Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
99. ‘Born In The U.S.A.’ - Bruce Springsteen (1984)
11 Plays3 hours ago
Following the success of ‘The River’, Bruce Springsteen took a bold step forward with ‘Born in the U.S.A.’, a rock n roll evolution that would change the course of his career forever. With its powerful, synth-heavy sound and deeply resonant storytelling, the album broke new ground in 1980s rock, blending Springsteen’s classic heartland roots with mainstream 80s production. Fueled by the unstoppable energy of songs like the title track, ‘Dancing in the Dark’, and ‘Glory Days’, ‘Born in the U.S.A’. quickly became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Despite initial reservations from Springsteen about its massive success, the album's universal appeal skyrocketed him to global superstardom and cemented Springsteen’s place as one of the greatest musicians of his generation.
Episode Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4SkFjajs0LDyOuZf3vIagG?si=2be5b7c020724222
* Follow Long Live Rock 'N' Roll online: https://linktr.ee/longlivernrpod
* Get in touch and/or leave us a review: longliverocknrollpodcast@gmail.com
* Listen & Review us on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/long-live-rock-n-roll/id1581139831
* Listen & Review us on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2wZW1BYAw9wJ6Z5blo2uGj
#BruceSpringsteen #BornInTheUSA #ClassicRock #80sMusic #RockLegend #AmericanHeartlandRock #DancingInTheDark #GloryDays #BornToRun #EStreetBand
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll Podcast. After the release of The River, Bruce Springsteen had already established himself as the voice of working class America.
00:00:11
Speaker
However, it was born in the USA that launched him into global superstardom. With its anthemic sound, polished production and raw storytelling, Springsteen unknowingly crafted an album that would become a cultural phenomenon.
00:00:24
Speaker
Despite a mix of pop-driven synths, electronic beats and heartfelt gritty lyrics, Born in the USA was initially met with mixed feelings, yet it quickly became one of the most iconic albums in rock history, transforming Springsteen into a worldwide superstar.
00:00:39
Speaker
Joining me to discuss this album is my co-host Mr. Felipe Amerum. How you doing bro? been great, man. And you? Yeah, not bad, not bad. I'm looking forward to discussing this album. It's a bit of a monster of an album, isn't it, in terms of it in terms of the name of it? It's almost like I'd have a debate as to whether it's up there in quality with like Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper, but in name value, it's up there, isn't it? Oh, yeah. yeah One of the biggest albums in in rock history. Yeah, and and in terms of its importance to to yeah rock music, for sure. And its cultural importance.
00:01:09
Speaker
but where it sits in the culture, you know. Yeah. um So I'll start off as usual with just a few album details. And since this is your album, you're going to sort of take us through what you want to talk about and then we'll ah discuss it. So the album was released on June 4th, 1984, recorded over a two-year period between January 1982 and March 1984. And it was recorded at the Power Station and the Hit Factory Studios in New York City.
00:01:33
Speaker
The genre... again debatable heartland rock is what i see the main sort of topic as but there's was there a thing at the time though well is this and like a more than uh well i think term we'll talk about that in a second uh the length is 46 minutes and 40 seconds and it was reduced and released on the columbia label and produced by bruce springsteen chuck plotkin stephen van zandt and john landau So, um let you ah you know before you take us where you want to take us, just want to talk about that Heartland Rock thing, because you know how much I love genres and seeing what came out of one of another.
00:02:06
Speaker
And the Heartland Rock thing is really interesting, because it's basically a kind of... It's almost like um there's no real musical characteristic to it. It's more about the content of what's being sung about.
00:02:19
Speaker
So if I get... Hold on link. I've got the Wikipedia page up. Yeah. Check this out, okay? The term heartland rock was not coined to describe a clear genre until the nineteen eighty s So it is albums like this that sort of made heartland rock a thing.
00:02:33
Speaker
In terms of style, it often uses straightforward rock music, sometimes with elements of Americana with basic rhythm and blues lineup of drums, keyboards, and occasional horn sections like a saxophone.
00:02:44
Speaker
However, this common definition may represent an oversimplification given that born in the USA made heavy use of synthesizers. So it's the the but the the idea lyrically is that it talks about America and what we call blue collar workers. So people who do manual labor jobs, often not paid sort of, you know, lots of amount of money.
00:03:07
Speaker
um And it's kind of like a, A people's genre of music. you know mean? Music for the people. Music for the people. i just i go I go as far as saying it's not entirely... It's it's it's not political.
00:03:20
Speaker
It's more cultural. Do you know what I mean? It is. there's it's not It's not... Would Oasis be the equivalent in the UK. Yeah, that's that's a good point. yeah I go as far as saying it's not emphasising a political point.
00:03:34
Speaker
It's just talking about the culture or certain subcultures in America. Yeah, interesting. i think yeah I think it's about the lifestyle in the country more than anything else. um Yeah. and And there's a lot about like life and in typical towns rather than cities, I guess. There's a lot of that in the album, about leaving your hometown, about...
00:03:58
Speaker
ah meeting your old friends and reflecting ah on how life has changed and stuff like that. Yeah. um Yeah. so I think it's, I think the album has a lot of that. And maybe, maybe he took it to another level compared to his previous work.
00:04:14
Speaker
And well, shall we start talking about how he wrote the songs for the album? Let's do it. Yeah. Yeah. yeah So the the interesting thing about this is I was looking for the information about the album and I found Anything between 50 and 90 songs is the number that some different journalists would claim that he wrote, ah ah the number of songs he wrote for for for the album. So anything between 50 and 90 songs. But that was initially intended to be um the double album.
00:04:46
Speaker
So it it should be ah what is Nebraska and this. There should be one album with... One um part of it, the first half of it being just Bruce and his guitar and harmonica and the other the other half of a full band.
00:05:02
Speaker
The E Street band who was like, ah they were his really good friends and it was, proper bandmates in the real sense of the word, yeah like touring together and spending a lot of time together. They're really, really good friends and they knew how to play together. I think the band was really good at capturing his sound.
