Dan Silber arrived on St. John in 1972. An accomplished musician on the mainland, he became one of the original members of "Eddie and the Movements," a dynamic, hugely popular 15-piece dance band that played throughout the Virgin Islands and beyond. Dan Silber is remembered by many St. Johnians as the first white musician they ever saw play in a Virgin Island dance band.

The St. John music scene has gone through several evolutions since the early1970 when there was a good deal of dance bands playing regularly on the island.

Almost every weekend there would be Fish Frys at Pond Mouth in Cruz Bay or at Sputnik Bar or the Flamingo Club in Coral Bay. They often featured two or three bands. Rick’s Hilltop, owned and operated by the late Eric Christian was the biggest Dance Hall. There were often had two or three bands playing per night and on holidays and during Carnival there could be even more..

On some nights there was the famous “Battle of the Bands.” The evening would start with a coin toss to see which band would go on first. Then they would play one hard-driving set and when they were finished, the next band would get up and try to top the first, then the next band would be on and tray and outdo the previous one. Each taking a turn the night would get hotter and hotter. The music would sometimes last until 4:00 am.(With no complaints)

Fred’s Dance Hall, which still exists today also featured live bands.

Although you can still enjoy live dance music on St. John, it is much less frequent than in the 1970s. Now here is the anomaly. Why was there more music 30 years ago than there is today when the population has grown five fold and there is much more money floating around?

Are people dancing less?

Are they more used to canned music now?

It’s a complex issue and not unique to St. John. This is the case in NYC, Chicago, Boston, LA and many other big cities with a few exceptions (Austin and New Orleans, for example)

Could it be that times are too flush? Is lively dance and groove music more needed when times are tough? Yet during a recession more dance clubs fold than during the good times.

Could it be the influence of home entertainment systems, cable TV, video rentals and the internet? Perhaps it is this influence of pop culture coming from the United States mainland that has been the driving force behind the decline. Today, youth is constantly bombarded by celebrity worship and slick marketing of “commodities” that the record companies have in their stables.

Will there ever be a comeback of live dance bands, groove bands and garage bands?

Being a musician, I certainly hope so. The world needs to be uplifted and inspired by music, the universal language.