While not always something it is well known for, New Jersey is home to loads of famous musicians. These artists span different eras and different genres, which I think speaks to New Jersey’s diversity.

In my mind, the face of New Jersey music is Bruce Springsteen. Born in Freehold, Springsteen sings a message that is very relatable to New Jerseyans: the desire to get out. However, he perfectly encapsulates the love New Jerseyans feel for their state alongside such desire to leave. A song like “Born to Run” shows just how excited many are too leave in the name alone. Meanwhile, a song like “Jersey Girl”, with its lyric “well down the shore everything’s alright” shows how much we actually love our state. Bruce rose to prominence in 1975 with his album Greetings from Asbury Park, and gained more notoriety through his later work in The River and Born in the USA. Springsteen is probably my personal favorite artist, and I cannot wait for him to come to State College in March (I do not want to talk about how much I paid for my ticket though.) Speaking of Springsteen concerts, they are known for being energetic and lengthy.

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Another rock artist from an era similar to that of Springsteen is Jon Bon Jovi. Born in Perth Amboy, he is known for being the frontman of the band Bon Jovi. The group is best known for their singles “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer,” both of which reached #1 status. He also has a rest stop named after him on the Garden State Parkway, which makes me laugh everytime I drive past it. Something about seeing “Jon Bon Jovi Service Area” on a road sign is funny to me.

An artist that hailed from New Jersey and was popular in the era before Springsteen and Bon Jovi is Frank Sinatra. Sinatra was born in Hoboken in 1912, and rose to prominence in the 40’s. A cultural icon of his time, he is well known for his Las Vegas residencies, film career, and involvement in politics.

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Some more modern artists from New Jersey include My Chemical Romance, Charlie Puth, and The Jonas Brothers. My Chemical Romance was formed in Newark in the wake of 9/11. They are known for their most famous single “Welcome to the Black Parade.” After a breakup in 2013, the band reunited in 2019. Singer, songwriter, and producer Charlie Puth was born in Rumson, and is known for his hit singles “Marvin Gaye” and “See You Again”. Puth has recently been in the news showing off his extensive knowledge of music and music production, and in an interview with Howard Stern credited Springsteen as one of his greatest inspirations. Raised in Wyckoff and Little Falls, the brothers Kevin, Joe, and Nick gained fame through a Disney Channel show, and have released five albums.

While New Jersey and music may not immediately go hand in hand, the state has produced countless well known, amazing musical talents.

One of the more neglected aspects of New Jersey is the state’s diversity. The perception of New Jersey by many boils down to the title of this blog – they assume the whole state is exactly like the Jersey Shore. In reality, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. In one day this summer, I woke up in a cabin in a state forest in the northern part of the state, got lunch in my suburban hometown, and ended the day sitting on a beach. New Jersey has much, much more to offer than just the shore.

For the outdoorsy types:

The state is home to over 452,000 acres of state parks, forests and other recreation areas, and that is  just the land managed by the state park service. There are countless places to spend a day hiking, fishing, or just taking in the beautiful scenery. The Appalachian Trail even runs through the northwestern part of the state.

For the history buffs:

Most of the more popular historical sites are operated by the National Park Service. Morristown National Historical Park has tons of cool events remembering the Continental Army’s winter encampment there (every house within a 5/10 mile radius that was built before 1800 has a story that Washington stayed in the house for a night during that winter. I don’t think any of them are true.) There is also Thomas Edison’s home and laboratory, which 8 year old me thought was the coolest. 

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For the sightseers:

Another National Historic Park is Paterson Great Falls. It’s pretty much just a big waterfall, but somebody got whacked on The Sopranos there in the first episode of the show. Speaking of the Sopranos, if you are a fan of the show, there are places mentioned in it all over. A friend of mine grew up in Caldwell, where the house Tony lived in is, and they said the cul de sac always had a line of cars full of people wanting to get a look. Personally, I think The Sopranos does a much better job of depicting the real New Jersey then The Jersey Shore does. Obviously not everyone is a mobster but in terms of the culture of the state, it is more accurate.

For the excitement seekers:

In the Pine Barrens sits Six Flags Great Adventure, home of the tallest rollercoaster in the world, Kingda Ka. It’s no Disney World, but I love Great Adventure. The park is kind of in the middle of nowhere and a long drive for almost everybody, but it is so worth it. My favorite is when on some rides, you sit at the top before it drops you. Looking out, all you can see is miles and miles of trees in every direction.

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Now obviously, this is just the tip of the iceberg of things to do and see in New Jersey, and there is so much more to do than just what I have mentioned. However, as I’ve mentioned before, if you do decide to visit any of these attractions from out of state, stay out of the left lane. Please.

Struggling to come up with a topic for this blog, I remembered that tonight is opening night for the New Jersey Devils. With the only major professional sports team with New Jersey in its name kicking off its season, let’s talk about sports in New Jersey.

