I've got it on cassette, and I thought it was good for the times it was made in. I haven't listened to it in decades, though.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Do you own Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A?
- Thread starter elgecko
- Start date
Doesn't surprise me a bit that the 18th best selling album would be disliked by talkbass.
I haven't owned it either. Dancing in the Dark was the best song on it IMO, and Amy McDonald plays it better.
^^^This. I'll be honest, there's a slim -- very slim -- chance that I'd appreciate Springsteen's music more if he had different arranging and production values. But as it is all his band recordings strike me as monolithic high-density wall-of-sound with no subtlety or finessed layering, and so there's nothing to discover with repeated listening. As a kid we used to refer to his stuff as "vacuum cleaner music" because it had the timbral fabric, dynamics, and expressive range of that household appliance.
To me Bruce Springsteen's voice is like fingernails on a chalk board. It makes me cringe. I don't care for his music or his band either.
I grew up in New Jersey in the 80s and was forced to endure this guy's awful music on the local radio and on boomboxes during schoolbus rides and basically brainwashed to love Springsteen, part of NJ's inferiority complex.
Fortunately the brainwashing never stuck. I'd pay money to have someone remove this album from my house if it were here, but never would I pay for, nor even accept for free, anything ever made by Bruce Springsteen and his bloated noise band.
I'm not normally a hater, but this thread asked...
ETA: This guy always seemed to me to be using his guitar as a prop, rarely playing it, or playing it so low in the mix that it doesn't matter anyway, it's just there to make him look cool.
Fortunately the brainwashing never stuck. I'd pay money to have someone remove this album from my house if it were here, but never would I pay for, nor even accept for free, anything ever made by Bruce Springsteen and his bloated noise band.
I'm not normally a hater, but this thread asked...
ETA: This guy always seemed to me to be using his guitar as a prop, rarely playing it, or playing it so low in the mix that it doesn't matter anyway, it's just there to make him look cool.
Last edited:
I find it interesting that most musicians, myself included, find both him and his music to be grating and tiresome. Most of his rabid fans seem to be clueless to this unique reality. I believe he is one of the most overrated rock icons of all time.
Nope. Based on what I heard on the radio this album was not a high point of his career.
I really liked Nebraska, and I used the 4 sides of The River to hone my bass playing skills during high school. Other than that . . . .
I really liked Nebraska, and I used the 4 sides of The River to hone my bass playing skills during high school. Other than that . . . .
Last edited:
Nope not a fan at all I just don't get the appeal of him. To me he's in the same category as Neil Young and Bob Seger as in the how do they have a career in music. But hey I love Toto what do I know lol
- Oct 18, 2012
- 6,683
- 5,538
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Fender, Spector, Ampeg, Curt Mangan, Nordstrand Pickups, Korg , Conquest Sound
Fat Steve
The poodle bites, the poodle chews it.
Yeah, I own it. The message appealed to me as a youth, and it's hooky as hell. Never did care for his voice, but all in all I just can't hate on him. Now the Eagles on the other hand...
Weather or not you like the Eagles you can't deny there's some talent and substance there. Bruce however is just a one trick pony. And it's not a good trick.Wow! I thought people hated The Eagles!
Happy to say that I don't own anything by Springsteen. I've liked a few of his songs when recorded by others, but his voice is fairly high on my yuck scale.
OTOH - always been a big Clarence Clemons fan.
If you ever find a copy of 'Peacemaker' it's definitely worth checking out.
Not a speck of Bruce anywhere on it.
If you ever find a copy of 'Peacemaker' it's definitely worth checking out.
Not a speck of Bruce anywhere on it.
I bought it on cassette back in 1985, and a few years later on CD. I loved it at the time, but haven't listened to it (or much other Bruce) in over 20 years, though I've seen him live a few times. At this point, Born in the U.S.A. is probably my least favorite Bruce album from his first through Tunnel of Love.
Reading through some of these posts-
I always thought I was alone in not getting Bruce.
Anyone remember St. Elmo's Fire?
There's a scene where Judd Nelson's character & Ally Sheedy's character are splitting up...she is going through "their" LPs & Nelson yells out "No Springsteen leaves this house"!