00:05:22
Speaker
But initially when he started writing, ah the song so So he went to ah to a w ranch and in New Jersey in 1981, September, if I'm not wrong, to start writing the songs. So he isolated himself from the world to write songs, which I think is ah it's ah an amazing way of creating art. yeah You don't think about what's going on out there.
00:05:42
Speaker
You don't necessarily talk to people. You just do your thing. ah But I think the result of that is like lots of those songs were like kind of finished When he did the demos for the album, so Nebraska, I think, is is made of the demos.
00:05:59
Speaker
They didn't change much. He recorded himself with a tape recorder in his bedroom in this place, and um that was it. That was an album.
00:06:11
Speaker
So some of the those songs made it to Born in the USA. He was trying to do everything with full band, but he realized it didn't quite work. so those songs were Some of those songs were designed to be played on acoustic guitar only.
00:06:23
Speaker
So he tried some stuff with the band, didn't quite work, and then he ah tried other songs that actually worked, and he finally decided to do, ah instead of a double album, ah like one release and another one, and then he released Nebraska first. There's an interesting ah comment from, what's his name, John Landau, one of the the producers,
00:06:43
Speaker
Check what he said about it. So he knew, in my opinion, that one had on one hand, he had he was on something that could be really explosive and raise his profile as a mass artist.
00:06:56
Speaker
He had reservations about that. No secret. And he'd written this other collection of songs, the Nebraska material, that was very independent, certainly not geared towards mass appeal.
00:07:08
Speaker
Two extremes, same songwriter, same time. It's like he had his Star Wars and his art movie in his hand at the same moment, and he went to Nebraska first.
00:07:20
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Interesting, isn't it? Yeah, very much so. Some people, they are capable of creating something extremely artistic ah without thinking about, i don't want this to be commercial. That's my art.
00:07:30
Speaker
Yeah. And some people can do commercial stuff in a very natural way. ah you Sometimes you need to adapt in order to to be capable of doing both. And he seemed to be really good at both sides of songwriting and and production. Yeah.
00:07:46
Speaker
without, ah you know, without sounding artificial at any point. Yeah, no, I agree with you. And I think that what you, because because I checked, I was confused when I was reading people saying, oh, following on from the river. And I was like, well, what do you mean following on from the river? Because Nebraska's there.
00:08:03
Speaker
So i went back and listened to a bit of Nebraska and you can, you can obviously tell it's but it's a different album. And I think what's interesting. Yeah, but but but it's just acoustic, isn't it? It's like an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. And what's interesting about it is that I imagine lyrically, because he was in that same zone, it captures the same essence as what he's trying to portray or what he did portray in Born in the USA.
00:08:25
Speaker
So to have two different you know albums sonically, in terms of one being very stripped, very raw, very laid back, acoustic, harmonica, and one being very polished, very produced, synthesizer heavy, it's just fascinating that he managed to do both of those albums um and sort of write them.
00:08:43
Speaker
in the same headspace. And you're right. I read i read somewhere 70 to 90 songs. just just for Just to clarify, that's seven zero, not 17. 70 to 90 songs that he wrote on his ranch, or not his ranch, the ranch he rented for that time. And I think it's a really interesting um a package born in the USA, because when you hear Nebraska before and think that, in you as I said, he's in the same headspace, it's...
00:09:10
Speaker
yeah exactly like there's the guys said the did yeah the art movie and star wars made at the same time yeah it's like exactly what is that i think born in the usa how short is um is quite reflective of of why it does so well as well because it gets across all of its points in only 12 not very long songs so i think it does that really really well um just a quick note for listeners and viewers um in the In the description below in the show notes, you're going to find a little playlist, which is our dedicated Spotify playlist that we put on for every episode, where in that playlist will be every song we mentioned in the episode, including every song on the album we're talking about. And then any other songs we mentioned throughout the episode, I'll add into the playlist so that whilst we mention or when we mention them, you can sort of go along and have a listen to them as well.
00:09:54
Speaker
um Yeah. What was Julian next? Well, there's a couple of more things that I think influenced the songwriting process and the album. um Apart from his isolation in that sense, like not having any other musician to write with him in that room.
00:10:10
Speaker
um The other thing is like a change of of lifestyle because he started doing therapy and started lifting weights. So if you see Bruce Springsteen in this day and age, it's a...
00:10:22
Speaker
How old is he now? think he's 74, something ridiculous. I say ridiculous because he looks like he's 40, 45 tops. He's 75. Yeah. And he's like super fit like and got these big muscles, really like energetic guy. If you see any of his live performances nowadays, um it's like...
00:10:45
Speaker
It's almost like a function rock band. They play everything. They play all his hits. And then they look at the audience. What do you guys want to hear? And if people shot the Beatles, they play the Beatles. If people say, I want to hear some Chuck Berry, they play some Chuck Berry.
00:10:58
Speaker
I watched him on TV performing in Brazil, Rockin' Heel, one of the biggest... ah music festivals in the world. And there's a thing that we do that, you know, when people say ah play Free Bird in America or in the UK, in Brazil, we say play Howl. So Howl says she's a famous rock singer in Brazil.
00:11:17
Speaker
And it's like a local thing, right? Like no no one knows him in the UK or America. When people shouted that as a joke, he played it. No. And sung in Portuguese. No. So he's like it's like that. It's a true entertainer, like phenomenal like ah ah ah artist.
00:11:34
Speaker
But I think um when you're an artist and you're singing about human feelings and stuff like that, it it really... easily leads to depression, drugs, and all this stuff.
00:11:46
Speaker
And you can see he's he's committed to be ah mentally and physically well. And it started at that time when he was writing the songs for Born in the USA and Nebraska. He started wait ah ah weightlifting and therapy at the time. So you want to like basically improving his mind and his body. on that Actually, i think that's why ah he he's still capable of performing today. that's why... um he never got involved with the the celebrity sort of lifestyle, his focus on himself and being like mentally and physically fit, which is, you know, yeah good for him. Well, like, like really well done.