While the Devils are the only team with New Jersey in their moniker, only about one third of the state actually support the team. Another third from the north support the cross town Rangers, and the last third live near Philadelphia and are fans of the Flyers. This has been an issue for the Devils when it comes to signing players born in the state. The Brooklyn Nets were formerly known as the New Jersey Nets and played in the same arena as the Devils, but they moved in 2012. 

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This fracture among fandoms also holds true throughout the state. Much of the south supports Philadelphia’s teams, while those in the north are split among the various New York based teams. I will say that Rangers/Knicks/Giants/Yankees is probably the most stereotypical following. I personally only support one of these teams though (go big blue.)

New Jersey is also home to two NFL teams, although they do not play under the state’s name. Both the New York Jets and Giants play at MetLife Stadium, in East Rutherford. The fact that they play in a different state from their name has been a point of contention for many fans, with one fan even suing the teams this past year for damages.

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Another team that plays in New Jersey despite having New York in its name are the New York Red Bulls. I don’t know much about MLS or soccer, but I know you can see the stadium from the train into New York City and my 9 year old self always thought that was cool.

The state also has several minor league baseball teams, with the Somerset Patriots just recently becoming the Yankees double-A affiliate in the past few years. Even as a Mets fan, I enjoy going to their games, as it is cheap baseball and real prospects are always fun to watch. This year the team was pretty good, as they won the Eastern League.

College sports aren’t too big in New Jersey, though there are a few schools worth mentioning. Rutgers is the obvious one and the largest in the state, although none of their teams are really worth mentioning. Princeton is the only other major Division 1 school for football, though Seton Hall, Rider, Monmouth, and most recently St. Peters are all relevant to varying degrees in Basketball. There are also a large number of smaller Division 3 schools throughout the state.

High School sports are big in New Jersey, but nowhere near the level as other states like Texas. Lacrosse, football, and hockey are all big, but my personal favorite fact is that our state produced half of the gold medal women’s 4x400m relay at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Athing Mu from Trenton and Sydney McLaughlin from Metutchen both won individual golds in addition to the relay.

Yes, I know the title of this blog is “Not Just Snooki and The Shore.” And this is true, the state of New Jersey is far more than the simplified stereotype of a reality TV show. However, the Jersey Shore is a major part of the state’s culture, and I would be remiss to not discuss it. With that being said, I would like to discuss the true reality of the Jersey Shore, not the one portrayed on MTV.

New Jersey is home to over 130 miles of coastline, which the Stockton University Coastal Research Center calls “the most developed and densely populated shoreline in the country.” With beaches that span from nearly touching Queens to nearly touching Delaware, there is a wide variety of communities that line the shore, and each one is a little different. Some are composed of mainly locals who live at the shore year round, while others are designed to attract tourism and vacationers. Fun fact, locals often refer to these vacationers as bennys or shoobies. The term benny was originally an acronym to describe tourists from Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark, or New York, while the term shoobie refers to day travelers who packed their lunches in shoe boxes.

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The first thing I would like to mention about the shore relates to my last post which discussed driving. The main road to get anywhere down the shore is the Garden State Parkway, which starts at exit 0 in Cape May and spans all the way to the New York border. Many in New Jersey identify where they live based off of what exit they use on the Parkway, and this is also used when discussing where people spend their summers.

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With all that being said, let’s get into some of the differing communities and their culture/makeup, going from north to south on the map above. At the northernmost part of the shore, is Monmouth County, where the towns are surrounded by land. These do not require a bridge to get to, and do not have a bay. These towns attract more tourists from New York and North Jersey, simply because of their location. Asbury Park is famous for its music with venues such as the Stone Pony. Spring Lake is heavily Catholic and has a large cathedral. 

Moving down the map, Bayhead to Island Beach State Park is one long strip of island. The towns in the north of this stretch are usually more wealthy (the entirety of Bayhead feels like a country club to me.) Next is Seaside Heights and Park, which is where Snooki rose to fame and the MTV show was filmed. This part is considered to be more ‘trashy’ with lots of dingy bars and cheap motels. After that, we get to our second island strip, Long Beach Island, which spans from Barnegat Light to Beach Haven. LBI, as it is usually abbreviated, is where I spent my summers with my family as a kid. To me, the island has more of a middle class feel, with lots of families just looking to spend some quality time together at the beach.

I have much less first hand knowledge of the towns past LBI, but I can speak to their reputations. Atlantic City is obviously famous for its gambling, while Ventnor and Margate are generally home to an older population (typically the polar opposite of Seaside.) Ocean City and Sea Isle attract a lot of tourists from Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, as does Wildwood. I believe Avalon and Stone Harbor have a similar feel to towns like Spring Lake and Bayhead. Finally, Cape May has a pretty traditional beach town feel, and is home to the US Coast Guard training center.