In the film ‘Cool Hand Luke’ (1967) Paul Newman’s character finally cracks under the weight of expectations from his fellow inmates, angrily crying out ‘Stop feeding off me!’ Forty years have passed since the release of ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ Four decades in which the rock star that is Springsteen has often mixed sociopolitical commentary with anthemic bombast. He still fills stadiums but it’s a tough gig to ask a seventy-four-year-old man to keep recycling hope to a deeply troubled Heartland. In this book’s preface Hyden says “for Barack Obama’s election in 2008 Springsteen positioned himself as a uniter of America’s silent majority seeking common ground between left-and-right wing extremists driving an increasingly divided electorate”. The Hometowns of the American Heartland were already splintering back in 1984 and became almost polarised by 2017. Slogans from that orange-agent-of-chaos made any common ground seem like a political disadvantage. As the 2024 presidential election looms, the Heartland is struggling for hope, as racial violence and economic depression continue amid an opioid epidemic.
Steven Hyden’s book, ‘There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A” and the End of the Heartland’ impressively charts Springsteen’s massive rise in popularity 40 years ago, his music since and subsequent public persona. In December 1985, an article by Richard Ford was published in Esquire called ‘The Boss Observed’. Along with the famous watch-and-time quote, Ford wrote that for a brief historical moment Springsteen became a small, well intentioned, mass movement. His appeal unashamedly explained… “the man behaves the way we would behave if we were Bruce Springsteen”. Ford’s article also eloquently explained the ties that already existed between Springsteen and his loyal fans before, as Backstreets concluded ten years later, they lost their man to the masses. Despite the difference in years between Ford’s article and Hyden’s book, at almost the same moment in time in the eighties, both writers were reaching for the man’s cassettes in the footwell or glovebox of their cars.
Without giving too much away, Hyden’s book reflects on the weight of expectation that has always been placed on Springsteen. He admits he’s a long haul fan and remains so. His personal memoir and journalism work well but he can’t help but perpetuate the myth. I can’t say I’ve seen an emotionally constipated man crying at a Springsteen concert.
Springsteen has always been astute, learning from the trajectories of Presley and Dylan. Hyden refers to the use of a hefty bit of early eighties technology to be the turning point for the album’s eventual sound. He recounts Springsteen’s indecision over the album’s final tracks and then playfully presents a fictional follow up to ‘Born in the USA’ called ‘Man at the Top’. The parting of Steve Van Zandt is touched upon. Many loyal fans didn’t care for the album. Hyden refers to the Backstreets article by Jon Philips that said, “some stalwarts felt a sense of betrayal at a perceived sellout or just making it a lot harder to get tickets and to hear the quiet songs”. Loving Bruce Springsteen was now something millions of people did. Hayden says, “…loving Bruce Springsteen (became) normal but it was no longer something that could define you”. In July 1985 I travelled from Dundee to Leeds to see Springsteen in Roundhay Park. One of 80,000. My ticket cost £14. Fighting broke out during the quiet songs. The masses whooping it up for the ‘Born in the USA’ tracks. I didn’t feel no community. The eighties were a tough gig for most of us. But I still dreamed of America. Hyden touches on the misinterpreted lyrics lost among the bombast. He then follows Springsteen’s chosen trajectory afterwards, then on towards cultural deification.
Hyden quite rightly argues that ‘Born in the USA’ is undoubtedly Springsteen’s most iconic record from a pop-culture perspective. Hyden was only six when he found the album in the glovebox of his old man’s car. Then, like many, he was probably Boss-washed. The way Bruce sounds, looks and acts in the popular imagination derives mostly from the ‘Born in the USA’ era. In Eric Alterman’s book ‘The Promise of Bruce Springsteen’ he describes the more media-friendly Bruce Springsteen that emerged from the ‘Born in the USA’ sessions. The masses were charmed with a makeover that included dental work, bulging biceps, nice denim-covered buns, photography by Annie Leibowitz… all cleverly packaged in front of the Stars and Stripes. “Overnight, the Jersey rat had become an all American sex symbol. The band, cleaned up and scrubbed down for the MTV generation”. The videos still make even the most ardent fans cringe. The character creation was nothing but intentional.
Near the end of his book, Hyden acknowledges the more recent splintering of Springsteen’s fanbase because of dynamic ticket pricing. Many fan’s sentiment being… Bruce Springsteen is supposed to be better than this. Today, the equivalent cost of my Roundhay Park ticket would be a very reasonable £42. It prompted the editors of the fanzine Backstreets to announce it was shutting down after forty-three years. Hyden suggests “Bruce Springsteen has spent his life since Born in the U.S.A. trying to escape ‘enslavement’ by his own myth”. Was he tired of being held to a higher standard? “Was going along with dynamic pricing, on some level, another rebellion against the noble Bruce Springsteen Character he created for Born in the USA?” Like Lucas Jackson, was he now saying to his fanbase stop feeding off me?
Maybe the book’s title is a bit ambiguous. It’s certainly a long one. Hyden’s book is not a political thesis. It’s an easy and enjoyable read. He certainly adores the Boss. It doesn’t say the album is a masterpiece. ‘Born in the USA’ was a significant cultural moment that sound-tracked the changing tides of America, and blue-collar sentiment worldwide. Maybe the mythical Heartland still seems real at a Bruce Springsteen show. Today, you certainly have to pay handsomely to get there. Let him dine out with ex-presidents. Is it not now time for someone else to be sat up behind the wheel?
