Song of the Day: 'Hey Deanie' by Shaun Cassidy

Our "James at 15" kick continued, with unrequited love the theme of last night's episode -- by James for sister Sandy’s 12-year-old friend ... 

and Dad for one of his students, played by the (third) Heather Webber (Robin Mattson) on “General Hospital.” 

Shaun Cassidy’s “Da Do Ron Ron” and “Hey Deanie” were blasting at the tween’s birthday James got roped into attending. 

Kim Richards, before Kyle stole her house

Watch "Unrequited Love ... Twice!" HERE.

Heathers:

Now getting back to "General Hospital": Georganne LaPiere -- aka Cher's younger half-sister -- originated the role of Heather (nee Grant) in July 1976. In August 1977, she left the show to pursue movie stardom, a decision she later said was a mistake. 

 She was replaced by Mary O'Brien in September 1977. O'Brien vacated the role in July 1979 when Heather overdosed on LSD, which was when my family was knee deep in soaps! O'Brien was reportedly offered the chance to reprise the role in 1980 but refused. 

In October 1980, Robin Mattson joined the cast as Heather Webber, pictured here with Kin Shriner (as Scotty Baldwin).

Shaun Cassidy and Hardy brother Parker "Thanks for giving me the big one" Stevenson almost seem LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE!

One Jeff, Three Heathers:

Richard Dean Anderson and Georganne LaPiere

Richard Dean Anderson and Mary O'Brien

Richard Dean Anderson and Robin Mattson

I love that Cher's sister originated the role and thought Robin was great with Scotty Baldwin (Kin Shriner) -- can you guess why I was a fan, below? -- but no one will ever be as crazy as Mary O'Brien as Heather!

Robin with Scotty Baldwin, after Laura ran off with her rapist (Luke)

Footnote: A decade after appearing on "James at 15" and with his teen idol days behind him, Shaun Cassidy would also turn up in Port Charles as “likable drifter” Dusty Walker.

When Linda Ronstadt and Others Went 'New Wave' for the '80s

My Bonnie Tyler post yesterday got my friend Seth thinking about another musical phenomenon: when singers and bands reinvent themselves -- with completely different personas and styles in different decades -- and end up succeeding both times, and how they frequently end up having two "trademark" songs. (Heart and the Pointer Sisters, for starters.) I loved the idea -- and Linda Ronstadt's new wave album, 1980's "Mad Love" immediately came to mind, where she covered three Elvis Costello songs, including this favorite of mine.

But Linda was in good company ...

Others from the era include Rosanne Cash -- whose hair matched her new-found cowpunk sound. (Not a coincidence that she and Maria McKee of Lone Justice both recorded "Never Be You," with the latter's winding up on the "Streets of Fire" soundtrack and the former's on Cash's crossover album "Rhyme & Reason," featuring her cover of John Hiatt's new wave girl anthem "Pink Bedroom."

She's a punky princess in the video for "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me."

Cash's stepsister Carlene Carter also rode the new wave, with her synthy "C'est C Bon" LP. ("Third Time Charm" was yet another miss that sounded like a hit.) 

And the list of people new wave happened to went on ... 

"Julie"

"Never Should Have Started"

The best of all had to have been Cher, who pulled a Tori Spelling at an Aaron Spelling audition and formed a "punk band" without putting her name out front. Black Rose recorded one bomb album before disbanding.

But Cher is nothing if not persistent. Two years later she returned as herself, releasing  "I Paralyze" ... which pretty much summed up the record-buying public's reaction to the endeavor. 

Barbra Streisand gave it some "Emotion" ... and with purple hair and crazy eye make-up, 42 never looked so punk!

Diana Ross, who had a more successful turn than Cher as a Disco Diva, had the new wave sound down to pat on "Pieces of Ice," even if the video was more "Cats" than Clash ...

Carly Simon told us "Why," which was a smash in the U.K. when released as a single from the soundtrack for the sex comedy "Soup for One," but never got a U.S. release. This was strange given that her album from a year or two earlier, "Come Upstairs," had been a success with its synth-driven songs including "Jesse," which a pal refers to has a "sublime low-self-esteem anthem"!

