Old-Time Rock ‘n’ Roll:How The 1980s Embraced 1950s and 1960s Oldies Music
In 1983, the movie Eddie and the Cruisers appeared in theaters. The movie, based on P.F. Kluge’s 1980 novel of the same title, is about a fictional Jersey band from the early sixties named Eddie and the Cruisers. The band’s lead singer Eddie Wilson, played by Michael Paré, died in a car crash in 1964, just as the band finished recording their second album, deemed by some as junk. Others in the movie later deemed it ahead of its time. The big mystery in the movie is Wilson’s body and the recording tapes were never found. Eighteen years later, a reporter, played by Ellen Barkin, investigates Eddie’s death. The movie switches back to the band’s path to success and to the present. The story-line is similar to many bands that hit it big in the sixties, especially the Beach Boys. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys took that band into realms of creativity that caused friction within the group and with fans. The movie flopped at the theaters, critics panned it, but it became a hit on pay television in 1984.
The music in the movie sounds more like Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band than the early sixties. However, there are elements of the 1963 sound. John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band provided the soundtrack for the movie. The soundtrack sold 3 million albums. A sequel was released at the end of the eighties, but like its predecessor flopped at the theater. Unlike its predecessor, cable TV did not salvage the sequel.
©2021 Tim Sheehan