00:12:24
Speaker
Anyway, ah we should, we move on to the production side of it. Well, we can, but I just, i thought anything else once well, I was just really interested about the song born in the USA itself. Yeah. Because one thing I read about, one thing I read about the whole,
00:12:38
Speaker
album and a few things that I don't i don't really think we're going to talk about today, but the the the themes of the album I heard were misinterpreted because people thought it was a really patriotic album because they heard Born in the USA and they're like, hell yeah, we're born in the USA, you know that. yeah But actually I was reading that there's sort two separate things that influenced Born in the USA.
00:13:02
Speaker
um He was reading Born on the Fourth of July by an author called Ron Kovic. And this inspired Springsteen to meet up with veterans. I think it was the... Yeah, this guy was a Vietnam veteran. isn yeah So he was inspired to meet these Vietnam War veterans.
00:13:18
Speaker
And he wrote this song called Vietnam. And Vietnam would actually turn out to be Born in the USA. But the reason it would turn out to be that is because ah he met with a director called Paul Schrader who approached him to write the song for this unmade film that the film was going to be called Born in the USA. All right. So so that then the song that Springsteen wrote called Vietnam turned into Born in the USA.
00:13:45
Speaker
And the film... And the movie changed the title. Yeah, and the film was meant to be called Born in the USA, but that became Light of Day, but it still featured that song, or maybe it was a different song, but it I think he wrote another one as well for the movie. There's a couple he wrote, Shut Out the Light and Brothers Under the Bridges, that he wrote after being inspired by meeting the Vietnamese or the Vietnamese. Yeah, I've heard it at some point it was called... The song was called Vietnam Blues, something like that as well. So you yeah, it was definitely... It was a little bit more...
00:14:14
Speaker
um specific ah about about Vietnam, ah but then I think it became ah Yeah, it became more about about the death of the American dream in a way, isn't it?
00:14:26
Speaker
It's like, yeah, it still mentions like being sent to war, you know, to kill people in another country. So they so they put a rifle in my hands, send me off to a foreign land to go and kill the yellow man born in the USA. exactly.
00:14:40
Speaker
It's like that really strict view, like those guys are the enemies, go there, kill them. Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful lyrics. like ah Yeah. And as I said, like you as you see the album cover, you see the title of the song and the album, you think, yeah, he's going full on patriotic. It's not really that.
00:14:55
Speaker
And it's funny because when people do that, um John Fogarty from Credence is really good at that as well. They're not necessarily saying that they they don't like their country. Not at all. No, agreed, not at all. It's the opposite. that they think They think the country deserves better and people deserve better.
00:15:11
Speaker
It's an observation, isn't it? yeah And the funny thing about artists like that is that if you were to have, right, let's say Oasis, okay? Oasis sang a song about the USA. yeah You can understand the patriotism from Americans ah being like, well, who the hell are these Brits to to talk about us like that?
00:15:28
Speaker
But when you have someone like Bruce Springsteen, whose musical journey has been dedicated to singing about the USA and John Fogarty of Credence, who has sung so much about his part of the USA, you can't help but listen.
00:15:42
Speaker
Because you can't say, oh, well, you're not true of Patriot. Dude, it's Bruce Finkstein. What do you mean? You know, like, so it's important that artists like this have their say on cultural, you what I mean? It's not, I'm not saying it's mandatory, but it's like, you know, they're putting out what they want to reflect.
00:15:59
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. There's one thing, well as we're talking about lyrics, I think um what i would say is like, He communicates with the working class people, right? But it's not. There's something about his approach to the lyrics that I initially thought, because I i didn't remember. Well, I actually never paid attention to the lyrics because when I first listened to the songs from this album, I was really young, didn't understand anything ah about English, so I couldn't really grasp the the true meaning of the lyrics.
00:16:27
Speaker
So I actually i thought it patriotic kind of vibe. And maybe I thought it was about... um you know, bigger issues or maybe, you know, like ah things you um things that would change the fate of a country, that kind of stuff.
00:16:42
Speaker
But it's not... a universal approach in a certain sense, not like a really broad approach. This is about where America is going. I think it's more about the individuals who live in America and and how their lives are maybe affected by what's going on around them.
00:16:58
Speaker
But he's not is I think he's addressing the ah the emotional and ah psychological, spiritual side of that person's a struggle rather than a one political issue with the whole country. That's how I perceive it, I think.
00:17:14
Speaker
I think it's all been true in interpretation anyway. Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. Where do want next? Well, we spoke about the lyrics. So let's ah see. I'm doing it i'm doing a last today. So I'm i'm with, ah I have ah a proper like kind of ah schedule. Schedule. like Yeah. Categories. and I don't i know don't normally do that. So going back to the previous topic, which you made me skip, we're going to talk about production.
00:17:41
Speaker
Sorry, Felipe. but Yeah, you're doing your Felipe. Right. So the production, right. um that's in That's an interesting thing, because like imagine recording that 100% acoustic album, and the ah the second part of that project, which is born in the USA, is...
00:18:00
Speaker
very, very modern for the time, of course. like Some of the synth sounds, late they i just I just can't stand those sounds. ah I mean, great playing. Everything is amazing, but it was just like very 80s.
00:18:13
Speaker
yeah I think the 80s have a sound that really didn't survive the test of time now in terms of synths, in terms of um some of the vocal effects and stuff like that. Although, what I like about the vocals it sounds really raw. Most of it is just like it doesn't It's not overproduced in terms of vocals, I believe, and it's actually not too loud in the mix. You would expect him as a solo artist to have the vocals on top and the band kind of in the background, but it's all about it's about all the instruments, I think the mix is really good in that sense.
