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East Berlin, 1988. Under a graphite sky, a familiar synthesizer riff echoes out over a vast arena. As a thundercrack snare drum underscores one of the most consistently spine-chilling intros ever, Bruce Springsteen, telecaster in hand, stares out toward half a million East Germans who've all started singing the chorus - before he's even begun the first verse.
500,000 Germans shouting "Born In The USA" in some huge-ass park in the late-eighties is plainly quite weird. But they're not American. They're not singing about being American, are they? Are they??
"Born In The USA", the title track of The Boss' mega-selling 1984 album, was much misunderstood. Accused at the same time of being repulsively nationalistic, and viciously Anti-American, the track was endorsed by conservative US politicians (including Ronald Reagan) as an exemplar of "classic American values" whilst the bitter lyrics actually tell the story of disaffected Vietnam veteran, chewed up and spat out by his own country:
'I had a buddy at Khe Sahn Fighting off the Viet Cong They're still there, he's all gone He had a little girl in Saigon I got a picture of him in her arms'
Fire up YouTube and watch John Sayles' music video for the track. The killer punch comes near the end where you see the smiling veteran with a hole where his left eye should be. Despite the poor sync between the video and audio, Springsteen's leather-clad delivery is scarily fierce. Heard alongside the visuals of Bruce spitting the hopeless verses, the song is revealed as far more than a knuckleheaded, jingoistic sing-a-long. It's a ragged-lunged hymn to long gone friends, a treacherous government, a stupid war, having no job, but f*** it, let’s shout the chorus until we cough up our lungs.
Springsteen’s much-discussed genius lies in finding the humanity in the everyday, punching it out with a grizzled kind of grandeur, and managing it dressed as Mad Max. That’s why our German friends, with their cold war blues and bad blow-dries, are singing along in their hundreds of thousands. Despite huge political and national gulfs, there are more similarities than there are differences.
The other songs on the album? Apart from the unsettling, tender "I’m On Fire", it’s familiar fare throughout, reliable rock and soul courtesy of Bruce and his band of E Street musos, with the added bonus of "Glory Days" and the irrepressible "Dancing In The Dark" chucked in too. But at no point does it become as stupid, or as complex, as track 1. --P J Lucas
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Product Description
Cd > Brazilian Music > Mpb - Brazilian Popular MusicCD > BRAZILIAN MUSIC > MPB - BRAZILIAN POPULAR MUSIC
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By DAG
Format:Audio CD
I'm sure someone, somewhere, has already coined the 'melancholia(y) you can dance to' phrase, but it perfectly describes this great album. Springsteen's BITUSA divides Brucefans simply because there are those who saw it as a sell-out, while others just saw it as a natural progression from what he'd produced before. I fall into the latter camp - his earlier classics like 'Sandy', Born to Run, 'Jungleland' and Badlands' had helped to raise Springsteen's stock, but BITUSA was so full of melodic hooks that it simply couldn't fail. Many heard the noise but hadn't listened to the words - Ronald Reagan for one - but beyond the familiar tunes were words as hard-bitten and melodramatic as anything he's produced before or since. The title track itself is a stone cold classic, while my favourites were the songs of regret and melodrama - 'Bobby Jean', Glory Days' and 'No Surrender'. Springsteen reportedly recorded 100s of songs for this album and what a double it could have been! Imagine 'None but the brave', 'Frankie', 'This hard land' and 'My love will not let you down' added to this platter! Anyway, not everyone is 45 and over, and there will be new listeners wondering what the fuss was all about; so for them, it's loud, it's noisy, it's melodic, it's tells great stories, it might make you cry, it's full of melancholy...and you can dance to it. Enjoy it.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
in my opinion, born in the USA is one of the best albums ever! it has everything any rock or pop music fan could ever ask for. from its opening collection of thundering stadium rock tracks ('darlington county', 'working on the highway'and the title track 'born in the USA') further listening to them tells a much darker, meaningful story than the music suggests. included are the more softly spoken tracks such as 'I'm on fire' and 'my hometown' which are just as thought provoking and help to demonstrate bruce's vocal skills. this album launched bruce into a global megastar and its easy to see why. this is an essential purchase for any springsteen fan or any music fan in general!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By lhdps
Format:Audio CD
I was 13 years old when i first heard this album and of Bruce Sprigsteen.
It made me an instant fan. The same day i bought the other "born" album - Born to Run. In less than a week i had the entire Bruce Springsteen collection in my hand. Altough great this album may be, for me it has that "discovering" quality that has made it one of my favorite albums of all time. If you want to start hearing Bruce Springsteen, star with this one. You won't be dispointed.
