The Early Days of Hoboken Rock

Glenn Morrow of Bar/None Records gives us his perspective

One night in 1978, a young band walked into a bar on the verge of transforming itself from a late-night beer hall into a legendary music venue. The band was called ‘a’ and the club was Maxwell’s. Having been part of the very first band ever to play here, Bar/None Records owner Glenn Morrow was asked by the Hoboken Historical Museum to give a talk about what has become known as the Hoboken sound. The history is rich and filled with tales of bands who were more concerned with making great music than with being the next big thing.

It all goes back to when he was a young man in school in Rhode Island. Glenn pined for the gritty, exciting music of NYC which he read about in weekly copies of the Village Voice. He had grown up in the suburbs of NJ and was growing homesick for what he called the mystique of the NYC scene. Bands like The Velvet Underground and Transformer were painting images of a world vastly contrary to his college campus. And at that time, Hoboken was close to it all but completely removed and separate.

Once back in NJ, Glenn went to school at NYU. He began working for a local booking agent and worked at trying to forma a band of his own. He lived in a six-room flat in Hoboken for just $65.00 a month. Even for the late 70s this was a steal. But then again, with garbage flying around the all but abandoned buildings in this post-shipping industry city, not too many folks wanted to live here. It was a phenomenon known historically as ‘white flight’. Meaning working- and middle-class white people leave increasingly racial-minority cities for a more affluent area.

But this mass exodus did have one positive side effect for struggling musicians and Glenn took advantage of it. It gave the band—calling themselves ‘a’—a cheap space to live and work. Now they needed a place to play. Around the corner from their apartment was a bar called maxwell’s looking to change its status in town by featuring live bands. But Maxwell’s was destined to be different than just a bar with bands. The idea was to turn this factory worker hangout into a respectable restaurant and music venue. In 1978, they were off to a good start.

Along with Glenn, ‘a’ included future members of the Bongos Richard Barone, Frank Giannini and Rob Norris. Giannini was also the cook for Maxwell’s and came up with their first menu. The Bongos would be the first of the Hoboken bands to get a record deal and tour Europe. Glenn went on play with The Individuals and later in 1986 partnered with Tom Prendergast—then owner of the legendary indie record store and offshoot of Maxwell’s called Pier Platters—to form Bar/None Records.

During the time from 1978 to the mid 80s, Glenn began to write for The NY Rocker. Thru his connections at that zine, he got to book some bands at Maxwell’s and was paid one meal a week. Working along with chief booker Todd Abramson, over time more and more bands discovered Maxwell’s to be a great stopping point before gigs in NYC. It was also attracting suburban kids who were maybe too intimidated to play NYC clubs at the time. It was a place where you didn’t get lost as just one in the ten bands playing such as at CBGB. The legend of this new Hoboken scene also began to grow around the country as The NY Rocker’s readership expanded.

One group of avid NY Rocker readers were the members of a young band in Athens, GA called R.E.M.. As the years rolled by, they made frequent stops at Maxwell’s and Peter Buck was even once an investor in the place. But R.E.M. was just one in a myriad of great bands that not only played here, but considered it a staple venue. Local faves Yo La Tengo would do their annual eight nights of Hanukkah. The inside cover photo from Nirvana’s first album ‘Bleach’ was taken in Maxwell’s. And of course there was Bruce Springsteen who filmed the Glory Days video here in 1986.

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