Born In The USA - A personal opinion
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Born In The USA: Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen, perhaps forgivably considering his career was at a stage when he was playing huge arenas for hours on end, makes his worst recorded lapse into stadium rock.
Roy Bittan's synthesizers sound dated and extraordinarily cheesy, and swamp a rock and roll by numbers performance from the rest of the E Street band and uninspired vocal performance, with shouting standing in for emotional involvement.
Whilst the additional energy of the live version does make up for some of these failings, the lyric does not stand up to close examinations. Another of Bruce's stories of the working man kicking against society it adds nothing to, say, The River or Reason To Believe except bad rhymes and gratuitous references to Vietnam.
And while it wasn't Bruce's fault, it may even have helped Ronald Reagan's career. I'll take "Nebraska", any day.
Springsteen, perhaps forgivably considering his career was at a stage when he was playing huge arenas for hours on end, makes his worst recorded lapse into stadium rock.
Roy Bittan's synthesizers sound dated and extraordinarily cheesy, and swamp a rock and roll by numbers performance from the rest of the E Street band and uninspired vocal performance, with shouting standing in for emotional involvement.
Whilst the additional energy of the live version does make up for some of these failings, the lyric does not stand up to close examinations. Another of Bruce's stories of the working man kicking against society it adds nothing to, say, The River or Reason To Believe except bad rhymes and gratuitous references to Vietnam.
And while it wasn't Bruce's fault, it may even have helped Ronald Reagan's career. I'll take "Nebraska", any day.
