Rock On - Michael Damian

He must really love sausages and breakfast sandwiches.

Corey Feldman was so handsome. Dream a Little Dream wasn't a bad movie.

This was just past the Height of daytime soap operas becoming "legit" forms of entertainment. Luke and Laura in '83 was the true apex of this bizarre crossover of legitimacy. Hence, them showing up on mainstream shows as guest stars.

The Soap Opera world tried to push actors into the mainstream but they never were successful, usually. I don't know why, because soap actors could really "bring it" when they required to, but Hollywood casting directors dismissed these talented people. It's too bad. Who knows what could have been....

Corey Feldman was never handsome.

Feldman was gross. There was a line in the movie about his supposed "great body." We always laughed at that.

The guy who plays the boyfriend was gorgeous.

It’s Flyman!!

The video has Feldman doing his stupid Michael Jackson impression.

Erm, you could always listen to the Steve Miller original which is 100x better.

Is he still closeted?

He was dating the chubby girl on Y&R, wasn't he?

I've never understood. I HATED that song!

It's somewhat less annoying that WAP, but not as much as one would think.

It was a cover of Britain's David Essex's 1973 version that hit #5 in the US. Essex wrote it.

Dream a Little Dream was a weird movie but Corey Haim was a cutie

[quote] Erm, you could always listen to the Steve Miller original which is 100x better.

Oh, dear.

i was 15 in 1989 and this song and video were so dumb.. I never saw Dream A Little Dream though. Anyway, Michael Damian was so hot, i forgot he was one of my first crushes.

It wasn’t so unusual for the 80s.

Rick Springfield resurrected his music career by being on GENERAL HOSPITAL and hitting #1 with “Jessie’s Girl.”

Another GH star, Jack Wagner, hit #2 with “All I Need.”

Gloria Loring, from DAYS OF OUR LIVES, also went to #2 with “Friends and Lovers” a duet with some dude.

In the UK in 86 Nick Berry AKA “Wicksy” from EastEnders had a #1 hit “Every Loser Wins”. It’s a terrible song, but Nick was a real cutie then. He disliked the song so much he refused to go on Top of the Pops performing it.

R13 Corey Haim was the best thing about the film, playing the loveable eccentric sidekick character Dinger. Say what you like about him as a person, but as a young actor he always had very good (if unpolished and loose) comic timing coupled with a natural appeal onscreen.

To this day, I still occasionally quote the lines Haim’s character had in this movie. “That’s rude, Mister!”, “Where ya thinking about goin’’, Hardon?”, “[location] is that way—yonder!”, “I should be in Hawaii drinking Piña Colada”, etc.

Outside of work, Haim seemed a sweet person, who was horribly abused and led astray by others with stronger meaner personalities. It’s really strange to realise that the poor guy’s now been dead for a decade—it doesn’t seem right, somehow.

Feldman was awful in those old movies, I don't understand why he always put on that weird deep voice. Haim was more natural and always very likable on screen, I liked him in License to Drive (1988).

Australian soap star Jason Donovan became part of the Stock Aitken Waterman hit factory after leaving the show. He had sixteen top 40 hits in the UK including four #1 singles.

^^^

And you may have heard of Jason's "Neighbors" co-star. She released her first single in 1987 and over 40 years later is still pumping out hits.

R16 Gloria Loring had a singing career long before her soap career. She recorded the original version of "One Way Ticket" in 1968, which was later covered by Helen Reddy and Cass Elliot.

Can you believe that the beautiful Meredith is married to that fat comic?

Didn't Don Johnson try for a singing career?

Yea R24, he had a top 5 hit with “Heartbeat” in 1986, and a top 30 hit with Barbra Streisand in 1988 with “Til I Loved You”

Flyman and Jo had the exact same fucking hairstyle.

Watch the hurricane episodes.

Homophobe. Next.

Who is the homophobe?

Damian looked like a really cool guy to hang out with.

That song is the musical equivalent of someone shitting in your mouth. You should hate yourself, OP.

He was so queeny on the show which made the idea that he was a hard rocker laughable.

