Looking back on a good life
Joe Grushecky, 1980
Grushecky performing in 1974.
Joe Grushecky and Bruce Springsteen perform together in 2011.
When thinking about what conjures up local nostalgia best, music certainly comes to mind. There’s the soundtrack of our carefree high school days and early adulthood (a certain song could perhaps take you back to using a fake ID to get into a club or bar to see a favorite band). If you’re from Pittsburgh and of a certain age, there’s no doubt that Joe Grushecky has a song – or several – on that soundtrack. In the late 1970s and early ’80s, his Iron City Houserockers seemed poised to take on the world of rock ‘n’ roll. However, fate had other plans, making them huge in Pittsburgh, but not so much elsewhere.
These days, Grushecky lives in the South Hills with his wife, Lee Ann, and teaches at Sto Rox Junior/Senior High School. He’s proud to watch his son Johnny’s budding music career – his band, Milly, is starting to take off, with its debut album produced by Jim Wirt slated to be released this year. And, daughter Desiree has a master’s degree in architectural design and works at PNC as a senior marketing specialist-branch environment merchandising.
Most recently, he’s made waves with a new song that he recorded with long-time friend Bruce Springsteen, called “That’s What Makes Us Great” – it’s an answer to a certain president’s campaign slogan. “It’s gotten a pretty amazing response, especially the first two weeks it was out – people were making videos on their own, it sort of exploded worldwide,” Grushecky says. “It’s gotten a lot of great feedback – I also got some trolls, some negative stuff out of it, too. I think, especially for western Pennsylvania, it struck a chord. It’s a pretty powerful song, if I have to say so myself.”
He’s also keeping busy recording another Houserockers album, which will be out this year – sooner rather than later, he says. It stays true to Grushecky and his roots; he calls it “a straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll record.”
But, this is about nostalgia, so we took a trip down memory lane with Joe, back to the very beginning.
How he got into music
“When I got my first guitar, which was shortly after seeing the Beatles on ‘The Ed Sullivan show.’ I was about 14 or 15. I pretty much taught myself – my dad was a musician, though. He had rudiments of guitar.”
Early influences
“Oh, everybody. I was one of those crazy music fans – I just loved everything, I just wanted to be a part of it. All the British invasion stuff, The Kingsman and “Louie Louie,” The Four Seasons, Motown. Pittsburgh, at that time, had a very thriving alternative sound – they called it ‘The Pittsburgh Sound’ – and the disc jockeys would start playing music on Friday night on all these little stations around Pittsburgh, and they’d continue playing until Sunday … all this obscure rhythm and blues, obscure rock ‘n’ roll, so I just soaked it up. I just loved it. I pretty much listened to everything I could get my hands on.”
His first live show
“I saw The Dave Clark Five down at the Civic Arena – I missed The Beatles. Again with the Pittsburgh thing, there were all these night clubs. I saw Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, The Pharaohs, Bo Diddley. Once I really started getting into guitar, I made it a mission to see as much music as I could.”
Bygone musical venues
“The Decade – it was like the home of rock ‘n’ roll in Pittsburgh. It was a real musical community, all the musicians would hang out there on their off nights and there was just one great band after another, playing seven nights a week. So, I think everybody from my generation would say that The Decade was the quintessential music bar.”
The Iron City Houserockers first big show
“I think we probably played with Meatloaf at the Agora in Cleveland, 1977. I was fresh out of my cellar on Mt. Washington. We had no idea what the music business was about. We were playing bars all the time, but getting out there and doing a big show was a new experience for us. The radio people and record promo people – it was an eye opener.”
Meeting Bruce
“Steve Van Zandt worked on Have a good Time But Get Out Alive, and was telling Bruce (Springsteen) about our band. The friendship really began when I went to see him play at the Civic Arena. I went backstage, but we didn’t really spend a lot of time together until we did two nights at Clarence’s club in Jersey (Big Man’s West). Bruce came down and we hung out and just really hit it off and had a lot of similarities – same age, listening to the same music, same blue collar background – it was just an easy friendship that developed out of that. We kept in touch through the years, and I think in about 1993, my wife says, ‘Why don’t you ask Bruce to sing on one of your songs, so it might help gather a little more attention’ – we (The Houserockers) were sort of dead in the water at that point. So, Bruce was kind enough to take an interest in what we were doing and ended up producing the whole American Babylon record and ended up going out playing with us. We started writing songs together – you do production on a record, you’re in the same room with a person for hours and hours and hours. We became very good friends during that whole project together.”
Other musicians
“Steve Cropper, who wrote ‘Knock on Wood,’ ‘The Midnight Hour,’ ‘(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay’ – he produced one of our records. He was just fabulous to work with, just a great guy, southern gentleman. Steve Van Zandt -I always looked up to him as a kid, when I was starting out. Doing solo project work with him was a real thrill and he’s still as good as he ever was. Mick Ronson, I had a chance to work with him. Rick Witkowski in my band … we’ve had a chance to work with some heavyweights and I’ve been very lucky and blessed to work with great people.”
What he’s listening to today
“My son’s band, Milly, has a great new record coming out soon. Just did the Stones for Children’s benefit that we do every year that we do at the Rex, so I was up to my eyeballs in The Rolling Stones for the last couple weeks. I picked up an old reggae album I’ve always liked, Jimmy Cliff, The Harder They Come soundtrack from the movie (of the same name). I like Ryan Adams new record a lot. I also like Van Morrison’s new record and the new Rolling Stones record a lot. “
How he likes to listen
“I don’t have a turntable – I wish I had one. I listen to most of my stuff in my car. When I want to rock out, I go take a drive and turn my car stereo on … that’s when I do my most serious listening. The thing about the music is the delivery system. I did a year of teachrock.org, which is Steve Van Zandt’s website, and I always tell the kids that the delivery system has so much to do with the music. One of the reasons rock ‘n’ roll became popular in the first place is because the 45 records that delivered all those old hits one after another, and then you got CDs and now it’s digital, nobody buys anything anymore, so it changed the whole business.”