A Career in the Shadow of a Jersey God: Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
If not for that Bruce guy…
Being linked forever with another artist isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You can’t think of Lennon and not immediately think of McCartney. Same with Jagger and Richards, Bono and the Edge, Morrissey and Marr, Willie and Waylon. All of these are, for the most part, positive associations because the artists not only worked closely together but are also essentially equals.
But what if you are an exceptional talent forever linked with a musical god? What if you started out in bands in the same town, often playing together, and while you had a fair amount of success, your comrade achieved that rarified distinction of being recognized simply by his first name? Let me introduce someone who would know: John Lyon, better known (to those who know of him at all) as Southside Johnny, leader of the Asbury Jukes.
If you’ve heard of Southside Johnny, good on you. If you’ve heard of him and did not immediately also think of Bruce Springsteen, then your mama never taught you that it’s wrong to lie. If you’ve never heard of him, that’s what I’m hoping to change.
Southside Johnny is as Jersey as they come. Born in Neptune, NJ in 1948, he graduated high school in 1967 with bassist Garry Tallent and drummer Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez; these two would play in various bands with Southside Johnny in the late 1960s and early 1970s before forming the E Street Band with Springsteen in 1973. Southside formed the Asbury Jukes in 1975 with Steven Van Zandt, another artist forever linked with Springsteen, and they released their first album in 1976.
There is one obvious musical difference between Southside and Springsteen. Whereas Bruce was always about rock and roll, Southside was solidly “blue-eyed soul.” If Bruce secretly wanted to be Chuck Berry, Southside made no secret of his desire to be Sam Cooke. And in the highest praise I can give him, he comes damn close. No one will ever surpass Sam Cooke as a soul singer, but there is a reason that among the denizens of the Jersey Shore Southside was often simply known as “The Voice.”
The Asbury Jukes released six albums between 1976 and 1980, the best by far being their third album, Hearts of Stone in 1978. Even then, however, the shadow of Springsteen loomed large; of the nine songs on the album six were written by Steve Van Zandt (who was the band’s manager and producer as well as playing guitar in the E Street Band), two were written by Springsteen, and one by Southside, Springsteen, and Van Zandt. His best-known song before this album was “The Fever,” another Springsteen composition.
Who wrote the songs misses the point, though. Many of the greatest singers, from Tony Bennett to Frank Sinatra, never wrote their own songs and yet made those songs their own. Southside, though a soul singer, actually belongs more to that earlier era when the singer was all that mattered and band members were interchangeable. Over the course of his 50-year career, Southside has seen more than 50 musicians play in the Asbury Jukes, including Jon Bon Jovi, the Miami Horns, and every member of the E Street Band. What has remained constant in The Voice.
Southside has released more than 30 studio and live albums during a five-decade career that shows no signs of slowing down even at age 72. It’s understandable that he never reached the heights Springsteen has; few ever do. What is unforgivable is that so few know him today. If you take a listen to the playlist below, I know you’ll agree with me.