{"id":327777,"date":"2025-10-24T00:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T00:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/327777\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T00:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T00:29:11","slug":"bruce-springsteen-spitefully-wrote-this-song-after-an-explosive-argument-and-it-turned-into-one-of-his-biggest-hits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/327777\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen Spitefully Wrote This Song After an \u201cExplosive\u201d Argument, and It Turned Into One of His Biggest Hits"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Bruce Springsteen and producer Jon Landau first began exchanging verbal blows over Springsteen\u2019s upcoming record, neither man would have any way of knowing just how monumental a hit Born in the U.S.A.<\/a> would become. Then again, if Landau hadn\u2019t started a fight in the first place, that might not have been the case for Springsteen\u2019s seventh studio album. After all, just like he says in the song: \u201cYou can\u2019t start a fire \/ you can\u2019t start a fire without a spark.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this scenario, Springsteen\u2019s songwriting was the fire, and Landau\u2019s not-so-subtle insistence was the spark. That fateful day in 1983, the producer told his client that the album Springsteen was working on had no material worth turning into a single. \u201cWhen I used the word single, in my own mind, I meant it in a much bigger sense,\u201d Landau explained in Dave Marsh\u2019s Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s<\/a>. I wanted something that was more direct than any one thing that was on the record. A song where a person who is a Bruce fan, who stayed with you on Nebraska\u2026a song where that guy\u2019s gonna say, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s Bruce.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Springsteen said he didn\u2019t have any songs like that. Landau countered that he needed one. \u201cLook,\u201d Springsteen replied. \u201cI\u2019ve written seventy songs. You want another one, you write it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But of course, Landau wasn\u2019t the one who would end up writing Springsteen\u2019s biggest hit off Born in the U.S.A. The Boss took care of it.<\/p>\n

Bruce Springsteen Wrote This Hit After a Particularly Testy Moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

As close friends and professional colleagues, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Landau have enjoyed a unique relationship in which they can push each other\u2019s boundaries without overstepping them completely. Even still, both Landau and Springsteen recall the moment of their fateful fight at the New York City residential hotel as \u201cweird.\u201d Landau added, \u201cIt was a very explosive few moments, and it subsided very quickly, and we went off and worked on the mix. It was as close as we get to almost the atmosphere of an argument. But it didn\u2019t hang in the air at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Springsteen would take Landau\u2019s pushing the wrong way isn\u2019t all that surprising. The rock \u2018n\u2019 roller was struggling under the weight of his previous records. He had far too much material for his next album, none of which was worthy of a single, apparently. It was a frustrating place for Springsteen to be in artistically. Landau certainly risked pushing his client too far. Fortunately for the two men (and all of us), Springsteen found a way to channel his emotions into a song.<\/p>\n

The song Springsteen would create out of that anger was \u201cDancing in the Dark\u201d<\/a>. He already had the first opening line, \u201cI get up in the morning.\u201d Except Springsteen was a rock \u2018n\u2019 roller. He woke up in the evening. \u201cWell, how do I feel about that?\u201d Springsteen said. \u201cAnd I ain\u2019t got nothin\u2019 to say.\u201d Talking about the song years later, Springsteen said, \u201cIt was just like my heart spoke straight through my mouth without even having to pass through my brain. The chorus just poured out of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That chorus broke into the top ten around the globe, proving both men right in their own ways.<\/p>\n

Photo by Chris Walter\/WireImage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Bruce Springsteen and producer Jon Landau first began exchanging verbal blows over Springsteen\u2019s upcoming record, neither man…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":327778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[4580,171,975,4185,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-327777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-bruce-springsteen","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-rock-music","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}