Posted: 8/26/2008 7:39:36 PM EDT
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I miss them. I think they were cool. 
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Used to watch re-runs all the time but it brings back bad memories cuz the girl I used to watch them w/ (my first serious relationship back when I was in high school) passed away while we were seniors.... But maybe I'll watch some online tonight for ol times sake. |
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Their good tunes were all written, not by the Monkees, but by some of the heaviest hitters in the professional songwriting industry at the time. It's almost scary. There are some professional songwriters out there who are so good at what they do that a record label could go to them and say "Please write me a single that will hit the top of the Top 40 charts" and that songwriter will crank one out for him that, if performed properly, will do exactly that. The Monkees were hired as actors first. Their ability to play instruments was not considered to have any importance. Studio musicians did most if the playing for them, at least for a while. The Monkees decided that this was not good enough, and they practiced and practiced and eventually learned their own songs.  It was American Idol, Beta version. A pop group fabricated by casting calls, scripts, and a producer's vision. And their tunes are still solid and fresh after all this time. Not at all like the majority of late 60s music that gets replayed to death on the local oldies station. I just wish Mike Nesmith would tour with the rest of the group. I like his playing and his approach, and his sense of humor in songwriting. (Anyone remember "Sunset Sam" from the 80s?) CJ |
Nope. They had an edge like the Stones did, back in the day.|
The Monkees - Take The Last Train to Clarksville Now THAT's a Monkees song . . . |
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Hey, Im a beliver. I watched the show every week it was on prime time. They evolved into decent performers. My memory is a little foggy here, but didnt Charles Manson audition for the show? As one of the Monkees? I cant recall for sure. Maybe it was for another part. |
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The network heavily censored what song they could sing. The closest to an anti war song allowed was "The Last Train To Clarksville". The Monkees Movie was written by Jack Nicholson. He had orders to write it so bad that it would kill the group. By then everybody involved withe the show wanted it to end. Tidbit: First group to make music videos. |
And then Mike Nesmith fought for creative control. And that was the end of that. |
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Nez has cranked out some really good stuff over the years. Check it out: Videoranch |
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Mickey Dolan just boarded an American Airlines flight in Anchorage headed for Denver. He was singing at the Alaska State Fair. He walked right in front of us as he headed for the gate and my wife blurted out, "Hey, that's Mickey Dolan from the Monkees!" The entire concourse swung their head toward him. He kept walking. I don't blame him. |
Nesmith was able to get Don Kirshner fired. Davy Jones was a singer. Michael Nesmith was a songwriter and guitarist. Peter Tork was a skilled multi-instrumentalist. Micky Dolenz was the only non-musican of the group. In commentary tracks included in the DVD release of the first season of the show, Nesmith stated that Tork was better at playing guitar than bass. In Tork's commentary, he stated that Jones was a good drummer and had the live performance lineups been based solely on playing ability, it should have been Tork on guitar, Nesmith on bass, and Jones on drums, with Dolenz taking the fronting role, rather than as it was done with Nesmith on guitar, Tork on bass, and Dolenz on drums. (Jones mostly played maracas and tambourine, filling in briefly for Dolenz on drums on a song and for Tork on bass when he played keyboards.) During the December 1966-May 1967 tour, they were backed by the Candy Store Prophets. During the summer 1967 tour of the United States and Great Britain (from which the Live 1967 recordings are taken), they were backed by a band called the Sundowners. In 1968, the Monkees toured Australia and Japan. With Jones sticking primarily to vocals and tambourine (except when filling in on the drums when Dolenz came forward to sing a lead vocal), the Monkees' live act constituted a classic power trio of electric guitar, electric bass, and drums (except when Tork passed the bass part to the Sundowners in order to take up the banjo or electric keyboards). Whereas on record the Monkees' music was highly commercial pop music, in concert they played as a rock band. |
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIwDXoSqCoU I like this video with go-go dancer Anita Mann. |
The most surprising thing about the Monkees is - they didn't suck. To this day I still turn the volume knob to 11 for "Pleasnt Valley Sunday" and Last Train to Clarksville". BTW - the link above to Cuddly Toy I love GoGo Dancers!
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He also produced one of the greatest cult movies of all time, Repo Man. The soundtrack is a goldmine of early-80s West Coast Punk. "Best Goddamn car on the lot." |
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In 1967, after the famous set where he set fire to his guitar at the Monterey Pop Festival, at Micky Dolenz' suggestion, Jimi Hendrix was contracted to be the opening act for the Monkees summer tour. This was a huge mismatch of musical styles as well as audiences, but Hendrix had yet to hit the American charts and his management saw it as a way to get exposure. The Monkees just saw it as an excuse to watch Hendrix perform up close night after night. As Mike Nesmith later observed: "The first night Jimi opened for us, he walked into the beast. There were twenty thousand pink waving arms. He would sing "Foxy" and they would shout "Davy! Foxy! Davy!" Oh man, it was a seriously twisted moment. He lasted seven dates." Fed up with the "We want the Monkee's!" chant every night, Hendrix finally flipped the bird at the crowd and stormed off stage at Forest Hills Stadium in New York. He asked to be let out of his contract and he and the Monkees amicably parted ways. |