,Born in the U.S.A. was critically acclaimed upon release and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards. A massive commercial success,it topped the charts in nine countries,including the United States and the United Kingdom,producing seven top ten singles in the former region. The album has been certified 17×Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling at least 17 million units in the United States,and has sold over 30 million copies worldwide,making it Springsteen's most commercially successful release and one of the best-selling albums of all time. It was respectively ranked number 85 and 86 in Rolling Stone's 2003 and 2012 lists of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time",being re-positioned to number 142 in the 2020 iteration.
Born in the U.S.A. is composed of twelve tracks,seven recorded at Power Station studios from April 26 through May 14,1982:"Born in the U.S.A." (April 27);"Downbound Train" (April 27–28);"Working on the Highway" (April 30);"I'm on Fire" (May 11);"Glory Days" (May 5);"Darlington County" (May 13);and "I'm Goin' Down" (May 12–13).
"Cover Me" was the first song recorded,on January 25,1982,at The Hit Factory. [3] The four remaining tracks are "No Surrender" (October 25–27,1983);"Bobby Jean" (October 10,1983);"My Hometown",(June 29,1983). "Dancing in the Dark" was the last to be recorded,on February 14,1984. [3] It was written overnight,after co-producer Jon Landau convinced Springsteen that the album needed a single. According to Dave Marsh in Glory Days,Springsteen was not impressed with Landau's approach. "Look," he snarled,"I've written 70 songs. You want another one,you write it." After blowing off some steam,Springsteen came in the next day with the entire song written. [4]
The Born in the U.S.A. sessions covered more than two years (January 1982 through March 1984),and produced approximately 80 songs. It is impossible to separate them from the songs that comprised the album Nebraska ;all but one of the January 1982 Nebraska demos were recorded with the E Street Band during April–May. The decision to create Nebraska from the demos came after these sessions. At one point,Springsteen considered combining both sources as a double-album release. "I had these two extremely different recording experiences going," he told Mark Hagen in an interview for Mojo published in January 1999. "I was going to put them out at the same time as a double record. I didn't know what to do." [5] This was the most prolific period of Springsteen's career. Having bought a home in Hollywood Hills,Los Angeles, [6] he worked in a garage studio constructed by Mike Batlan,his assistant,in the final months of 1982. He conceived of several proposed albums,but cancelled one after another and returned to recording new material.
Springsteen continued recording in Los Angeles after Nebraska was released,and reunited with the E Street Band at the Hit Factory in New York in May 1983. Plans were made to release an album titled Murder Incorporated,and then scrapped "because it lacked cohesion",according to Springsteen. Finally,Landau convinced Springsteen that Born in the U.S.A. was complete,after the recording of "Dancing in the Dark". The 12-track release left a large number of unused recordings "in the vaults",with Springsteen fans hoping for a "super box" anniversary collection at some point. [7] [8] [9]
Born in the U.S.A. embraced a livelier mainstream sound than on previous Springsteen records,while continuing to explore progressive themes and values. [10] It "remains the most tightly honed of Springsteen's albums,the songs taut and economical,glistening with pop hooks and burnished with a dynamic Eighties sound". [11] According to Roger Scott,it was a "defiantly rock 'n' roll" album, [12] while Rolling Stone 's Debby Miller noted that while Springsteen incorporated "electronic textures" he "kept as its heart all of the American rock &roll from the early Sixties". [13] While Springsteen's previous album had a stark quality,he maintained that the first half of Born in the U.S.A. was similar,being "written very much like Nebraska –the characters and the stories,the style of writing –except it's just in the rock-band setting." [14] Springsteen had considered leaving "No Surrender" off the album,explaining that "you don't hold out and triumph all the time in life... You compromise,you suffer defeat;you slip into life's gray areas." [15] Co-producer and guitarist Steven Van Zandt pushed for its inclusion,arguing that "the portrait of friendship and the song's expression of the inspirational power of rock music was an important part of the picture." [15] "Bobby Jean" is thought to be a tribute to Van Zandt,who left the band as the album was being finalized. It's described as "classic Springsteen:the lyrics may put a lump in your throat,but the music says,Walk tall or don't walk at all." [16] Van Zandt also delivers the album's "most joyful moment" in "Darlington County",when he "honks his way through the vocal harmonies" and "Springsteen starts to laugh". [17]
