Some musicians irritate me intensely: Jeff Beck, Coldplay, Phil Collins, U2 and, by far the worst, The Smiths.
My dislike for The Smiths stems from an encounter with them after one of their earlier gigs (late 1983). As a student, I used to work as a bouncer to earn some beer money on the side. After a short set by The Smiths at our Students Union bar, I had to break up a fight between two individuals just in front of the stage.
This was remarkable for two reasons. Firstly, we rarely had any trouble during the evening and inside the building (most disagreements took place after closing time and when people went home). Secondly, the fight was between a large girl, who clearly had the upper hand, and the lead singer of the band. Perhaps my memory of that unfortunate scene colours my judgment, but I cannot listen to a track by The Smiths without thinking of that pretentious git being knocked around by a big girl.
I would have preferred a non-violent resolution to their disagreement, whatever the cause may have been. The fact that I had to intervene when their difference of opinions turned physical is something that I cannot forget and almost certainly influences my perception of the band/singer. Quite apart from that, I find their music highly irritating.
Clearly not your type of music, Jim, so perhaps you can be forgiven for not knowing what that song is about.
It’s an indictment of military-industrial culture, specifically of the way it chews up and spits out the working man (and woman). What you hear as squealing is more often heard as defiant pride against the odds. One of the reasons Springsteen is so popular is that he’s the voice of the decent, downtrodden blue-collar guy. And yes, he’s well aware of the irony of being a very wealthy man singing working-class songs.
Still, if you don’t like it, fair enough. Others here think of jazz (an American musical form, of course) as sounding like someone’s taken a bunch of instruments and thrown them down the stairs.
Fair enough
I e been listening to Dark Magus as I type this evening and thoroughly enjoying the way the drummer and all of them just make up the next bit from the last bit, second by second…all of them listening very carefully what the band as a whole is doing and where it’s going, and having the confidence to just stop playing when they have noth8ng more to say
It’s very easy because of the chorus and stadium rock style to misinterpret Born in the USA, but as Bhoyo suggests above it’s not the jingoistic song people can assume. The early verses go
“ Born down in a dead man’s town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
End up like a dog that’s been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up
Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said “son if it was up to me”
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said “son, don’t you understand”
I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They’re still there, he’s all gone”
A cri du coeur for the working class soldier rather than a bombastic number.
I find it impossible to read threads waxing lyrical about the deep and meaningful without thinking of this:
As 99% of American artists’ lyrics are mumbled, incomprehensible mush I take little or no notice of them, instead just enjoying the music as a whole where the vocals are simply another instrument.
Born In The USA,..at really high volume,then this song goes into the soul.
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JimDog,…
Bhoyo…JimDog,…Love your Conversation 
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