Bruce Springsteen reveals album he was not interested in making

Hans India

24-06-2025

Los Angeles: Singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen has shared that he once had doubts about 'Born in the U.S.A.', his Grammy-nominated album.
Springsteen, 75, spoke candidly about the 1984 project ahead of the upcoming release of his seven-album compilation 'Tracks II: The Lost Albums', reports 'People' magazine.
The compilation, which includes music recorded between 1983 and 2018, arrives on June 27. The 'Dancing in the Dark' singer spoke with Rolling Stone, and revealed that he recorded an entire album between Nebraska and 'Born in the U.S.A.', which made deciding on the track list for the latter album more difficult.
Springsteen told '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'.
In part due to this unique recording process, Springsteen revealed in the liner notes for 'Born in the U.S.A.' that he wasn't happy with the album upon its 1984 release.
He further mentioned, "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'.
He 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'.
As per 'People', he concluded by offering more insight into the creative process. "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 added that he supposes he may have been looking for something "darker" and more tonally aligned with Nebraska at the time.