David Cassidy

It's almost nine years since David Cassidy passed away. Looking back now, it’s hard to explain just how big he was in the early 1970s. These days we throw the term “teen idol” around rather casually, but in Cassidy’s case it really meant something. For a few short years he seemed to be everywhere: television, radio, record racks in the shops and the bedroom walls of teenagers all over the world. Even here in Penang you couldn’t miss him.

Cassidy first burst into the public consciousness through the musical sitcom The Partridge Family, which began airing in 1970. He played Keith Partridge, the son in a family band that travelled around performing. The show itself was light entertainment, but the music took on a life of its own. When the single I Think I Love You came out, it became a massive international hit. It was heard everywhere, from record shops along Campbell Street to radios playing in coffee shops.

But anyone searching for I Think I Love You on a Partridge Family album might have been slightly puzzled. The song first appeared in 1970 as a seven-inch 45 rpm single issued under The Partridge Family name, with David Cassidy on lead vocal, and it quickly became a huge international hit. That was the format most people knew it from at the time. In later years, however, collectors sometimes encountered the track again on compilations such as David Cassidy’s Greatest Hits rather than on albums credited to The Partridge Family. Back in those days, if you wandered into, for instance, Wing Hing Records on Campbell Street and asked for the song, chances were the proprietor would simply point you to whichever record that happened to have it in stock.

The recording itself also had an interesting backstory. Despite the television image of a family band, most of the studio recording was actually done by seasoned Los Angeles session musicians. Cassidy sang the lead vocal, but the backing band was part of the famous circle of studio players often associated with the so-called “Wrecking Crew.” The result was a perfectly crafted slice of early 1970s pop that went on to sell millions of copies around the world.

Of course, once the television fame took hold, the record companies wasted no time building a solo career around him. Albums like Cherish and Rock Me Baby began appearing in the early 1970s. Even people who didn’t follow The Partridge Family probably knew at least one or two of his songs. By the mid-1970s he was reportedly one of the highest-paid entertainers in the world. 

But fame built on teenage hysteria rarely lasts forever. By 1975 the signs were already there that the wave was beginning to crest, at least in the United States. Musical tastes were changing, and the industry was moving on to other styles and new faces. Cassidy was still hugely popular internationally, but the days of absolute teen idol domination were starting to fade.

It was around this time that Bell Records released David Cassidy’s Greatest Hits. It was the usual record company strategy to gather up the familiar hits and sell them again while the name was still hot. But the album also ended up acting as a kind of summary of Cassidy’s first phase as a pop star. The songs on it came mostly from the years when he ruled the teen market: the Partridge Family period, the early solo records and the hits that had fuelled those screaming concerts. Soon after that, Cassidy moved to RCA Records and began trying to reshape his image. 

When I listen to those early hits today, it’s easy to remember why he made such an impact. For a few years in the early 1970s, David Cassidy was one of those rare pop figures whose appeal crossed borders and cultures. His records travelled easily around the world, and even in a place like Penang his songs found their way into record collections and transistor radios.

That’s what makes Greatest Hits interesting now. It isn’t just a compilation album. It’s a reminder of a particular moment in pop history when a television actor with a good voice and a lot of charm briefly became the centre of a worldwide musical craze. For those of us who remember those days, hearing those songs again also brings back a time when a simple pop tune drifting out of a radio could travel halfway across the world and still find its way into a Penang coffee shop.

Side 1: Cherish, Doesn't somebody want to be wanted, Daydreamer, Please please me, Could it be forever, If I didn't care
Side 2: How can I be sure, I think I love you, Rock me baby, I am a clown, I'll meet you halfway