The title track inspired the Annie Leibovitz photo of Springsteen's backside against the backdrop of an American flag,which was used as the album cover. Springsteen commented that "the flag is a powerful image,and when you set that stuff loose,you don't know what's gonna be done with it". Some people thought that the cover depicted Springsteen urinating on the flag,which he denied,insisting that "the picture of my ass looked better than the picture of my face,that's what went on the cover". [14] According to political writer Peter Dreier,the music's "pop-oriented" sound and the marketing of Springsteen as "a heavily muscled rocker with an album cover featuring a giant US flag,may have overshadowed the album's radical politics." [10] Music journalist Matty Karas regarded it as "a quintessential pop album that was also a perfect distillation of the anger and bitterness seething beneath the surface of Reagan-era America." [18]
Born in the U.S.A. was the first compact disc manufactured in the United States for commercial release,and was manufactured by CBS and Sony at its newly-opened plant in Terre Haute,Indiana in September 1984;Columbia Records' CDs were previously manufactured in Japan. [19] It was the best-selling album of 1985 and of Springsteen's career. It was promoted by the international Born in the U.S.A. Tour,as well and seven hit singles:"Dancing in the Dark","Cover Me","Born in the U.S.A.","I'm on Fire","Glory Days","I'm Goin' Down",and "My Hometown". [20]
The album debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 during the week of June 23,1984,and after two weeks,it reached the top of the chart on July 7,staying at number one for seven weeks;it remained on the chart for 143 weeks. [21] [22] It was also a commercial success in Europe and Oceania;in the United Kingdom the album entered at number two on June 16,and after thirty four weeks,on February 16,1985,it reached number one and topped the chart for five non consecutive weeks; [23] it was present on the chart for one hundred thirty five weeks. [23] It also topped the album charts in Australia,Austria,Germany,the Netherlands,New Zealand,Norway,Sweden and Switzerland. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]
Born in the U.S.A. is one of the best-selling albums of all time,with worldwide sales of over 30 million copies. [10] [32] It was certified three times platinum by the BPI on July 25,1985,denoting shipments of 900,000 units in the UK. [33] After the advent of the North American Nielsen SoundScan tracking system in 1991,the album sold an additional 1,463,000 copies, [34] and on April 19,1995,it was certified seventeen times platinum by the RIAA for shipments of 17,000,000 copies in the US. [35]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [36] |
Chicago Tribune | [37] |
Christgau's Record Guide | A+ [38] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [39] |
Los Angeles Times | [40] |
MusicHound Rock | 4/5 [41] |
Pitchfork | 10/10 [42] |
Rolling Stone | [43] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [44] |
Saturday Review | [45] |
Born in the U.S.A. was lauded by many critics,while also generating some controversy. [12] Retrospectively, Pitchfork called it "the bold,brilliant,and misunderstood apex of Bruce Springsteen's imperial era." [17] In July 1984,writing in Rolling Stone,Dave Marsh deemed it to be the artist's most accessible listen since Born to Run ,managing to incorporate "techno-pop elements without succumbing to the genre's banalities". [43] The magazine's Debby Miller said it was as well thought-out as Nebraska,but with more sophistication and spirit. "While the album finds its center in [its] cheering rock songs",it's the final two songs on either side that give it an "extraordinary depth". "Springsteen has always been able to tell a story better than he can write a hook," she says,"and these lyrics are way beyond anything anybody else is writing". [16] She sees Springsteen creating "such a vivid sense of these characters" by "[giving] them voices a playwright would be proud of".
