Family acts were a big thing for a time—think the Cowsills, the Jackson 5, and the Five Stairsteps, let alone the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, and Sly and the Family Stone. Well, today’s classic song of the day is by yet another family act, the group of singing Mormon brothers called the Osmonds. The song is “One Bad Apple” and, when it was released in November of 1970, went all the way to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. Billboard named it the #4 song for all of 1971.
If the Osmonds’ recording of “One Bad Apple” sounds more than a little like a Jackson 5 track, there’s a good reason for that. Songwriter George Jackson had the Jackson 5 (no relation) in mind when he wrote it. In fact, the Jackson brothers almost recorded the song, deciding to go with “ABC” instead. (Good choice, that.) Producer Rick Hall grabbed the tune for the Osmonds, booked them into his FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, and pushed the Record button. Lead vocal duties on this one were shared by brothers Merrill and Donny Osmond.
The single of “One Bad Apple” went head to head with the Jackson 5’s “Mama’s Pearl” on the charts and came out on top. (“Mama’s Pearl” peaked at #2.) Even though they had similar material, at least for awhile, the brothers from Utah came off as more bubblegum, while the clan from Gary, Indiana, were Motown royalty. Michael Jackson and his brothers had soul; Donny Osmond and his siblings, not so much.
Still, “One Bad Apple” is a pretty good tune. It bought the Osmond brothers, especially Donny, a large pre-teen following. The boys even scored themselves a Saturday morning cartoon show (The Osmonds) on the ABC network in 1972. And, of course, Donny and his sister Marie had very long solo and duo careers.
For today’s daily bonus video of the day, here are the Osmonds performing “One Bad Apple” on some television program back in 1971. Love the outfits.
