There Was Nothing You Could Do
BOOK SUMMARY
A thought-provoking exploration of Bruce Springsteen's iconic album, Born in the U.S.A.—a record that both chronicled and foreshadowed the changing tides of modern America.
On June 4, 1984, Columbia Records issued what would become one of the best-selling and most impactful rock albums of all time. An instant classic, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. would prove itself to be a landmark not only for the man who made it, but rock music in general and even the larger American culture over the next 40 years. In There Was Nothing You Could Do, veteran rock critic Steven Hyden shows exactly how this record became such a pivotal part of the American tapestry. Alternating between insightful criticism, meticulous journalism, and personal anecdotes, Hyden delves into the songs that made—and didn't make—the final cut, including the tracks that wound up on its sister album, 1982's Nebraska. He also investigates the myriad reasons why Springsteen ran from and then embraced the success of his most popular (and most misunderstood) LP, as he carefully toed the line between balancing his commercial ambitions and being co-opted by the machine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven Hyden is the author of Long Road, This Isn't Happening, Twilight of the Gods, Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me, and (with Steve Gorman) Hard to Handle. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Billboard, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Grantland, The A.V. Club, Slate, and Salon. He is currently the cultural critic at UPROXX. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and two children.
PRAISE
"The best music writing can make you hear an album you've listened to hundreds (or thousands) of times in a new way. Steven Hyden has done just that with There Was Nothing You Could Do, his exhaustive and highly entertaining deep dive into Bruce Springsteen's massive and often misunderstood commercial peak, Born in the U.S.A. Well-researched and thought-provoking, the book also uses that landmark album and its fallout to examine the changes we have undergone as a culture, and the price we've paid as a people and a country. Highly recommended." —Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers
"An instant classic from Steven Hyden. Definitive and elegant and essential. Hyden shows how Born in the U.S.A. changed Springsteen and us—and at what cost." —Seth Wickersham, ESPN writer and New York Times bestselling author of It's Better to Be Feared
"This book offers you the rare possibility—you can listen to Bruce Springsteen and feel like you are in his brain as he makes the music. Steven not only gets under the hood of creativity, but he separates Bruce from his contemporaries by better understanding them. It makes you want to listen to Bruce again with fresh ears. I love it!" —Benny Safdie, director and writer of Uncut Gems
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Hardcover 272 pages Non-fiction 9.4 in H | 6.4 in W | 0.9 in T | 1 lb
