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40th Anniversary (1966-2006)
It's hard to believe that the Monkees have been around for 40 years!
But then again, I'm getting older too! Of course I still feel like a kid inside. But the rest of the world goes
'round, and the Monkees have done a lot of 'monkeeing around' over the years!
Created as an American -TV version of the Beatles back in 1966, the Monkees have evolved considerably over the last
40 years. Once again The Monkees were a favorite group of my sister Nancy and she passed her love of the group on to
me.
THE MONKEES (Circa 1966): Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Davy
Jones.
The Monkees tv show ran for 2 season: 66-67, 67-68. It was a madcap, fast paced show with a young spirit.
It tried to capture the feeling young people had in the 60's, with a taste of old time vaudville type humour as well. I got
more into the show when it went into syndication in the early 70's.
The Monkees did not play on their first two records - here they perform to
pre-recorded tracks made by some of the best musicians in the business, known as the "Wrecking Crew". Music Supervisor
Don Kirshner provided producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart with great songs by songwriters such as Neil Diamond, Carole King
and Garry Goffin and others. The Monkees had two smash hits off these early albums (The Monkees and "More of The Monkees)
including; "Last train to Clarksville", and "I'm a Believer".
The Monkees did their own singing of course. Micky Dolenz especially
proved to be a tremendous lead singer. Michael Nesmith, the most accomplished musician of the four, would
write songs for the early albums.
I have great memories of playing with this puppett! My sister had
this Monkees puppett which had a finger hole for each Monkee head. When you pulled the string, it came to life
with the Monkees talking and laughing. One of the best promo items ever!
After a tour in which the Monkees had played their own instruments (with a
back up band) they guys grew increasingly frustrated by the music and image forced upon them by the tv production company
(Screen Gems) and its record division (Colgems). They Monkees fought for artistic control of the music. They
didn't want to be perceived as phony to their fans. Kirshner was out, Mike, Davy, Micky and Peter went about recording
a new album - their first ever as a group.
Bringing in producer Chip Douglas who shared the Monkees vision, the guys went
into the studio to play and sing. Using some other musicians to assist, The Monkees emerged in the Spring 1967
with the album, "Headquarters".
The album is fun and varied fusing southern rock, hippie pop, psychedelia, and main stream pop. It is my favorite
Monkees album. Nesmith leads with several classics on this record but Dolenz and Tork also contributed as writers.
Highlights: "You Told Me", "You just may be the one", "Sunny Girlfriend",
all 3 outstanding tracks by Nesmith; "Randy Scouse Git", a far out tune by Dolenz; "For Pete's Sake", A Peter
Tork(elson) composition that echos the sentiment of the day, "In this generation love is understanding, we gotta be free".
The record did not do as well sales wise as the previous releases in part because a month later, The Beatles released "Sgt
Pepper" and that blew everyone else out of the water! Also the Monkees did not get the support of the record company
they deserved. Colgems refused to issue a single from it! Oddly enough "For Petes Sake" - the obvious
hit single to my ears - was used as the closing music on the tv series for its second season!
The Monkees tv show was still successful in its second year but the guys wanted
to have more freedom and eventually deciding to do a movie, "HEAD" - which is awful. The show was cancelled in the Spring
of 68. Of course what is funny is that the show ran 50 plus episodes. Now adays a tv series does 12-20 episoedes
a season! So us Monkees fans still have many episodes to kick back and enjoy on tape or dvd.
Micky, Peter, Davy, and Mike continued recording but not in the same manner as "Headquarters". The follow up
album, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd" was a great
effort, but subsequent albums received lackluster results. The Monkees popularity had peaked, and many fans were
turned off by the fact that the Monkees did not play on their earlier records. The backlash of their success would each
Monkee in the coming years. Despite all this, the hits continued to roll: "Pleasant Valley Sunday",
"Valleri" and "Day Dream Believer".
In 1968, The Monkees made a weir psychelic movie, "Head" which was good for only two things: It was good at
destroying the Monkees career, and it gave us a great soundtrack! Highlights: "Porpoise song",
"Circle Sky", "Daddy's Song", "Can you dig it?", and "As
we go along". What made this so great is that it features bits of dialogue from the movie.
The movie is awful but the album is fantastic!
With the failure of "HEAD" and another psychelia bad idea
of a tv special, "33 revolutions per Monkee", it was Peter Tork who first left the band. Nesmith, Dolenz
and Jones continued on for a few albums but with very little commercial success. Mike's "Listen to the Band"
was a standout but the Monkees were now old hat in the Summer of '69. When Mike left, Davy and Micky soldiered on as
a duo. But finally Monkeemania was over. Davy Jones (and collaborator, Bill Chadwick) wrote the Monkees
epitaph best in their song, "YOU & I" released for the Monkees "Instant Replay" album:
In a year or maybe 2 we'll be gone and someone knew will take
our place. They'll be another song, another voice, another pretty face"
Bubblegum/pop had new heroes: Bobby Sherman, Donny Osmond, David Cassidy and
"The Partridge Family" - another TV 'fake' band. It would take about 15 years before the stars would align perfectly
for a reunion that would make show business history!
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