10 million Americans bought this in the first year alone

>10 million Americans bought this in the first year alone
Why?

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They were dumb enough to think an anti-US song was a patriotic anthem or notice that he's peeing on the flag on the cover.

They didn't. (((They))) did.

Because there was a very popular song as well many other songs that were good at the time. Buying the album was the only way to listen to it on demand so a lot of people did.

1. Bruce had been mainstream for about a decade and continually building up an audience of devoted fans
2. It was his most pop sounding record ever, with very 80s production sound and very catchy hooks. It appealed to blue collar Americans who maybe wouldn't have been into synthpop or stuff done by Brits or Madonna or whatever at the time, but would listen to a Bruce song with drum machines and synths.
3. There were like five or six Top 10 singles off this album that were in heavy rotation on multiple radio formats (pop, rock, adult contemporary), in clubs, and on MTV, basically saturating the world of music.
4. The accompanying tour was the longest and most successful of his to date and received lots of positive buzz, not to mention he got married to some actress at the time and became a bonafide celebrity, which increased his public profile.

Any boomer male who bought this is probably latently gay

its a good album

because he was super famous and all the singles were super popular

Born in the USA [Columbia, 1984]
Imperceptible though the movement has been to many sensitive young people, Springsteen has evolved. In fact, this apparent retrenchment is his most rhythmically propulsive, vocally incisive, lyrically balanced, and commercially undeniable album. Even his compulsive studio habits work for him: the aural vibrancy of the thing reminds me like nothing in years that what teenagers loved about rock and roll wasn't that it was catchy or even vibrant but that it just plain sounded good. And while Nebraska's one-note vision may be more left-correct, my instincts (not to mention my leftism) tell me that this uptempo worldview is truer. Hardly ride-off-into-the-sunset stuff, at the same time it's low on nostalgia and beautiful losers. Not counting the title powerhouse, the best songs slip by at first because their tone is so lifelike: the fast-stepping "Working on the Highway," which turns out to be about a country road gang: "Darlington County," which pins down the futility of a macho spree without undercutting its exuberance; and "Glory Days," which finally acknowledges that among other things, getting old is a good joke. A+

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christgau's a big faggot but he got this one right

Dancing in the Dark was such a cheap, forced attempt at an MTV-ready pop hit that became dated in about a week.

>And while Nebraska's one-note vision may be more left-correct, my instincts (not to mention my leftism) tell me that this uptempo worldview is truer.
I hate this guy so much.

absolutely based
i prefer nebraska, but born in the usa is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the decade

Because they liked it?

What's boggling to me is why there's been such reappraisal of Springsteen by hipster types in recent years? Yeah, I know Rolling Stone boomers have sucked him off since day 1, but in the past 10 or 15 so years, it's become "cool" to like Springsteen again. A bunch of the big 00s era indie bands (Arcade Fire, Killers, The National) cited him as an influence, even newer, lesser indie ones like Big Thief as well. Pitchfork gave him some pretty decent coverage/reviews/retrospectives, even Best New Track recently. He got his own Netflix special too.

What happened? Dude was decent in the 70s, a phoney working class megastar in the 80s, totally washed up in the 90s, and a nostalgia act since then (with a brief career resurgence in the early 00s thanks to his 9/11 album)

Seriously, why is he cool now?

>the cringy boomer faggots who go to his concerts so they can pump their fist in their air and chant BAAWWWNNNN EENNN THE EEEUUUEESSSAAAAAAHHHH

>why is he cool now
people like his music

Christgau used to have some credibility as a critic once upon a time, now he's just a sad old man with Springsteen's dick in his butt.

He had these flowery, dense lyrics that critics jerked it too because they're all journalism majors and love words, even though a song like Prove It All Night is no different from a Foreigner tune.

I guess he kind of predicted grunge a good 15 years before the fact.

He was also massive in the UK, at least his 80s stuff. The 70s stuff was not as big here and he was a more niche artist.

His first four albums and Nebraska were good rock albums. This one wasn't good.
That's the funniest part about this album's success to me, odds are they just remembered the chorus of the title track and completely neglected and/or forgot about the rest of the lyrics.
This and also some of the indie artists that cited him as influences like Win Butler have been try to imitate his singing voice.