THE OSMONDS – “Love Me For A Reason”
One of many drunken nights ago in a University bar I got into a vicious competition over Boyzone’s version of this song. My table would put the Boyzone song on the jukebox. Another bunch of drinkers at the next table would reply with Weezer’s “Buddy Holly”. This went through six or seven cycles before we were all threatened with eviction – remarkable patience by the bar staff, considering. Now I’ll admit our first play of the track was probably a tiny bit “ironic”. But as we played it again and again, evolving a complex series of arm-dances to accompany it, and as the drink fogged our brains, irony dissolved into territorial love.
I wouldn’t now spend money – even 20p a shot – to hear Boyzone’s “Love Me For A Reason”, and I wouldn’t go to bat for it critically either (except relative to that dreadful Weezer song of course), but it’s left me with a dogged fondness for the song, which even in this much finer original formulation was pretty clockwork stuff. The endlessly repeated chorus has a lulling quality – FUN girl, ONE girl, REASON, LOVE – and “Love me for a reason and let the reason be love” is one of those sublimely banal aphorisms only a boy band can really get away with. The Osmonds do a professional job on the tune, though, and when they wriggle out of the chorus straitjacket there are some quality pop moments: most of all, the lead-in to the final chorus – “my initial reaction is – honey gimme love, not a facsimile of!” – where the words cram into a gabble of excitement that breaks gloriously through the choreographed cooing.
6
This was one of those times when neither #1 was much good – in the US it was “(You’re) Having My Baby” by newly-announced Canadian Songwriter Hall of Fame winner Paul Anka.
Oh yes, Waldo – I remember that of which you speak!
Kind of came to mind during the (entirely different) recent tennis coach trauma – though ski-ing was the sport of (p)reference in the earlier case if I remember aright…
Should have added – looking at this Youtube clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iVWg5T7fXM
- even by the standards of mid-1970s dress the combination of white jackets with ghastly trousers in colours only normally seen in the wardrobes of middle-aged golfers is fairly jaw-dropping.
I’m a wee bit underwhelmed by this – I can see why I was scathing about it at the time, yet still recognise that they were good-looking boys, and they could deliver a pretty tune rather well.
Osmondmania was a bit before my time being only 1 year old- but what i was wondering how much of a one-man-show they were in terms of popularity.Did their young female audiences of the time split into various factions each choosing a different member of the group as their favorite, as seems to have been the way with most bands with a similar fanbase before and since(Beatles, Rollers, Boyzone etc).Or was it really only all about Dishy Donny right from the start, with his goofy brothers tagging along merely accepted by fans as part of the “deal”? It seems a little unlikely to me but were there really schoolgirls in the 70s who had heated arguments over whether, say, Alan was dreamier than Wayne? Or who perhaps covered their bedroom walls solely with pin-ups of Merrill for them to drool over? Perhaps some more mature contributors could enlighten me? Just curious.
Also perhaps a tad obvious i know but why has nobody mentioned Crazy Horses yet? Now THERE’S a record.
I’m pretty sure “Crazy Horses” was cited a few times in the previous Donny entries.
As hard to believe as it might seem, I can attest from first hand experience that there were indeed heated debates between the girls in my ’73-4 primary school class about whether Merrill was dishier than Jay etc. A year later the same girls were having the same debates about whether Eric was more gorgeous than Woody, but that’s still to come.
From the Osmond perspective it probably made sense to diversify their “acts” according to demographic preferences; thus Donny would be in charge of the teen idol department, Marie for girly country ballads for the, um, girls (though that never really took off) and Little Jimmy for tiny tots novelties, and that would leave the Actual Osmonds free to be a Serious Group with Serious Things To Say About This Modern World. Although when the idolatry passed the Donny And Marie Show was the only feasible remaining branch of the operation.
“Joker” Jay in particular had a lot of fans to call his own, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when Merrill got married to Mary.
Back to LL (#21) – no denying she’s a talented singer but she sounds like she’s fighting to keep up at times. Somewhere in the mix is a half-decent song but it’s bludgeoned into submission beneath the worst case of Mariah-itis I’ve ever heard. If someone had auditioned performing all that vocal gymnastics, wailing and octave-jumps I do wonder what the judges would have said.
