I agree. It had SEVEN top-10 singles. Even though we generally shouldn't confuse "great" with "popular", in this case it is both.
It is in no way overrated!
I saw him on this tour - at the Pontiac Silverdome - in September of 1985. He played 27 songs. Here is the setlist from that day: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bruce-springsteen/1985/pontiac-silverdome-pontiac-mi-5bd7bfe4.html
So a little story about this album to me:
I wasn’t around when the album first dropped and Bruce-mania was taking over the world, but when I was growing up there was a local “mix” station that would play top 40 stuff from the 70’s/80’s/90’s and whatever was on the charts at the time in the early 2000’s. Of course, Bruce got some play on that but only 3 songs were ever in rotation: the title track, Dancing, and Glory Days (naturally). Because of those 3 songs, I originally wrote him off as being an atypical 80s rock star with jingoistic vibes and a sound akin to Mellencamp. (Keep in mind, I was still a child by this point).
Fast forward to right after college and I was in a bit of a dark spot in my life. I had inherited vinyl copies of BtR, Darkness, and BitUSA that I threw on one night just because after a bad day. And oh my…it all clicked at that point. Even this album, which I wrote off originally as just 80s rock cheese, just hit a spot *emotionally*. Understanding now that this is very much a dark album with reflections of life and love, I wound up loving this album as a whole more than I ever did with just those 3 songs.
Now today, I’ve managed to catch him twice live and to this day, Downbound Train is easily top 3 Springsteen for me. This album, aside from the production and the fact it was a cultural cornerstone at one point down everyone’s throats, is easily one of his best.
Hell yeah to Downbound Train - definitely in my top three also. Just sang along to it in the car on the way to work today. The record came out shortly after my first love broke my heart and Downbound Train definitely gave me the feels. I can still get a glimmer of that feeling 40 years later.
It was a day and a week of celebration for me and my buddies. The local rock station played it all the way through. My pal had it cranking on his car stereo with the trunk up for full sound and we played basketball. A great day and memory.
The words - so simple - and yet real, sometimes painful, or misunderstood, a life or good times, hard times, heartbreak. These are standouts for me. What about you?
Cover Me - turn out the light, bolt the door - I ain’t going out there no more
Downbound Train - there in the clearing, beyond the highway, in the moonlight - our wedding house shone
I'm Goin' Down - I pull you close now baby but when we kiss I can feel a doubt
I'm On Fire - sometimes its like someone took a knife baby edgy and dull, cut a six inch valley through the middle of my soul
Born In The USA - I’m ten years burning down the road, nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go
No Surrender - I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies in my lover’s bed, with a wide open country in my eyes, and these romantic dreams in my head
Dancing In The Dark - Man I’m just tired and bored with myself
Bobby Jean - Well if you do you’ll know I’m thinking of you and all the miles in between
My Hometown - He’d tousle my hair and say son take a good look around - this is your hometown
Glory Days - And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it - but I probably will
I became a fan between Nebraska and BITUSA. So this was the first of his albums I would get on the release day. It was my junior year of high school, exams were going on, half days, lol. I remember taking the bus to my local mall where the Sam Goody store had it plastered all over the front window and inside. When I got home and played it over and over again, all I remember is thinking how every song sounds like a hit. I remember Bobby Jean hitting me real hard and it still does. No Surrender, My Hometown, Downbound Train, all speaking right to me. I know amongst some of the faithful that this record has a sense of betrayal or the sell out element and I have heard their arguments and I will always defend this record. By the end of this summer I will have seen him 100 times. Sure hope I get Bobby Jean one more time. 🎸🎸
I will always defend this record when people say it's overrated or too synthy. It's the best record he ever put out considering it has no skips whatsoever, and the sales are proof of that in my opinion.
Correction on this: this was the first album manufactured and released in the USA on CD, at the Terre Haute, IN pressing plant for Columbia Records.
Prior to this, CDs were manufactured in Japan and exported to the USA, which is why you see a lot of early 80s albums on CD that are U.S. releases but the discs mention that they were made in Japan.
The first album ever on CD would actually go to Billy Joel’s 52nd Street, released in Japan in 1982.
Oh my gosh wow - 40 years!!! Geez, the time has flown by!!
