As the quintessential emblem and chronicler of White American male working class angst, Bruce Springsteen well deserves the crown of "The Boss."  Like much of Springsteen's output, "Born in the USA" is deceptively cheerful, slammin' rock and roll, and even patriotic, when in fact it is by turns deeply soulful, perceptive, ironic and cynical.  For example, several songs like the title cut and "Glory Days" (both arena rock anthems) and "My Hometown" (a reverential ballad that ponders the blessings [or curses] of provincialism), turn Ronald Reagan's carefully-scripted "Morning in America" optimism on its head.  The erotic pump of dance tunes like "Dancing in the Dark," "I'm Going Down" and ballads such as "I'm On Fire" belie the disillusion and bleakness hovering just beneath the bouyantly sunny surfaces.  In short, Springsteen's role as self-proclaimed working (every) man is so deftly convincing because, like all the greatest artists, he wrote and sang what he lived.  But none of this would really matter so much if Springsteen wasn't such an amazingly gifted writer and an emotionally compelling guitarist and singer.  "Born in the USA" contains no throwaway tracks.  As such, this album surely ranks as one of the top five albums in the 1980's (releases that include Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" and Tina Turner's "Private Dancer") and remains essential to any Bruce Springsteen collection.