Why Bruce Springsteen Has Never Been Happy with ‘Born in the U.S.A.’

Born in the U.S.A. remains the most commercially successful album in the Bruce Springsteen catalog. So, why isn't The Boss a big fan of it?

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Springsteen was asked about the liner notes of his Tracks II: The Lost Albums box set. In the liner notes, he wrote he wasn't "happy" about the album. Speaking with the outlet, Springsteen called Born in the U.S.A. "the record I made, not necessarily the record that I was interested in making."

He detailed, "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 ... I suppose maybe I was looking for something darker. But outside of that, the themes of 'Nebraska' are in there — in 'Downbound Train,' they’re in there, they’re disguised somewhat into pop music."

Tracks II: The Lost Albums comes out on June 27 and is available for pre-order on vinyl and CD formats at BruceSpringsteen.Store. Also available for pre-order is Lost And Found: Selections From The Lost Albums on vinyl and CD. The box set contains seven never-heard albums he created between 1983 and 2018.