This would have been right after the end of my freshman year of college. I was back home, working for my buddy Sal's family's beverage store - driving the forklift, stocking the floor and coolers, taking empties back, working the register. We had a boom box in the redemption area. BITUSA got regular play all summer, along with "Purple Rain".
I was one of the few Springsteen fans in my friend circle before that point. I had gotten a couple of his albums through Columbia House Record Club ('Greetings...', 'Born To Run', 'Darkness...') and thought they were great. Most of my friends were either into 70s classic rock like Led Zep/Skynyrd or new wave. I was all over the place musically. My friends came around quickly.
I don’t think I knew who Bruce was until this album came out. And then I played it incessantly. So even though nowadays it’s not one of my favorites of his, I think it’s a great “gateway drug” to becoming a Bruce fan. The songs are so catchy and direct.
This was the album that hooked me on Bruce and his story telling! Wow 40 years went by so fast, No Surrender, Bobby Jean, Darlington County and Working on the Highway still hold special places in my heart.
And for those of you ready to pull out of your holster needing to repeat his many hits he’s had, we know. You’re all a bunch of lemmings with the worst taste in music.
https://youtu.be/EHxJuMIeSYw
Even Ben Stiller can fake it. Sorry guys. Biggest phony in music. And he’s laughing all the way to the bank. Keep shelling out your hard earned money. Keeps Bruce a happy guy.
Never understood why so many think it’s overrated. IMO it’s properly rated as one of the greatest albums in rock. Every song is an absolute classic.
I agree. It had SEVEN top-10 singles. Even though we generally shouldn't confuse "great" with "popular", in this case it is both. It is in no way overrated! I saw him on this tour - at the Pontiac Silverdome - in September of 1985. He played 27 songs. Here is the setlist from that day: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bruce-springsteen/1985/pontiac-silverdome-pontiac-mi-5bd7bfe4.html
Monster of an album. Everyone had it. So many different style songs. Just superb.
So a little story about this album to me: I wasn’t around when the album first dropped and Bruce-mania was taking over the world, but when I was growing up there was a local “mix” station that would play top 40 stuff from the 70’s/80’s/90’s and whatever was on the charts at the time in the early 2000’s. Of course, Bruce got some play on that but only 3 songs were ever in rotation: the title track, Dancing, and Glory Days (naturally). Because of those 3 songs, I originally wrote him off as being an atypical 80s rock star with jingoistic vibes and a sound akin to Mellencamp. (Keep in mind, I was still a child by this point). Fast forward to right after college and I was in a bit of a dark spot in my life. I had inherited vinyl copies of BtR, Darkness, and BitUSA that I threw on one night just because after a bad day. And oh my…it all clicked at that point. Even this album, which I wrote off originally as just 80s rock cheese, just hit a spot *emotionally*. Understanding now that this is very much a dark album with reflections of life and love, I wound up loving this album as a whole more than I ever did with just those 3 songs. Now today, I’ve managed to catch him twice live and to this day, Downbound Train is easily top 3 Springsteen for me. This album, aside from the production and the fact it was a cultural cornerstone at one point down everyone’s throats, is easily one of his best.
Hell yeah to Downbound Train - definitely in my top three also. Just sang along to it in the car on the way to work today. The record came out shortly after my first love broke my heart and Downbound Train definitely gave me the feels. I can still get a glimmer of that feeling 40 years later.
Are we the same person?
I think we are! Glad to hear this happened with someone else and we’re all now fans because of it!
It was a day and a week of celebration for me and my buddies. The local rock station played it all the way through. My pal had it cranking on his car stereo with the trunk up for full sound and we played basketball. A great day and memory.
The words - so simple - and yet real, sometimes painful, or misunderstood, a life or good times, hard times, heartbreak. These are standouts for me. What about you? Cover Me - turn out the light, bolt the door - I ain’t going out there no more Downbound Train - there in the clearing, beyond the highway, in the moonlight - our wedding house shone I'm Goin' Down - I pull you close now baby but when we kiss I can feel a doubt I'm On Fire - sometimes its like someone took a knife baby edgy and dull, cut a six inch valley through the middle of my soul Born In The USA - I’m ten years burning down the road, nowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go No Surrender - I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies in my lover’s bed, with a wide open country in my eyes, and these romantic dreams in my head Dancing In The Dark - Man I’m just tired and bored with myself Bobby Jean - Well if you do you’ll know I’m thinking of you and all the miles in between My Hometown - He’d tousle my hair and say son take a good look around - this is your hometown Glory Days - And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it - but I probably will
This album solidified me as a fan…helped me get through a lot of pain at home as an only child graduating from high school in 84.
