David Cassidy in the News
Special bursts the bubble on teen pop stars
November 26, 2002
By Manuel Mendoza
The Dallas Morning News
Not one teen act from the 1980s has successfully made the transition to adult stardom today, claims the VH1 special Bubblegum Babylon.
Impressive in its scope, including interviews with everyone from the Strangeloves (credited here as the first bubblegum act) to the Backstreet Boys and Hanson, the two-hour documentary nonetheless tells us what most of us already know: Teen pop is manufactured and disposable, relying more on looks and image than musical talent.
Of course, some of that "product" is among the best pop of the past 40 years, something Bubblegum Babylon barely acknowledges and never tries to explain. It also fails to delve into the unfair contracts and other manipulations that the genre's Svengalis and record companies have visited upon their willing, if naive, puppets.
Still, it's fun to see which former teen idols are the most bitter (Tony DeFranco of the DeFranco Family) and which producers are the most honest (Tiffany puppeteer George Tobin, who says: "There has to be manipulation. How do you let someone who's 14 run a career? I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this girl before she happened.")
Bubblegum Babylon uses wannabe star Katie Cassidy as its thread, tracing her bid for pop stardom throughout its chapters: where bubblegum started; how sudden stardom affects the performers; the role of merchandising; the increasing sexualization of teen acts, particularly girls; and the inevitable, typically quick fall back into obscurity.
Katie, 15, is David Cassidy's daughter, which isn't revealed immediately. Instead, we see her producer, her mother and her manager plan her career before a single song is released. It turns out that her former-teen-idol father is opposed to her bid for stardom, and we see her trio of advisers talking to her about how to handle questions about him.
She plans to tell the truth. "But how much truth are you going to tell? That's the question," says her producer, Joel Diamond. It's a creepy, insightful moment, only matched by a scene in which Katie tries on a bustier as her mother, Sherri Benedon, tries to dissect the "fine line" between underage performers like her daughter and the selling of sex. In the background, a female singer -- maybe Katie -- can be heard belting: "Make me crazy. Make me sweat."
Bubblegum Babylon traces the recent rise of sex in teen pop with the Spice Girls, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, who raises the typical defense that she's only an artist conveying her feelings.
Many Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers will be jazzed to see the acts they grew up with -- from the Monkees to New Edition to New Kids on the Block.
But Bubblegum Babylon also wants you to feel sorry for these has-beens, whose exploitation by their corporate rock labels is the oldest story in the music business.