Yes, even without Google I remembered Joyce McKinney (#25) and the “I would have skied nude down Mount Everest with a carnation in my teeth for Kirk” quote. (Mind you Waldo, she wasn’t all that!) Just after the story was all over the tabloids I actually found myself opening the door to a Mormon missionary. As it happened I was playing a tape of the Beatles’ “Please Please Me” album at the time, and oooh, if ONLY it had reached the track that goes “My baby’s got me locked up in chains…”
Well it’s probably a bit like boot camp; once the judges let you through, you get six months (six weeks?) of melismatic square bashing drilled into you, since in Cowell’s forever 1990 world you have to be Whitney or Mariah to gain International Success and that is that.
A shame really because with Rhydian in the current series I have caught a glimpse of the ghost of Billy MacKenzie on a couple of occasions but there’s no way they’re going to allow him to develop that.
In the seventies the Jehovah’s Witnesses were in the habit of ringing our neighbourhood’s doorbells with their Free Book Including Interview With George Harrison. I don’t think they found any takers.
I’d like to see Rhydian get his chops around “Eloise”.
SECONDED!!!!
Yeah. He won’t though.
Not after his “I’m coming out” anyway. (no hidden messages there, viewers!)
As one who was around at the time I can confirm the fans-for-bruvs-other-than-Donny phenomenon.
Indeed, I had a schoolfriend who was so smitten by Jay that she instructed us all to stop calling her Elizabeth and address her by the name of her idol. Despite this moment of madness, as a grown-up she became editor of the TV Times.
Top story, Caledonianne! Thanks to all who posted a response to my query re: Merrillmania etc.
Interesting Osmonds fact i discovered the other day-did anyone know that as well as (deep breath) Wayne, Alan, Jay, Merrill, Donny, Marie and Jimmy there are 2 other older Osmond brothers called George and Thomas who were both born deaf?
The really odd thing about these two Gummo Marxesque characters was that although unsuprisingly their disability prevented them from recording w/ their siblings they have apparently performed live and on TV with them several times over the years!
I wonder how that worked?
Oddly enough, Marcello (#33) I was thinking the same about Rhydian and Billy Mackenzie. If only he didn’t look like Max Headroom.
If only he hadn’t done “Go West” on Saturday.
2 other older Osmond brothers called George and Thomas who were both born deaf?
Oh yes; we knew them as Virl and Tommy, and they were regularly mentioned in the teen mags (my sister was buying import copies of Spec and 16 during 73-74, and Os-triv was a major component factor, along with extensive coverage of a couple of ordinary looking Joes called Randy & Kev, who played a couple of firemen on US TV, oh and and advice column purporting to be from LaToya Jackson called “Tell It To Toya”…!)
re Rhydian – and if only he didn’t look and sound more preposterous every week. He reminded me more of the scary nutter in a previous series who murdered “Tainted Love” then told the judges he knew where they lived.
But pop is MEANT to be preposterous in a you’ll-never-be-me/I-am-not-of-this-world sense, as opposed to, say, Same Difference, who are clearly the missing link between Bardo and Kate Garraway.
Point taken MC, but I’m reminded of Terry Wogan’s famous words to David Icke in his turquoise shellsuit: “They’re not laughing WITH you, they’re laughing AT you”.
Let’s face it, if Cowell and Co are really looking for someone with the X factor, Rhydian has it in spades. But they want someone like Beverley who’s just a good singer and can be manipulated. Rhydian won’t win, shame.
Beverley could probably make a better living as a session singer than any of the other contestants but I think you’re right; she’ll win and end up being pushed into becoming another failed Whitney. Whereas Cowell is increasingly viewing Rhydian as just this year’s Darius.
Cowell *wants* Rhydian.
My bet is, he’d vote to keep Rhydian over Same Difference.
Same Difference just need to find their Trevor Horn, really.
In a “Derek and Clive” way, naturally.