The ultimate summer album
I became a fan between Nebraska and BITUSA. So this was the first of his albums I would get on the release day. It was my junior year of high school, exams were going on, half days, lol. I remember taking the bus to my local mall where the Sam Goody store had it plastered all over the front window and inside. When I got home and played it over and over again, all I remember is thinking how every song sounds like a hit. I remember Bobby Jean hitting me real hard and it still does. No Surrender, My Hometown, Downbound Train, all speaking right to me. I know amongst some of the faithful that this record has a sense of betrayal or the sell out element and I have heard their arguments and I will always defend this record. By the end of this summer I will have seen him 100 times. Sure hope I get Bobby Jean one more time. 🎸🎸
Same, I love the album and the tour.
I am proud to have loved this album from the moment I opened its shrink wrap in 1984. I loved it then and I love it even more now xoxo
I will always defend this record when people say it's overrated or too synthy. It's the best record he ever put out considering it has no skips whatsoever, and the sales are proof of that in my opinion.
It’s up there with London Calling as a top notch, eternal classic set of left-leaning blue collar rock.
Great Album
I still have that poster in a frame and my baseball shirt from the show
And of course, this album was the first major album released on CD of any artist, so in some respects this is the 40th anniversary of digital music!
Correction on this: this was the first album manufactured and released in the USA on CD, at the Terre Haute, IN pressing plant for Columbia Records. Prior to this, CDs were manufactured in Japan and exported to the USA, which is why you see a lot of early 80s albums on CD that are U.S. releases but the discs mention that they were made in Japan. The first album ever on CD would actually go to Billy Joel’s 52nd Street, released in Japan in 1982.
Oh my gosh wow - 40 years!!! Geez, the time has flown by!! This would have been right after the end of my freshman year of college. I was back home, working for my buddy Sal's family's beverage store - driving the forklift, stocking the floor and coolers, taking empties back, working the register. We had a boom box in the redemption area. BITUSA got regular play all summer, along with "Purple Rain". I was one of the few Springsteen fans in my friend circle before that point. I had gotten a couple of his albums through Columbia House Record Club ('Greetings...', 'Born To Run', 'Darkness...') and thought they were great. Most of my friends were either into 70s classic rock like Led Zep/Skynyrd or new wave. I was all over the place musically. My friends came around quickly.
I don’t think I knew who Bruce was until this album came out. And then I played it incessantly. So even though nowadays it’s not one of my favorites of his, I think it’s a great “gateway drug” to becoming a Bruce fan. The songs are so catchy and direct.
I discovered Bruce an the start of this year and thanks to this album I fell in love with his music. Cover me is still my top 1 song from him
It has a few good songs but the supervisor isn't that good of a singer
And in a month, we'll have the anniversary of it being played unironically for the Forth of July!
This was the album that hooked me on Bruce and his story telling! Wow 40 years went by so fast, No Surrender, Bobby Jean, Darlington County and Working on the Highway still hold special places in my heart.
Hi Bruce count Tornado here how are things
And no box set. Outrageous!
[удалено]
Uh...why are you on this sub?
And for those of you ready to pull out of your holster needing to repeat his many hits he’s had, we know. You’re all a bunch of lemmings with the worst taste in music.
If you listen to the Boss, period, your music taste is superior. Wise up gal
“Gal”?? Yeah ok lol smh
https://youtu.be/EHxJuMIeSYw Even Ben Stiller can fake it. Sorry guys. Biggest phony in music. And he’s laughing all the way to the bank. Keep shelling out your hard earned money. Keeps Bruce a happy guy.
Shut up, Gal. Or, if you’d rather https://youtu.be/V9O94UTDAJQ?si=oOw6dDJMy__pGolp
Glad I got to see him on this tour. He played for almost 4 hours in Memphis at the old Mid South Colosseum.