Justin Bieber Used To Remind Me Of My Teenage Crush ~ Donny Osmond

Back when I wrote this piece, Justin Bieber was still in the gaining popularity stage and wasn't as well known as he has become known today. The unfortunate thing is, he is now known for all the WRONG reasons! Now I look back on this piece that I wrote, and I feel that to compare him in any way to Donny Osmond is pretty far off the mark.

Donny Osmond was never and never will be the kind of thug-like, disrespectful character that Justin Bieber has turned out to be. Lack of good parental influence and involvement has led Justin to become someone that I would never want any daughter of mine or granddaughter, or even a son or grandson to emulate in any way, shape or form.

So, I guess this piece could be an example of comparing someone who had excellent parental guidance and a great upbringing to a guy who went down a very dark and disturbing path.

Fame can do crazy things to people and turn them into someone that no one should emulate. The way that it did with guys like Justin Bieber.

I was asked at one time to write some articles related to Justin Bieber. So, being the curious person I am, I was interested to learn more about him. From reading information on him, and from seeing online videos of screaming young girls surrounding Justin and his friends, I have to admit, I had flashbacks of my teenage days, back when Donny Osmond was IT! He was, as it was fondly called, a teen sensation.

I mean, Donny Osmond was the guy... he was all any of my friends ever talked about. Our teenage girl bedrooms looked like Donny Osmond SHRINES. We had pictures plastered all over our walls and collected the latest teen magazines like they were going out of style. We couldn't get enough of this handsome and extremely talented singer. Some of my friends were even allowed to have Donny's pictures on their bedroom CEILINGS!!! (And yes, that really did require three exclamation points, it was a HUGE deal back then!)

In fact, the first concert I ever went to was a Donny Osmond concert with my cousin. I remember being so excited I almost felt sick... in a good way I guess... too much excitement, and too many people all crammed into that little arena. It was a kind of happiness "overload" that made me feel lightheaded.

Today with all of the information available on the internet, almost to the point of information overload and the internet fan clubs that young girls can join (and older girls, too), along with all of the social media, I can only imagine what the life of a "teen idol" is like today. Although, they probably are not called teen idol's these days, that's what they were back in my day... I think I'm dating myself here!

I can remember other teen idols back then like David Cassidy, and of course Michael Jackson. By far, my favorite, and the favorite of most of my friends, was Donny Osmond. I think it was called "Osmondmania," back then, probably very similar to the many incurable cases of Bieber fever happening these days.

I mean, c'mon! According to a source on Wikipedia, Justin Bieber was, at one time, "more influential in social networking than either Barack Obama or the Dali Lama". This guy was HOT a few years ago.

Precocious and extremely talented, Justin Bieber broke a lot of records in the relatively short time that he had been in music. He had a very loyal fan following who proudly refer to themselves as "Beliebers". And just LOOK at that SMILE!

Looking back, it makes me wonder if there are girls all over the country (and in other countries for that matter) sitting in their teenage girl bedrooms at their writing desks, using the best handwriting they can possibly do to write their first name next to the name "Bieber". I know it's probably like when girls are little and they dream of marriage, someday, to a prince.

I remember very well that most of my friends... and I might have even done it... would write our first names next to "Osmond." You have to practice you know, just in case. And YES, we DID have pens and paper back then, we weren't chiseling our names into stone... ehem.

This, along with staring at all of those posters in our rooms were our way of dreaming of a future very different from the life we currently had. I guess it is this fantasy of having experiences that are out of the norm that keeps young girls supporting teen idols!

After visiting my eight year old granddaughter in March of 2016, I found out something interesting about her. She told me "Gramma, I'm a Belieber!" Oh boy... and so it begins.

She wants to go see Justin one day and wants to visit California. We live close to California, in Las Vegas. We're just four and 1/2 hours away from Los Angeles. I told her if she gets out to California to be sure to visit Gramma and Grandpa.

Only thing is, I highly doubt my son will let the seeing Justin thing happen ~ and I don't blame him! Justin is not the greatest role model for a young girl like her. Every time we were in the car, she had to stop everything and let me know when a Justin song came on the radio. Because I'm sure not familiar with his songs that have come out in the last few years!

After having my own crush on a teen idol ~ well, I was a bit older than she is, I realize that this "phase" probably won't last. She'll move on and someday have a boyfriend "in real life" and any thoughts she entertained of someday being Justin's girlfriend will be in the dust. A distant memory. It's still funny, though, to see your Granddaughter going through the same phases you went through!

Ok, so here's where I'll tell the "purple shirt" story. I once saw a picture of Donny Osmond in a magazine. As his fans were aware, purple seemed to be (at that time) one of his favorite colors. It was a nice shirt, with vertical stripes, and a design on the stripes. I was out shopping with my Mother one day and FOUND a shirt that was almost identical to the one Donny was wearing in this photo! I was ecstatic! **Imagine teenage girl screams, more like shrieks, at this point**.

I could wrap myself in the "purple shirt" and imagine that I was wearing the same shirt that he had. I wore that shirt often, again and again... to the point where my parents would say "not THAT shirt again!" It was "well loved." I wore it practically until it had holes in it, I even toyed with the idea of sewing elbow patches on it to extend the life of it, but I didn't do that. Alas, one day I had to relegate the "purple shirt" to the rag bag.

But I never lost the love that I had for Donny Osmond and his music. Even today, at times when I was watching him on "Dancing With The Stars" it brought back those teenage memories. Those were fun days! And to know that he is still out there today with a successful career is pretty amazing. He has a long, enduring marriage and a beautiful family as well!

Now the funny thing is, living here in Las Vegas, there is a Donny and Marie show just down the road from us! They are playing at a showroom here in Las Vegas at the Flamingo hotel (the one built by Bugsy Siegel). We went to see Donny and Marie there, and the teenage memories came flooding back to me, as worn and well-loved as my famous purple shirt!

It was a little CRAZY to see Grandma-age women screaming for Donny, kind of like they did back then! And no, I was not one of them... I have moved on. I still think both Donny and Marie are incredibly talented singers, dancers and actors and I have tremendous respect for both of them! We loved the show, and if you are in Vegas, we highly recommend going to see it! The memories will come back, warmly and fondly!