It is a fun pop song for those who don't take themselves too serious.

Was Dumas supposed to be gay in the movie?

Was Damian fucking Peter Barton or Thom Bierdz back then at Y&R?

He was fucking the actress who played cockroach Blair.

[quote]She released her first single in 1987 and over 40 years later is still pumping out hits.

Thanks for posting from the future! Good to know Kylie is still bringing it after 2027!

Kylie is just that good, bitch.

Kim Zimmer tried to get on the soap star music train by releasing an EP single cover of Penny McLean's Lady Bump. I believe that the B-side was a cover of Do That to Me One More Time with John Davison.

I love the original and weirdly, I love this cover version.

[quote] Was Dumas supposed to be gay in the movie?

R33 this is going to sound fucked up, but I’m so glad and relieved someone else on Earth has had the same notion at some point in time. I thought I was nuts, thinking the same.

Watching the movie for the first time (I’ve seen it several times, don’t ask), I was so confused as to why Dumas was bullying Bobby & Dinger in the specific way he was. Honestly, from the stalking, to the cruising (in bathrooms and alleys, no less), to the physical contact (grabbing ass in gym), the dialogue (“aww, is it band practice? You boys bring your flutes?”) and bizarre pet names he had for them (“cupcake”?), it really did come over so homoerotic. Then the gun standoff at the end, with th blocking and the heavy breathing and the object placement...suss. If it weren’t for the fact Dumas threatened to rape Lainey (yeah...different times), I would have assumed he was gay without a doubt.

The entirety of the first DREAM A LITTLE DREAM is weirdly gay-tinged, though—not that the homoerotic overtones are weird or wrong in themselves, just that they seem misplaced and incidental. I mean, if you think about it, the plot is driven by the premise of a young man’s consciousness entering and becoming entwined with the body & mind of an elder man, and though the script is littered with “fag!” jokes exchanged between the younger Male cast of friends no-one really remarks on this premise or makes the obvious gag about it. The teen boys in the movie are also dressed in what looks like typical outfits late ‘80s trade or gay clubkid patrons would wear, rather than schoolkids. From a certain perspective, and taking into account the history the two Coreys had in the business, it almost seems insidiously coded.

And of course, Haim & Feldman giggle and fondle and flirt with each other throughout the entire runtime, and, taking aside a handful of set-piece scenes, both largely ignore sexy tight perky glistening teen Meredith Salenger in her leotard. In the script, 17-year old Dinger’s entire life seems to revolve around his bff Bobby, and Bobby is equally bereft without Dinger beside him. This appears to be a Reality Subtext reflection of the Coreys codependent, sexually-confused and drug-addled IRL relationship at the time of filming. Quite sad in retrospect. Makes you wonder if they ever really had a decent friendship in one brief window, or if it was always dark and twisted and fake between them.

1988-1990 looks an incomprehensible time period, socially and stylistically.

Kinda surprising that no hard hitting serious documenter has done Haim's story. Maybe too many high ups in Hollywood to get co-operation. it is a tragic story.

R41 we got you!

[quote]Is he still closeted?

Even as a kid watching him on Y&R I thought he was gay.

What does he do these days?

The reason I thought Dumas might be gay has to do with how he approached Bobby in the bathroom. Bobby asks "I beg your pardon?" and Dumas gets really close and starts fingering Bobby's jacket. Dumas gets within kissing distance of Bobby's face and says "What are you begging for?" Real homoerotic moment.

Another scene is where Dumas and goons catch Bobby and Lainey on the beach. One of the goons is holding Lainey's arms waiting for Dumas to force himself on her. Dumas gives her a look of disgust and remarks, "I'd rather jack off."

And do not forget the rainbow shorts worn by Dumas while they play football.

It was a rainbow bandana.

R44 yeah, nice catch! I forgot about all that. It really was...hmmm. If DALD came out today, teen girls would be shipping Bobby with Dumas (and with Dinger, and even Joel, probably).

There’s also a frisson of homoeroticism on that little moment between Dumas (and his very pretty ethnic-looking henchman) & Dinger, the exchange that goes:

DINGER: (sarcastically, backing into a wall) “Oh, you mean ‘Dum-ass’. It might be a foreign object, but it ain’t in French.”