Robert Hilburn from the Los Angeles Times noted the album's "richer" musical settings allowed Springsteen to reach a wider audience. [46] John Swenson of Saturday Review praised the disciplined writing style and Springsteen for "championing traditional rock values at a time when few newer bands show interest in such a direction". [45] Writing retrospectively in The Telegraph ,Neil McCormick declared it to be "an album of glittering paradoxes" which "manages to be both angry and celebratory,often in the same song". [11]
In The Village Voice ,Robert Christgau welcomed the absence of dejected themes of nostalgia and losers,along with the tougher lyrics,a sense of humor,and an upbeat worldview. [47] It delivered "what teenagers loved about rock and roll",namely "that it just plain sounded good". [48] Born in the U.S.A. was voted the best album of the year in the 1984 Pazz &Jop critics poll. [47] Christgau,the poll's creator,also ranked it number one on his list,and in 1990 named it the ninth-best album of the 1980s. [49] [50] According to Christgau's Record Guide:The '80s (1990),while Born in the U.S.A. may have seemed more conservative than Springsteen's previous work,it showed him evolving on what was his "most rhythmically propulsive,vocally incisive,lyrically balanced,and commercially undeniable album". [38] Greg Kot,writing retrospectively in the Chicago Tribune ,called it "an 11-million-selling record with a conscience". [37] AllMusic's William Ruhlmann interpreted the album as an apotheosis for Springsteen's reoccurring characters,and "marked the first time that Springsteen's characters really seemed to relish the fight and to have something to fight for". [36] In a retrospective review for Q magazine Richard Williams gave it two stars out of five,criticizing Springsteen's exaggeration of his usual characters and themes in a deliberate attempt at commercial success. He accused the singer of trying to "exploit the American flag" and "to bury the anti-war message of Born In The USA beneath an impenetrable layer of clenched-fist bombast". This was,in his view,"downright irresponsible." [51]
In 1987,Born in the U.S.A. was voted the fifth greatest rock album of all time in Paul Gambaccini's Critic's Choice poll of 81 critics,writers,and radio broadcasters. [52] In 2003,Rolling Stone ranked Born in the U.S.A. number 85 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, [53] 86 in a 2012 revised list, [54] and 142 in a 2020 revised list. [55] In 2013,it was named the 428th greatest album in a similar list published by NME . [56] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [57]
Although Springsteen had been a well-known star before its release,Larry Rodgers wrote in the Arizona Republic that "it was not until he hit the gym to get buffed up and showed off his rear end in Annie Leibovitz's famous cover photo for Born in the U.S.A. that he became an American pop icon", [15] touching off a wave of "Bossmania",as author Chris Smith called it. [58] In his book A Race of Singers –Whitman's Working-Class Hero From Guthrie to Springsteen,Bryan K. Garman suggested that this new image helped Springsteen popularize his persona on a new scale,while tying him to certain political and socio-cultural issues,at a time when Ronald Reagan was promoting prosperity and US global influence "within a decidedly masculine framework." [59] The album helped popularize American heartland rock,boosting the profiles of artists such as John Mellencamp,Tom Petty,and Bob Seger. [13] When Mellencamp released Scarecrow (1985),critics described it as heartland rock and compared him to Springsteen. [60]
As Born in the U.S.A. became a massive commercial success,Springsteen expressed mixed feelings about his growing fame,saying that being rich "doesn't make living easier,but it does make certain aspects of your life easier". "There were moments where it was very confusing",he added,"I never felt like I ever played a note for the money. I think if I did,people would know,and they'd throw you out of the joint". [14]
Springsteen also expressed mixed feelings about the album itself,believing that Nebraska contains some of his strongest writing. While the title track on Born in the U.S.A. "more or less stood by itself",he declared,he called the album a "grab-bag",and "a group of songs about which I've always had some ambivalence." He acknowledged the powerful effect it had on his career,delivering his largest audience. "It forced me to question the way I presented my music and made me think harder about what I was doing," he said. [15] The title track was widely misunderstood. According to Greg Kot and Parker Molloy,the chorus of the song felt like a patriotic anthem,but this was contradicted by the lyrics' depiction of the difficulties and marginalization returning working-class Vietnam veterans had to face. Written during the early 1980s recession in the United States,"the crestfallen verses mock the empty slogan in the chorus". It "was wilfully misinterpreted by many on the American Right" who used it during rallies,campaign events,and victory speeches. [11] [61] [62]
