Bruce Springsteen was advocating for the rights of the common working-class man. The song was widely misinterpreted as jingoistic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. In 1984, conservative columnist George Will attended a Springsteen concert and then wrote a column praising Springsteen's work ethic. Six days after the column was printed, in a campaign rally in Hammonton, New Jersey, Reagan said, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire—New Jersey's own, Bruce Springsteen." Two
Badlands (Bruce Springsteen song) progressive rock and album-oriented rock radio airplay at the time, and classic rock airplay since. The song has appeared on eight Springsteen releases: "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "Live/1975–85", the 1995 "Greatest Hits", "", "Live in Barcelona", "The Essential Bruce Springsteen", the Wal-Mart-only 2009 "Greatest Hits", and "Collection: 1973-2012". "Rolling Stone" editors rated "Badlands" to be Springsteen's second-greatest song all time, behind only "Born to Run," and consider it to fit the definition of a rock anthem derived by The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, in that it is "praying onstage." According to contemporary musician Jackson Browne, "Badlands" is "cool