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
The Essential Bruce Springsteen copies. It spent 13 weeks on the chart. The album was awarded gold and platinum records on December 16, 2003, by the RIAA, and has sold 1,079,000 copies in the USA. as of August 2013. "The Essential Bruce Springsteen" also reached #15 on the UK Albums Chart in 2013. The album was re-released with an updated track list in October 2015. The album received general acclaim from music critics, who appreciated its captivation of Springsteen's most recognizable hits throughout his career and called it "a better compilation album than "Greatest Hits"", which was released in 1995. The Essential Bruce Springsteen