bluetoast

Were hardcore Bruce fans pissed, excited, what? I know it was a huge song but what did the fans think at the time?

GuessWho

They preferred this version

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wishbone

I was in junior high...

Ropes Pierre

He's the Boss. I believe their response was to get up and boogie oogie oogie.

Mabuse

Considering the album completely connected with the then current zeitgeist and was a hit with fans while winning him tons of new ones I don't think many people disliked the new sound. I'm sure there was some "Greetings from Asburey Park is the greatest ever!" kind of hold outs living in their mom's basement, there always is, but everybody liked that song.

stvn1974

Hungry Heart off of the River getting all kinds of radio play was more controversial than Dancing In The Dark.

Groucho

I thought Bjork's performance was surprisingly poignant.

Hokeyboy

Rolling Stones gave Born In The USA **FIVE STARS** upon its release. That's unheard of for Springsteen.


Schnorgles...

covenant

I had The Last In Line and Defenders of the Faith on constant rotation in '84.

Bruce was radio-music to me, stuff I only listened to if nothing else was on.

wendersfan

I despised that album, and hated that single even more. I think a lot of Springsteen fans felt the same way.

creekdipper

Most fans we know (including ourselves) were pretty blase toward it. It's not like it was a downright embarrassment...after all, we'd been through some pretty lame Beatles singles, too...but it was way too poppish with the heavy synth sound/beat and the endless rotation on MTV.

Here are a couple of nice versions by other artists showing that the lyrics actually hold up well with other genres:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx9TxUrZGFo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJbRLHh3j_8

creekdipper

Was it the songs or the arrangements? The sound of the album is dated (and the 'pop' sound on much of it was grating even back then for longtime fans who had followed him since the early 70's), but I've heard lots of different arrangements that rescue many of the formerly-annoying tunes (and that's just different instruments & productions...not including totally different arrangements such as the stripped-down, slowed-down, acoustic version of BITUSA which gets the original intent across).

Also curious to know how you feel about tracks that were left off but ended up as B-sides or were released in collections later...songs like Shut Out the Light , This Hard Land, & Murder, Incorporated.

I found the Born in the USA: Live in London 2013 DVD really interesting to see a band (the survivors, anyway) in their 60's doing much tougher, energetic arrangements of the songs. The horn section combined with stinging guitars (Cover Me) and moody, full background (Downbound Train) really helped.

Attaching a version of Darlington County which starts out with a Stones/Richards vibe. It won't change your mind if you hate the song, but it is a really fun performance to watch...particularly when Bruce walks down the ramp to sit on the security fence & sing to/hug a fan, who is absolutely in utter bliss & shock (fun to watch the surrounding crowd gently pat him with one guy behind him appearing to give him a shoulder massage). He's joined by Nils & the two sing (somewhat drunkenly) together on one mike in front up next to grinning fans (hilarious sign from one older lady saying, "Can I dance with Stevie...PLEASE???). And then an ultimate Bruce moment when he's singing "Little girl, you're so young & pretty", motions for a very young female fan up on someone's shoulders to be brought up front, reaches over a row of people, and gently hands her his guitar pick. Her grin is priceless.

You can hate the song but love the singer...or something like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA85UiQxNho&spfreload=1

Spiderbite

I seem to remember people giving his some shit about it at the time but I never liked Bruce Springsteen so I didn't care.

Ky-Fi

I was in high school when this came out. I wasn't really familiar with Springsteen and was more into new wave bands. I thought Dancing in the Dark was an agreeable single, but it didn't make me into a fan of his in general. When I got into college I started reading a lot more music journalism, and they all raved about him so I figured I must be missing something. I went back and got Nebraska, and then I got it.

Born in the USA is still not one of my favorite albums of his, but I appreciate it more now in the context of his whole body of work.

Nick Danger

I was a mild Springsteen fan, and I hated the pop sound of Born in the USA. I stopped paying attention to Springsteen after that.

pjflyer

It was pretty similar to the mood in the country during the Lionel Richie "Dancing on the Ceiling" era.

Unclejosh

I liked it and even used it as part of a project for music class in Jr High. I had grown on on Springsteen's music as my mother and aunts were fanatics and BITUSA is in my top 3 albums by the boss. The others being BTR and DOTEOT. River is probably 4th.

I did get a kick hearing from my now ex wife that this song was banned by the Jehovah's Witness religion which her family was a part of at the time. Talk about misinterpreting a lyric! You have to wonder about what the people in charge really think about all day to make that leap. That interpretation never even occurred to me until my wife told me in about 1997.

wendersfan

The big annoying drum sound and the cheesy synths. Some of the songs were great, like "Downbound Train," and even the lame-ish pop hits wouldn't have been out of place on The River, with different arrangements.

Ky-Fi

I agree the syths didn't work that well on Born in the USA, but I thought they DID work quite well on the more mellow Tunnel of Love--"Tougher Than the Rest" specifically. I don't know how others feel about that album, but I really love it.

Supermallet

Tunnel of Love is great. Born in the USA does feel somewhat like a jump the shark album in a way that some other mega albums of the era like Thriller or Let's Dance don't, but Springsteen himself didn't jump the shark. I do find that Born in the USA is less interesting than the albums surrounding it, but Bruce has always had his pop side, so it's not totally out of left field.

hdnmickey

Seems I remember many the big time Springsteen fans (including one import at my HS that was form NJ) thinking simply - Bruce sold out! But we'll still go the concerrt anyway for the old songs. And go they did. I remember the halls being a sea of Springsteen's ass (assuming the album cover was his ass) the day after that concert.

creekdipper

Yeah...and I actually bought the tee-shirt with that cover displayed with the license plate logo. Or seems that way...might have had him "leaping" on the front & the behind shot on the back. At any rate, I ended up giving it to my wife since it seemed too fan-boyish & just wore my Clash & U2 tees after that.

BITUSA was sort of ironic in that it kind of validated us for people who didn't care or know much about him, & yet it was the least representative of his work up to that point. Made him a superstar (tons of books flooded the bookstores, all with that headband & cut-off muscle shirt) but still didn't represent him any more than "Hungry Heart." Nice to see him get mainstream popular recognition (setting aside the Time/Newsweek covers back in '75) but sorry to see the days when he could play smaller venues & you could still get good seats. And missed his skinnyscruffy days...the goofy, no-holds-barred days (as in not knowing which persona would show up, whether he would leap on top of the piano, and what mini-drama he might play out with The Mastah of Disastah) when there were no corporate expectations to fulfill.

Still consider Nebraska to be his masterpiece, though. Showed what a guy with a guitar, a harmonica, and a cheap tape deck could do. Of course, I also like Bon Hiver, Iron & Wine, Nick Drake & others with the same sparse sound that sounds like (or were) guys holed up in remote settings or bedrooms.

Ky-Fi

Yep, I agree. That is some world-class songwriting that didn't need any embellishments.

Supermallet

Nebraska is his masterpiece, but my favorite will always be Darkness on the Edge of Town.

K&AJones

Springsteen sure has changed since the days of Dancing in the Dark and Born in the USA. Frankly...I doubt he could even write something like Born in the USA today.