00:18:45
Speaker
Now, what I think really, really defines the sound of this album is snare drum and the synths. Yeah, yeah. Right? yeah and And they're all there in the first 10 seconds of the first song. That's it So it's like, all right, I think that's that they have to have thought it through. I don't think it's an accident. Like, they have this really particular snare sound, a really particular, like, keyboard or synth sound.
00:19:11
Speaker
And it kicks off with that, those two instruments and the vocals. yeah So that is the complete opposite of Nebraska right away. No acoustic guitars for those first seconds of of music.
00:19:25
Speaker
ah No bass, no guitars, just like snare drum keyboards. they And it sounds very electronic in a way. There's something about... um like the way they arranged um drums and guitar for this album, which is there's not too many guitar solos, there's not too many drum fills.
00:19:44
Speaker
It's all about loops, in my opinion. It's all about like repeating phrases. ah One of the songs, let me let me check which one is it, that I really... um thought that the the acoustic drums were ah played as if it was like a computer drum loop.
00:20:01
Speaker
ah Although sounds very acoustic, it's just the interpretation. need to find exact one.
00:20:08
Speaker
Which one was it? Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm on fire. Yeah. One of the hit singles of the album. ah It's got an acoustic riff Loads of kind of ambience in the vocals, but still the vocals somehow sound really raw, I think, for the way he sings.
00:20:26
Speaker
But it's a simple drum beat that never changes. So one thing all the way to end. It could be like modern production. You copy and paste, but that one is actually played. sounds like it played all the way to the end.
00:20:37
Speaker
But it's like designed to sound like a modern drum loop, although it's very acoustic. Yeah, so that so you have that. So the drums are very straightforward. The guitar never takes a full long guitar solo. It's just like phrasing around the vocals.
00:20:53
Speaker
That's really interesting because I think one of the songs has like a little sort of guitar solo intro. But um yeah other than that, that the the main sort of thing, the main solo you hear will be a saxophone solo in this album, which again, very 80s.
00:21:05
Speaker
um i thought it was really interesting. I mean, I mean,
00:21:09
Speaker
undoubtedly there is a sound, there is a cohesive sound to it and you can hear it and you think straight away Bruce Springsteen. But if we look at the genres of the album, there's just a bit of everything, isn't there? I mean, rock and roll, you know, working on the highway and glory days, I thought was kind of rock and rolly, even a bit bluesy, just sort of the chord changes going up to the four and coming back down.
00:21:29
Speaker
um You've got the obvious, what we call stadium rock, with like anthemic choruses, echoey vocals, very reverb-y snare drums. ah Born in the USA, and I'm Going Down.
00:21:42
Speaker
Now, my favourite song of the album, No Surrender. I found it to be so gospel-y, very soul-y. Maybe that could have just been the backing vocals, but there's just a sound to it. And it's almost like the... the It's almost like...
00:21:56
Speaker
the the vulnerability in his vocals, what you can hear in songs like No Surrender, his scene for the people. Yeah, No Surrender has got my favorite line in the whole album.
00:22:09
Speaker
Go for it, tell us. We learn more from a three-minute record than we ever learned in school. And I think that it's like so real in many ways. Yeah, no, you're right. It's almost like the the the ah everything around you, like the school and everything ah you learn indeed like through the official path yeah ah doesn't actually prepare you for real life. And when we listen to a song like Bruce Springsteen's music, you listen to that, it's like, oh, yeah, that's what life is all about. I think there's a lot of it.
00:22:39
Speaker
That's great point. um And then also... And it's it's a promise to stick to your dreams, isn't it? It's like two people promise to each other to stick to their dreams and we want to play music, we want to do it, you know. I think that's what the song's all about. inspirational.
00:22:50
Speaker
Yeah. and You've also got the obvious pop influences there because this album did take... um because um umm I was into Bruce Springsteen for a bit a long time ago, maybe 10, 15 years ago. And my favorite album was um Darkness on the Edge of Town.
00:23:05
Speaker
ah but I also listened to Born to Run. um i was kind of playing those two albums. And it's funny because the the defining main difference between these these those two albums and this one is the synth. um There was very...
00:23:20
Speaker
Musically, I always found his music really busy because you have a what like two or three guitarists, then there's the piano player. The piano player switches sound up to be an organ and then saxophones, drumming.
00:23:31
Speaker
But the fact that they've dialed back on the drumming, because as you said, the drumming is incredibly simple in this album. yeah Most songs just have one sort of beat going through it most of the time. yeah um The bass often... yeah I don't know. yeah It's just become more stadium rock.
00:23:46
Speaker
And what we mean by that is just... the kind when Listen, when i think when I hear the word stadium rock, the first song I think of is Born in the USA because I just imagine a stadium full of people all throwing their hands Born in the USA, just all pumping their fists ah with an echoey, reverb-y vocal there.
00:24:04
Speaker
But there is a more of a pop sensibility to this album. There is, you know, I think songs like, you know, have I got here? ah Bobby Jean and Dancing in the Dark. Now, compared to what we know eighty s pop music to be like, it's not pop.
00:24:20
Speaker
But compared to what we know of Bruce Springsteen before, it is pop. yeah Yeah, exactly. ah And interestingly, you mentioned ah Bobby Jean. There's an interesting story about that one. That's a farewell song to Steve Van Zandt, the guitar player.
00:24:35
Speaker
because he was leaving the band and Springsteen felt like he wasnt he wasn't interested in keep going anymore. And he started his own solo career. They they remained friends. There wasn't an argument or anything. yeah but So he wrote the song for him.
00:24:48
Speaker
So it's a fictional character, but it's actually him. And it's talking about when they were teenagers, always listening to the same music, really good friends and all that stuff. Yeah. So beautiful song, beautiful lyrics. Well, I think Steve Van Zandt actually still plays with him now, doesn't he?
