Born in The U.S.A. - Legacy

Legacy

Born in the U.S.A. was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics poll. In 2003, the album was ranked number 85 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 1989, it was rated #6 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s. Chris Smith also included the album in his book 101 Albums that Changed Popular Music, stating that it was, lyrically, "as desperate as Nebraska, but the energy of the E Street Band brought the songs such power that many mistook the album–and the title track in particular– as a celebration of patriotism devoid of any critical commentary." Slant Magazine listed the album at #35 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980's" saying "Born in the U.S.A. propelled Springsteen not only into a pop-radio staple in the '80s, but cast him as the voice of the disillusioned American everyman."

William Ruhlmann in a retrospective review in Allmusic considers that it was the apotheosis of the E Street Band and a culmination of a road traced since their very beginning – "the place where they renewed their commitment and where Springsteen remembered that he was a rock & roll star, which is how a vastly increased public was happy to treat him."

Springsteen has expressed some mixed feelings about the album, believing that Nebraska contains some of his strongest writing, while Born in the U.S.A. did not necessarily follow suit. The title track, "more or less stood by itself", he declared. "The rest of the album contains a group of songs about which I’ve always had some ambivalence." Even so, and despite calling it the "grab-bag nature" of the album, he acknowledged its powerful effect on his career, claiming: "Born in the U.S.A. changed my life and gave me my largest audience. It forced me to question the way I presented my music and made me think harder about what I was doing."