DUMAS: (mock laughing and leering, right up close to Dinger) “I will remember that, Little Man.”

I wanted to fuck Joel. This actor always plays crazy.

OMG! I know people age but he looks weird now.

Has he had any work done?

R49 SOMETHING looks different, and I don’t think it’s just aging.

He always had a very feminine face. It's no shock he looks like an aging lesbian.

R47 the Joel character has to be one of the most unsettling and offputting of any minor 80s teen dramedy villain. He’s gross, unstable, and absolutely unlikeable in every way.

His ‘friends’ seem shit scared of him, and his girlfriend is with him only out of pity and fear. Joel takes a gun and a hip-flask of Everclear to school, and spends his time there groping any girl he can find. On Prom night, he pushes one of his (injured!) best friends out of a moving vehicle, and threatens to put a cap in another one in front of a hundred witnesses, after assaulting his girl and getting blitzed on marching powder. At 17. He’s utterly wrong in the head.

[quote]Yea [R24], he had a top 5 hit with “Heartbeat” in 1986

Covering an old Helen Reddy song, he must've been talented to turn it into a hit, considering her version was much better (but way too New Wave) for her fans.

David Essex was a British pop idol in the 70s, though he only had one hit in the US (and three other low ranking songs in the 70s and 100s.

He was cute in a Bay City Rollers way but today you can tell he spent WAY TOO MUCH TIME in the sun.

The only thing I remember about Don Johnson's singing career is that near-pornographic video he made for the follow up to Heartbeat. The song flopped.

Joel hit Lainey but her mother still wanted her to stay with him because he's rich.

Who the fuck is this guy?

That's Michael Damian of the Young and the Restless fame. Show some goddamned respect.

R56 and Lainey’s mother straight up roofied her to stop her protesting, too.

Sometimes I can’t believe this is an actual movie that exists.

Corey Feldman was perfecting his Michael Jackson impression at a time when Jackson was completely uncool.

Helen Reddy singing "Heartbeat," the right way

I watched Y&R regularly during the years Damian played Danny. I enjoyed his character.

I never quite understood his marriage to wife Janeen who he’s been married to since 1998. I’d assumed he was gay also. They have no children. He always seemed like a really nice guy. He’s still in the entertainment field, but behind the scenes.

R61 I prefer Don Johnson’s version.

The lyrics make no sense.

1989 and 1990 were terrible years for pop music.

R65, Suck my dick!

Huh, I always thought MD was gay. I guess a wife is news to me. Rock on….

[quote]I prefer Don Johnson’s version.

I didn't realize Don Johnson posted here.

He was a lounge singer on the Facts o' Life

There were great moments in the 80s. This was not one.

R54 Very cute, and very short?

I was in the mall once when this song was big and some girls kept pointing at me and getting all giggly. I was kind of shy and super self-conscious and just tried to go about my business but they kept following me. I went into the record store and one of them came up to me. They wanted to know if I was Michael Damien and if they could have an autograph. After that, I stopped rolling up my blazer sleeves and put a little less dippity-do in my hair.

So the rumor on Damian was he was in a long term relationship with Phillip Mckeon. He suddenly married his manager (female) mid 90s. Not sure if there was an outing coming or not. His sister, Joanie Weir is a rabid Trumpster.

The don Johnson 1986 version of Heartbeat. I second R63. I like Helen reddy but her version sounds like a b side of a Kim carnes/Melissa Manchester record.

Patton Oswalt does a funny bit in his act about Michael Damian

Can you tell us about it, R75?

R48 he dyked out.

I was obsessed with him and Cricket on The Young & the Restless.

I know she got flack for being the producer's daughter and people saying she couldn't act, but I liked her and them to together (if they were a couple, I can't remember).

I'm also now remembering Lauren. Wasn't Danny her backup singer? Or the other way around? I LOVED Lauren, as well as her hair and makeup (this would have been the mid-to-late 80s).

