THE ‘80s A Special Report :...

Perhaps the crystallizing moment of Bruce Springsteen’s incredible success came during the 1984 presidential campaign, when “Born in the U.S.A.” fever was at its almost Beatlemania-like peak, when concert tickets were like gold ducats for bankers and auto workers alike--when no less a luminary than the President himself chose to quote the lyrics of this humble symbol of the working class from Joisey. A moment to make Mama Springsteen proud, perhaps, but a moment to tick off millions of fans who knew that the Commander in Chief had it all wrong, terribly wrong; that the outwardly celebratory, inwardly grim “U.S.A.” album was a product of--but hardly a patriotic tract for--the Reagan Era.

The President wasn’t the only one to just not get it, nor was he the only one to attempt to co-opt the amazing Populism that Springsteen represents. Pop acts from pathetic mimic John Cafferty on up to fellow do-gooder John Cougar Mellencamp would scarcely exist in their present form if not for Brooooce. The neo-folk movement in rock, too, might not be with us if not for the impact of the all-acoustic “Nebraska” album, which, unlike “Born in the U.S.A.,” made no attempt to sweeten its downbeat Americana themes and Woody Guthrie-like broadsides.

Springsteen first became a star in the ‘70s, but only in the ‘80s did he become something that everyone needed a piece of, from the GOP to the tabloids.

The Taste Makers project was edited by David Fox, assistant Sunday Calendar editor.