But surely Simon is mentoring Same Difference, so would feel honour bound to support his act? I missed this week’s show (working) so don’t know who was in the bottom two – who was with Alisha then?
“Honk”
They managed to do a pretty damn good performance of Amy Housewine’s “Back to Black” the previous week. (Which has led to Amy’s version crashing into the singles charts on d/l’s)
Basically, whoever wins will be lining SCowell’s pockets for at least 3 months until the gas runs out. Picking SameDiff over Rhyd would just be smiting his own nos.
Also, he’s very cagey about voting against an artist who might win through, which is why he chose the boy group to go when he had two acts up. If he;d voted them to stay, the phonein votes might have put them out anyway, and he’d be mentoring a girl group he voted to leave.
Still, The Osmonds! whoa!
Before (if?) we go back to the Osmonds, I must mention that it’s rather ill-becoming of Cowell to complain about substandard choreography when he hired the frigging choreographers in the first place! I was very nearly anticipating a Paul Anka/Buddy Rich moment at one point on Saturday where he drags the choreographer on stage and lectures him about how when he moves, he slices like a freaking hammer, &c.
…and Buddy Rich once made the front page of the Melody Maker (late 73, I think it was) for launching a vitriolic diatribe against… The Osmonds!
And so our wheel turns full circle.
Boyzone couldn’t sing in harmony with their inferior version
For a minute I thought you were going to say “with a buzzsaw.”
This song does exactly what a teen-ballad should. Ironically, their self-penned ‘Let Me In’ which stalled at # 2 behind Gary Glitter the previous year was even better. But they’re both good.
I’ve just discovered a decent lovers rock cover of this by The Fab Five Inc – the singer sounds like he’s been around the block rather more than either Osmonds or Boyzones – Does anyone know anything more about this version?
If the Osmonds released a 6 track Greatest Hits album in the US and the UK, this would be the only track to make it on to both versions. (for “Greatest” read highest chart positions)
I guess it was all about touring, and being in the country to promote the singles for the Osmonds in the ’70″s.
Anyone think of another act in a similar situation?
Gene Pitney? 24 Hours From Tulsa in ’63 was almost the last of his US hits but the first big one in the UK. Nobody Needs Your Love (no.2 ’66) and Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart (no.5 ’67) didn’t even make the Billboard Hot 100.
Closer to Osmondland, David Cassidy and the Partridge Family’s hits are similarly divided.
How the hell wasn’t One Bad Apple a hit in the UK? It had enough (TV cartoon) publicity!
Gene Pitney, yes true. Just looked him up; a “24 Hours” started a run of ten top 10 hits in the UK, broken only by “It hurts to be in love” (and that due to change of record label, possibly). I didn’t know he was quite that big!
One Bad Apple, bizarre. They released it in again in 1988 – maybe on the back of the Norman Cook underground remix. Still didn’t chart. It could happen one day though.
#58 thru #60. Speedwell, great observation, great question. I am sure you know why I am drawn into responding.
2 big answers strike me. However, for 2 different reasons, neither is a patch on the amazing case of the Osmonds.
Cliff Richard’s US 6 track would be “Devil Woman”, “We Don’t Talk Anymore”, “Dreaming”, “A Little In Love”, “Daddy’s Home” and “It’s All In The Game”. In the UK – pick 6 number ones – 5 of the above didn’t make #1: We Don’t Talk Anymore is one of the top 6 in the UK on the tiebreaker of weeks at #1. Cliff’s peak in the UK was 20 years apart from his peak in the US.
Similarly, Elton John – if we exclude collaborations with other charting acts. A few US #1s in the 70s; biggest UK hits dotted across the decades, from “Rocket Man” to “Are You Ready For Love?”. “Candle In The Wind 97″ the only one to make it to #1 in both countries.
HTGH you might know this… any idea how Billboard choose/chose their chart return shops? I’m wondering how country and R&B hits were more or less excluded from their pop charts prior to the mid/late 50s.
As for divided US/UK greatest hits, solo Donny shares only 2 transatlantic greatest hits, Puppy Love (US #3) and The Twelfth Of Never (US #8). Go Away Little Girl was his only US #1.