This song always reminds me of that mess from Baywatch.😄

"He always had a very feminine face. It's no shock he looks like an aging lesbian."

Yes, he kind of gives off a "former lesbian catalog model now married to Cheryl Crane" vibe.

Michael Damian was a celebrity guest at a Palm Springs benefit I attended about two years ago. He sang a song or two, but most attendees didn’t know who he was.

Back in the day, Tiger Beat and the other teen magazines were determined to make Damian a star, but he never quite had the looks and sex appeal of his competition.

Damn, now i've got this stupid song stuck in my head.

Hopefully the David Essex version.

[quote]So the rumor on Damian was he was in a long term relationship with Phillip Mckeon.

No way horseface Phil was able to catch hot Mike.

r84 well the other rumor was his face was not the only thing that resembled a horse. I don't know it to be true, just what I heard - whch was around the time he was dating Lauralee Bell....who had dated a string of gay men, Thom Bierdz, the guy who played Chase and then Damain. To the other poster who said she was a producer's daughter. No, She was the creator/writer/executive prodcuer's daughter William J Bell. She would come on for summer on summer break from school, so no one really cared it was just Bill's daughter. Then she got a full time role and prime juicy storylines. The nan wrote a scene where his daugther is date raped for god's sake.

They had tried to make Damian a pop star before Rock On. He had released two albums prior to Rock On. He recorded I Engineer, also recorded by Animiotion on one of his first albums but he couldn't get a hit.

Rock On became a surprise hit. I remember they even addressed it on Y&R if I'm not mistaken. I was surprised to learn Damian had two more top 40 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. I don't remember them. I just remember Rock On becoming an out-of-the-blue hit and then his recording career went back to obscurity and he went back to Y&R.

r86 Y&R capitalized on it - they had a whole Danny Rommalit concert on Y&R with a whole storyline about how his voice was going out so they had Tracey, Lauren, and Patty sang Sisters are doing it for themselves (I think..I remember it was an Aretha song and I was like...really? these three white bitches with thin vocals?)

Then a Miracle happened and Danny could SING! - he sang rock on and Save the earth - which was Melody Thomas Scott's charity

Thanks for the memory jog r87.

I remember Y&R would have those concerts and it was usually Danny, Tracy and Lauren singing.

I also remember when Cricket did a dance at a Danny Romalotti concert. My God, she was horrible. I think that was during the David Kimble storyline. Kimble should have killed her for that dance alone.

"After that, I stopped rolling up my blazer sleeves and put a little less dippity-do in my hair."

lol

R75 Must be nice to put your wives down when you’re sick of them, and keep your grade-school daughter sedated so you can play video games and jerk off onto your Funko Pops all day. Out-of-touch murdering Beanie Baby incel swine.

What on earth.

Remember when Lauren was so jealous of Tracey that she hired people to walk out when Tracey did some cabaret gig?

The best irl musician cameo in a Two Coreys’ movie is either Tim Cappello’s infamous thrusting and perspiring in THE LOST BOYS, Mojo Nixon spiritually invading a bedroom in ROCK N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL FOREVER (yes, it really is a sequel to the Ramones movie, and that *was* the best star they could get), or the beachside noodlings of Dread Zeppelin in NATIONAL LAMPOON’S LAST RESORT.

[quote] WAKE UP BOOYYY! THIS IS YOUR LIIIIIIIFE!!!! GET BODACIOOUUUSSSS!!!!

Incidentally, the one single time that Feldman has ever remotely pulled off a musical performance onstage is in the movie ROCK N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL FOREVER (1991), in which he plays the lead (a teen delinquent rockabilly punk with a band).

Feldman sings and performs several times in the movie, and while most of the end result material is cringeworthy, a couple of the numbers actually don’t sound too bad and he looks semi-cool up on stage (he’s still a fucking loser dork, but if you squint and forget it’s him acting you can sort of forget it watching this film). It helped a lot that the directors and producers clearly told him to cut it out with the MJ impressions and just do some generic rockabilly schtick instead, it worked better for him.

The song ‘Rock Us Danny’ from the soundtrack (out of print) is probably the best one.

