Tramps Like Us, Part 2

Summary

Hit Parade | "Tramps Like Us, Part 2"

Date: July 30, 2021
Host: Chris Molanphy

Episode Overview

In this rich, chart-driven journey, Chris Molanphy chronicles Bruce Springsteen's transformation from a respected cult rocker to the reigning king of American pop during the 1980s, centering on the phenomenon of Born in the U.S.A.. Through storytelling, song snippets, pop chart trivia, and memorable cultural detours, Chris details how Springsteen’s biggest era unfolded, both musically and as a cultural juggernaut. The episode dives into the make-or-break moments behind the hits, the misunderstood anthemism, political controversies, Springsteen’s impact on the American soundscape, and his eventual transition to a national treasure.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Double Album Pivot and Evolution of Springsteen’s Sound

• Born in the U.S.A. emerged from sessions that also produced the stark acoustic album Nebraska. Many songs could have gone either direction sonically (e.g., "Johnny 99," "Open All Night") ([00:00]).
• The transformation of tracks like “I’m on Fire” and “Glory Days” from demo to stadium-ready anthems highlights the “presentation is everything” ethos.
• Springsteen was also writing for others; songs like “Cover Me” were intended for Donna Summer before Bruce kept them for himself.

2. The Genesis and Power of "Born in the U.S.A."

• Originally a dark, folky song titled "Vietnam," it evolved into a pounding arena anthem after being influenced in part by Jimmy Cliff’s protest songs ([03:55]).
• The title "Born in the U.S.A." was borrowed from a Paul Schrader screenplay, re-framing Bruce’s meditation on Vietnam veterans and disillusionment.

3. “Dancing In the Dark”: Anatomy of a Reluctant Smash

• At John Landau's urging, Springsteen wrote "Dancing In the Dark" as the last addition to the album—out of frustration, which fueled the song's lyrics ([08:30]).
  • Quote: “Look, I’ve written 70 songs. You want another one, you write it.” – Bruce, paraphrased by Chris ([09:10]).
• The lyrics tap into universal frustration, making it his biggest pop hit:
  • Quote: "You can't start a fire without a spark." – Bruce Springsteen ([10:17]).
• The Brian De Palma–directed music video, featuring an unknown Courteney Cox, completed Springsteen’s MTV-era transformation ([15:00]).

4. Born in the U.S.A. and the 1980s Pop Landscape

• The album dropped when genre lines blurred: rock fused R&B (Prince, Van Halen), country infiltrated the pop charts (Kenny Loggins, John Cougar Mellencamp), and pop acts embraced twang ([12:50]).
• The artwork and flag iconography, shot by Annie Leibovitz, became both a marketing tool and an accidental magnet for cultural and political misreading ([14:00]).
  • Quote: "We took a lot of different types of pictures and in the end the picture of my ass looked better than the picture of my face." – Bruce Springsteen ([15:20]).

5. Chart Triumphs and Near-Misses

• While Born in the U.S.A. was a chart titan, Springsteen never scored a Hot 100 #1 himself: “Dancing In the Dark” peaked at #2, blocked by Prince’s “When Doves Cry” ([18:12]).
• The album spun off an unprecedented seven Top 10 singles, tying Thriller and later Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 ([29:40]).

6. Political Appropriation and Misunderstanding

• 1984: Reagan’s campaign invoked Springsteen as an avatar of American hope. The ambiguous “Born in the U.S.A.” chorus was politically misread ([21:31]).
  • Quote: “[Born in the U.S.A.] was no flag waver. It was a lament for the foreclosure of the American dream, not morning in America.” – Chris ([22:00])
• Bruce responded with sharp onstage retorts about Reagan’s understanding of his music ([22:30]).

7. The Brucening of American Pop Culture

• Springsteen’s sound and image were omnipresent: the Eddie and the Cruisers soundtrack, John Cafferty, Bob Seger’s "Like a Rock," and more all echoed his Heartland rock aesthetic ([34:05], [37:00]).
• Even “Springsteen by-proxy” hits—covers and B-sides given to other artists—were climbing pop and country charts (e.g., Natalie Cole's "Pink Cadillac," Mel McDaniel’s “Stand on It”) ([41:30], [42:56]).

8. From Imperial Phase to Elder Statesman

• Springsteen’s 5-LP live album in 1986 shattered pre-SoundScan chart records, debuting at #1 ([46:00]).
• His fiery cover of Edwin Starr’s “War” became a late-stage pop hit and underscored his political activism ([47:22], [48:59]).
  • Quote: "[In] 1985, blind faith in your leaders or in anything will get you killed." – Bruce Springsteen ([48:59])
• Marriage, divorce, and creative reinvention: "Brilliant Disguise" and the Tunnel of Love album chronicled his personal turbulence ([51:13]).

9. The Afterglow and Enduring Influence

• Attempts to repeat blockbuster success with 1992’s Human Touch and Lucky Town faced diminished returns. The music world had changed, and so had Bruce’s place in it ([56:00]).
• Springsteen earned an Oscar for "Streets of Philadelphia" (from Philadelphia, 1994), marking his last Top 10 hit ([59:26]).
• His later years were marked by critical respect, chart-topping albums fueled by his loyal base, and continued influence on new generations of artists (Arcade Fire, Eric Church, Gaslight Anthem, Pet Shop Boys, Ed Sheeran, etc.) ([62:59], [63:47], [64:12]).

10. The Enduring Power of Springsteen

• Springsteen’s catalog remains potent, with songs like “We Take Care of Our Own” adopted as campaign anthems ([64:19]).
• His Springsteen on Broadway show in 2021 reimagined the hits for a new era, showcasing their continued resonance ([65:41], [66:21]).
  • Quote: "His new take on Dancing in the Dark is still catchy, but it's now also heartfelt, soulful, infused with years of wisdom and miles of road." – Chris ([66:21])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [09:10] Chris (paraphrasing Bruce): “Look, I’ve written 70 songs. You want another one, you write it.”
• [10:17] Bruce Springsteen: "You can't start a fire. You can't start a fire without a spark."
• [15:20] Bruce Springsteen: “We took a lot of different types of pictures and in the end the picture of my ass looked better than the picture of my face.”
• [22:00] Chris: “[Born in the U.S.A.] was no flag waver. It was a lament for the foreclosure of the American dream, not morning in America.”
• [48:59] Bruce Springsteen (on performing "War"): “Because in 1985, blind faith in your leaders or in anything will get you killed.”
• [66:21] Chris: "His new take on Dancing in the Dark is still catchy, but it's now also heartfelt, soulful, infused with years of wisdom and miles of road."

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:00–08:30: Outlining the creation of Born in the U.S.A., transformation of songs, and Springsteen's dual-album phase.
• 10:17: Bruce delivers the “fire without a spark” line in “Dancing in the Dark.”
• 12:50–15:20: Explaining the album’s art, MTV’s influence, and Springsteen's new pop icon status.
• 18:12–19:14: Chart rivalry: “Dancing in the Dark” vs. “When Doves Cry.”
• 21:31–23:00: Reagan’s political appropriation and Springsteen’s response.
• 29:40: The count of Born in the U.S.A. Top 10 singles.
• 34:05: “On the Dark Side” and the rise of Springsteen clones.
• 41:30–42:56: Bruce's B-sides and their chart success for other artists.
• 46:00: Live 1975–85 and its historic chart debut.
• 47:22: Springsteen’s live cover of “War.”
• 51:13: The emotionally revealing "Brilliant Disguise" and Tunnel of Love.
• 59:26: Springsteen’s Oscar win for "Streets of Philadelphia."
• 62:59–63:47: Springsteen's influence on new generations.
• 65:41–66:21: Springsteen on Broadway; reimagining "Born in the U.S.A." and "Dancing in the Dark."

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Conclusion

This episode of Hit Parade expertly dissects Born in the U.S.A.'s status not only as a blockbuster album but as a bellwether for pop, politics, and culture in 1980s America. Springsteen’s journey encapsulates how smash hits require talent, timing, persistence, and a fair bit of ambiguity—qualities that made him a hero of both sides of the American cultural divide and a lasting icon on the pop charts.

Transcript

[Chris Melanphe]

You're listening ad free on Amazon Music. Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanphe, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One Series. On our last episode, we talked about Bruce Springsteen's long evolution from Bard of Asbury park to rock star. By the turn of the 80s, Springsteen finally scored his first major pop hit, but his transformation into an MTV era icon was yet to come. In essence, in 1982, Bruce Springsteen had laid the groundwork for two albums at once, and the differences between the songs on 1982 Nebraska and the ones he held for his next LP, which would be a full E Street Band rocker, were largely cosmetic. Some songs on Nebraska, apart from their naked production, could have worked as full band rave ups like Johnny99 or open all Night. Compare this to a track that did wind up on the next album, the infectious Blue Collar tall tale Working on the Highway. It benefited from the east street approach, but it was still lean and direct. It was all about presentation. A rumination on unfulfilled sexual desire called I'm on Fire sounded as austere as anything on Nebraska, but with the addition of Roy Bitton synthesizers and gently tapped Max Weinberg drums, it became an evocative 80s mood piece. Another tune that started as a morose acoustic demo about the folly of nostalgia about time passing and missed opportunities with the addition of a Danny Federici organ hook worthy of a baseball stadium became the barn burner Glory Days. Springsteen also wasn't just writing for himself. If you're familiar with Bruce's 80s hits, you're probably well acquainted with this soon to be smash. But Cover Me wasn't originally written for Bruce to keep. He wrote it for no kidding, this superstar. That's disco queen Donna Summer singing the Bruce Springsteen penned protection on her 1982 self titled album. Produced by Quincy Jones, Protection was a consolation prize for Summer. When record mogul David Geffen signed Summer to his Geffen label and asked Springsteen if he would write her a rock song, Bruce wrote Cover Me, but then, as with Hungry Heart and the Ramones, he decided to keep Cover Me for himself. So Bruce then wrote Protection to give to Summer. Once you know that Cover Me and Protection, two florid rock songs about needing security in a cruel world, were both intended for Donna Summer. You can't unhear it. Summer would have done a killer job with COVID Me, but it wound up as one of Bruce's classics. But the defining track of Springsteen's next album, the one that would lead it off and give it its title, was originally titled simply Vietnam. Back in the late 60s, Springsteen had avoided the Vietnam draft, though he was prepared to dodge. He escaped the service by legitimately failing his physical, and he'd spent more than a decade brooding over the other working class kids who went in his place. Springsteenologists have also speculated that Bruce, who in the early 80s, had been turned on to the music of Jamaican ska and reggae godfather Jimmy Cliff, may have also taken inspiration from a Cliff protest anthem called Vietnam. In the USA Eventually, Bruce's Vietnam got a different title. He borrowed it from a screenplay he'd been given by filmmaker Paul Schrader. The film had nothing to do with Vietnam. It was about two siblings playing in a bar band, and Schrader wanted Springsteen to write music for the film. But Bruce couldn't get the movie's working title out of his head. Born in the USA turned into a refrain. Springsteen grafted this onto his lyrics, about a Vietnam veteran still wrestling with the casualties of the war and struggling to reintegrate into an America that had abandoned him. Born in the USA Then underwent perhaps the most radical transformation of any of Bruce's demos when he brought it to the E Street Band. Punctuated by Roy Bitton's six note synthesizer riff, a riff that he interpolated from Springsteen's own melody, the song was slowed to a martial tempo anchored by Max Weinberg's cracking drums. Like a rifle firing. Born in the USA went from a character study to an anthem. Majestic, fierce, and this is important, Angry. Hours. Born in the USA would be the album's centerpiece hit, but it wouldn't be the first hit, the one that sent the LP into the stratosphere. Springsteen got all the way to early 1984 with the Born in the USA album essentially complete when manager and co producer John Landau told him it needed just one more song, a leadoff single, reportedly, an angry Bruce snapped back at Landau, quote, Look, I've written 70 songs. You want another one, you write it. By the way, Bruce wasn't kidding. He'd produced so much material, including some excellent songs that were left off of Born in the usa, including a pulsating car song that would wind up on the B side of A single, but was so catchy it scored radio airplay as if it were an A side. The classic Pink Cadillac. After his outburst at John Landow, the Boss reluctantly did as he was told and went off to write the singles A side. But his frustration stayed with Him. Him. Bruce Springsteen's biggest pop hit would be about trying to write a pop hit and about how much that pissed him off. Maybe the act of writing a song isn't all that relatable to the masses by itself, but virtually everything else in Dancing in the Dark is very relatable. For such a big, catchy hit, the song is remarkably wordy, brooding and ruminative. Man, I'm just tired and bored with myself Or I ain't gettin nowhere just living in a dump like this. Or the immortal, want to change my clothes, my hair, my face, who can relate? And the chorus, that's all about how Springsteen is trying to build something out of nothing. Quote, you can't start a fire without a spark.

[Bruce Springsteen]

You can't start a fire. You can't start a fire without a spark. This comes behind even if we're just dancing in the dark.

[Chris Melanphe]

Gun for hire Bruce Springsteen, the man who generated songs for Manford, man, and Patti Smith and the Pointer sisters and Gary U.S. bonds and Donna Summer, often on request, was now being commanded to produce a hit for himself. And he did it. The last minute edition of Dancing in the Dark meant Born in the USA was complete. Springsteen dropped his seventh studio album in June of 1984. And even more than with Hungry Heart in 1980, his timing couldn't have been better. Born in the USA arrived at a moment when all the rules for pop were being rewritten. R B and dance music had rock guitars, rock songs had synthesizers, and all of it was getting played on the radio, whether from Prince, who set a template with his 1983 rock and B hit Little Red Corvette. Or Van Halen, who used synthesizers for the first time on 1984's jump and went to number one with it. Or Madonna, whose smash 1983 debut album was generating hits well into 1984, ranging from Latin freestyle to dance rock with guitars. In other corners of pop, many hitmakers had gotten rather twangy. As we discussed in our country episode last fall, in the early 80s, actual country music was crossing to the pop charts. But by 1983 and 84, pop and rock acts were filling this need themselves. Instead of Kenny Rogers or Alabama, you could hear the twang on mainstream hits like Kenny Loggins, chart topper Footloose, On John Cougar Mellencamp's heartland anthem Pink Houses.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Ain't that America? Something to see, baby.

[Chris Melanphe]

On 38 specials, slick Southern flavored rock like if I'd Been the One. And on Michigan rocker Bob Seeger's smash 1983 cowboy song Shame on the Moon, a pop hit that was basically country in disguise. Oh.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Blame it on Midnight.

[Chris Melanphe]

Springsteen's new album had something to satisfy fans of all of this music. Heartland anthems, synthesizer hooks, danceable rock, chart friendly pop, all wrapped up in some very marketable iconography with images of the Stars and Stripes all over the album and its singles. Speaking of imagery about the album cover, it was shot by famed Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair photographer Annie Leibovitz with Bruce against a backdrop of the American flag. Springsteen later told Rolling Stone's Kurt Loder, quote, we had the flag on the COVID because the first song was called Born in the usa. But the flag is a powerful image and when you set that stuff loose, you don't know what's gonna be done with it. As for the main photo they chose, which was of Bruce's blue jean clad posterior with a red ball cap in his back pocket, Springsteen told Loder, quote, we took a lot of different types of pictures and in the end the picture of my ass looked better than the picture of my face. So that's what went on the COVID unquote. The package proved irresistible, as did the lead off single, Dancing in the Dark. It arrived in May and the album in June. Both scaled their respective charts rapidly, particularly the song, fueled in part by its music video. In the four years since Springsteen had released a major single, MTV had reinvented the art of pop promotion. Though the Nebraska album in 1982 had been supported by a grainy video for its single Atlantic City, Bruce hadn't even appeared in it. In essence, Dancing in the Dark was his first major music video of the MTV era. Directed by film auteur Brian De Palma, the video is a seemingly simple performance of Bruce and the E Street band at Minnesota's St. Paul Civic center, albeit with very polished cinematography, unusual close ups and a very handsome Springsteen showing off his gym toned body, sleeves rolled up to his shoulders, styled as a post James Dean matinee idol. But really, most of the video is just a preamble to the game changing moment. At the final chorus, Bruce scans the crowd, makes eye contact with a pretty young woman in the front row, and then he extends his hand to invite her on stage to dance with him. This seemingly random woman happened to be professional actress Courteney Cox, then on a soap opera, and a decade later she would become a megastar on TV's Friends. Springsteen and Cox close the video dancing on stage awkwardly but charmingly. The dance puts a bow on Bruce's cuddliest, most accessible, most sex Symbol worthy performance. This is how pop icons are made. All of this masterful promotional setup resulted in a number one album. Born in the USA was on top by its third week. Springsteen's second number one album after the river, and a massive single that peaked at. Well, that's the bad news. Here's Casey Kasin. Bruce Springsteen.

[Bruce Springsteen]

After four consecutive weeks at number two, he falls to number three on American.

[Chris Melanphe]

Top 40 from the LP Born in.

[Bruce Springsteen]

The USA that's dancing in the Dark.

[Chris Melanphe]

How did this seemingly unstoppable smash fall short? Call it one great single being defeated by an even greater one. When Dancing in the Dark first reached number two the last week of June 1984, it was behind Duran Duran's the Reflex. The Duran Duran song fell out of number one a week later, giving Bruce a shot at the top spot. But the Reflex was replaced not by Dancing in the Dark, but by a song that leapt over it from number three to number one. And you kinda can't argue with this hit.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Why do we scream at each Other? This is what it sounds like. When Doves Cry.

[Chris Melanphe]

Princes magnum opus When Doves Cry. It wound up the top song of all of 1984. Number one on the Hot 100 for five weeks, foiling Bruce Springsteen's run at a number one pop hit. And by the way, that's the last part of our trivia answer. Bruce's only number two hit comparable to those two Bob Dylan twos and Randy Newman's Short People. Springsteen, the man who accidentally wrote a number one for Manford Mann, never topped the chart himself, a cruel tease for the Boss. But Born in the USA was just getting started. Dancing in the Dark was the first of many hits from the album. The second single, Cover Me, that song that almost went to Donna Summer, peaked at number seven in October 1984, Just as Cover Me was cresting on the Hot 100 team. Bruce chose the album's title track as the third single. It made sense. AOR stations had been spinning Born in the USA or All Summer Long. And that's when Bruce's dalliance with the mainstream took a turn no one could have foreseen. 1984 was a presidential election year. Despite Springsteen's working class bona fides, he declined to endorse either Democrat Walter Mondale or Republican incumbent Ronald Reagan. In the early fall of 84, he also turned down a request by the Reagan campaign to use his song Born in the USA as a rally song. That should have settled things. But then the Reagan campaign took matters into its own hands.

[Bruce Springsteen]

America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in songs of a man so many young Americans admire, New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen.

[Chris Melanphe]

Reagan's invocation of Springsteen is widely agreed to be the signal example of a politician misappropriating a popular song, not to mention a popular album, one that Reagan's team literally judged by its cover. Though the President did not mention Born in the USA by name in his stump speech, clearly the song's anthemic chorus was the bandwagon the Gipper was jumping on, Which was a total misreading of the song. However anthemic and muscular, Born in the USA was no flag waiver. It was a lament for the foreclosure of the American dream, not mourning in America. It was about the disregard of citizens who fought, even died, for the flag. Springsteen's protagonist is reclaiming his birthright after years of neglect, and his final howl isn't a march into battle, it's a cry of pain. It's as if Reagan's campaign heard Lee Greenwood's more unabashedly jingoistic God Bless the USA, another song that came out in 1984, by the way, And assumed that Springsteen's song with USA in the title was more or less the same thing. Springsteen was aghast after Reagan's invocation. While on the Born in the USA tour, Bruce became more overtly political for the first time, throwing shade at Reagan. Well, the President was mentioning my name in his speech the other day, springsteen told an audience in Pittsburgh, and I kind of got to wondering what his favorite album of mine must have been. You know, I don't think it was the Nebraska album. I don't think he's been listening to this one. Say this for President Reagan's 1984 mention of Bruce Springsteen, which came about six weeks before he won re election in a landslide. It probably boosted Springsteen's sales. Whatever Bruce thought of it, the endorsement of confirmed that Born in the USA was now the quintessential heartland rock album of its era. Among both Reagan voters and Mondale voters, the album returned to number one on the Billboard album chart for three more weeks in January 1985. It was in fact number one the week Reagan was inaugurated for his second term, and it never left the top 10 all year. In fact, Born in the USA wound up the overall number one album, not of 1984, but 85, the year when Bruce seemed almost as omnipresent on top 40 radio as Madonna. The hits just kept on coming.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Hey, Little girl, is your daddy home? Did he go in Leave you all alone? I got a bad design.

[Chris Melanphe]

After the Born in the USA single peaked at number nine in January, I'm on Fire was issued as the album's fourth single, also sporting a glossy music video with Bruce playing a car mechanic who considers having an affair with a rich woman living in the hills. I'm on fire reached number six in April 1985. That's four singles, four top 10 hits. And there was more.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Glory Days.

