Column 4, Row 20: Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A. This past June marked the 40th Anniversary of the release of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. It was Springsteen’s seventh LP, and the commercial breakthrough that propelled him to superstardom. While some critics and fans bristle at Born in the U.S.A. as a calculated move to make mainstream Springsteen a star, the album was the result of a great deal of soul searching and could have been much darker. Springsteen began writing many of the songs for this album soon after he and the E Street Band completed their world tour for his 1981 double album, The River . Confused about his place in the world, and dealing with serious depression, Springsteen secluded himself in a remote Jersey house and recorded a series of brooding demos that were a harsh reflection of his mind and America at that time. The intent of those demos was to bring them to ...