Were these people trying for a serious singing career? Lauren, Tracy, etc?

Excuse me, but Gina Roma, Danny's peroxided chanteuse sister, was the true star performer of Y&R!

Tracy was fat. Lauren was a chipmunk cheeked slut. Danny was the star!

Did Drucilla ever sing? I know she danced and almost did porn but did Miss Winters have a way with a microphone??

The story goes Danny and Tracey were bffs. Tracey had a crush on him but it turned into a friendship. Lauren was trying to get with Danny but he was not into her. Lauren would open make fun of how fat Tracey was. There was a scene in a gym where Tracey was working out and Lauren pranced around in a skin-tight bodysuit taking her measurements loudly in front of Tracey. Tracey had an affair with Tim, her teacher and got pregnant. Tim dumped her so Danny pretended to be the father which Lauren exposed as not true. When Tracey landed hot pool boy Brad, Lauren dug up dirt on him and brought his insane ex-wife to Genoa City and she put him in a giant birdcage. Lauren was supposed to be Danny's duo partner at the start but she went solo. She had a stalker, Shaun Garrett who kidnapped her and faked her death, Paul came to her rescue, this was the beginning of Paul and Lauren. Funny how Cricket ended up with Lauren's cast off. First Danny, then Paul.

Phyllis came to y&R as a woman Danny had an affair with, which is what broke up Danny and Cricket, but not before she tried to run down Cricket. Y&R redeemed her like they do with most of their crazy women, Leanna Love, Sheila Carter etc.

He looks fine today but the long hair should be style shorter, Like ladies don't look good after fifty with long hair. He's lucky to still have a full head of hair, get it styled.

I always hated the "Tracy is fat" references. I remember Lauren telling someone that "Tracy should run her chubby little legs" off. Or everyone at the Abbot breakfast table applauding Tracy for choosing to eat a grapefruit instead of real food. Did the writers hate this woman?

r101 she was hired to be the fat baby sister. Jack was the philandering older brother, Ashely the pretty sister and Tracery the younger fat sister. It was a MO for Bell. He always gave the youngest a flaw. On B&B it was Brook, Donna and then Katie the youngest with bad skin. The whole mean girl storyline with Lauren and Tracey was Bell's attempt to attract a younger audience.

Is that why Nina was introduced? To make cockroach Blair look desirable? I never bought the whole modeling thing.

Back in the 80s, Damian was one of the many gay or gay-appearing “heartthrobs” my cousin was always crushing over.

I love teasing her how if this magazine had been real, she’d have been a subscriber.

Another GH song

Toni Basil's 1981 cover on word of mouth was WAY better. It is also the only song from Word of Mouth that isn't on The Best of Toni Basil.

That is a horrible cover from Toni Basil. Doesn't come close to the Michael Damian cover.

Check out the outfit and that fabulous mullet

R108 - R26 here. Told you.

I remember when the video for “Rock On” was on MTV all the time. I also remember calling into 1-800-DIAL-MTV to request it (I believe Adam Curry was hosting at the time; it was Total Request Live before TRL was a thing). I also remember scenes from the movie as they appeared in the video—Meredith Salenger in a cheerleading uniform in a gymnasium with, I believe, Feldman’s character. I’ve still never seen the movie!

But I really wanted to at the time. I was 10. I loved that song (hate it now—as noted upthread, its lyrics make no sense), and I loved Meredith Salenger because she’d been in The Journey of Natty Gann. Man, the actor who played her father in that one was a STUD. Woof.

R107, I couldn't disagree with you more. Michael Damian was TERRIBLE, and the video was inescapable in 1989. I wanted to set him on fire, using Debbie Gibson and Tiffany as kindling. His hair was just begging for a Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial-type incident.

Toni's version is much better, but is very much New Wave version. Michael's is just late 80s pop garbage.

Michael Damian was hotter than Toni Basil, though.

(Not that I realized it at the time, being a latent bi/homosexual boy who was only attracted to girls throughout my childhood and adolescence.)

Did Damian have any follow up hits?

