The line between reality and make-believe was a bit foggy when it came to the 1984 hit single “On the Dark Side.” It was a smash for the fictional band Eddie and the Cruisers in the movie of the same name.
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In fact, it was John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band who brought the song into existence, but only after taking their cues from the movie’s script. Confused yet? Let’s see if we can help elucidate how this piece of pop music history came to be.
Finding the Right Eddie
Based on a book by P.F. Kluge, Eddie and the Cruisers, a film about a once-famous rock band whose lead singer has disappeared, arrived in theaters in 1983. The filmmakers were tasked with incorporating music that would make it sound like this band could indeed have captured the hearts of fans.
Their early efforts to do so weren’t quite on point. It wasn’t until producers talked to a man named Kenny Vance that the pieces started to fall into place. Vance had once been a member of Jay and the Americans, and he knew a thing or two about the East Coast bar-band vibe the Cruisers were supposed to embody.
Producers for the film had the song title “On the Dark Side” in place for the hit that was supposed to break Eddie and the Cruisers big. But Vance was thoroughly unimpressed by the song they played for him. He suggested they get an actual artist to write the track, and he happened to have just the band in mind to get the job done.
“Dark” Doings
John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band originated in Rhode Island and had been knocking around the East Coast scene for about a decade. Vance, who had seen them play, thought they’d be perfect. He gave Cafferty the song title and let him go to work.
Cafferty came back with a song that transforms from a moody opening into a riff-heavy rocker that features sprightly saxophone from Beaver Brown member “Tunes” Antunes. It sounded like a perfect fit. One problem: The movie did poorly at the box office, and the single went nowhere.
Luckily, the movie’s arrival on cable TV in 1984 gave it a new lease on life. In addition, the fact that Cafferty and company’s sound bore a resemblance to that of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band didn’t hurt, especially with Born in the U.S.A. arriving in the summer of ’84 and taking off. “On the Dark Side” was rereleased and rose to No. 7 on the U.S. pop charts.
What is “On the Dark Side” About?
“On the Dark Side” suggests a lot more than it out-and-out says. After all, there’s really only a single verse, along with the title repeated as the refrain. The dark side’s coming now, nothing is real, Cafferty begins, hinting at some sort of enveloping inner torment.
It’s the kind of thing that makes communication impossible: She’ll never know just how I feel. The light this special woman radiates partially pierces his clouds, even as it makes him feel unworthy. There’s a sense he wants to break out of his malaise, deciding finally to go for it, consequences be darned: Ain’t nothing’s gonna save ya from a love that’s blind / Slip through the dark side and cross that line.
Eddie and the Cruisers II turned out a long-forgotten sequel, but the original movie still stands out as a cult favorite from the decade. None of that would have been possible without “On the Dark Side,” the John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band contribution that lent a pretend band its wounded but still-beating heart.
Photo by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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