One interesting Bruce Springsteen fact is that the song "Born in the USA" became popular because it was wrongly believed to be a patriotic song.
This is partially because Bruce doesn't sing particularly clearly in this song (unlike others where it's very easy to understand him), so people would kind of tune out the lyrics and simply focus upon the memorable "Born in the USA... I was born in the USA" chorus.
To this day, it's still often used as background music for 4th of July celebrations, including in my own city.
In reality, it's a left-wing anthem protesting both the Vietnam war (about 8 years after it was over) and the treatment of troops after they came back. Bruce sings it from the point of view of a Vietnam vet who couldn't integrate into normal society and received no help from the government, while his brother was even less fortunate and died there. It also presents his brother's death as pointless ("They're [the Viet Cong] still there, he's all gone").
In reality, Springsteen did not fight in the Vietnam War, despite being born in 1949 (he failed the physical, due to a previous accident). He also didn't have a brother -- only two sisters, who are both still alive today.
I was only 12 at the time the song was released, so I was one of the stupid people who erroneously believed it to be a patriotic song. Someone told me in college that it wasn't, and to listen to the lyrics. I did so, and felt like a moron.
Another hit song critical of the Vietnam war was also a hit because people didn't listen to the message -- Paul Hardcastle's "19". Instead of focusing on the critical lyrics, everyone just paid attention to the catchy "N-n-n-n-n-nineteen... nineteen!" chorus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F39zj-pG8bI