Sympathy for the Devils We Created: Being a Teen Idol Sucks

As fate would have it, I found this 45-ish-year-old photo not long after watching a documentary on the Partridge Family and was reminded that in AC/DC's early days, the P.R. team attempted to make Malcolm Young into a working-class answer to David Cassidy due to his similar physical appearance to the most famous teen idol of the day.

Unlike David Cassidy, Malcolm Young was not an actor or a model, and his facial expressions tended to telegraph the fact that he felt silly about the sexy poses the photographers wanted him to strike. 

Fortunately for Malcolm, Bon Scott, who had already done his time on the bubblegum scene as a member of the Valentines, was having none of the attempts to make the fledgling band into the next teen dream. 

Bon had an evident aversion to wearing shirts onstage. Malcolm's brother Angus took things one step further and started doing literal strip-teases during AC/DC's performances.

Thanks to his brother's exhibitionistic tendencies and Bon's refusal to abide bullshit, Malcolm was able to put his shirt back on and concentrate on playing the guitar rather than trying to make himself appear to be some sort of sex symbol.

Meanwhile, David Cassidy became so sick of his pop star image that he rebelled by posing nude with strategically placed potted plants in front of his manly bits. David said in one interview that it took him about twenty years to finally "come on, get happy" after the Partridge Family was over. The experience of being a teen idol was psychologically damaging for him.

I wrote a poem honoring k-pop star Kim Jong-Hyun of the band Shinee following his suicide at age 27. Jong-Hyun's sister told reporters that her brother was a sensitive personality who was unable to cope with the demands placed on him to appear and act a certain way at all times.

So, the next time you wonder why Justin Bieber started acting out, people who have been put under a microscope and are having every one of their actions analyzed tend to become defensive and lash out at their detractors. Fortunately for Justin, he seems to have aged out of being a teen idol and may be able to live the rest of his life in relative peace.

Hopefully, Justin will dodge the substance abuse which prematurely ended Bon Scott's life, will manage to avoid the severe depression which led Kim Jong-Hyun to suicide, and will never develop dementia as both David Cassidy and Malcolm Young did. I have nothing against the guy, and if he ever finds himself unable to figure out what to do with his surplus money, he can send some to me and I'll be both his bodyguard and his long-lost pal.

From my vantage point, I think we'd all be better off if the star-maker machine were to crash and burn. Celebrity worship is destructive and benefits no-one but the sleazeballs making money by exploiting both rising and falling stars and selling them as commodities to desperate people seeking a hero who can at least temporarily lift them out of their unhappy existence.

~Cie~

30 Days of De-Objectification: Teen Idols

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Photoshop creation by The Real Cie

30 Days of De-Objectification:

Teen Idols

It’s hard to think of instances where being a teen idol helped a performer without harming them in some way. I can think of far more instances where “teen idol” status was destructive and, in some cases, deadly for those upon whom it was bestowed.

It is the nature of young people to be hopeful and eager to please. These qualities render them easily victimized by unscrupulous individuals who, in fact, care nothing about their well-being.

People who were child stars and/or teen idols either depart show business entirely once their heyday is over, or they spiral down. It is unfortunate that the public tends to laugh at the misfortune of these fallen stars rather than to feel sympathy for them. Schadenfraude is ugly.

Off the top of my head, I can think of a couple people who came away from child or teen stardom unscathed. The first is Shirley Temple. She left show business.

The second is Shaun Cassidy. Shaun saw what the star-maker machine did to his older brother David, and he didn’t take his own teen idol status terribly seriously. In one interview, he revealed that he always preferred being behind the camera to being in front of it. Shaun’s sensible approach as well as support and guidance from David and his mother, Shirley Jones, helped ensure that he came through the teen idol experience unscathed.

Unlike Shaun, David’s life was troubled. He never enjoyed the pretty boy pop star persona created by his management team. Backstage, he would often play songs like “Voodoo Child.” He was interested in performing harder rock music, but, thanks to his teen idol status, he was never taken seriously as a musician. Throughout his life, David struggled with addiction and had trouble maintaining relationships.

“The Two Coreys” are another example of the destructive nature of the way child and teen stars are treated. Corey Feldman is alive, but he is hardly unscathed. He realizes that he is the butt of jokes. He has stated that he doesn’t consider the assaults he endured (groping and lewd suggestions) to be as severe as those endured by his late friend, Corey Haim, who was raped.

Corey Feldman is a sweet if somewhat eccentric personality. It would be shameful to ridicule him in any case, but, considering the abuses and losses he’s endured, it is doubly so.

Brittney Spears is thriving at this point in her life, but that wasn’t always the case. Exploited at a young age, the pressure to maintain a “sexy” persona and flawless physique eventually caused her to have a psychological breakdown. Fortunately, Brittney received positive support and is doing well. I applaud her for publishing the unretouched photos from the Candies shoe campaign she modeled for. I’m glad she’s still here.

When I see someone like Justin Bieber acting out, I may feel on one hand that he’s making himself look foolish, but, on the other hand, I understand why he is behaving as he is. A lot of pressure is put on people like Justin to be the image that was created for them. People want Justin Bieber to continue to be the cute, mop-topped teenager that he was when he was discovered, even though he is now in his mid-twenties.

It is one thing to expect people to behave civilly. It is another to ridicule people, set them up for failure, and then expect them to behave normally. Someone like Justin Bieber hasn’t had a normal existence in a long time.

As the late Carrie Fisher said, youth and beauty are not accomplishments, they are accidents of time and DNA. It is high time that society ceased behaving as if youth and beauty are the highest of accomplishments. Beauty is subjective, and youth always fades, unless a life ends prematurely.

We need to be kinder to one another as a whole, and we need to stop perpetuating the attitude of exploiting and burning out teen and child performers.

~The Cheese Hath Grated It~