Ten Albums "Everybody" Owned -- Including Me: Born in the USA (#4)

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Welcome to Trouble Tuesday. Today's entry in my list of mega-selling albums that I bought (along with many millions of others) might cause controversy. Sorry, just being honest. Here's another album from that list of massive sellers that I participated in paving to platinum. #4: Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen Quick note: John Roberts owned this. He stole my copy, so I broke into his house and stole his Rush albums. (Inside joke there, sorry.) Joke aside, here's where the controversy comes in: this may well be the single most overrated freaking album of the 1980s!! And the Springsteen fans line up with baseball bats.... If I did a list of artists who I consider to be vastly overrated, Springsteen would outrank the Beatles. As my late, lamented comedian friend, Tim Wilson, used to say, "Every song he ever did was about how much New Jersey sucks!" And why this album over the predecessor, the stark Nebraska, is beyond me. Of course, the relative failure of Nebraska may be why Bruce went all mainstream in this album. That succeeded masterfully: over thirty million copies sold, five hit singles, and it made Bruce "the" rocker of the 80s. Now, let me back up a bit: I do like Bruce Springsteen. I saw Bruce twice in 1985, and his concerts were (and continue to be) every bit as incredible as the hype says they are. You can hate Springsteen and still be entertained. But sheesh. Between the statutory rape songs ("Working on the Highway") and the tired old themes that permeate every Springsteen album ("now I work down at the car wash where all it ever does is rain" could be just as much a line from "The River" or "Badlands" as from "Downbound Train"), there was absolutely NOTHING new on this album. But Bruce made videos, and MTV played them every hour on the hour, and the myth became much, much bigger than the man. No, I don't have this one any longer. I only have Born to Run left in my record collection from my days of having the first seven Springsteen albums. But yes, Springsteen concerts are out of this world. Born in the USA Recorded by Bruce Springsteen Produced by Jon Landau, Chuck Piotkin, Bruce Springsteen, and Steven Van Zandt Released in 1984 My favorite song from the album: