Did Bruce Springsteen Regret Making 'Born in the U.S.A.'?

Synopsis
Key Takeaways
- Springsteen had doubts about the creation of 'Born in the U.S.A.'
- The album was influenced by his previous work, 'Nebraska.'
- Creative processes can often lead to unexpected outcomes.
- The upcoming compilation, 'Tracks II', features music spanning 35 years.
- Springsteen is reflective about his artistic journey.
Los Angeles, June 24 (NationPress) The acclaimed singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen has candidly revealed that he experienced uncertainty regarding his Grammy-nominated album ‘Born in the U.S.A.’.
At 75, Springsteen reflected on the 1984 release in light of his forthcoming seven-album collection, ‘Tracks II: The Lost Albums’, according to ‘People’ magazine.
This compilation features tracks recorded from 1983 to 2018 and is set to launch on June 27. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Springsteen disclosed that he had completed an entire album between Nebraska and ‘Born in the U.S.A.’, complicating the selection process for the latter's track list.
He stated to Rolling Stone, "I enjoyed the recording and the experience of Nebraska, and thought I might continue in that vein with a small rhythm section, still very lo-fi, and a new group of songs. At the time, I wasn’t sure where I was going with ‘Born in the U.S.A.’. I had half the record, but I didn’t have the other half. And so it was just a record that happened in between those two records.”
Due to this distinctive recording approach, Springsteen noted in the album’s liner notes that he was not entirely satisfied with ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ upon its release in 1984.
He elaborated, "It was a record I put out. It became the record I made, not necessarily the record that I was interested in making. I was interested in taking Nebraska and making a full record that had somewhat that same feeling."
Springsteen continued, "If you hear 'My Hometown' and you hear 'Born in the U.S.A.', they were sort of the bookends I intended. And the rest of the stuff was … just what I had at the time. Those were the songs I wrote. Those were the songs I recorded.”
According to People, he concluded by providing additional insights into his creative journey. "From conception to execution, it was not necessarily the record that in my mind I had planned on, but that’s the way creativity works. You go in the studio, you have an idea. It’s not necessarily what you come out with. So that was just the situation of that record for me personally,” he added.
Springsteen also expressed that he might have been searching for something “darker” and more tonally aligned with Nebraska during that period.