[Chris Melanphe]

Fulfilling its destiny as a summer anthem, Glory Days hit the charts just after memorial day. Now 1985. By August, it had reached number five, Springsteen's first top five hit since Dancing in the Dark 12 months earlier. Bruce had now provided a definitive summer hit two summers in a row, both of them from the same album. Springsteen was now entering rarefied chart status by generating five top 10 hits. Born in the USA had now tied for second place among albums with the most top 10 hits ever. The LP he tied was Lionel Richie's Can't Slow down, which had just finished spawning a fivesome of top tens one year earlier. But unlike Lionel, Bruce wasn't done. I'm Going Down, a catchy rocker with a relentless chorus and a lyric about a love gone cold, was tapped as the next single from born in the USA. Debuting in September when the album was now 15 months old, I'm Going down cracked the top 10 in less than two months, peaking at number nine. Remarkable for an LP's sixth single, Bruce was now running on sheer momentum. The record for most top tens from a single album stood at seven songs, and that record was held by. This won't surprise you, Michael Jackson's Thriller. It had produced seven top tens from late 1982 through early 1984. Could Springsteen, holder of the number one album of 1985, match this feat by Jackson, whose Thriller had dominated both 1983 and 84? Amazingly, yes. And Bruce did it with born in the USA's quietest song. My Hometown was the sentimental mirror image of Born in the usa. Like that righteously angry song, this wistful ballad reflected on a bygone America, depicting a hollowed out factory town whose protagonist remains proud of the place he has always called home. Released Just before Christmas 1985, just as the Born in the USA album album was certified a stunning ten times platinum, My Hometown reached number six on the Hot 100 by January 1986. That gave Born in the USA its record seventh top ten hit, tying Thriller. More than three and a half decades later, Thriller and USA still hold this chart record joined in a three way tie with Michael's sister Janet Jackson, who pulled seven top tens from her 1989 album Rhythm Nation 1814. Notably, in the final verse of My Hometown, springsteen's protagonist reveals his. When Springsteen sang that line on the born in the USA tour, it was autobiographical. Bruce was indeed 35 for the bulk of the long running tour. Actually, when the born in the USA album first arrived in mid-1984, Springsteen was 34. By the time my hometown made the top 10, he had turned 36. This made Bruce, while still a fairly young man, quite old for a newly minted pop star. He was nearly a decade older than Michael Jackson, Madonna or Prince, and more than a dozen years older than Whitney Houston, who were now his peers on the pop charts. Perhaps Springsteen's advanced age and long established Persona explain how Born in the USA over that year and a half period came to seem not just like an album, but a cultural moment. So much of popular art now seemed to live in Bruce Springsteen's shadow. And there were signs as early as 1984 the dark science call alive in the fall of 1983, the movie Eddie and the Cruisers, about a fictional bar band from New Jersey, debuted in theaters to terrible reviews and worse box office. By 1984 the film was already in regular rotation on HBO, where it found an audience audience that in itself was not remarkable. Cable TV was already known for finding audiences for third tier movies. What was remarkable was a full year after the movie's theatrical belly flop, the film's soundtrack took off on the radio and the music sounded a shitload, like a certain actual band from New Jersey. John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, a touring group from Rhode island, had been hired by the filmmakers in 83 specifically for their ability to emulate the sound of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Cafferty's centerpiece single from the soundtrack on the Dark side was an uncanny facsimile of the Bruce sound, a cross between the Born to Run track she's the One with the cavernous arena sound of the river, complete with a Clarence Clemens like sax solo. The main difference between the fall of 1983 and the fall of 1984 was by then born in in the USA had begun to make Bruce Springsteen the biggest rock star in America. So the sound of on the Dark side was now massively commercial. AOR and Top 40 stations began spinning the track by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, reviving the Eddie and the Cruiser soundtrack. In the process, casual radio listeners thought that they were hearing another hit by Springsteen. On the Dark side reached a remarkable number seven on the Hot 100 by October. @ one point it was side by side in the top 10 with the actual Springsteen hit Cover Me. Cafferty's song also topped Billboard's Album Rock chart for five weeks, almost as long as Dancing in the Dark had. John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band kept generating Springsteen esque singles for another year, returning to the top 43 more times, including their number 31 hit tender.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Years. Away My.

[Chris Melanphe]

Tears. Another sign of Springsteen's newfound clout came in early 85 when he was invited to take part in USA for Africa's We Are the World. Had that charity mega single come out just one year earlier, it is easy to imagine Springsteen not even being considered American music stars of similar vintage like John Denver and Michael McDonald were not invited. But Bruce was not only included in the recording, he was given two vocal solos and encouraged to sing in his best gruff Bruce Born in the USA Anthem voice. Chart. Fans debate whether We Are the One World gives Bruce credit for a number one hit since he does solo on it and the single did top the Hot 100 for four weeks in the spring of 85. But since the official artist credit read USA for Africa chart, historians do not include it on any individual artist's career tally. That same month, Springsteen got a sense of the size of his celebrity when on the occasion of a key personal event, his team had to outsmart a rabid media industrial complex including Entertainment Tonight. Rock star Bruce Springsteen married model Julianne Phillips early today. The private ceremony was held at 15 minutes after midnight in the bride's hometown of Lake Oswego, Oregon. The wedding was attended only by family and a few close friends. The time and date were kept a secret even in a small town where the wedding had been the hottest topic of conversation and rumors for days. More on Bruce's marriage later. Perhaps the most remarkable and the kitschiest evidence of Bruce Springsteen's Reagan era clout was all the cultural detritus he had nothing whatsoever to do with. When you flipped on your television in 1985 and 86, every other ad seemed to be evoking Springsteen. From Chrysler's new ad campaign featuring Chairman Lee Iacocca quality backed by a.

