Song Of The Day 8/30/2012: Shaun Cassidy - "Teen Dream"

I'm taking my daughter Lucie to go see Demi Lovato this evening. Since I skipped right past seeing any of the teen pop idols that were around when I was growing up (I think the closest I came was the Thompson Twins), and have thus far avoided doing so as a parent (Katy Perry is a little too risqué to be teen pop), this will be my first experience, ever, dealing with a post-childhood, pre-adult, full-fledged, in-your-face, Clearasil-caked teen pop experience. And it's not at a mall. You'd think it would be at a mall, but it's not. It's at a state fair. Not a mall.

I'm concerned that I won't ever come back, in which case you guys can divvy up my things as you see fit. But it also reminded me of the brief, odd career of the big teen pop idol when I was impressionable, which was Shaun Cassidy. I mean, sure, he rode on in on Franklin W. Dixon's coattails, but he had the resourcefulness to record songs by Eric Carmen and hire Todd Rundgren as a producer once. (Have you ever heard Shaun's cover of Talking Heads' "The Book I Read"? I'm not saying you should, I'm just wondering if you have.) He actually wrote this song, "Teen Dream." I haven't listened to it closely enough to determine whether it was wry self-commentary. Let me know if it is.

So, that's what I'm doing this evening. I will smell more like Teen Spirit than any of you.