This album would not be on my top 100 list, but I decided to write about it since I saw Bruce Springsteen live for the first time this week. And I like other albums more than "Born in the USA," but few records in history mark an era. Some albums define a generation, music that was part of the fabric of many lives, and songs that represent a stage in people's lives; Born in the USA is one of them. Music like this touches the emotional fabric of people. It helps them re-live special moments of their lives.
When Bruce Springsteen sings plays "Glory Days," every soul attending that concert gets transported back to the golden era in their lives, kisses their first girlfriend, remembers what it felt like to hang out with their friends in high school, have dinner with their parents and siblings on the house they grew up at, or go back to the day they met their best friend. This is the power of music. This song is also timeless because the glory days may very well be now, and when we listen to this song 50 years from now, we may be reminiscing about the 2023 glory days. If we are wise enough, we'll recognize that the glory days are every day.
It is hard to write about this album since these songs are present in our lives every day, and many people are probably numb to them, but it is a damn good album. A record full of inspiration where simple rock singable melodies perfectly blend lyrics that suck you in, make you proud, nostalgic, and vulnerable, fill you with energy, and make you want to cry.
Growing up in "My Hometown" Mexico City, in the 80s, this was not music you'd hear everywhere as I imagined happened in the US, but those of us that went out of our way to listen to rock radio stations or went to our wealthy friend's house to watch MTV were infected by those songs too. I was not proud of the USA, I was jealous. And maybe, this album planted an unconscious seed in my mind that I could come live in the USA.
