Bruce Springsteen’s Biggest Hit Album “Born in the U.S.A.” Turns 40
The album Born in the U.S.A. catapulted Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band into huge levels of fame and the album has since been named one of the greatest from the 1980s. Released on June 4, 1984, Springsteen’s seventh studio album is now 40 years old! The album features the title track by the same name plus hits “Dancing in the Dark,” “Glory Days, “I’m on Fire” among others.
The album’s creation truly began when Springsteen started writing a song called “Vietnam” in 1981, inspired by the memoir Born on the Fourth of July. The song became “Born in the U.S.A.” and while many people play it as a patriotic tune on the Fourth of July, the song is meant to address the hardships that veterans face when they return home. In the years that followed, Springsteen and his band recorded over 70 songs eventually going back to just 12 of the original tunes for the album.
Seven of the songs were released as singles and every single one of those hit the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, proving that Springsteen is an iconic artist with an immense amount of talent. Although, the album wasn’t without a bit of controversy. On the album’s cover, Springsteen stands in front of an American flag and some critics have said that it looks like he is urinating on the flag. However, Springsteen himself has denied these claims and told Rolling Stone, “No, no. That was unintentional. We took a lot of different types of pictures, and in the end, the picture of my ass looked better, than the picture of my face, so that’s what went on the cover. I didn’t have any secret message. I don’t do that very much.”
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Even with a bit of criticism, the album did amazingly well. In the United States, it has gone seventeen times Platinum and sold over 17 million copies. It remains his biggest-selling album to date and went number one at the time in the U.S. and UK plus sold pretty well all over the world.
What is your favorite song from the album?
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