@Wichita. Was just watching a bonkers, schlock/horror film, Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) (it’s on youtube). It begins with a 13 minute rant from a hypnotist trying to hypnotize the audience (the film itself says it’s presented in Hypno-scope). Anyhow, the hypnotist’s closing gambit is ‘…You are in London. A part of that strange, weird, ancient city. You are part of London…’ May be too obvious for you, but just in case you’d want to check it out with an ear to a sample I thought I’d give you a heads up.
I should really call a stop to this but….
Oliva Newton-John would only share 4 songs on a 13 track greatest hits UK/US
The Bee Gees only 6 on a 16 track Greatest Hits. (12 No1 hits- only 2 transatlantic- Night Fever and Tragedy)
hardtogethits – I did briefly look at Elton John knowing of his US ’70s No1s. From ’79-90 in the UK it was pretty much 50:50 whether his singles made the top 40 or not, which I think is amazing. It wasn’t like it a was a quiet time for him either with 30+ releases.
Meanwhile..
There are two clips posted by LondonLee in “Crying All The Way To The Chip Shop” of Saint Etienne playing in the US a couple of days ago; looks great!
#63 I dearly wish I knew the answer to your question. I don’t. The purpose of the Top 100 (introduced 1955) and Hot 100 (1958) was to ensure all types of music were included, but that just backs up the observation which prompted the question, rather than providing an answer. Not much use, really. Sorry.
Thanks HTGH. If that’s why they were set up, it at least acknowledges there was a problem.
And thanks Swan, I’ll look it up!
Firstly – don’t stop the thread, Speedwell. We should at least stay here until the landlord notices we’re only drinking pop (or that we’re waiting ’til he starts asking questions for prizes).
Secondly, Got another for the ’1 in 6′ club: Fleetwood Mac.
US: Dreams 1, Don’t Stop 3, Little Lies 4, Hold Me 4, Big Love 5, Sara 7
UK: Albatross 1, Man Of The World 2, Oh Well 2, Everywhere 4, Little Lies 5, Tusk 6.
Might work better as “Which was the only Fleetwood Mac single to make the top 5 in both the UK and US?”
“Little Lies”
“Come off it” etc.
Thirdly, whilst at work today OMD’s “If You Leave” popped into my head, a propos of nothing. “Ha!” I thought, “They’re shoo-ins for the Big Disparity Between UK and US Chart Careers Club.” Unfortunately, this isn’t true as apparently they only had 4 US Hot 100 hits. But even though those four were Top 30 hits in the US, none of them reached the Top 10 in the UK – where they had 7 (seven) (remember the days of the teleprinter) Top 10 hits.
In and amongst researching the OMD bit (it being as much a challenge to find out why they appealed where and when than to recount the chart positions), I found this excellent piece by Wichita: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/mar/07/popandrock1
Re hardtogethits
Firstly, I’m running out of thoughts on that particular thread, though I did read Lil Wayne recently passed Elvis for number of Hot 100 entries with 109. Not really knowing his music, a quick look on Wiki says he has had just one solo top 75 hit in the UK – “How To Love” yeah, me neither!. He does turn up however on other people’s songs with alarming regularity. I’m thinking quantity over quality.
Secondly, well done with Fleetwood Mac, like the question, “Little Lies” wouldn’t be the first guess for anyone. Eventually you would though, start working your way through all 7 (seven) singles from “Tango In The Night”.
Thirdly, small world. I was reading a review of “Dazzle Ships” just last week that gives a warm and balanced view track by track. I was and am a fan of OMD, encouraged by a friend who was mad about them. Dazzle took a bit more getting into and certainly was a change from the synth pop of “Architecture and Morality”. Until reading the Wichita article, I didn’t realise quite the cliff they had jumped off. Tricky fourth album syndrome! Anyway, lost fans didn’t have too long to wait for the more radio friendly “Junk Culture” a year later, so no major damage. Their 2010 release “History Of Modern” made almost every hack dig up the phrase “return to form” but I don’t blame any of them. BTW “If You Leave” top single , stacks up against any of their biggest hits, should have been top 5 hit here.