Remember how John Abbot nicknamed Ashley "Beauty" and Tracy "Pumpkin"?

r75, here's a clip of Patton Oswalt's Michael Damian bit. You might have to scroll down a little

Just watched the movie on amazon. The song plays throughout the entire thing. The pairing of Meredith Salenger with Corey Feldman was far fetched. He was disgusting.

Wasn't Gina Romalotti a singer too, performing the occasional number at her restaurant/bar?

Pretty much every soap, at some point, had a character who would sing. I mostly watched All My Children back in the day, and they had Jesse, played by Darnell Williams, sing a few times before Jesse became a cop. I can’t remember any other examples right now, but I do remember I always hated those lame singing scenes.

[quote]That is a horrible cover from Toni Basil. Doesn't come close to the Michael Damian cover.

Toni Basil's was a dance version, two different animals, both are good.

[quote]ust watched the movie on amazon. The song plays throughout the entire thing. The pairing of Meredith Salenger with Corey Feldman was far fetched. He was disgusting.

Yet Meredith Salenger is married to Patton Oswalt.

[quote] They had tried to make Damian a pop star before Rock On. He had released two albums prior to Rock On. He recorded I Engineer, also recorded by Animiotion on one of his first albums but he couldn't get a hit.

Michael Damian performing "I Engineer" (and playing an intense game of chess).

r117 yeah Patty Weaver was a singer too who owned a nightclub and would sing. She was one of the three women who performed in a Danny Romalotti concert. Tracey, Lauren and Gina. Tricia Cast was supposed to be a 6 week storyline. She was so good they made her a full time cast member. She was the supposed to be the plain jane who All about Eve's Cricket.

Patty Weaver released an album in 1982, when she was still Trish Banning on Days of our Lives.

Why did they just not use the original version of "Rock On"?

r121

You can barely hear his vocal.

You wonder how the hell Michael Damian managed to score a #1 hit with "Rock On." Then you realize the #2 song that week was by Donny Osmond. (Bette Midler, Guns N Roses and New Kids on the Block rounded out the Top 5 that week.)

R126 yeah that was a pretty crappy top 10 that week. I love Patience by GNR though. Would’ve made a hell of a lot better number one than Rock On. One of the stranger anomalies of the Billboard chart that the Damian version eclipsed the Essex version by going to number one, even though David Essex got a Grammy nomination which Michael didn’t.

[quote]who had dated a string of gay men, Thom Bierdz

Ironic name for a gay man

he's no Rick Springfield

Michael's managers must have advised For God Sake don't smile when you sing.

Here's a clip with some of Tracey Bregman's singing on the show. Funny how Jeanne Cooper can overact just saying "Yes".

Jesus her face is pulled tight there is a literal line when she talks that draws from the corner of her mouth to her hear.

[quote]You wonder how the hell Michael Damian managed to score a #1 hit with "Rock On."

Because he was cute and the video was on heavy rotation on MTV when MTV made hits.

When will Scoche Marin debut as the new Kay Chancellor? Will she interact with Danny Romalotti and Lauren Fenmore?

[quote] the video was on heavy rotation on MTV when MTV made hits

MTV wouldn't touch Donny Osmond's video for "Soldier of Love," but Donny was at #2, right behind Michael. (And I don't think MTV played Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" -- that was more VH1 material -- but she was at #3 that week.)

R36 ...

I love how you fat fraus infiltrate DL and covertly start soap threads which are SUPPOSED TO BE CLOSED BY MURIEL

r137 rock on!

no one would have been caught dead listening to this song back then. it was the kind of song you listened to and liked in secret.

The fuck they didn't listen. The song was on every fucking station and MTV. People didn't know Damian was on a soap. They just liked the song.

r139

That's how I got to number 1 twice

R140 yeah if you were 12

It got in heavy rotation because it was tied to the corey's movie Dream a little dream. Both of them promoted it heavily on MTV and the video for Rock On featured both coriys.

But the Corey's movie was a huge bomb right? Like all of their movies?

r144 moderate bomb but it got a huge promotional push before the movie came out - Rock on was released before the movie the video filled with clips for the movie.

That's not the way I heard it.