Who was your favorite Cowsill?

[quote]This talented family group doesn’t get their due.

They got more than enough due.

and who the hell knew them by name?

Who next, OP - Spanky?

I don’t fucking know. John Boy?

Who's the one with special needs at the very back?

Three of them are already dead. One drowned in Hurricane Katrina and was found weeks later with a note in his pocket that said “My name is Barry Cowsill.” One other brother died of multiple illnesses and the mother died of old age related illnesses. One of them is married to the hot guitarist Vicki from The Bangles.

one of the great Jack Davis album covers

Apparently the fans love Barry Cowsill back in the day listened to them scream for his name. Hrs a great singer!

I like the ugly one

Well, DUH: of course it has to be Susan.

Just look at what a fabulous dancer she was even as a twelve-year-old child.

God that song was bad...and the intro and outro were so corny.

Shirley Jones really captured the mother Barbara on The Partridge Family. They both have no stage presence for pop music and look mortified to even be there.

What’s that dance called that Susan does? Is that the ‘frug’?

It's called The Susan.

Which one was Tracey?

They got their "due." They were very popular for a while. But their popularity didn't last. They were a majorly dysfunctional family. The family patriarch, who was instrumental in pushing his children to be performers, was an abusive drunk and a sexual predator. He molested little Susan and would go after other female members of the family. I think the mother drank a lot, too. She always looked prematurely aged. At any rate, the Cowsills had a wholesome "family" image, but it was a total charade.

The Cowsills were on lots of tv shows during their heyday. Little Susan was creepily sexualized on some of them. They were on "Playboy After Dark", for God's sake! On that show Huge Hefner asks Susan what she wants to be when she grew up (she was 11) and she says ""Miss February." On the Dean Martin show she's shown nestling in drunk Dean's arms. It was cringeworthy.

You can see how The Partridges based themselves on them.

But only Susan had a musical career after the family group broke up.

R7 My sister had that live album back in the day. Barry was the cute one. They were really very good, great harmonies, tight. What’s left of them still sound pretty good. I noticed they’re singing this song in the same key as their original hit.

I don't know them

The documentary about them is excellent.

R19, it was. For some reason, they fell into the gap in my pop culture knowledge. Although I did recognize their hits in r17’s medley.

They sort of reminded me of the Jacksons, but white. And without the breakout stars. But you know, sort of.

It’s sad.

Gimme a hear with hair.

I love 60s pop but a lot of the very white American groups were awful...but almost anything is better than current pop.

Elsie was my favorite.

When you think about it, it was a touch of genius when little Susan went "...and spaghetti-YIP!" in their cover of "Hair." It made the song extra memorable. I wonder if the little scamp improvised it? That whole recording was pretty intricate and cool for the time, and as a kid I remember loving the video that went with it, which had all the Cowsills romping around in wigs.

Apparently one of the brothers wanted to date the other brother.

Apparently one of the brothers wanted to date the other brother.

Jesus FUCK, you people are old.

And I'm old. But you are OLD!

[quote]Jesus FUCK, you people are old. And I'm old. But you are OLD!

You're OLD - yet you sound like an adolescent...barking at us.

AND - so what if we are old? Who gives a shit, fuck off.

AND - I've been posting here and the Cowsills are way before my time, but I know who they were.

GenXers are always complaining/boasting/virtue signaling/humblebragging that they're "old" at 40 or whatever. Shaddap.

Barry was closest to my age so he was my crush at the time. Hate that he drowned in Katrina, found floating like garbage. Terrible ending.

Didn't Susan end up with Dwight Twilly? There was some minor controversy that a few bonus tracks on some Kim Carnes CD was actually Susan doing the vocals (Dwight was involved somehow in the production).

[quote]—What the FUCK is a COW SILL?

The Cowsills were neither cows nor sills. Discuss.

The Partridge Family were neither partridges nor a family. Discuss.

Susan had a voice that was sexier than you’d expect for a ten year old. She misses her entrance and always blows a line in one of the verses, yet the band is somehow so tight that you barely notice and they recover perfectly.

Whose idea was to dress her in such a farty outfit though? Yech

I meant *almost blows a line, not ALWAYS

What's with Susan's raspiness? Is that the recording quality? She sounds like a mini Janis Joplin. And yes, a rather precocious performance.

These clips are making me homesick in a weird way. For the way things felt and the way people spoke back then.

I get what you mean, fellow old at R36. Isn't there a fancy German word for that feeling?

Freak me out, DL!

I WOKE UP THIS MORNING AND HEARD "I LOVE THE FLOWER GIRL" PLAYING IN MY HEAD--AND I HAD NOT YET LOOKED AT DL. WHAT ARE THE ODDS? THIS IS NOT JUST RANDOM....THERE IS SOMETHING GOING ON HERE!!!!

Possibly connected to UFOs spotted over NYC....

They were the Partridge Family minus the bus and some pretty people.

The mother died of emphysema at age 56. That’s hardly old age R5.

They always looked oily.

the older brothers at the time looked like European porn performers on old super 8 reels

The tv show that eventually became "The Partridge Family" was supposed to have starred the Cowsills. But there were problems with it. The tv executives wanted to use an actress to play the Cowsill's mother. They objected to that; one of them saying "we already have a mother." But I can understand why. Barbara Cowsill was wrinkled and old looking; not exactly the right look for a sitcom mom. But then none of the male Cowsills were much to look at either. They were not a photogenic group. A studio executive said the only one who would have been a good choice to be in the show was "the little girl" because she was "adorable." But in the end none of the Cowsills did the series and it was revamped into The Partridge Family, which made David Cassidy a huge teen idol.

[quote] what you mean, fellow old at [R36]. Isn't there a fancy German word for that feeling?

Nostalgia.

or nostalgic, rather.

Susan is clearly doing an homage to Janis Joplin in that song.

the two youngest boys (John and Barry) were teenybopper magazine cover boys. I think I read that youngest boy (the drummer John) landed 39 covers and the oldest Bill only 1 cover.