Johnny Rivers had a lot of hit records — 26 singles in the Top 40, nine of them in the Top 10. Almost all of them were covers, frequently with the Wrecking Crew as his backing band, and most of them charted higher than the originals. But he only reached No. 1 once in a 60-year career, and he had to write that song himself.
“I don’t know what inspired it,” Rivers said of “The Poor Side of Town.” “It was not from any personal experience, because I was living in Beverly Hills.” Rivers, who was John Ramistella before legendary DJ Alan Freed suggested he change his name, started his career in the late ’50s, catching the tail end of rock ‘n’ roll’s teen idol phase. But he didn’t find much success until he hired a young producer named Lou Adler and landed a gig as the house band at the Whiskey a Go Go when it opened in Los Angeles in 1964.
A string of successful live albums followed, with Rivers fronting a trio playing hard-driving covers of early rock ‘n’ roll and R&B. The Chuck Berry chestnut “Memphis, Tennessee” reached No. 2, and “Maybelline” made No. 12, and he mined the ’50s for further hits for two more years. So when he brought in “Poor Side of Town,” a tune he said he fiddled with off-and-on for six months, Adler was against breaking the mold by releasing a lush, string-laden ballad.
Rivers’ final hit came in 1977 when “Swaying to the Music (Slow Dancing)” reached No. 10. He didn’t record much after the ’80s, but was still playing live until the dawn of Covid.
His influence extended beyond his recording career — he signed the Fifth Dimension to his record company, gave Jimmy Webb a big break when he had them record “Up, Up and Away,” and he helped organize the influential Monterrey Pop Festival in 1967 — but the now 79-year-old Rivers has been roundly ignored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. More disgracefully, he has never even been nominated.