Born In The U.S.A. is the album where Bruce Springsteen made the leap from a popular rock 'n' roller to megastar and cultural icon. The songs were all over the radio in '84 & '85 and his concerts were four hour marathons. It produced 7 top ten singles (tied for the most in history with Michael Jackson's Thriller & Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation) and was in Billboard's top ten for 84 straight weeks. People could relate to him as he seemed to be just a regular hard-working, blue collar guy. The songs had the appearance of being about fulfilling the American Dream and overflowing with American pride. They have an upbeat, radio-friendly sound that helped it sell 15 million copies and become one of the most popular and misunderstood in rock history. Beneath the bouncy music and optimistic titles they are actually tales of desperation, unfilled dreams and an America that had let its characters down. The title track typifies this as it seems to be a ringing declaration of the pride to be from America, but is about a Vietnam vet whose country has kept him down from birth and never let him get up. He questions why he fought and had a brother killed in a war that he didn't understand and came back to country that welcome back as a hero, but look down upon him. Despite risking his life for it, America gave him nothing in return. "Dancing In The Dark" is the most pop-oriented song Bruce has ever recorded. Behind the dancable synthes lies a the story a man who is down and out. He is desperately looking for someone to pull him out of rut and appears to be suicidal. "Glory Days" is about life sliding away from you and failing to meet the goals and high expectations of your youth. Not everything on the album is a downer, Bruce tempers the desperation with hope. "My Hometown" tells of a man who sees a brighter future for his young son and "Bobby Jean" is a farewell and good luck message to his band mate Little Steven who was leaving the E Street Band and heading out on his own. The song that sits right in the middle of the album and pulls everything together is "No Surrender". The song says that no matter how little that you start out with, how little life gives you, how much you get kicked around, music can help save your soul and you must never stop trying to reach your hopes and dreams. In the end, even though he thinks the country has written a lot of bad checks to its people, it is the promise that it gives and possibility of fulfilling dreams, that still makes it the best place to be. Bruce Springsteen has always said that music helped save him and before finding it he was just floating through life with no purpose. Whether you love him or hate him, his music has given many people hope and a purpose to their own lives. He, himself is an embodiment of the American Dream and if Bruce can achieve it, maybe we all can.

This album at first glance seems to be a supercharged set list of songs with upbeat melodies and catchy beats. You ask most people what they think of when you mention "Dancing in the Dark" and they'll mention that horribly eighties looking video. But so much more lies underneath this seemingly mindlessly catchy album. It is all too easy to mistake these songs for pop, Ronald Reagan did it when he chose Born in the U.S.A. as his campaign song, completely missing the fact that it is a harshly anti-republican anthem about a Vietnam vet trying to find work during a recession. In fact, not one of the songs on this album is about a happy story or a successful life. They all end in jail, out of love, or still struggling. These themes are nothing new to anyone who has listened to Springsteen's other albums, he has always championed the fighting yet doomed loser. It is just that on this album the lyrics are sugar coated in upbeat music, making it easy to forget that Dancing in the Dark is not about some guy out partying around, but an out of place misfit who just wants one sign anywhere that somebody is still alive. I do not know whether it is the time that has passed since his first albums, or what made Bruce decide to back his usual cast of characters with such upbeat catchy tunes, but don't be fooled by your first listen. This is still the brooding, touching, operatic Springsteen of former albums, and his characters are still losers, yet they're all still trying, they're all pulling out of here to win.

This is really an incredible album. I rate it one of the very best of the rock and roll era. It's right up there with Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" and The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper."

It's hard to believe now, but when this album came out back in 1984 Bruce Springsteen was not yet a superstar. Certainly he had a cult following (in fact, a very sizeable cult following), but no one was yet calling him one of the greatest rock 'n rollers of all time. "Born in the USA" changed all that. Big time.

Some people criticize this album because they say it was made to appeal to the "lowest common denominator." I've never bought the argument. It took tremendous talent to make "Born in the USA," not just bubble-gum appeal. Springsteen took the lyrical power of a Dylan, the basic "fun, old fashioned rock 'n roll" appeal of The Beatles, the heavier/harder rock style of the '80s and combined them all together to create...a masterpiece.

An earlier reviewer here criticed this album because you can still hear this stuff "24/7" on the radio. You know, there's a reason for that...

Is Born in the U.S.A. too commercial? A sellout? No way! If you remember the 1980s like I do, the songs from Born in the U.S.A. (1984) were like lifelines to authentic rock n' roll on the radio for us die-hard 1960-70s rockers. Sure, the album had an updated sound that now sort of makes it a product of it's times, but that's one of the things that makes this album so special. Born in the U.S.A. plays a big part in defining the life and times of the 1980s in many people's memories. And clearly, Bruce Springsteen is still The Boss here.

The album is Springsteen's most commercially successful by a long shot, and it's also one of the most successful albums in history (it had seven top ten singles which tied the all-time record for a single album). While Born in the U.S.A. isn't quite the masterpiece that Born to Run is, it still is a masterpiece and one of the best albums of Springsteen's career.

The anthemic title song starts things off and lays the foundation for the rest of the album. A song about a Vietnam veteran who, after going overseas and fighting in a war for the U.S.A., is forgotten by his own country when he returns home. It's an angry and disgusted battle cry against the injustice of it all. The underrated and guitar rocking Cover Me follows, and I think this is one of the best songs Bruce has ever done. Energetic, desperate and lonely, it picks up where the title cut ends.

The whole world is out there just trying to score
I've seen enough, I don't want to see any more
Cover me, come on in and cover me
I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me

Downbound Train is a real heavyweight here, too. Although it wasn't released as a single, it's gotten a lot of airplay on AOR radio, and has become a fan favorite over the years. It's a minor-key dirge that laments a life falling apart. When Springsteen sings a song like this, his compassion draws you in and makes you feel the reality of the situation.

I'm On Fire is madly quiet, spooky and full of shadowy lust. Bobby Jean is an upbeat rocker that celebrates a close friendship and love, but also bids a tragic and sorrowful farewell.

Now I wish you would have told me
I wish I could have talked to you
Just to say goodbye, Bobby Jean

I'm Going Down, Glory Days and Dancing In The Dark were all monster hit singles, and they're great songs, too. Classic Springsteen. Don't let the synthesizers in some of these songs turn you away from this great album. The E Street Band's rocking guitars, Clarence Clemons' expressive saxophone and Bruce's desperate, raspy and dramatic voice are still the main attractions here. And Born in the U.S.A. includes some of The Boss' most compelling songwriting ever.

The album ends with the classic My Hometown. The song wistfully reflects on growing up in America and living with the hopelessness of a town's economic blight and jobs forever lost. Springsteen isn't looking through rose colored glasses on this album, and the U.S.A. that he sings about is not picture postcard perfect. But while the image of the America we see here is framed with hard times and disillusionment, the portrait itself is really of the perseverance, compassion and hope of the American spirit.

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
Talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel
And said son take a good look around
This is your hometown

I remember when I was fourteen all my girlfriends were crazy over Duran Duran, for me it was Bruce and only Bruce. This album is more like a greatest hits album, it contains so many hit singles. I had orginally bought the record, long before they became obsolete. When my turntable died I lost so many great songs from the eighties. This was the first CD I ever bought. I played it seven times in a row . Springsteen's genious shines though on this CD. He mixes rock and roll and love songs with a 50's flair. My favorite song, "Dancing in the Dark" envelops you in rapture. If you only buy one CD in your life, I highly recomend Born in the USA. Not only is Bruce talented he is sooooo gorgeous, even at 50