The late David Cassidy on a 1972 cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
 

I understand the rock star deal having been one and still going out strapping my guitar on and performing. Now, I probably do 30 or 40 dates a year, and I get to relive how I felt at 19 when I played in some really bad bands.—David Cassidy

2017 has been another very sad year for anyone and everyone who likes to rock. We lost Tom Petty and Chris Cornell. Just a few days ago we all suffered through the difficult death of AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young, and yesterday we mourned the passing of teen idol, David Cassidy. As I’m at a loss for words for a change, here’s the mythical Danny Fields, punk rock legend, journalist, and allegedly the first get Cassidy to snort coke moments before his photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz:

“When Annie (Leibovitz) brought that back (the nude photo of Cassidy), it was like, oh my God, if you cut it here and it’s just a little bit of pubic hair, and he’s naked, it’s like a Playboy Bunny.”

Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner recalls Leibovitz’s controversial cover-shot in his 2017 book, Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine saying she had helped define Cassidy as the “darling of the bubble-gum set.” He also compared the teen idol’s nearly-nude shoot to Burt Reynold’s two-quarts of vodka cover for Cosmopolitan that same year.

In the Rolling Stone interview Cassidy talked about his drug use and how well-endowed he was, revealing that his brothers had enviously nicknamed him “Donk.” “Naked Lunch Box: The Business of David Cassidy” was published alongside an interview with the notorious William Burroughs in the same issue giving it an extra layer of WTF for past, current and future generations to figure out. The frenzy over the cover apparently sent Cassidy’s mother Evelyn Ward to Mexico to avoid the rabid press coverage concerning the shoot. Talk about teenage kicks. NSFW images follow.
 

 

A Polaroid shot of Cassidy by Leibovitz.
 

The NSFW shot of Cassidy that launched a thousand ships.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Danny Partridge is the Devil: Welcome to the Partridge Family Temple
‘Santa Claus vs. Satan’ with a festive soundtrack of lite-psyche & bubble gum music
‘Maryjane’: Former teen idol stars in goofy anti-marijuana flick
Teen idol Shaun Cassidy goes new wave, covers Bowie and Talking Heads on Todd Rundgren-produced LP