[Bruce Springsteen]

550 protection plan swimmer Sundance, the Unbelievable.

[Chris Melanphe]

American. To a slew of beer commercials made in.

[Bruce Springsteen]

America. That means a lot to me. Oh, I believe in America and American.

[Chris Melanphe]

Quality. General Motors got into The Heartland America shtick2 on its campaign for Chevy trucks with a Twist. America is still the land of rugged individualists. The Chevy 1986 like a rock campaign borrowed a song not from Bruce Springsteen, but from veteran Detroit based rocker Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. Seeger's recording career actually predated Springsteen's back to the late 60s when Bruce was still playing with Asbury park bar bands and on 70s and early 80s albums like Night Moves or Against the Wind. Seeger had come up with his own brand of heartland rock. But with the release of his 1986 album like a Rock, critics accused Bob Seger of ironically emulating the Springsteen sound. His song Like a Rock was Bruce Pastiche that sounded like a truck commercial even before GM licensed.

[Bruce Springsteen]

It. Like a Rock I was strong as I could be Like a.

[Chris Melanphe]

Rock.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Nothing ever got to.

[Chris Melanphe]

Me. This was the other side of the Brucening of American pop culture. On the radio and the charts, everybody was trying to cop Springsteen's vibe. John Cougar Mellencamp had carved his own distinctive lane since 1982's American fool album. But the reason his 1985 Scarecrow album sold the best of all of his LPs and generated the most hit singles were was its adjacency to Springsteen. Its biggest hit even put USA right in the title. Another veteran rocker, singer songwriter Jackson Brown, had scored hits over the prior dozen years with everything from folk rock to on his top 10 hit Somebody's Baby, a kind of yacht rock. But in 1986, Brown too went full Springsteen, putting the Statue of Liberty on the COVID of his album Lives in the Balance and titling the LP's first single for America. Perhaps the schlockiest Springsteenia came courtesy of some former former members of the Jefferson Airplane. No, I'm not talking about Starship. Whatever its faults and rah rah attitude, their smash We Built this City bore only a passing resemblance to Bruce. I'm talking about the mercifully short lived KBC band, a side project of Airplane members Paul Kantner, Marty Balin and Jack Cassidy. Hence kbc. They produced a sax drenched and unintentionally hilarious MTV hit called.

[Bruce Springsteen]

America. Can you feel it? Can you feel it.

[Chris Melanphe]

Coming? Speaking of sax and speaking again of Jackson Brown, so mighty were Springsteen's coattails in 1985 that saxophonist Clarence Clemens scored his own Top 40 hit, not just blowing his horn, but singing in a duet with Brown, the good natured and utterly schlocky you're a Friend of Mine reached a shockingly legit number 18 on the Hot 100 in January of 1986. Pretty soon, Springsteen B sides, the songs Bruce rejected from his own albums, were becoming hits for other artists. A rockabilly track called Stand on It that Springsteen put on the flip side of glory days in 1985. Became a number 12 country hit for Nashville star Mel McDonald's Daniel in 1986. In 1987, R B and pop singer Natalie Cole recorded a cover of Pink Cadillac. Remember that one? Bruce's B side to Dancing in the Dark, and Cole turned it into a synth dance.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Record. I love you for your pink.

[Chris Melanphe]

Cadillac. Natalie Cole's pink Cadillac eventually reached number five on the hot 109 on the R and B chart. Now Bruce Springsteen had no part in any of this. The covers, the commercials, the Americana kitsch, the musical allusions to his heartland hitmaker pursuit Sauna. As he'd told Kurt Loder, the flag is a powerful image. When you set that stuff loose, you don't know what's gonna be done with it. Springsteen spent more than 16 months on the road with the E Street Band on their born in the USA tour from mid-1984 through nearly the end of 85. By the end of 1986, he was ready to issue his first ever live album. And in yet another John Landau brainstorm, the set would not be a single album, not even a double LP, like such 70s smashes as the Song Remains the Same Live Bullet or Frampton Comes Alive. Befitting the ruling king of the Road, the Boss's live album would be a box set with a running time about as long as an actual epic Springsteen concert. Ten Years Burning down the Road. Bruce Springsteen of The E Street Fam live 1975-85 40 songs over three hours of music available on five albums, three cassettes or three CDs. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live 1975-85 to say there was demand was an understatement. This would be Springsteen's first album release of any kind since Born in the USA two and a half years earlier. And in classic AC DC rule fashion, it would open bigger than any Springsteen album ever. As I've discussed in several prior Hit Parade episodes, in the pre soundscan era of the Billboard charts, it was extraordinarily rare for albums to open at number one. Only megastars at their imperial page peak could pull it off. Elton John did it twice in 1975. One year later, Stevie Wonder duplicated the feat when Songs in the Key of Life debuted on top. But since Wonder's album in 1976, no other album had managed to debut at number one. Moreover, no box set had ever even cracked the top 30. The previous highest charting 5 LP set was Bob Dylan's 1985 collection Biograph, which hit number 33. Springsteen was the exception to all of these chart rules. Bruce Springsteen and the E street Band Live 1975-85 debuted at number one the week of Thanksgiving 1986. Though actual sales counts were hard to come by in the days before SoundScan technology, Billboard estimated that Columbia shipped 1.5 million boxes and that the majority sold out in days. Now, at his imperial peak, Springsteen could generate hits with seemingly uncommercial fare. So rather than lead off his box set's release with a live version of one of his own compositions, Bruce decided to spend his cultural capital on an overtly political.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Message. War meets tears and thousands of mother's eyes when the sons go off the pint and lose their life I said what is it good for? Absolutely. Say it.