00:25:02
Speaker
Yeah, he does. I think they they kind of ah ended the band in 87, if I'm not wrong. The East Street Band was no more at some point. And then they got together again in 2002. might be wrong about the dates, but something like that.
00:25:14
Speaker
Yeah, so they play together now again, yeah, I think. And he actually plays, Stephen Van Zandt plays. I knew him because he plays one of the main characters in The Sopranos. Oh, right.
00:25:25
Speaker
And he's in the whole show. like He's not just there as a little cameo. So yeah, that's how I found out. That's amazing. didn't know he was an actor. But yeah, yeah. I think he was a musician first. And then they suddenly saw this guy who could play a mafia character. And they were like, let's get him in.
00:25:40
Speaker
But yeah, um the the other thing, you know the production, which we sort of moved on to a little bit. John Landau, I've heard that he was he played a big part in this album, sort of shaping the sound. The synth-heavy arrangements, now, as we said, so listening back now, quite outdated. Probably doesn't sit that well, especially compared to his older music. But I did feel that there was this good balance between this kind of...
00:26:06
Speaker
live emotive energy that the rock band were playing and then putting a synth over it. It didn't feel too polished. do you agree?
00:26:17
Speaker
Yeah. because it Because it is polished, but there's degrees. Maybe in terms of in terms of this in terms of the sounds, but i like the the arrangements are like just enough exactly what you need the right amount of of each instrument i don't think they there's uh there's too much of anything in the album even like the you know sax solos they kind of dominated the 80s and there's a couple of them in the album and it's it's cool it works it's not it's not too much you know so i i think yeah i think it was the production in general was really uh really well done and i believe um bruce springsteen had
00:26:55
Speaker
total control about what was going on. So the producers are there, they're guiding him, they're giving the ideas. But he's famous for being charge of everything ah from the cover to the marketing. firm He wants things to should go in a certain way.
00:27:10
Speaker
ah The fact that he thought that you know Nebraska would be a good choice to release before this one was well thought because imagine there would be no impact if he did the other way around.
00:27:22
Speaker
ah so Nebraska would sound weak. And this way sounds like a warm-up to Born in the USA. And also he he he thought a lot about the the the order of the songs. and So it's like a set list. it's like you go to a gig.
00:27:35
Speaker
That would be a perfect set list. If those were the only songs in a gig in that particular order, they work really well. Also, they released about seven singles, right? And throughout but about like a year and a half or two years, and know they just... just It kept releasing like ah that was a really good marketing plan.
00:27:52
Speaker
I don't I think some bands were doing that, but um I don't think I don't think everyone did that. I've got it here. So camp the promotional campaign was massive. Seven singles, five music videos, three songs had dance remixes.
00:28:09
Speaker
Can you imagine that? That's crazy. That is clever. and Commercially speaking, maybe the diehard fans don't like that kind of stuff. Best-selling album of 1985.
00:28:22
Speaker
Well, not a surprise. There's something interesting about the end of the album for me. Like the last two songs, Dancing in the Dark. but So write to me if I'm wrong, but Dancing in the Dark was the first single and My Hometown, the last single.
00:28:38
Speaker
Those are the two songs that closed the album. um Yeah, correct. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, you went with the two closes. And what a clever choice to not release Born in the USA as the first single, right? And then you have, so Dancing in the Dark,
00:28:52
Speaker
does not prepare you for the album. It's a really clever choice for first single because it's like the the lyrics about a man looking for his way out of boredom. It's just like, I'm bored. I just want to go out and dance or meet someone.
00:29:05
Speaker
And there's a point in the lyrics where he says, there's something happening somewhere. i know... i I just know there is. So it's like there's something. i need to do something anyway. And and it it doesn't reflect the style of the album perfectly, but it's very commercial.
00:29:22
Speaker
that And that's exactly what I was going to say, as an accessible way to make someone be like, oh, my God, wait, Bruce Springsteen, the rock guitarist, he's released a song that sounds like this. Yeah. And you know how many people are you going to get to buy the album just by playing that?
00:29:35
Speaker
And do you know what? The point is, it's not even cheeky because I think if you listen to Dancing in the Dark and like it, there's plenty to like on Born in the USA. You might not dig songs like Born in the USA, Working on the Highway, No Surrender, because they are a bit more rocky. But yeah I mean, this is what I'm saying. for every Even though those songs are rocky...
00:29:56
Speaker
they're still poppy as well, aren't they? They have those characteristics, that you know the the really easy melodies, the anthemic choruses, the sing-along choruses. Maybe what makes some of those songs more pop than rock are the lyrics.
00:30:11
Speaker
So the kind of like the one I just mentioned, Dancing in the Dark, there's no reflection about life. There's no philosophy in There's nothing negative. There's nothing bittersweet about it. It's just like, in the end, it's someone who's looking for a way to have fun. Yeah, that's good point. And when you listen to My Hometown, that's not as pop as that one because the lyrics are a bit darker in that way. So the guy's leaving his hometown because things are getting rough and there's no jobs left. It's like he loves his hometown. He's got to leave.
00:30:49
Speaker
Life is not great as he used to be in the past. And he's showing his son... you know his hometown. So look around, that's a hometown, look the same way his dad did to him. So it's really emotional.
00:31:00
Speaker
I think it does connect with people, but it's not as commercial in that way. and although ah Although all the singles did really well, they all went to the top 10, all of them, which is insane. Imagine seven singles from an album.
00:31:14
Speaker
So basically, more than half of the album was released as singles and all of them made it to the top 10. That is like absurd. Like who's, I think, i don't think anything like that is going to happen again.
00:31:27
Speaker
so That's over half of the album as well. Yeah. yeah It's insane. It's insane. um Yeah. Cool. What do you want would you to go next? um'm Well, um so just in terms of the contrast of the songs, I think, there's two songs that come like, well, actually,
00:31:47
Speaker
Just after Born in the USA, you have Cover Me, which is very straightforward, four on the floor pop song. um Four on the floor is a drum beat. it has the bass drum playing on every beat.
