Get well soon, Boss....(pt II)

Part 1 was here.

When we last spoke, Born in the USA was about to drop, and shit was about to get weird.

The first time I heard it was at a crowded summer picnic. A guy was walking around carrying a boombox on his shoulder, blasting the tape. Simpler days back then. I remember people singing along to the title track already, which was, admittedly, pretty easy to sing along to. A bleak little 2 chord blues ditty left off the Nebraska record now sounded like a martial band turned up to 11. In retrospect, all the meatheads were already missing the song’s point, but whatever. This was the 80s. It was not really a nuanced decade. Stick a guy’s Levi covered ass on the front cover, with a baseball cap jammed into a pocket, and have him face the flag. All that was missing was the apple pie. It’s no wonder Reagan fell in love. You didn’t even have to listen to fit this snugly into your own narrative.