Justin Bieber mania

I’m feeling very old these days…

There’s this new kid on the pop music scene.  His name is Justin Bieber.  He’s short, he has a bad hairstyle, and a lisp.  I positively cringe when he sings the line ‘And we will never, eber, eber be apart.”  It leaves me wondering if his real name is Justin Beaver.

Yet, he’s got this enormous following of wildly screaming girls monitoring his every movement.

I don’t get it.

I don’t mean to sound nasty.  He seems like a nice enough kid, and he’s a fellow Canadian, but when I went to school, kids with bad haircuts, and lisps, were ridiculed mercilessly.   Girls didn’t swoon over them.  Either times have changed, or Justin Bieber has an amazing team of promoters.  I’m hoping that times have changed, because along with the bad haircuts, and lisps, kids were teased for thick glasses, and idolizing Donny Osmond.  Hmm… don’t ask me how I know this!

Now, Donny Osmond – there was someone who was swoon-worthy!  I bought every teen magazine featuring him, and every LP (for the younger readers of this blog LP = long play, i.e. those big vinyl record albums from the dark ages) of his that I could afford, and I played them over and over and over again.  My room was covered in posters of Donny Osmond, and the Osmond Brothers.  I was completely focused on him, and my eye never strayed to the likes of David Cassidy or Michael Jackson.  I knew his birthday – December 9th – and will probably remember that date till the day I die simply because it was so embedded in my brain.  I thought I could sing the lyrics to all his songs until one day my mother cracked up while I was singing and informed me that the words were “This guy’s in love with you” and not “The sky’s in love with you”, but hey, this was about the same time as the Carpenters hit “Close to You” with stars falling down from the sky, so it made sense to me – at the time!

I am still teased to this day about the one poster of Donny Osmond that I would kiss while wearing lipstick.  Back then, I thought their white jumpsuits (like the ones Elvis used to wear) were just so cool, and their choreography – stunning.

In hindsight, their jumpsuits  were kind of cheesy, and their dance moves weren’t really all that cool.  Many of the Osmond Brothers are white haired and officially senior citizens now, and  Donny Osmond is a grandfather!

Did I mention that I’m feeling very old these days…