00:31:59
Speaker
So it's like keep punching like that on every beat all the way to the end of the song. And that's kind of it's almost like a disco song. And it was written for Donna Summer to record. So I think he was co-producing all an album for with her or writing songs for her album, something like that. he He was working in partnership with her. He wrote a few songs for her That was meant to be one of them. And in the end, he said, no, no, that's mine.
00:32:23
Speaker
going to put it on my album. So it's it's a disco song, completely different. Nice. And then you have, um oh I really like ah Darlington County and Working on the Highway.
00:32:34
Speaker
Storytelling. Yeah. Let's talk about Darlington County because – the The biggest thing I hear in it, you know when I hear it? I hear the band. Oh, wow.
00:32:45
Speaker
It's the one, because because the I kind of, ah my head subconsciously put two and two together because I was reading it said, you know, Bruce, this this album is different from Bruce's old music, which is more rocky, more Americanary.
00:32:59
Speaker
And then I'm hearing some of the chord changes and the la, la, la, la la la la in Darlington County. And I went Americana plus this song, the band. I just thought I could hear the band singing that.
00:33:12
Speaker
um It just has that. You've got songs like Born in the... It's just so it's it's so funny, man. It's so confusing because the album works as one cohesive album.
00:33:24
Speaker
But Born in the USA and Darlington County are such different songs. Born in the USA is so stadium rocky. It's synthy. It's produced. Darlington County has that.
00:33:35
Speaker
five guys around the microphone singing la la la you know that thing to it it has that america it's great and uh on the lyrics as well they like born in the usa very critical it's very like it's it's heavy you know when you think if you really think about the war you really think about the this veterans life after war and you know like no one wants no one needs him anymore it's a really sad and and um and heavy uh uh lyrics so when you listen to the Darlaton County it's like two mates having fun in a typical American town chasing girls like listening to rock music yeah and that's it it's there's nothing to it in a way it's very simple and I think people can relate to that it's like when it's that song for me is when you stop thinking about the problems for a bit
00:34:24
Speaker
have some fun and then you go back to reality. oh Or is it reality? I think, you know, like there's, you know, good and bad things in life, isn't it? All the time. So I think that's, I think the album reflects the the positive and negative sides of life in general, but more specifically life in America, uh, walking on the highway again, it's, it's, it's, this guy runs away with, with a girl who's presumably under eight, but the, the sound of the lyrics, and then,
00:34:50
Speaker
ah I think her brother comes after her and he ends up in prison. Right. So the thing is, it starts with this guy working on the highway and it ends with him working on the prison. So he's like, and he messed up with his life, you know, and it's really, really clever lyrics. I think it's a really cool rock and roll song all in all.
00:35:09
Speaker
As in even the lyrics reflect the rock and roll kind of, you know, you hear those sort funny songs. It's like misbehavior, like doing the wrong thing, end up in jail, but it's still up tempo kind of like an energetic vibe. But with a comedic element to it in the sense of, well, I started, you know, working on the highway and now I'm working in prison.
00:35:25
Speaker
Prison, yeah. Which just really does encapsulate that rock and roll feel to it, doesn't it? Where it's like, you know, how many songs did Jerry Lee Lewis do that had a little bit of comedy to it, you know? Yeah. And, yeah, I actually thought of Jerry Lee Lewis for, know, obvious reasons. It sounds like him. His, you know, his lifestyle and stuff, but I don't think he ended up in jail.
00:35:46
Speaker
But, yeah. um but one One thing lyrically want to just touch on is – How do you think, or what do you think about the contrast between upbeat, pleasant, anthemic sound of the album and actually going deep into the reflective lyrics? Because they it's kind of an oxymoron. they don't They shouldn't really work with each other.
00:36:09
Speaker
No, they are a little bit like Help by the Beatles. Yeah. Really sad lyrics of Temple Song. yeah People singing along, they don't even realise that it's really depressive. And I think...
00:36:22
Speaker
Maybe he was like, I really want to talk about these things, but I need to wrap it up in ah in in a package that doesn't make it feel that dark and sad. I think that's it. think it's like, I want it to be commercial. Yeah, I want to people to dance and have a good time.
00:36:40
Speaker
But also, i want them to think about life, to to to reflect on stuff. yeah And I think, yeah, maybe maybe it's intentional. Oh, certainly is intentional. like as everything Bruce Springsteen does. But um yeah, I think it works, man.
00:36:56
Speaker
It works. It's just, it's it's weird if we start thinking about the lyrics, but I think music, right, in general has um several layers of interpretation. So imagine if you imagine if you don't know the language, right, and you're listening to a song,
00:37:13
Speaker
ah like Born in the USA. You know but don't speak English, you're listening to it. Oh, it's a nice beat. You can dance to it. You can jump. you can you know you You can have a good time yeah listening to it.
00:37:24
Speaker
And if you know what the lyrics are going on about, you can think, oh, it's about Vietnam War. Or it's about... what happens to your life after you're no longer needed by people.
00:37:39
Speaker
oh Or it's about suffering in general. So there's so many layers. Or you know it can just think about the keyboard sound. Or you can just... There's so many elements in in a song that can make you connect with the song.
00:37:51
Speaker
yeah And I think he he did a perfect job putting all of it as the full package for the whole album. All lyrics are somehow meaningful or intentionally simple.
00:38:04
Speaker
Yeah. right Can I just, yeah, all the, yeah, just just to quickly respond to what you said, regardless of how people interpret the song, Bruce has got his message through.
00:38:15
Speaker
yeah Yes. And that's what matters to an artist. We've played with artists. We know that they like or they need to get there. They listen to them. That's what it is. Yeah, to get their message across.
00:38:26
Speaker
Yeah. And he's done that. Even if you have a good time dancing to the song, not realising it's about the Vietnam War, it not you know i mean not exclusively, but... um he still gets to say his piece. It's like, ah it's like Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones, isn't it?