It made me an instant fan. The same day i bought the other "born" album - Born to Run. In less than a week i had the entire Bruce Springsteen collection in my hand. Altough great this album may be, for me it has that "discovering" quality that has made it one of my favorite albums of all time. If you want to start hearing Bruce Springsteen, star with this one. You won't be dispointed.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
`Born in the USA' is one of those albums that has become a classic and epitomises the times it was written and released in. This lead to Bruces famous stadium tours that left him exhausted, but showcased his music to a wider audience. Although the title track has been overplayed and feels slightly cliched as a result, it still has great power when it starts and this album has so many great tracks that you are left in awe at the amount of talent on one CD. From excellent, more low key tracks such as `Cover Me' to `Darlington County' via full on rockers like `Glory Days' and `Bobby Jean' and touching on the more brooding and moving songs like `I'm on Fire' and `My Hometown', this albums has a selection of tracks to suit any mood or taste. All of this, coupled with the now iconic album cover and you will have in your hands a slice of music history that has rarely been surpassed. It has become a classic for a reason and is well worth a try.
Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.
Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.
Format:MP3 Download
The classic American rock album. Bruce is legendary, and his music reflects that. I have my favourites, but I cannot say which is the best - because they all are!
By JKM
Format:MP3 Download|Amazon Verified Purchase
This album is how I like to hear Bruce Springsteen sound, singing loud and proud and rocking.
The only Bruce Springsteen album I previously bough was his "Greatest Hits" compilation and although I liked pretty much liked this it's been a long time before considering buying any Bruce, because sometimes I found his voice a little on the mumbling side particularly on the less rocky tracks. But I did note that all my favourite Bruce tracks on the "Greatest Hits" came from this album, these being "Born In The USA", "Dancing In The Dark" and "Glory Days", so I thought OK let's give this album a go.
I'm glad I did, from the opening "Born In The USA" through to the 11th track "Dancing In The Dark" it's all great rock 'n' roll. The 12th track "My Hometown" closes the album with a good ballad performance that is sung well and is a nice wind down ending to a very fine album.
At some point I will now probably reconsider buying more Bruce after hearing this album, but I have the feeling that this one is going to be hard to top.
The only Bruce Springsteen album I previously bough was his "Greatest Hits" compilation and although I liked pretty much liked this it's been a long time before considering buying any Bruce, because sometimes I found his voice a little on the mumbling side particularly on the less rocky tracks. But I did note that all my favourite Bruce tracks on the "Greatest Hits" came from this album, these being "Born In The USA", "Dancing In The Dark" and "Glory Days", so I thought OK let's give this album a go.
I'm glad I did, from the opening "Born In The USA" through to the 11th track "Dancing In The Dark" it's all great rock 'n' roll. The 12th track "My Hometown" closes the album with a good ballad performance that is sung well and is a nice wind down ending to a very fine album.
At some point I will now probably reconsider buying more Bruce after hearing this album, but I have the feeling that this one is going to be hard to top.
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Words cannot say what this CD means. Great is not enough. This stands the seeds of time. Even the youngsters down the gym like this CD.
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Alright album
Only really brought this for Born In The U.SA as it was cheaper to buy this than the single. but there are a couple of other tracks on the album that aint too bad. Ok album
Published 3 months ago by Toby W. North
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Boss at his best
Delighted with this cd. Some great songs. Great music. Got it as a christmas gift when we go to see him in Limerick.
Published 4 months ago by Ms. M. Shannon
5.0 out of 5 stars
good
another good springstein cd. some of the songs i like are not on it, but everyones taste differ. overall i am satisfied with it.
Published 5 months ago by lek
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Purchase
Absolutely Brilliant as I rate Bruce Springsteen as excellent regardless of what he sings. Excellent value for money was easy to download and to pay for. Many thanks
Published 5 months ago by Janice Henderson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Born in the USA
My son bought me this for christmas, i have the orginal album from the 80s but nothing to play it on.
Published 5 months ago by Teresa
5.0 out of 5 stars
It does not get much better
I bought this album years ago, and have been lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen live, if you don't own it, buy to.
Published 6 months ago by Dr. John Lalor
5.0 out of 5 stars
springsteens best
this is springsteens classic music moment, this was album no 6 he was already a star well before this album,born to run for example proves the point. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. A. J. Ireland
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love it
I love it. The purchase price was great. The delivery was good and fast. The music is great to listen to and brings back good times.
Published 6 months ago by George Inch
4.0 out of 5 stars
Memory lane
Sounds as good now as it did when first released - I bought it on cassette the first time round so about time I bought a new copy!
Published 7 months ago by D. Lawrence
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