Springsteen's manager,Jon Landau,said that there were no plans for the band to celebrate the album's thirtieth anniversary with a deluxe reissue box set in the manner of previous Springsteen albums. "At least not yet," he added. [63] A full album live performance DVD titled Born in the U.S.A. Live:London 2013 was released exclusively through Amazon on January 14,2014,along with High Hopes . [64]
All tracks are written by Bruce Springsteen
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Born in the U.S.A." | 4:38 |
2. | "Cover Me" | 3:29 |
3. | "Darlington County" | 4:48 |
4. | "Working on the Highway" | 3:13 |
5. | "Downbound Train" | 3:35 |
6. | "I'm on Fire" | 2:40 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "No Surrender" | 4:01 |
2. | "Bobby Jean" | 3:48 |
3. | "I'm Goin' Down" | 3:30 |
4. | "Glory Days" | 4:15 |
5. | "Dancing in the Dark" | 4:04 |
6. | "My Hometown" | 4:34 |
Total length: | 46:57 |
The E Street Band
Additional musicians
Technical
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [103] | 14× Platinum | 980,000‡ |
Belgium (BEA) [104] | Platinum | 75,000 [104] |
Brazil | — | 100,000 [105] |
Canada (Music Canada) [106] | Diamond | 1,000,000^ |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [107] | 3× Platinum | 60,000‡ |
Finland (Musiikkituottajat) [108] | 2× Platinum | 108,913 [108] |
France (SNEP) [109] | Platinum | 300,000* |
Germany (BVMI) [110] | 2× Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
Italy (FIMI) [111] sales since 2009 | Platinum | 50,000* |
Italy | — | 1,000,000 [112] |
Japan (Oricon Charts) | — | 212,700 [70] |
Mexico (AMPROFON) [113] | Platinum | 250,000‡ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [114] | 17× Platinum | 255,000‡ |
Portugal (AFP) [115] | Gold | 20,000^ |
South Africa | — | 100,000 [116] |
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [117] | Gold | 50,000^ |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [118] | 3× Platinum | 150,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [119] | 3× Platinum | 1,120,000 [77] |
United States (RIAA) [35] | 17× Platinum | 17,000,000‡ |
Summaries | ||
Worldwide | — | 30,000,000 [32] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Metallica is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on August 12, 1991, by Elektra Records. Recording sessions took place at One on One Recording Studios in Los Angeles over an eight-month span that frequently found Metallica at odds with their new producer Bob Rock. The album marked a change in the band's music from the thrash metal style of their previous four albums to a slower, heavier, and more refined sound.
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is the debut studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was produced from June through October 1972 by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos at the budget-priced 914 Sound Studios. The album was released January 5, 1973, by Columbia Records to average sales but a positive critical reception.
The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle is the second studio album by the American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was recorded by Springsteen with the E Street Band at 914 Sound Studios in Blauvelt, New York, and released on November 5, 1973, by Columbia Records. It includes the song "Rosalita ", the band's most-used set-closing song through 1985.
Nebraska is the sixth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on September 30, 1982, by Columbia Records. Springsteen recorded the songs as demos on a 4-track recorder, intending to rerecord them with the E Street Band, but decided to release them as they were. Nebraska remains one of the most highly regarded albums in his catalogue, and was ranked number 150 in Rolling Stone's 2020 edition of its "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.
The Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album, and the second acoustic album, by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on November 21, 1995, by Columbia Records. It reached the top ten in two countries, and the top twenty in five more, including No. 11 in the United States, his first studio album to fail to reach the top ten in the US in over two decades. It won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Lucky Town is the tenth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. The album was released on March 31, 1992, the same day as Springsteen's Human Touch album. Lucky Town peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, with "Better Days" peaking at number one on the Mainstream Rock and number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lucky Town has since sold more than one million copies in the United States.
Tunnel of Love is the eighth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on October 2, 1987. Although members of the E Street Band occasionally performed on the album, Springsteen recorded most of the parts himself, often with drum machines and synthesizers. Tunnel of Love is not officially regarded as an E Street Band album, as The Rising (2002) was marketed as his first studio album with the E Street Band since Born in the U.S.A. (1984).