00:38:40
Speaker
You know, like you've got this wonderful song that's quite gospel-y in places and quite, and then you realize it's actually quite a, quite a, nicole to the to a point, like, ah Reagan wanted to use the, ah ah the song in his campaign, but like, but he didn't like Reagan and said, well, didn't want to get involved with, with ah politics. And he was like, no,
00:38:59
Speaker
ah and I don't under want you to use my song. And there still, Reagan mentioned him ah in speeches and used him as an example of of of ah a good American citizen. you know So like so this like even though maybe the president didn't get the message, he still admired Bruce Springsteen for the quality of his art and his hard work. So yeah um so that's that's so again, layers of interpretation. you know um and I don't think anyone would actually get the message unless you have lived that guy's life.
00:39:34
Speaker
So the whole thing with songwriting is that, isn't it? Like people, we that we're here analyzing stuff and giving opinions about stuff, but in the end of the day, ah the artist knows what he was feeling at the time, which doesn't mean he still feels like that, which doesn't mean it's entirely true.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yeah. it's All of it is kind of half fictional, half um autobiographic, isn't it? Yeah. In a way. Right. Right. Cool. um Anything else you want say?
00:40:00
Speaker
ah Well, I'm ready for... my monologue okay let me see if i've got no i mean i've just got some notes about the the success of the album because it is undoubtedly as we mentioned the top of the episode it is a massively successful album um we talked about the campaign and the singles it sold over 30 million copies worldwide and it remains his best-selling album and one of the best-selling albums of all time actually um now interestingly he was a bit critical of the album but upon its release in the 90s he was can't remember where i wrote
00:40:32
Speaker
I can't remember where I wrote this, but he said something like, um ah don't want to say anything in case it wrong, but basically he he wasn't overly enamored with the release of it. And I do wonder if that was because of how polished it was. Maybe he wasn't sure about taking this new step into a more poppier, more accessible sound.
00:40:50
Speaker
um But I mean, for his balance, it paid I'm glad he did that. And for music history. No, I was just going to say, it really helped... as we were talking about at the start of the episode, the heartland rock feel that America was, you know, that was happening. Because you had guys like, you Bob Seger as well, Tom Petty.
00:41:10
Speaker
These guys were embodying good American rock music, but lyrically were we're looking deeper than the foundations of... America's a prosperous country, you know, and it is a prosperous country, but there's stuff below the surface that we're going to address.
00:41:27
Speaker
And Born in the USA it was almost like the iconic Heartland Rock album, the the album that popularized it and got people actually saying, okay, this is what Heartland Rock means. Yeah.
00:41:38
Speaker
it's it's It's like... um Yeah, it's like modern ah folk music in a way, right? you talk Absolutely. Yeah, and I completely agree with you. Yeah, this is Heartland Rock his eighty s is the 80s version of popney other folk music.
00:41:52
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. It's almost like he's the 80s version of Bob Dylan. I don't know. Oh, I'm so glad you said that. I'm so glad you reminded me of that because there is one song. Oh, I wish I could remember what it was.
00:42:11
Speaker
ah Anyway, as I was just quickly going through the songs. There's one song that reminds me of Hurricane by Bob Dylan, oh ah where he's singing and it's quite fast and he's talking through the songs um and he's... He uses a lot of the spoken kind of vocals, isn't it? like instead of just is' not He's not melodic all the time. Sometimes sounds like he's just talking to you, he's just having a conversation.
00:42:36
Speaker
like that. Yeah. sorry i Sorry for the gap, everyone. I'm trying trying to play through the songs quickly just to figure out. I know i can't remember it, but there's one song. that just It's just the way he the way he sings it and the way he's telling this story.
00:42:49
Speaker
um And it just completely reminded me of Hurricane by Bob Dylan, which is a song that just has the same sort of chord progression repeat about 10 times. But each time, Bob Dylan... tells another uh in a verse he tells another so part of this story and you're sat there and we know bob dylan's a poet and a lyricist you know more so than a musician maybe but um but is it not um uh glory days let me check quickly want to because glory days as a story is like it's like three um three people talking about when life was better you know so like
00:43:28
Speaker
I think it is, yeah. But like back in the day, things were better. So they they go. So it ends up with the same chorus about someone singing about their glory days, but life is not the same anymore. And it's, ah again, one of my favorites in the album.
00:43:42
Speaker
I think it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah think it's glory days. It's probably my favorite in the album. Really, really. Because of the storytelling in it. like It's like three people. I get reflecting on their glory days and complete different lifestyles and and and yeah stories.
00:43:56
Speaker
But they all like thinking about, you know, it was really fun back in the day. Is that your favorite song? Yeah. Lyrics-wise, for sure. and it makes It makes you... um it makes you appreciate what you've got in life and and think about like, maybe in the future, I'm going to be looking back at this thinking, those were my glory days, you know? And it's it's it's as that one is ah ah it's kind of interesting because on one hand, you're thinking about, yeah, things were better. On the other hand, it's like,
00:44:25
Speaker
i'm I'm glad I have these memories. Right? Yeah, even in the darker days. this Yeah, you can remember what you did back in the day and had a good time. So it's super cool. I love it. i ah No Surrender, I think, is my favorite. I just think the chord progression is just really lovely.
00:44:40
Speaker
the melody as well. And he does this again, I've told you before how how how emotionally attached I get to certain keys of songs. yeah And to hear this song and the some of the changes and the key it's in and the his the vulnerability in his vocals where he's actually sort of talking through this. And he so he does that a few times on the on the other albums I liked, and Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town. There's a few songs on there that i just think is so emotive and so wearing his heart on his sleeve. But yeah, No Surrender and Darlington County are my favourites.
00:45:08
Speaker
And I need to give a massive apology to the song Born in the USA. Because i when I worked, when I was a teenager, I worked in, them I was ah a chef in a kitchen and we had, had Planet Rock on every time.
