Joan Jett, Chuck Berry and Twisted Sister all rocked the Fountain Casino in Aberdeen

ABERDEEN - It's now a banquet hall and wedding venue called Addison Park, with a capacity of up to 800 for receptions.

But at the very end of the 1970s and at the start of the 1980s, the Route 35 building in Aberdeen was a discotheque and concert hall, which drew capacity crowds for artists like Jon Bon Jovi, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, R.E.M., Aerosmith, The B-52s, Squeeze, Warren Zevon, Harry Chapin, The Charlie Daniels Band, Th Outlaws, The Psychedelic Furs, Stray Cats, Men at Work, The Replacements, Thin Lizzy, The Plasmatics, Metallica, Alice Cooper, The English Beat, Patty Smythe and Scandal, and Chuck Berry.

It was the Fountain Casino, one of a group of venues along Route 35 in those days, including Art Stock's Playpen, Club Bene and the Colonel's Garter. From 1973 to 1980, the drinking age was 18 in New Jersey; that year it rose to 19, but those who had already turned 18 before the rise were grandfathered in.

It was the heyday of large nightclubs in the state. The dean of New Jersey night life, Art Stock, owned more than a dozen nightclubs at that time, including the Playpen, Royal Manor South, Royal Manor North and the Colonel's Garter.

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Like many nightclubs of that era, the Fountain Casino featured disco nights along with rock 'n' roll shows. "Last Dance" by Donna Summer was often played at closing.

Joan Jett jumps on stage

In June 1981, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts made an appearance at the club. Writing for the Daily Register, Dan Rosenbaum noted that Jett kicked off her Fountain Casino show with "Bad Reputation," which at that time was her biggest hit.

"Songs like 'Do You Want to Touch' and 'You're Too Possessive' were vintage Jett, but especially impressive was her version of the 1969 Tommy James and the Shondells hit, 'Crimson and Clover.' Somehow, Jett managed to give even that syrupy love ballad a bad reputation," Rosenbaum wrote. "It's a side of Joan Jett that is worth exploring further."

Rosenbaum was on to something. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' version of "Crimson and Clover" would reach number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1982.

"About the only disappointment came as the show started and Jett bounced on stage without her usual black leather jumpsuit," Rosenbaum said. "Instead, she wore a clingy red and white top and snug black slacks. No one else seemed to mind."

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'We want Chuck!'

Two years earlier, a much different rock 'n' roller appeared at the Fountain, playing, as he normally did back then, with a pick-up band.

The late, great Chuck Berry performed hits like "Johnny B. Goode," "School Days," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Roll Over Beethoven" onstage at the Fountain, drawing plaudits from Asbury Park Press reviewer David Wilson.

Though critical of Berry's attempts at playing the blues, the singing of his daughter Ingrid, and his backing band, which often seemed out of sync with the artist (not surprising, since Berry was notorious for not giving his hired backing bands much direction), Wilson was won over by Berry's ability to relate to his audience.

"Berry's strength as an entertainer has always been his close relationship with his fans, and last night's performance showed this strength has not diminished," Wilson wrote. "Even though most of the people in the audience were either unborn or in diapers when Berry's career began, they made it clear that he was the main attraction by chanting, 'We want Chuck!' long before he even took the stage."

Berry's show ended with a performance of "Reelin' and Rockin' " which included him inviting three couples to climb onstage and dance. Instead, 30 to 40 enthusiastic patrons hopped onstage.

"Berry managed to make his way through the mass of people in order to finish singing the song, but then yielded the stage once again to the dancers and the back-up band, which continued to play for several minutes before ending," Wilson wrote. "It was a perfect conclusion to the performance, and Berry was not about to spoil it by coming back for an encore. He had managed once again to work his magic."

Lisa McHale remembers seeing David Johansen at the club, and also Pat Metheny. "equally entertaining in a completely different way. I remember David doing Donna Summer’s 'Hot Stuff,' which was quite daring!"

Tim Newmeyer remembers, "The night The B-52s had from what I'm told 6,000 in the house and, it seemed as if the entire crowd was dancing. Many nights with Twisted Sister, The Good Rats, Warren Zevon, Meatloaf, Todd Rundgren & Utopia. Real early Bon Jovi when Dave Sabo was lead guitarist. … They also had bands playing during the week and would section off the room. Definitely one of the great rock music halls in New Jersey of all time. Whenever I'm in the area, which is not often at all, I pull into parking lot and remember all the great music!!"

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Legal troubles

The early 1980s were the heyday of the Fountain Casino, but even in those heady years, there were problems. The township threatened to revoke the club's liquor license in 1981, accusing the club's owners of illegally building a 350-space parking lot without getting permits or Aberdeen's approval.

When the Fountain began presenting boxing matches in 1981, the township moved to stop it, saying such "sporting events" were not permitted in the nightclub. That same year, the township required more security at the club as a condition of renewing the Fountain Casino's liquor license.

Township Administrator Paul Gleason reported that police had responded to 200 reports of assaults, thefts, car accidents, car fires and incidents of disorderly conduct at the nightclub from January 1980 through June 1981.

Perhaps one of the last great shows at the Fountain happened in 1983, when up-and-coming metal band Metallica opened for Twisted Sister. At the time, Twisted Sister was much bigger than Metallica, and the band played frequently at clubs all over New Jersey.

Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider told the "This Day in Metal" blog that he didn't even realize Metallica had opened for his band until much later, when the two bands were on tour together in Europe.

"I was always in the back getting ready. You never saw me. You didn’t see me walking around the club. You only saw me on the stage and then I disappear," Snider said of the Dec. 30, 1983 show. "I’d get there before the doors opened and I left when the doors closed. You weren’t supposed to see a rock star walking around like a human being. So I had no idea Metallica played."

By 1984, the Fountain Casino was no more. It had been turned into "Shalimar," a banquet hall, which likely caused fewer headaches for both the owners and the township.

The building still remains on Route 35, bringing back memories of a different time, when clubgoers packed the place to see some amazing rock n'roll.

Jean Mikle covers Toms River and several other Ocean County towns, and has been writing about local government and politics at the Jersey Shore for nearly 39 years. A finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in public service, she's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Fountain Casino in Aberdeen welcomed Joan Jett, Chuck Berry and more