Alex Biese – on The Asbury Park Press’ Metromix – comes with a simple, but more than valid question today: “How would you define the “Jersey Shore sound”? It this extract of Alex’ article, I only refer to the two gentlemen we know the best…
THE ASBURY PARK PRESS – by ALEX BIESE
The “Jersey Shore sound” — it’s a term that has been thrown around by musicians, fans, authors, politicians and critics for decades. Most people, however, have a hard time explaining what it means when pressed for a definition of the music made along the Garden State’s sandy coast and its adjacent regions.
Does it refer to the stadium-shaking rock ‘n’ roll of Bruce Springsteen? The blue-eyed bar-band soul of Southside Johnny Lyon and the Asbury Jukes? How about the New Brunswick-bred punk of the Bouncing Souls and The Gaslight Anthem? Is it all of these things, or none of them?
Southside Johnny Lyon: “I don’t know if there is one Jersey sound, but a defining characteristic is sincerity. The Jersey Shore was a tough place to make it way back then, and the only way you could get anywhere is by moving the audience with some heartfelt music.
“Oh, sure, you could play in a Top 40 band and do all the current hits and make a lot of money playing to the dancers, but to build up a following that cared about what you were doing and where you were going, you had to play hard and be honest. It’s still that way around here. Not too much glitz and no phony showbiz, just hard and true. Not a bad heritage for all the young whippersnappers.”
Bobby Bandiera of the Asbury Jukes, touring guitarist for Bon Jovi: “Jesus, I don’t think there is a Jersey Shore sound. I mean, over the years people that have become famous from being from this area, namely Bruce (Springsteen). I mean, even Bruce’s sound is different than Southside Johnny’s sound, in that it doesn’t have a four-piece horn section. It’s still R&B, it’s still rock ‘n’ roll, but then there’s Bon Jovi, who lives right around the corner, who doesn’t have any horns and it’s pretty much a guitar-driven (sound), so I don’t think there’s a sound, per se.
“I mean, then you can look at Frank Sinatra . . . and a few other artists that have come from New Jersey and say, ‘Well, they had nothing to do with a loud, distorted guitar.’ It was a different era, but I don’t think there is (a Jersey Shore sound), I don’t think there is such a thing. I think it’s just an encapsulation of people’s input that happened to take music to a serious level and start to re-create what their influences have been and then add to it whatever they bring to it and make it, and that’s anywhere from New Jersey to L.A. I mean, I don’t know if there’s a New Jersey sound, per se.”
Read the full article here: http://www.app.com/article/20090705/ENT/907050301/1031
Copyright (c) The Asbury Park Press – 2009