By the time she released "Spoiled Girl" in 1985 -- at the height of the new wave -- people had lost interest in her again. It didn't help that "Tired of Being Blonde" was inferior to "Why."

Chameleon Bette Midler -- who'd gone disco with 1979's "Thighs and Whispers" -- attempted to cash in on the new wave with a cover Marshall Crenshaw's "My Favorite Waste of Time," which had been the B-side of his only Top 40 hit, "Someday, Someway." Fans weren't buying the Divine Miss M's latest makeover. 

Kim Carnes -- who started out more a country and folk singer -- was already (unwittingly?) riding the Blondie bandwagon when "Bette Davis Eyes" topped the charts in '81. But her "Voyeur" followup was a full-blown attempt at new wave ... 

"Anxiety (Get Nervous)" was Pat's attempt, although the album cover -- which is kind of a cousin of Debbie Harry's "Koo Koo" -- was probably the biggest shift in style.

Billy Joel and his band looked the part in 1980's "You May Be Right."

And then there was Sheena Easton, who wound up singing the James Bond theme when Blondie backed out -- they'd written their own and weren't interested in doing a Bill Conti song -- reached maximum new waveness with "Swear." It stalled at No. 80. Turns out fans were much more interested in her being a nymph than a new waver ...

Olivia Newton-John had the spikey hair and the synthesizers out in full force for this inferior follow-up to "Twist of Fate" (1983)

This was a real shocker at the time. Shell Kepler, who played goody-two-shoes nurse Amy Vining on "General Hospital," must have tired of Dr. Noah Drake getting all the attention, so released a five-song EP of new wave songs under the moniker Shell and the Crush. Perhaps the most shocking thing? It was kind of good.

And last but certainly not least, Shaun Cassidy tried to reinvent himself in 1980 with the new wavey "Wasp." It featured an Adam Ant-ish album cover and and production by Todd Rundgren, who would later helm the Psychedelic Furs' breakthrough album. It also included Talking Heads and David Bowie covers but as the Wikipedia entry kindly put it, "never found an audience, effectively ending the onetime teenybopper's recording career."

UPDATE (2025): Just saw this by Jim Froelich, who too was intrigued by this era!

I am fascinated by 70s-era artists of many genres who tried to evolve with the zeitgeist and stay relevant by cutting their hair and going "new wave" at the dawn of the 80s, e.g. Alice Cooper ("Flush the Fashion"), Neil Young ("Trans"), Peter Frampton ("Art of Control"), Village People ("Food Fight"), Triumvirat ("Party Life"), etc. A fave, though, is former teenybopper Shaun Cassidy's "Wasp" from 1980. Here, Cassidy hooked up with producer Todd Rundgren and most of Rundgren's band Utopia to record synthy originals plus covers of David Bowie, Talking Heads, Ian Hunter and The Who. Like the efforts of most of his peers, it was a commercial failure but I think it holds up independently as a passable relic of its time. 

NOTE: this phenomenon was not exclusive to artists bridging the 70s into the 80s. You can see it in any era as style and culture changed; from the 60s to the 70s, and very obviously from the 80s into the 90s with the advent of grunge. 

Pictured: Shaun Cassidy "Wasp" (WB/1980)

Bus-ted

The language is definitely uncalled-for, but that is what we called Shaun Cassidy in "Like Normal People."

Song of the Day: 'Tonight, You Belong to Me' by Shaun Cassidy and Goldie Hawn

File this under "R" for random. 

 

'Like Normal People, Too'

It was bad enough that Hollywood thought it was OK to call a movie about two mentally challenged people falling in love "Like Normal People" back in 1979. (Shaun Cassidy popped in some buck teeth and Linda Purl got some severe bangs for the Emmy-bait lead roles!)

But the Washington Post just profiled a like-minded couple in Maryland whose families were also concerned by their budding romance at first, and I can't believe no one found some of the article a tad bit offensive, like these golden nuggets:

He was sure it was the real thing, but nobody ever believes that coming from a 12-year-old. Certainly not one with Down syndrome.

“But she kept not dying,” recalls Gail, a psychologist who, like her husband, grew up in Louisiana. 

They were living in Houston at the time, and, despite Shelley’s persistence in the world ...

Read their inspirational story HERE.