[Chris Melanphe]

Again. More was a controversial song from the moment it was created. Written by Motown legends Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1970 at the height of the Vietnam War, it was first recorded by the Temptations. Fearful of politicizing the image of Motown's flagship vocal group, Berry Gordy refused to issue War as a Temptations single. And he was only put it out as a 45 at all if someone else at Motown would record it. That's when Edwin's star took it on. War became Edwin Starr's signature song and a massive hit, reaching number one in the summer of 1970. Fifteen years later, Bruce Springsteen started playing the fiery anti war anthem live on stage, partially in protest of America's involvement in fomentic conflict in Central America. On stage, Springsteen minced no words with his audience on what he felt the song.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Meant. I want to do this song tonight for all the young people out there. The next time they're gonna be looking at you. Because in 1985, blind faith in your leaders or in anything will get you killed. Because what I'm talking about.

[Chris Melanphe]

Here. Again. Springsteen's cover of War was an instant hit. It peaked at number eight the last week of 1986. As a follow up, Bruce dug deep into his catalog and finally released his own live version of the song the Pointer Sisters had made famous fire. Springsteen's 1986 live collection closed the book on his three year apex as the undisputed king of rock and roll. And arguably for that period between Michael Jackson albums, the King of pop too. Bruce now had nothing, nothing left to prove, which did not mean he had nothing left to say. Bruce Springsteen's marriage to Julianne Phillips was not going well. Their 11 year age difference and his long months on the road meant they never got to know each other as they should. A decade later, Springsteen would express remorse for how he handled the relationship. But you didn't need to wait until the 90s to find out how it had gone. It was all over. The songs Bruce came back with in 1987 tell me what I.

[Bruce Springsteen]

See when I look in your eyes, is that you baby? Or Just a breath in the.

[Chris Melanphe]

Sky. Released in September 87, Brilliant Disguise was one of Springsteen's most soul bearing songs about how his wife had become a stranger to him and he to her. It reached number five on the Hot 100 by November, leading off a deeply personal new album largely recorded without the E Street Band. Its title even more overtly reflected how he was feeling. Tunnel of Love, The album's title track, was the follow up single, one of Springsteen's most detailed recordings. With walls of synthesizers and samples of amusement park rides, Tunnel of Love was another meditation on marriage, the way a seemingly joyous ride could turn dark. By the time Tunnel of Love peaked at number nine on the Hot 100 in February 1988, Springsteen had launched another tour and a few weeks later he and Julianne Phillips separated. They would divorce within the year. On that 88 tour, Springsteen invited back the vocalist who'd joined the E Street Band four years earlier, just before the start of the Born in the USA tour, Patty Scialfa. A singer songwriter herself, Scialfa had planned to use the E Street Band's hiatus to record a solo album, but she accepted Bruce's offer to rejoin him on the road. By the time the tour was over, Springsteen and Scialfa were a couple. They would marry three years.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Later. Well, if you're looking for love on.

[Chris Melanphe]

The so in essence, Tunnel of Love both chronicled the dissolution of a marriage and soundtracked the start of another. Songs like Tougher Than the Rest were both wary and deeply romantic. Talking about finding love after you've been bruised, it might as well have forecasted Springsteen's new relationship with Scialfa. That's how country legend Emmylou Harris heard it, and two years later, she turned Springsteen's song into a tender country slow.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Dance man. Well, if you're looking for love, honey, I'm tougher than the.

[Chris Melanphe]

Rest. Tunnel of Love, which had topped the album chart less than a month after its release, went triple platinum by the spring of 1988. Just five months later, it would be the last Springsteen studio album to sell that well that quickly, as if sensing that the imperial pop star phase of his career was over about a year before his 40th birthday, Springsteen finished his 88 tour and essentially went quiet for the next four years while he and Scialfa started a family, she wrote songs for a solo album her husband would later produce called Rumbledoll. After Springsteen finally returned to recording, he decided to test the marketplace one more time with a gambit even bolder than his 1986 live box set. He had a backlog of new material, and he observed that in the fall of 1991, hard rock band Guns N Roses had come back from a similarly long hiatus by releasing two albums on the same day, one called Use youe Illusion one. And the other use youe Illusion 2. The GnR albums debuted at numbers one and two on the album chart and went multi platinum, So directly replicating Guns n roses scheme. On March 31, 1994 and a half years after Tunnel of Love, Springsteen dropped two CDs on the same day, a more anthemic pop album, Human Touch, And a rootsy Americana leaning album, Lucky Town. Unfortunately, Bruce's twin engine return crashed on the Runway. The albums earned middling reviews and neither did as well on the charts as the Use your illusions had. Springsteen's discs had the misfortune to arrive the same week as a new chart topping single CD by Def Leppard. They'd been gone about as long as Bruce had, And within their first month both Human Touch and Luckytown were overtaken by a CD from adolescent rap duo Kris Kross, who leapt over the Boss to number one. Springsteen was officially an elder statesman. He'd felt like an old soul as early as his 20s before becoming an improbable pop star in his 30s. Now in his 40s, Bruce would have to settle for being just a national treasure again. The good news is national treasures win prizes. In 1993, Springsteen wrote and recorded Streets of Philadelphia, the the theme song to the Tom Hanks Denzel Washington courtroom drama Philadelphia, about a gay AIDS diagnosed lawyer fighting his former law firm over his dismissal. Springsteen's song was empathetic, heartsick, but stirring. The song was acclaimed for not only capturing the tone of the film, but rebooting the warm sound of Bruce's Tunnel of Love LP. At the Academy Awards in March of 1994, Springsteen got some very good news from Whitney Houston and the Oscar.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Goes.

