Day: October 11, 2023

Chart Week: September 29, 1984
Song: “On the Dark Side” – John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band
Chart Position: #24, 19th week on the chart (charted twice, see below). Peaked at #7 for two weeks in October/November.

The history of pop music is filled with opportunists. If an artist or musical style makes a big splash, you can be sure that soundalikes (or lookalikes) will soon follow.

At first glance that seems to be the case with “On the Dark Side.” I bet almost everyone who has ever heard it assumed, upon first listen, that it was Bruce Springsteen. From vocal tone and style to the sound of the band, almost everything about this track recalls Springsteen, specifically his song “She’s the One.”[1]

In the fall of 1984 it made sense for a record like this to become a hit. Bruce was in the midst of his leap from critical darling with a cult following to becoming one of the biggest stars in music. “Dancing in the Dark,” which peaked at #2 earlier in the summer, had just dropped from the Hot 100. “Cover Me,” the second single off of Born in the USA, moved into the top 10 this week. It was the perfect moment for record companies to push Springsteen soundalikes.

No one sounded more like The Boss than John Cafferty. Springsteen and Cafferty have eerily similar deep, gruff, raspy voices. Their bands both played classic, good-time, barroom rock ’n’ roll. You were as likely to hear a sax as a guitar in each band’s solo breaks. Hell, both were predominantly white groups with Black sax players. The acts were even named alike: Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band vs. John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band.

Ironically all those similarities kept Cafferty from earning a recording deal for years, as labels thought he and his band sounded too much like Bruce. But once Springsteen broke through, that became an advantage rather than a hindrance.

However, in this week’s countdown, Casey would have you believe that it was a forgotten movie getting a second life on cable TV that propelled this song onto the charts.

“On the Dark Side” was first released in 1983 as the featured single from Eddie and the Cruisers, a film about a fictional band with a mysterious lead singer. While John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band sang every word and played every note, the record was credited to the imaginary Eddie and the Cruisers.

The movie was a box office disaster, garnering poor reviews and lasting just three weeks in theaters. “On the Dark Side” did better, grinding out nine weeks on the chart, but it never got higher than #64.

The film soon wound up on HBO, where something about it connected with the audience and it got good ratings. Its VHS tape was doing decent business as well.

Scotti Bros., the label that published the soundtrack, noticed this ripple of popularity and re-released “On the Dark Side,” this time giving John Cafferty and his pals proper credit. Two months after entering the Hot 100 for the second time, it peaked at #7 for two weeks.

That HBO/home video traction combined with the success of the single led Embassy Pictures to send the movie back to theaters in the fall of 1984. But, again, no one watched, and it was yanked after one week.[2]

I thought it was interesting that Casey suggested that the single’s success was due more to those folks who were watching the movie at home than to Cafferty’s uncanny vocal resemblance to Bruce Springsteen. I suppose that’s the angle Scotti Bros. and the band’s representation wanted to push. Americans love a good second chance story, so it made sense to play up that angle of this song’s unlikely path to popularity rather than acknowledge the elephant in the room.

I was just becoming a Springsteen fan in 1984, so while I heard the obvious common elements, I didn’t get all fired up about Cafferty ripping Bruce off. Years later, when I heard the entire Born to Run album for the first time, and that opening section of “She’s the One” came on, I was floored. “HOLY SHIT!” I thought. “PEOPLE WERE RIGHT, THEY TOTALLY RIPPED OFF BRUCE!”

It’s probably not fair to call this a complete rip off. After its opening section it takes a different path than “She’s the One.” But everything else about it remains firmly within the Springsteen tent. While the lyrics might lack the specific literary details that The Boss was famous for, they still bump up against his territory. There’s a big, honkin’ sax solo. The drums sound much like Max Weinberg’s style of play.[3] If anything, “On the Dark Side” sounds like Springsteen cranked to 11, with every aspect taken it its absolute max.

The question I ask myself today is, if you eliminate those Springsteen connections, forget about whether this is a ripoff or a cynical marketing exercise, pretend that you’ve never heard the insanely incredible experience that is “She’s the One,” is this still a good record? I say yes.

Those opening piano notes immediately grab your attention. The bass and jangling guitar coming in together build terrific tension, which is broken by the first snap of the snare. Then it turns into a pretty straight forward banger. It’s easy to sing along with Cafferty. It’s hard not to clap your hands, tap your toes, or bang your steering wheel along to the rhythm.[4] As the track fades, I don’t think it leaves you with any great emotional release or epiphany. I do know that your heart should be beating a little faster. Which is the ultimate goal of most rock stars, whether they are Bruce Springsteen or opportunists chasing a trend. 7/10

As it was such a big part of this piece, it seems a shame not to include a video for “She’s the One,” too. While this live performance has a different intro, which subtracts from the commonalities between songs, I’ve always thought this performance was unreal. You see a band that is totally locked in. It’s no surprise that other bar bands on the east coast were chasing what Bruce and his band were doing.