Donny Osmond At Celebrity Theatre
Phoenix New Times
by Serene Dominic
August 25, 2011
Of all the Rock and Roll Hall's glaring omissions, it's hard to beat the institution's blind eye toward the "Wizard of Osmond" himself. When The Osmonds abandoned their barbershop quartet revival campaign and recorded "One Bad Apple," a song that Motown had rejected for the Jackson 5, it ended the streak of four consecutive number-one hits for the Jacksons. And when MGM Records singled out Donny as a solo artist on "Sweet and Innocent" (featuring the most intelligent use of ocarina since The Troggs' "Wild Thing"), it forced the Jackson 5 to single out Michael as a solo act in order to compete. So without Donny, there's no Off the Wall or Thriller, no "We Are the World," no love songs sung to a rat. In his own solo work and his duets with Marie, the Donald diligently re-recorded every conceivable pre-Beatle teen idol hit, not to brainwash the next generation of youngsters into pretending the British Invasion never happened, but to protect them from the cynicism of the Kennedy assassination and Watergate that damns us even now. But his greatest contribution is inventing glam metal with his bros on "Crazy Horses," a flamethrower of a song he'd better perform or risk the wrath of head-banging Celebrity Theatre patrons in the round.
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