June 4th, 1984 is when Bruce Springsteen’s monster album “Born in the USA” hit record stores. The lead single “Dancing in the Dark” came out on May 9th and radio stations were all over that track. I have to admit I was dubious about the album but that was judging on this opening single which sounded pretty popish to me. It sure wasn’t stark and gritty like Bruce’s most recent release, 1982’s “Nebraska” album was.
THE PICTURE SLEEVE FOR THE ‘DANCING IN THE DARK’ SINGLE. I WAS MORE PARTIAL TO THE FLIP SIDE, ‘PINK CADILLAC.’
Still, I was ready to hear more from “B.I.T.U.S.A” and the weekend before I could buy it, my buddy Dave Ross called me from the WMET FM studios in Chicago. Dave worked in promotions there and had his hands on the new album. He was raving about the songs and needle dropped snippets of each track over the phone to me. The music sounded big and fascinating. I remember clips of “Cover Me” blew my ears off.
That week, like many fans of Springsteen, I rushed out to a record store and secured my copy of “Born in the USA” with Bruce’s blue jeaned ass on the cover. Needless to say, that slice of vinyl remained on my turntable for most of that summer and beyond.
YEAH, THAT’S BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’S ASS ON THE COVER OF HIS ALBUM.
I first saw Springsteen in concert three years earlier when going to school in Carbondale. I got to meet Bruce as he arrived for his soundcheck that afternoon and scored his autograph too. Me, my buddies Marko, Bobbo and other guys from my dorm floor all sat together for our virginal night with the Boss at the S.I.U. arena.
During Bruce’s intermission that night, I saw a woman in the concourse with vomit all over her top. Not sure whose puke it was but she ducked into a restroom and came out a few minutes later with a vomit free but soaking wet blouse. That’s how dedicated some Springsteen fans are!
Walking back to the dorm after the show, my college pals and I just kept looking at each other in amazement at the high energy killer night of music we’d just witnessed. It was like nothing we’d ever seen or heard before. Or since.
In 1984 the Born in the USA tour kicked off in St. Paul, Minnesota. That’s where Bruce filmed the infamous “Dancing in the Dark” video, directed by Brian DePalma and featuring the stage dancing of a barely known actress named Courtney Cox. It was comedian Bobcat Goldthwait who commented that in the video, Springsteen looked like he’d joined “Up with People.” No matter, millions of fans ate it up and everything else that was on “Born in the USA.”
SPRINGSTEEN DANCING IN THE DARK WITH LITTLE KNOWN ACTRESS COURTNEY COX.
The Boss’ tour hit the Rosemont Horizon for three shows in mid-July. I had tickets to the third night but after hearing the buzz of his opening show on July 15th, I went down to the venue to buy tickets off anyone who was selling for concert number two on July 17th. Me and a former park district co-worker landed two seats in the upper level, 2 rows up and right behind Bruce and the band. The tickets sold for $15 bucks, we paid five dollars above face value and it was damn worth it.
That night, Springsteen took the stage and in the dark, he called off “One, two, one two three four!” and launched into ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ I thought a bomb had gone off in the Horizon. It was insane! Just a wild ride of hot music played with relentless energy. Bruce and the band were still doing two sets back then. Play about an hour, take a twenty- minute break then roll out two hours or more of rock and roll.
THIS WASN’T MY TICKET BUT THIS IS WHAT SEEING BRUCE IN CONCERT IN 1984 COST YOU.
Springsteen played several of the new songs plus he and the band handled some of my favorites from “Nebraska.” Then there were rockers from “The River’, “Darkness on the Edge of Town”, “Born to Run” and all. But the star of the night was the fever pitch that the new tracks from “Born in the USA” was bringing to the crowd. Nils Lofgren replaced Little Steven Van Zandt who went out to do his own solo tour. And there was a chick back-up singer named Patty Scialfa who a few years later would become Bruce’s second wife.
When the show ended, my friend and I walked back to my car drenched in sweat and exhausted from this crazy frenzied night of amazing music. I turned to him and said, “Bruce’s life will never be the same.” He agreed. And it wasn’t.
HIS BODY BULKED UP, AND AN ALBUM FULL OF HIT SINGLES. BRUCE’S “BORN IN THE USA” TOUR WAS A HUGE DEAL.
It didn’t take long for Springsteen’s mega-stardom forced him to play football stadiums across the country and the globe. I next saw the Boss in concert in August of 1985 at Soldier Field. At the time, I was producing the Larry Lujack morning show on WLS AM & FM. Larry wondered aloud to his newscasters Jeff Hendrix and Catherine Johns what was so great about a Springsteen concert. I buzzed in from my producer’s desk and shared my view of what a special thing an evening with Bruce was. They took my word for it when I said, “You have to see him to believe him.”
So, here we are. Forty years down the road from “Born in the USA” and still rocking to those songs. As Springsteen sang on that record, “Glory Days, yeah they’ll pass you by, glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye, glory days!”
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