The Rising is the twelfth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on July 30, 2002, on Columbia Records. An immediate critical and commercial success, it was Springsteen's first to top the US Billboard 200 since Tunnel of Love (1987). Hailed as a triumphant return to form for Springsteen, the album won two Grammy awards and marked the start of a successful collaboration with producer Brendan O'Brien. The Rising came seven years after The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995), the longest interlude between studio albums for the artist, and was his first in almost two decades with the E Street Band, with whom he had recently completed a highly successful reunion tour. The album is based in large part on Springsteen's reflections in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
American rock musician Bruce Springsteen has released 21 studio albums, 23 live albums, 77 singles, and 66 music videos. Widely referred as "The Boss" by the media, Springsteen has sold over 150 million records worldwide, listing him among the best-selling music artists in history. Billboard ranked him as the 24th Greatest Artist of all time. According to Recording Industry Association of America, he has sold 65.5 million albums in the United States, making him the 7th best-selling male soloist of all time. Born in the U.S.A. remains the best-selling album of his career, selling more than 30 million copies around the world.
Live/1975–85 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, consisting of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985, and released as a box set by Columbia Records on November 10, 1986. It broke the record for advance orders, and, according to RIAA certification, is the second-best-selling live album in the US. Rolling Stone hailed it as "an embarrassment of riches", while The New York Times said it was "an unprecedented event in popular recording" and "monumental".
Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released February 27, 1995, on Columbia Records. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years along with four new songs at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995. The latter constituted Springsteen's first release with his backing band since the late 1980s. Some of the songs are shorter versions of the original album releases.
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions is the fourteenth studio album by Bruce Springsteen. Released in 2006, it peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 49th Grammy Awards.
"Born in the U.S.A." is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, and released in 1984 on the album Born in the U.S.A. One of Springsteen's best-known singles, it was ranked 275th on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and in 2001, the RIAA's Songs of the Century placed the song 59th, remaining a favorite in classic rock. The song addresses the economic hardships of Vietnam veterans upon their return home, juxtaposed ironically against patriotic glorification of the nation's fighting forces.
"Dancing in the Dark" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. Adding uptempo synthesizer riffs to his sound for the first time, the song spent four weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over one million singles in the U.S. It was the first single released from his 1984 album, Born in the U.S.A., and became his biggest hit, helping the album become the best-selling album of his career.
Magic is the fifteenth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released by Columbia Records on LP on September 25, 2007, and on CD on October 2. It was his first with the E Street Band since The Rising in 2002, and topped the charts in six countries, including the US and UK, going triple platinum in Ireland. Two songs from the album – "Radio Nowhere" and "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" – won a total of three Grammys, making Magic the second of only two Springsteen albums with three wins, after The Rising. It ranked No. 2 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.
Working on a Dream is the sixteenth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on January 27, 2009, through Columbia Records. It topped the charts in nine countries, including the US, where it was Springsteen's ninth No. 1. "The Wrestler", which appeared as a bonus track, won a Golden Globe award. E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt said that Working on a Dream completed a trilogy which started with The Rising (2002) and continued with Magic (2007), all of which were produced by Brendan O'Brien.
The Promise is a compilation album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released November 16, 2010, on Columbia Records. The album is a collection of previously unreleased songs which were recorded during the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions in 1977–1978, with some vocals and additional instrumentation overdubs recorded in 2010. It was released in 2CD and 3LP formats. The album is also available as part of the box set The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story. The two-CD version of the release entered the UK Albums Chart at number 7. It had been in production for many years and was originally scheduled to be released for the 30th anniversary in 2008. The Promise debuted at number 16 on the Billboard 200, while the box set, The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story, debuted at number 27.
Wrecking Ball is the seventeenth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on March 6, 2012, on Columbia Records. It was named best album of 2012 by Rolling Stone and along with the album's first single, "We Take Care of Our Own", was nominated for three Grammy Awards.
High Hopes is the eighteenth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on January 14, 2014, by Columbia Records. It went to the top of the charts in eleven countries, and was Springsteen's eleventh No. 1 album in the United States, a record surpassed only by the Beatles and Jay-Z. It was his tenth No. 1 in the UK putting him on par with the Rolling Stones and U2. Rolling Stone named it the second-best album of 2014.
Western Stars is the nineteenth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released on June 14, 2019, by Columbia Records. It was produced by Ron Aniello, who worked with Springsteen on his two previous albums: Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014).
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: CS1 maint: location (link)Born in the U.S.A. was such a defiantly rock 'n' roll album, the reviews were surprisingly favourable.