"Puppy love" refers to a childish yearning, not a mature relationship, giving the Cusp reference to the song an insulting edge: Of high school senior Patrick, college freshman Gwen asks Karen, "Where’s your shadow, Donny Osmond? And they call
it puppy love…" Karen is not amused, especially since she's about to break up with Patrick precisely because he seems so immature to her.
Osmond had hit number 3 with the song three years earlier, so the insult is particularly appropriate, as it hearkens back to the friends' more awkward years. And Donny, then 17 and making hits with his younger sister Marie, was dismissed by those his own age as being too "teenybopper." That term itself suggests earlier times - such as 1960, when "Puppy Love" writer Paul Anka had a number 2 hit with the song in its first release.
How Bieber-esque does Donny Osmond look on that Portrait of Donny album cover? It's a teenybopper déjà
vu.
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