Talk:The Cowsills/Archives/2014

Additional information please
About time someone got around to fleshing this Wiki entry out. Please add anything else that's been left out, especially any more pertinant info regarding their TV appearances in the 60's, and especially anything on the TV special. And since Bob Cowsill admittedly visits Wikipedia frequently, his input will of course be welcome!

Writing Style
Emotive, point of view style writing has been removed or altered from this article. Some of these alterations were made under the "Deaths and Tragedys" heading. This header has also been reduced to simply "Deaths", despite the tragic circumstances surrounding the events of Hurricane Katrina. No offence is intended towards the band members families or their fanbase -bernie_bernbaum | talk to me here 13:28, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Citation Needed Removed
The "citation needed" tag regarding the Cowsills/Partridge Family issue over who would play the band's mother was removed. This is a known fact that the Cowsills have discussed repeatedly over their career, most specifically on a Joan Rivers appearance in 1990.

Citation needed for influence from Beatles?
Starting in 1964, the Beatles were immensely popular to anyone involved in pop music. This, and the fact that the Cowsills' music is similar in style to the Beatles and the music they inspired, is enough to justify that they were influenced by the Beatles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.131.218.9 (talk) 01:54, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

Album Lineups
You can't help but give Bob credit.. He has been a part of every incarnation of the Cowsills from the very beginning!

I wonder if anyone has noticed that there were only two separate occasions where The Cowsills lineup didn't change:


 * Cowsills & Lincoln Park Zoo: Original lineup (Bill, Bob, Barry & John)
 * The Cowsills: Barbara added
 * We Can Fly: Susan added
 * Captain Sad..: Paul added
 * Best Of... [same lineup as above]
 * ..In Concert [same lineup as Captain Sad]
 * II x II: Bill left
 * On My Side: [same lineup as above]
 * Covered Wagon: Susan, Barbara and Paul left; Bill returned
 * Cocaine Drain: Bob, Paul, Barry, John & Susan reunite (I'm not including others)
 * Global: Bob, Paul, John & Susan reunite

Professor2789 (talk) 11:28, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Citations & References
See Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the  tags Nhl4hamilton (talk) 05:25, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Cowsills1.jpg
Image:Cowsills1.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 21:55, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Cocaine Drain
Both this article and the Susan Cowsill article make reference to an unreleased 1978 album somewhat incongruously called "Cocaine Drain." Did this album ever really exist under that name or is this someone's joke? Even though the 70s were a crazy time, it seems unlikely that the Cowsills could have actually gotten away with releasing an album with that title. (Presumably, this could have merely been a working title for an album which would have been called something else if it had been completed and released.) The accompanying footnote on this article is to an interview with Bob Cowsill. The Susan Cowsill article has no footnote at all for this piece of information. Timothy Horrigan (talk) 20:01, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

This album is now available digitally on iTunes and Rhapsody, at least. I am not sure when it was made available. The record quality is not so great. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.157.102.199 (talk) 21:52, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

I noticed that it has in fact been released, in both digital and CD form. Bob Cowsill's cover notes can be read in various places on the web. There is in fact a song called "Cocaine Drain." I revised the article to reflect Bob Cowsill's public statements which make no mention of family discord being the reason it never came out. He just says he and his siblings spent an "extended period" in the studio without actually releasing an album afterwards. We can infer that there may have been contractual complications and other factors at play. Timothy Horrigan (talk) 04:36, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Just a random thought about the legendary "scratchy acetate" of the Cocaine Drain album. Shouldn't the album have also existed as a cassette tape? Typically bands made "demo tapes" (which back then were literally cassette tapes) in the 1970s to showcase their work. An acetate (i.e., a record pressed in a very small edition on cellulose-coated aluminum rather than vinyl) would normally have been created only while mastering the album and/or for use by DJs, radio stations, etc. It's not a big deal but it might be worth trying to source the claim that the album existed only as an acetate. Timothy Horrigan (talk) 03:29, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

