Released November 14, 1970 Recorded October 26, 1970 | Format 7" vinyl Length 2:46 | |
B-side "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" Genre Pop, R&B, bubblegum pop | ||
"One Bad Apple" was a number-one hit single released by The Osmonds on November 14, 1970. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 2, 1971. It hit the top of the chart on February 13, 1971 and stayed there for five weeks. It also reached number six on the R&B chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song for 1971. Both "One Bad Apple" and the Donny Osmond-credited single "Sweet and Innocent" are on the 1970 album Osmonds. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on February 4, 1971.
The song was written by George Jackson, who originally had the Jackson 5 in mind when he wrote it. The Osmonds' version coincidentally sounded like the Jackson 5 to the point many mistook the Osmonds for the Jacksons on the song when first hearing it. According to Donny Osmond, Michael Jackson later told him that the Jackson 5 almost recorded this song first, but chose to record "ABC" instead.
"One Bad Apple" was also used as the theme to The Osmonds cartoon show on ABC-TV.