00:45:19
Speaker
um And whenever that song came on, because obviously i was i was cooking, I was busy, i I never had a chance to focus on the song. I was so fed up because they played it once a day. And I was here, and that snare every time, i just hated it.
00:45:33
Speaker
So when I saw you put this album on the list to do, I was like, oh, God. like you know and You know me, I've got to remain impartial. I've got to remain unbiased. but when I saw it I was like oh god see for that synth and that snare but even just listening to the song and just focusing on the song for four minutes 39 seconds reading the lyrics hearing the way he sings understanding what he's singing about It's a great song and I need to. Yeah. So, so don't listen to this song. If you're cooking, whilst you're having a beer or something, maybe kitchen, make the kitchen just don't don't do it because you won't appreciate it. And we should leave that as the lesson for today.
00:46:13
Speaker
Do you want to finish us off with your one look? Yes, I did. Just one more interesting fact about the album. ah The album cover became really iconic, it? It's one of the most famous album covers of all time.
00:46:25
Speaker
And it's very simple, probably didn't cost much money. um It's just him and the American flag. And these you can't see his face. You can see his his back, not his face. And i I like the fact there's like... Some people said, oh, you know, he's staring at the flag, showing how much he loves the country. So some other people said, I think he's pissing on the flag.
00:46:44
Speaker
So there's millions of interpretations about it. Is there going to be a, what about the interpretation of, hold on, let me just turn my camera off so we can see it. What about the interpretation of, is there make America great again on his cap?
00:46:58
Speaker
gosh i'm sure some he could take couldn't be He couldn't be, because that wasn't a thing at the time. am joking, but wouldn't that be funny? Yeah, but it's is' the typical hat that people wear in political campaigns, and it's very American, all of it. um and is And this is like, right, his version of this is like, I thought that the picture of my ass looked better than the picture of my face.
00:47:22
Speaker
So that's his justification for that. Oh, brilliant. That's it. Why not? That's a pair of good American jeans right there. Yeah, really cool. Yeah, exactly. so you know it It's somehow like it's... um It's almost sarcastic and, you know, in a way, it's like it's it's almost like this is a this is so typical.
00:47:47
Speaker
You know, if you want something really American, that's what we're going to put on the album. It's almost kind of sarcastic in a way. And also, I think there's a bit of both, a bit of showing appreciation to his country and his culture and also being critical of it. Yeah. I think i think it's a bit of both. That's what... Anyway.
00:48:04
Speaker
and and No, no, no. It's overtrend. I do agree. And i I think there is something interesting about facing the flag because facing the flag is like you're facing the problems as well. If you're standing in front of the flag, proud, looking at the camera with the flag behind you, I feel that's way more patriotic and way more.
00:48:19
Speaker
It's almost like, you know, there's problems with my country, but I'm going to ignore that because I'm going to turn my back to those problems. going to, you know, the flags behind me, but facing the flag equals facing the problems and realizing that there is a fantastic country.
00:48:31
Speaker
in front of you it doesn't come without its problems just any country in the world maybe the fact that you can't see his face he could be any American fellow so that's him anyone he could be anyone so that's really clever and he thought it through for sure he knew what he was doing do you want to finish off with your monologue so here we go
00:48:54
Speaker
The release of Nebraska showed a different side of Bruce Springsteen to his fans and maybe left them feeling like the E Street Band was no more. Little they know about its twin album, Born in the USA.
00:49:07
Speaker
Originally intended to be part of a double album project, Born in the USA had a life of its own and had to be performed with the full band. A whole range of emotions and experiences is displayed in the in the lyrics.
00:49:20
Speaker
Loss, depression, love, reflecting on the past, misbehavior, hope, and lack of hope. The boss has definitely cemented his reputation as a songwriter, singer and musician with this album.
00:49:33
Speaker
But more than that, he showed his unmatched ability to communicate with the common people, exposing all sides of the American dream and reminding us all that life comes in cycles of good and bad times.
00:49:47
Speaker
It doesn't feel to me that this piece of work is mainly sad or negative. It's simply a reflection on reality, a portrait of America that is far from what we get from Hollywood movies or TV shows.
00:49:58
Speaker
On top of all of the beautifully written songs, Springsteen gave us an iconic cover and a brand new sound that helped rock and pop music to coexist in perfect harmony.
00:50:12
Speaker
Perfect, man. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah, perfectly said, man. Really good. It is hell of an album. can't say anything more than that. Yeah, yeah. It's um ah a definitive rock album for the ages.
00:50:24
Speaker
Yeah, I thank my dad for that because he had that CD. and know It's just like somewhere in the house. like con know um And I found it. I said, what's that? so Bruce Springsteen, born in the USA.
00:50:37
Speaker
And that was it. It didn't say anything else. I had to listen to it and and make my own judgment. There you go. Perfectly. Cool. Well, thank you for joining us for another episode of the Long Live Rock and Roll podcast. If you're listening to us on Apple, Spotify or Amazon, do us a favor and go down and rate us and review us because any rating or review you give means we're going to be seen by more people in the charts. So scroll down, give us five stars, write a sentence.
00:51:00
Speaker
It takes 20 seconds of your time, but does the world of good to us and we'd appreciate it. If you're watching on YouTube, make sure to like and subscribe to stay up to date with new content. So thank you for joining us and we'll catch you next time.
00:51:10
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for being with us. I'll make a promise here. If you if we have 7 billion downloads, I'm going to shave my beard. um so yeah think I don't want 7 billion downloads if that's the price. No, I'm joking. Actually, what am I talking about? I just love Felipe with a beard. Would I would i give up his beard for downloads? 7 billion. Anyway. So make sure as you spread the word about this. Thanks for being with us once again.
00:51:38
Speaker
Keep on rocking everyone and don't do anything I wouldn't do. As usual, guys, take care and long live rock and roll.