Bruce Springsteen, J.J. Jackson Interview, Rave On, Growin' Up, But It's Alright

In last week's Friday Bruce Fix, I closed with the earliest known televised interview of Bruce Springsteen dating back to 1976.  This week, I'm opening with an interview conducted by J.J. Jackson for a Los Angeles television station.  J.J. Jackson, otherwise known as Triple J, was one of the original "Fab Five" MTV VJs when the channel was launched in 1981. 

When I first saw this interview, I thought that this was the same J.J. Jackson who recorded the mega hit single 'But It's Alright' back in 1966.  Shockingly, I may be wrong.  Others may share my confusion as an examination of the two J.J. Jackson entries in Wikipedia shows both with identical birth dates of April 8, 1941, both born in The Bronx, NY. 

It's either a phenomenal coincidence that John J. "J.J." Jackson the VJ, and Jerome Louis "J.J." Jackson the soul singer were born on the same day, in the same city, OR one or both of those entries is not entirely accurate, or is just plain wrong.  Could they actually be the same guy?  I don't feel like researching this any further to clear up the confusion.  If anyone knows the truth, please post a comment to enlighten us.

I prefer to think this was indeed a phenomenal coincidence, and that not only were the two J.J.s born on the same day, in the same city, and both went into the music business and eventually went by the same handle, but I'd also like to think they were born in the same hospital around the same time and that maybe there was some confusion and that the two babies were switched at birth and brought up by the other's biological parents. 

If I'm to believe what I've read, J.J. the VJ, aka Triple J, passed away, on St. Paddy's Day, March 17, 2004.  I think J.J. the soul singer is still alive, unless of course, through some phenomenal coincidence, he died on the exact same day.  By the way, it IS a phenomenal coincidence that I'm writing about this just two days after St. Patrick's Day.  I had no idea J.J. (at least one of the two) was even dead. 

This interview is widely considered Bruce's first television interview, but after last week, we now know this is not quite the truth.  This fix has certainly turned into a one big mess of dubious facts, clarifications, coincidences, confusion and unanswered questions.  Some fix....  what's the opposite of a fix?

Towards the end of the interview, Bruce mentioned playing Buddy Holly every night before he goes on stage to keep himself honest.  On this night, he actually opened with a Buddy Holly tune, 'Rave On'.

I thought it would be fun to play another song from Bruce's historic performance that night, July 7, 1978, at The Roxy.  In the Bruce Fix three weeks ago on February 26, 2010, I featured an early acoustic performance of 'Growin' Up'.  Six years later on the Darkness tour, it had morphed into a full band, show stopping centerpiece, with a great story.

Finally, this fix (or whatever it is) would not be complete without hearing from our man J.J.  Can you guess which one?

Appropriately, the clip suggests that this tune comes from 1968. That is of course wrong, it was from 1966, although the confusion may come from the fact that this song magically resurfaced to hit the charts again, I thought in 1969.  Maybe it was 1968..... 

Happy Friday! (I think it's Friday.... let me check...)

Comments

[Friday Bruce Fix]

Thanks! Another interview for you this week. I find them interesting, too. Cheers!

[Monica]

The interview was great! Keep digging up this great stuff and I'll be watching.

Thanks!