Boss tops N.J. poll on birthday

In the Garden State, the Boss rules like the King.

Native son Bruce Springsteen tied Elvis Presley as New Jerseyans' favorite rocker in a Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll released yesterday, Springsteen's 60th birthday.

Others among residents' top 25 were Michael Jackson; Jon Bon Jovi (of Sayreville, N.J.); the Beatles, plus John Lennon and Paul McCartney separately; Mick Jagger; Bono/U2; Axl Rose/Guns N' Roses; Eric Clapton; and Led Zeppelin. No women made the top rankings.

Almost a third of New Jerseyans reported owning a Springsteen record or CD, and 86 percent said the singer, scheduled for four shows at the Wachovia Spectrum between Oct. 13 and Oct. 20, should keep rockin' as long as he was able.

"No question about it: His fellow New Jerseyans do not expect the Boss to sit around counting the wrinkles and the grays," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

The telephone poll of 902 adults, conducted Sept. 8-10, has a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

- Cynthia Henry