On this day in 1984, Bruce Springsteen went to no 1 on the U.S. album chart with Born in the U.S.A. The album went on to spend a total of 139 weeks on the U.S. chart. It is also one of three albums (Michael Jackson's Thriller and Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814) to produce seven Top 10 U.S. singles. Gibson takes a look back:There are few stylistic changes more jarring than the one Bruce Springsteen made between 1982's Nebraska and 1984's Born in the U.S.A. The first is essentially an album of demos, recorded without the E Street Band; the second is as pop-oriented as "the Boss" ever got, with the addition of synthesizers and bright, radio-friendly arrangements.
While some have seen Born (which went to #1 on the Billboard charts on this day in '84) as a reaction to the starkness of Nebraska, the fact is that many of the songs on both albums were written – and even recorded – concurrently. You could say that these two wildly different works are something akin to two halves of a whole. more on this story
