I watched the Partridge Family movie this weekend and it said that David Cassidy was more popular than Elvis and the Beatles. I mean I know he got chicks but was he really more popular than Elvis and the Beatles? I just don’t see it. Then they went on to say that Danny Partridge was the second most knowm bass player after McCartney at that time when the show was popular? Is that true?
Also one last question, they lipped singing their songs on the show but did they actually record them? If not, who did?
First of all, we have to contemplate how to define “popularity.” I didn’t see the movie, so I don’t know if you’re referring to something as inane as a band member exclaiming, “Hey, we’re more popular than the Beatles,” which, of course, would not be a factual statement. However, if it is the case that some “historian” or other suggested this “fact” I suspect they were using record sales as a measure. I suppose it’s quite possible that the Partridge Family sold more records than Elvis or the Beatles, given the wider market for albums, higher population in general, more of our income being designated for entertainment purposes, etc.
However, both Elvis and the Beatles made significant contributions that permanently changed music. Whereas, all the Patridge Family did was annoy a couple of generations of people who had good taste. Did David Cassidy et al sell more records? A possibility. Did they have the staying power of people who create “classic” rock or other music? You must be joking.
As for the question about Danny Partridge being popular or not, you ARE aware that there was never a “Danny Partridge” aren’t you? That was a fictional character made up for the tv show. The band member on the showe was played by Danny Bonnaducci (sp?) who IS a real person. I doubt if enough people even knew his real name for him to be particularly popular. Though, he went on to be a fairly well-known radio DJ in the Chicago area…after he got out of rehab.
Yes, I believe they did actually record their music. David’s brother Shawn also made recordings. I think a quick search on Amazon ought to bring those albums up.
Also keep in mind the timeframe. Are they talking about one year? If so, it might be true but who cares. There have been dozens of bands that outsold the Beatles in a given timeframe, I would guess. (I’m speaking only of when they actively recorded, Dexy’s Midnight Runners doesn’t coutn!)
Also note that the Beatles stopped touring early on, and I belive Elvis was mostly in Vegas, so touring measures are comparing apples and oranges also.
And he may be the second most known bass-player, but that didn’t say he was known as a bass player. See the difference? Keanu Reeves plays bass, and I’d guess he’s better known than… oh… Bill Wyman or John Entwistle(**), but surely isn’t to be compared to them.
** Hopefully you recognize them as the bassists for the Rolling Stones and The Who respectively. (Yes, I know Bill left…)
David Cassidy really sang lead on Partridge Family records, and Shirley Jones (a veteran of Broadway and Hollywood musicals) really sang harmonies. The rest of the stars (including Susan Dey, Danny Bonaduce, Suzanne Crough, and the two kids who played the drummer) never sang o0r played any instruments on any recordings. They weren’t musicians, after all, they were just actors PLAYING musicians on TV.
Now, it’s easy to quantify record sales, but hard to quantify the relative popularity of two musical acts from different eras. My guess is, since Americans today have a LOT more free time and a LOT more disposable income than their grandparents did, there are a host of acts that sell more records than Glenn Miller or Tommy Dorsey did- does that mean that, say, Kid Rock is “more popular than Glenn Miller”?
“The Partridge Family” aired from 1970-1974. The Beatles’ recording career as a group ended in 1970. So, sure, they probably sold more records or had more hits in the timeframe that they were on the air. To which I reply, “Keen perception of the obvious, Leonardo.”
First yes I know Danny Partridge was his character’s name on the show.
Second Pld I am trying to remember the article the TV movie referred to but somehow I thought they said they sold more albums than the Beatle but I could be wrong on that. And yes if the Beatles were broken up during the Partridge family show that woudn’t be a fair comparison.
He was for me… but I was 11-12 years old and in love, what did I know?
I have photos from the day I stood outside the studio gates waiting for him to leave. I gave him ridiculous gifts of decopage I had made myself. They were bad, bad, bad…but I had made them with my own hands.
I have no idea what kind of drugs I was on, please don’t hold this against me.
I think what they said was that his fan club was bigger than Elvis’ and the Beatles’ fan clubs combined. Thats probably just because his fan club was advertized in millions of magazines. It means nothing.
I watched an Ezine! interview with … what’s his name david cassidy… and they mentioned the “more popular than elvis/beatles” thing, and he just smiled a wry smile and mumbled something about his publicists getting a little fast and loose with the truth. The Partridge family was a popular show for a while- I was just a youngster, but I seem to remember it being paired with The Brady Bunch on Friday nights, so every kid in the country was watching, basically.
I’d imagine a lot of people would classify the beatles, elvis, and the partridge family all as annoying people with good taste, however.
I remember often hearing that the Monkees sold more albums in their heyday than the Beatles and Rolling Stones combined…considering that the Monkee’s heyday was the 2 weeks between “Satanic Majesties” and the “Magical Mystery Tour” soundtrack.
Now back to our OP
If I am not mistaken- from my hours studying in Rock History 3101, David Cassidy was at his peak from ‘71 to ‘74 or so - when Elvis was sinking into “American Trilogy” mediocrity, and the Beatles had already broken up, and there was some nasty and unseemly bickering between Paul and John and George. So maybe at that particular point, David Cassidy may have had more popularity with the teen market than Elvis and the Beatles.
But I seriously doubt that Cassidy’s house will attract millions of tourists after his death, or ABC will air an 8 hour “Anthology”, complete with alternate filmed takes of “I Think I Love You”. Instead he’s in the 3.99 CD bin next to Bread and the Captain and Tenille.
At least he isn't in the .99 bin with Rick Dees’ “Disco Duck” and Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting”.
I’ve always been creeped out by how much the male pop singers who came after Cassidy in the early and mid-70s sounded so much like him. They all had that weird lilting quality in their voices that has to be impossible to fake. Maybe it was just a case of producers wanting “the Cassidy sound”, but how could there have been so many with that very particular voice?
jaimest informs us that Rick Dees ‘Disco Duck’ is available for the paltry sum of $.99.
How are the mighty fallen. Rick changed the face of disco dancing with this seminal release.
He told us that it was OK for us to get up and dance, even though our dance routine might be reminiscent of that used by, er, a duck.
Millions of people who would otherwise have been too embarrassed to dance were freed from the yoke of Disco-Based Inactivity by Rick and the Cast Of Idiots.
Let us not forget this contribution to the canon of Rock Music.
I was about 10 years old around the time of Cassidy’s peak, and I can tell you he was HUGE amongst the teeny-bopper crowd. You couldn’t move around a school back then without tripping over a David Cassidy lunchbox, or seeing a David Cassidy poster, or seeing his face on some girl’s dog-eared ‘Tiger Beat’ magazine. So yeah, he probably had a bigger teeny-bopper following at that time than anyone else.
Frankly, I thought that David Cassidy had a GREAT voice for Rock N’ Roll. He had a kinda of a B.J. Thomas, Neil Diamond kind of thing going for him. But like those two, he wasted it on complete pop crapola. Too bad he couldn’t have hooked up with someone of quality.
My Guinness Book (which is old, but postdates the Partridge Family) says the Beatles are the all-time top-selling recording group, with more than a billion discs and tapes sold worldwide. And that was before the Anthology came out.
It says it’s less clear who the top-selling solo artist is (lack of confirmable data, apparently) but it seemed to be a toss-up between Elvis and Bing Crosby. Elvis certainly beats Cassidy on sheer productivity–says here he had over 170 singles and 80 albums, including post-mortem.
I don’t think David Cassidy comes close to these guys.
