You have to be eligible for Medicare to have first-hand memories of Bobby Rydell, the South Philly teen idol from the early days of rock ‘n’ roll. He had his first hit at age 17, in 1959, and hit his peak in 1963, the year he appeared in the film version of “Bye, Bye Birdie” and this song was released. You know what happened after 1963.
There were lots of teen idols in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Elvis was in the Army, Chuck Berry had been arrested and Buddy Holly had died, so the industry tried to manufacture what rock ‘n’ roll’s founding fathers had done naturall. The music mostly sounds cheap and disposable to modern ears, but the kids could dance to it, which is what they did for 90 minutes five afternoons a week on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, broadcast out of Philadelphia. The city’s boy singers, Rydell among them, benefitted greatly from the connection.
Rydell is best remembered today for his 1960 cover of “Volare,” which charted at No. 3 in the US than any of the many versions released as singles. But the song that made him an icon in the region was this paean to the pleasures of South Jersey’s wildest beach town (if you’re only familiar with the Delaware beaches, Wildwood is like a cross between Dewey Beach and Ocean City, Md.) It only reached No. 17 nationally, but they still use it to advertise the town. They even dedicated a full-wall mural to Rydell in Wildwood a few years back.
