Ten years after "Born to Run", Springsteen was 35, and as he was already a rock star and a well known one at that, he was better prepared for what his new album "Born in The USA" would bring. "Born In The USA" propelled Springsteen to the "rock icon" neighborhood where everyone in the country knew his name and his songs. The album is nowhere near his best work, but upon its release it sold to people who didn't normally listen to Springsteen or didn't even buy albums. It went on to become one of the best selling top ten albums of all time, selling over 18,000,000 copies. In typical Springsteen fashion, he had no idea what he wanted on the album and had a shortlist of over 100 unreleased songs to choose from. The album's success had much to do with the lead off single, "Dancing in the Dark", a song which Bruce didn't even want to include on the album. Landau insisted, as he felt the song would have some commercial appeal. They argued, Springsteen telling him, "Look, I've written 70 songs, you want another one, you write it." Afterwards Bruce went to his hotel room and wrote "Dancing In The Dark". The album also includes "Bobby Jean" and "No Surrender", songs dedicated to guitarist Steve Van Zandt, who left the band before the tour started in order to pursue a solo career. It was the album's title track which later drew the flak. "Born In The USA", a rock anthem in which the narrator bemoans the fact that he was born in America, describes his birth as "the first kick I took is when I hit the ground". Springsteen was disillusioned with what was happening in America and was disillusioned with Reagan. His song also talks about the Vietnam War. On September 19, 1984, Ronald Reagan mentions Bruce during a campaign speech in Hammonton, NJ and uses "Born In The USA" as a patriotic campaign song. A few days later, Bruce replies from a concert stage in Pittsburgh by playing the bleak "Nebraska" song "Johnny 99" saying Reagan probably hasn’t listened to either the album or the song.
The BITUSA tour, would become one of the most succesfull rock tours in history and together with the albums sales and merchandising it made Bruce an estimated quarter of a billion dollars richer. It was during this tour that Bruce started talking about unions and started donating his time and money to food banks, urging his audiences to do the same.
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