Did They Really Release Records without Signing a Contract?
I decided to take out a section which stated: "They also produced their first recordings, and released them on Mercury Records. Despite their appeal, the company passed on a record contract for reasons never specified. In 1966, the band was signed by MGM records****" It is hard to figure out how they could have released recordings in 1965 on Mercury Records without signing a contract. And the Mercury recordings, if any, seem to be missing from the discography. And, most of all, this seemingly nonsensical paragraph lacks a citation. If someone can dig up a version of this part of the story which actually makes sense, especially with a citation, please put it back in. Timothy Horrigan (talk) 18:53, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Actually, cowsills.com clears this mystery up pretty well: it has a complete discography up to 2005 or so. The discography in our article misses many singles which didn't make the charts. The Cowsills began their recording career by releasing one single on JODA Records and then a few on Mercury Records, without doing an album for either label. Presumably, someone must have signed contracts with those companies. And then they moved over to MGM and finally made their first album, as well as their first big hit single, "The Rain..." (Cowsills.com is a very well-done web site, with what seems to be lots of accurate info in it, although it seems to have gone un-updated since 2005. Some of the other passages in this Wikipedia article which make no sense at the moment— e.g., the potted history of Bob's career— can probably be cleared up pretty well just by digging through cowsills.com) Timothy Horrigan (talk) 02:00, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Indian Lake
In the article, it states "In 1968, the band scored another million-selling hit with the song "Indian Lake" which reached No.10 on the US charts." Per the documentary "Family Band, The Cowsills", Bill Cowsill stated that not only did they first refuse to play that song (with a few expletives), it only sold 800,000 copies. Is there any Billboard reference to debate that? Zabadu (talk) 01:58, 9 May 2014 (UTC)

Irrelevant 40-year-old disparaging comparison to Beach Boys
Someone, I am not sure who, put in a negative (and unreferenced, and POV) comment about the Beach Boys by a "noted disk jockey" named Mick Wagner, which I think does not belong in this article. The Beach Boys were in fact a very good live act, as various live recordings from the 1960s/1970s era amply demonstrate. And the Cowsills, enjoyable though their music is, and talented though they were, are not even remotely in the same league as the Beach Boys. Here is what I deleted (or tried to delete):

Noted disc jockey Mick Wagner had this to say regarding the band's performance quality:

"'I first saw the Cowsills in concert in the late summer of 1969. I was amazed at the quality of the harmonies they were capable of! The band performed a number of Beach Boys' covers, and I remember being struck by how tight the band remained, both vocally and musically; especially since I had seen the Beach Boys only a couple of months prior, and had been dismayed at their inability to reproduce their own records.  Even with a half-dozen sidemen handling the difficult instrumentals, the Brothers Wilson et al had not been able to stay on pitch.  By contrast, the Cowsills, who used no additional musicians in concert, absolutely burned up the Beach Boys' songs, to the extent that, had Brian Wilson actually heard them, he'd probably have been even more depressed than the worst reports out of Laguna!'"

(Actually, just speaking personally, I think both the Beach Boys and the Cowsills had a knack for singing the "wrong" notes in perfect harmony: i.e., they were always in tune with each other but not always conventionally in tune.) Timothy Horrigan (talk) 04:47, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

John Cowsill, by the way, has been the drummer for the Beach Boys touring band for several years. Timothy Horrigan (talk) 15:27, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

"Recognition efforts"
This was deleted by me from the main article on November 16, 2008 (though it may get put back in by another user.) The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voters pay little or no attention to online petition campaigns, and in any case these bullet points (aside maybe from #1 and #3) aren't relevant Hall of Fame credentials. Timothy Horrigan (talk) 21:17, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Recently some long-time Cowsill fans have formed the Committee for the Nomination of The Cowsills for Induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which as the name implies is a lobbying effort to have the band inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The original plan was to have the induction occur in 2005 — the 40th anniversary of the first recorded release by The Cowsills — but these efforts were unsuccessful. The Committee, however, is still pressing forward with their efforts, and fans wishing to assist can do so by signing an on-line petition they have set up for this purpose.

During their research, the Committee compiled the following facts about The Cowsills and their careers:


 * The Cowsills hold more gold records than 115 of the 147 current Hall of Fame members inducted as performers.
 * Bill played guitar on the song “Right On” recorded by Ike Turner.
 * Susan is the youngest rock performer to have a Top Ten hit.
 * John was part of the first American rock group to play in the Republic of China.
 * The Cowsills had the first live album to feature a studio track when In Concert featured “Hair”.
 * Hall of Famer Bob Marley used to cover Cowsill songs.
 * The Guestbooks on robinrecords.com and cowsill.com have posts from all 50 states, 19 foreign countries, and six of the seven continents.
 * The Cowsills were the first of only five album covers done for rock bands by famous cartoonist Jack Davis.
 * Bill once recorded with a guitar borrowed from John Lennon.
 * The band was initially "discovered" by Johnny Nash’s all black R&B label, JODA Records, and they were asked to headline with future Hall of Famers Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and The Beach Boys before they had their first hit record at Soundblast ’66 in Yankee Stadium.

Chronology issues??
In reading the portion covering the group individually and collectively from the 70s on it becomes a bit confusing for me from a chronological standpoint. I think it is due to the break out of individuals and then returning back to the group. I was wondering if this needs to be rearranged to minimize this confusion - or is it just me (which it most likely is). Thoughts?THX1136 (talk) 15:38, 25 April 2014 (UTC)