Michael Damian: Rock On (1989)

It was 1989. Decades after David Essex had recorded his moody James Dean-esque classic "Rock On," somebody had the idea to take soap opera star Michael Damian and stick him in a recording booth with some high production 80s loops.

But it didn't stop there.



The two Coreys were together again, back when the two of them commanded a theatrical release. This time around, it was Dream a Little Dream.



So here we were. The two most commercialized children in Hollywood since Shirley Temple. A soap opera actor in front of a microphone. A decades-old favorite just ready to be shredded and shat upon by the excess and bubble gum pop-ism at the tail end of the 1980s.

And then...it didn't sound that bad. Here's the video.



Here it was, Michael Damian and two Coreys. And since Michael Damian kind of looks like Corey Haim plus 12 years, it was a bit like the three Coreys. And even if you wanted to hate it, it kind of worked. Granted, there you have Corey Feldman on stage doing his best MC Hammer dance... But that was the essence of the two Coreys. Just caught up in the mix, changing the game from year to year, going for it and being fearless.

So there you have it. Three icons of pop commercialism all bundled up into one song. And here's a slightly remixed, slightly more soap-opera version.



And for your reference, here is a live recording by the original artist, David Essex...



Finally, in an 80s-meets-80s phenomenon, here is a recent cover of the song by none other than 80s hard rock mega-legends Def Leppard.