[Chris Melanphe]

To it goes to Bruce Springsteen.

[Bruce Springsteen]

For Streets of Philadelphia from.

[Chris Melanphe]

Philadelphia. Springsteen's Oscar win pushed Streets of Philadelphia to number nine on the Hot 100, his last hit to crack the top 10. On its way up the chart, it passed by an unplugged cover of Bruce's old Patti Smith collaboration, because the night this one by the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs, it had just peaked at number 11. In February of 94, the Springsteen songbook was on the radio again. The movies were good to Bruce Springsteen in the 90s. In addition to returning to the Oscars just two years later with another nominated movie movie song Dead Man Walking from the film of the same name, Springsteen scored one more pop hit in 1997 thanks to the hit film Jerry Maguire. Director Cameron Crowe picked a bonus track from Bruce's greatest hits album, a mature, contemplative ballad called Secret Garden, as the love theme for Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger's characters in Jerry Maguire. A few months after the film's release, Secret Garden reached number 19 on the Hot 100. To date, it's Bruce Springsteen's last top 40 pop hit. Even if he stopped generating hit singles, the Boss never stopped recording hit albums in the 21st century. Springsteen has topped the Billboard 200 chart six more times. That's more than half of Bruce's 11 total career number one albums. That number, by the way, currently ranks Bruce third on the old all time list of most number one albums, behind the Beatles and Jay Z, and tied with Barbra Streisand. Springsteen's chart toppers have included the Rising, Devils and.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Dust, Fill it with devils.

[Chris Melanphe]

And magic. And Working on a.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Dream. I Straighten My Back In, I'm Working on a Dream, I'm Working on a.

[Chris Melanphe]

Dream. All of these albums reached number one on the strength of Springsteen's deeply loyal fan base, not any big radio or chart singles, although for the record, Girls In Their Summer clothes, a number 95 hit in 2008, really should have cracked the top.

[Bruce Springsteen]

40. The girls in the summer clothes pass me.

[Chris Melanphe]

By. All the while, the Springsteen sound has permeated bands across the radio dial from post punk bar band the Hold Steady. She was a damn good dancer.

[Bruce Springsteen]

But she wasn't all that great of a.

[Chris Melanphe]

Girlfriend. Anthemic indie rock Arcade Fire, Nouveau punk band the Gaslight Anthem. And country star Eric church, whose breakthrough 2012 crossover hit was was simply called.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Springsteen. When I think about you, I think about.

[Chris Melanphe]

17. The boss's songbook still turns up in improbable places with covers from veteran synth popsters the Pet Shop Boys. And Middle Brow pop megastar Ed.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Sheeran. Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty, Meet me tonight in.

[Chris Melanphe]

Atlantic City and Springsteen's songs are still political. We Take Care of Our Own, a single from his 2012 chart topping album Wrecking Ball, became a campaign anthem in 2020 for President Joe Biden. As I record this epic episode almost as long as a Springsteen concert. Am I right? Bruce is fulfilling his National Treasure duties once more. In June 2021, he reopened Broadway in New York City city after the COVID 19 pandemic by bringing back his 2017 one man show Springsteen on Broadway for a limited summer run. In the show, which draws heavily on his autobiography, Born to Run, Springsteen tells stories and reassesses his life's work, reinventing songs from his ample catalog, including the big hits in its Broadway rendition, born in the USA is even more desolate than Bruce's original 1982 demo.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Was. Born. Down in a Dead Man's Town, the first kick I took was when I hit the.

[Chris Melanphe]

Ground. But even now on Stage at the St. James Theater, Springsteen is not above playing an uptempo crowd pleaser. His new take on Dancing in the Dark is still catchy, but it's now also heartfelt, soulful, infused with years of wisdom and miles of.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Road. I get up in the evening and I ain't got nothing to.

[Chris Melanphe]

Say. Bruce Springsteen's biggest ever chart hit. The song his manager all but forced him to Write back in 1984. The one that finally made him a pinup and a pop icon still starts a fire from its own spark, baby. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Asha Solud. Asha is also my producer for our monthly Hip Parade the Bridge shows, which are available exclusively to Slate plus members. In our latest Bridge episode, I talk to author, journal journalist and Bruce Springsteen expert Karen Rose about how the Boss evolved as a songwriter and a hit maker. To sign up for Slate plus and hear that show and all our shows the day they drop, visit slate.com hit parade plus June Thomas is the Senior Managing Producer and Gabriel Roth the Editorial Director of Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of [e-mail] podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. Until then, keep on marching on the one I'm Chris.

[Bruce Springsteen]

Malanfi. There's a joke here somewhere. When I figure it out, I'll let you know. All I know is that it's on me. Shake this world off my shoulders. Come.