Do You Remember When the Osmonds Released a Hard Rock Song — And It Got Banned In Multiple Countries?
When you hear the 1972 hit single “Crazy Horses,” with its screaming synth sounds, chugging baseline and snarling vocals, you’d be hard-pressed to believe it’s The Osmonds. Yes, those Osmonds — the squeaky clean, mop-topped, Mormon brothers with the teen dream looks, groovy dance moves and sweet harmonies. And the song wasn’t an anomaly — their fourth album, Crazy Horses, is pure rock ’n’ roll with hints of heavy metal. Both the album and single each hit No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it was more than just another hit for the band — the new sound launched them into a whole new level of fame and fandom.
What brought about this massive change to the band’s sound? And how did their breakthrough rock ‘n’ roll track end up banned in multiple countries?
The Osmonds go hard rock
As the 1970s dawned, The Osmonds were already household names. Professionally, they were the boyband version of the tuneful cuties who made their debut on The Andy Williams Show years before. But when they weren’t on stage, the brothers, like any other teenage boys in the ’70s, were mesmerized by The Beatles‘ White Album and all things Led Zeppelin.
Until their hit third album, the 1972 pop-rock Phase III, The Osmonds only performed songs chosen by their record company. And though the brothers continued to push for a heavier sound, the rock songs they were pitched featured lyrics that defied the family’s moral standards.
So the brothers decided to write their own.
Gene Trindl/TV Guide/Everett Collection
“Having been successful, we wanted to freak out and make our own music,” Merrill Osmond told The Guardian in 2017, more than 40 years after the release of Crazy Horses. “We were rehearsing in a basement one day when Wayne started playing this heavy rock riff. I came up with a melody and Alan got the chords. Within an hour, we had the song.”
Why did they get banned?
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“Crazy Horses” enjoyed the ultimate rock ’n’ roll treatment upon its release: It was promptly banned in multiple countries. Officials believed the single’s chorus — “What a show, there they go smokin’ up the sky/ Crazy horses all got riders, and they’re you and I” — promoted drug use.
The Osmonds set them straight. The song was actually about pollution; more specifically, the smoggy impact of car exhaust on the environment. Hence the album’s cover shot, which features the costumed brothers scattered throughout a junkyard and surrounded by the titular “horses” put out to pasture.
A video of The Osmonds performing “Crazy Horses” is a revelation. It opens with a clearly jazzed Donny Osmond coaxing faux whinnies from his Yamaha YC45D combo organ, before his brothers join in on guitar. Then Jay steps up to the microphone and rips into the trippy lyrics with a growling fervor that could launch casual Osmond fans right out of their chairs. And while the Osmonds’ signature synchronized dance moves are still there, a dose of rock god flair and some cosmic kookiness prevail.
The song that changed everything
“The song changed the way we were perceived,” Jay Osmond told The Guardian. “Suddenly we were getting invited to see Led Zeppelin at Earl’s Court, to sing ‘Stairway to Heaven’ with them on stage … We even used their sound system when we played Earl’s Court ourselves the following night.”
With their rock ’n’ roll makeover a satisfying success, the fellas made sartorial changes, too. Donny took to wearing leather, including a studded jacket with his childhood nickname, “Corky,” emblazoned on the back. And a flashier wardrobe change was about to transpire.
The Osmond brothers met Elvis, who showed them his closet full of bedazzled jumpsuits. “He said, ‘That’s what you should be wearing,’” Merrill Osmond recalled. The King introduced the brothers to his designer, Bill Belew, and soon The Osmonds were quite literally rocking Elvis’ style, too.
The Osmonds —Wayne, Jay, Donny, Merrill and Alan. Credit: Len Trievnor/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Osmonds would revert to their more clean-cut style as the decade wore on, and eventually even go country. But “Crazy Horses” remains a proud part of their legacy. And it has attracted a truly diverse array of fans: Metallica loved to cover the song in concert, and Simon LeBon tried to persuade the Osmonds to tour with Duran Duran, so they could perform the song together.
Even the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne, was on board.
When Donny was a Season 9 contestant on Dancing with the Stars, along with Ozzy Osbourne’s daughter Kelly Osbourne, the Wizard of Ozz caught Donny backstage with some news.
“I just want you to know,” the bat-biting rock god told the prince of Puppy Love, “that ‘Crazy Horses’ is one of my favorite rock ’n’ roll songs of all time.”
Crazy indeed.
Pop Music Legends
August 2017
Dedicated to the sights, sounds and stories of the golden age of pop.
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