The Monkees: Classic or Dud?

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wow i like something that dan perry likes! what a strange day this is turning out to be already.

― unknown or illegal user (doorag), Wednesday, 18 December 2002 19:41 (twenty-three years ago)

YAY! The Monkees = ILM's great equalizer! (I'm amazed that there hasn't been an outbreak of Monkee-hate yet.)

Secret fantastic Monkee's song: "Your Auntie Griselda". How many Peter songs are there, anyway?

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 18 December 2002 19:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I think Anutie Griselda was it, except for Zilch ...

Davy hataz need to listen to "Early Morning Blues and Greens" ..
..My steaming coffe warms my face/ I'm disappointed in the taste ...

..but in general, yeah, I fuckin' hated Davy Jones. Mickey & Mike were the band...

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 18 December 2002 19:52 (twenty-three years ago)

that song "daily nightly" off the "pisces/aquarius/capricorn/jones" album is psycho-delphic!

― doorag, Wednesday, 18 December 2002 21:20 (twenty-three years ago)

dr c it wz a byrds thread, i think

fritz you forgot: mike nesmith's mum invented tippex

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 18 December 2002 22:38 (twenty-three years ago)

You mean Liquid Paper?

The 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee documentary was a trip.

― call mr. lee (call mr. lee), Thursday, 19 December 2002 01:53 (twenty-three years ago)

The records, of course being manufactured pop, are not particularly immune to filler and otherwise bits of bad taste. But for the most part, I'd say classic. And the film "Head", as well as the accompanying ost, is superb.

And if you haven't heard "Zor and Zam" - from "The Birds The Bees & The Monkees" - do so at once. They do a SPOT-ON imitation of "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, and Dave (I believe it's him singing it) sounds so much like Grace Slick it's scarey. Shivers are sent to my spine just thinking of it.

― Adam Bruneau, Thursday, 19 December 2002 02:52 (twenty-three years ago)

It's Mickey. The albums they controlled didn't have too much crap on them.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 19 December 2002 04:38 (twenty-three years ago)

My Top 5:

1) What Am I Doing Hangin' Round?
2) Daydream Believer
3) Sometime in the Morning
4) Love Is Only Sleeping
5) Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow

― Joe (Joe), Thursday, 19 December 2002 04:46 (twenty-three years ago)

The live version of CircleSky = none more punk!

― Rayas Blancas, Thursday, 19 December 2002 09:45 (twenty-three years ago)

other peter songs - "for pete's sake", "do I have to do this all over again". both fantastic.

― pulpo, Thursday, 19 December 2002 10:08 (twenty-three years ago)

"Last Train to Clarkesville has been written & we can only live with our own imperfection" - Robert Forster

Classic of course (apart from "Listen to the Band")

― bham, Thursday, 19 December 2002 10:54 (twenty-three years ago)

And how imperfect they were.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 19 December 2002 11:25 (twenty-three years ago)

They're not bad but I never listen to them. Actually they're pretty much the worst group I'd still say was good - they're kind of like the VU in that they invented everything but it still doesn't make their songs all that great.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 19 December 2002 12:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Which song is it from Head that has the lyrics "You say we're manufactured/To that we all agree"? I remember thinking that was much more brutal that "Public Image".

― Nicole (Nicole), Thursday, 19 December 2002 13:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Leave it to a Carter fan to say the Monkees songs are not that great.

― Nicole (Nicole), Thursday, 19 December 2002 13:13 (twenty-three years ago)

The only band I ever listen to on vinyl (mother's old records). One of the all time greats, obviously, why can't all bands be as good as that? Seriously, all manufactured bands should be this good- you get the best band members, best session musicians, best lyricists... and you get something as deific as "Pleasant Valley Sunday". Nowadays... well, we don't.

The TV show was cack, though.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 19 December 2002 13:17 (twenty-three years ago)

"Pleasant Valley Sunday" is smarmy.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 19 December 2002 13:21 (twenty-three years ago)

"(I'm Not Your) Steeping Stone" is very much overrated, especially in its Proto Punk role- it's just a slightly poppier Garage Rock tune that happened to get covered by The Sex Pistols.

The Monkees are endlessly fun to analyse, but pretty uneven as far as pure listening enjoyment goes fer me. Even the Rhino best of has a few stinkers (I mean, "I Wanna Be Free", wtf?)

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 19 December 2002 17:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I was in the car with my mother once and the radio had a little interview snippet with them about how "Last Train To Clarksville" was intended as commentary on Vietnam. (They were opposed, I guess.) It was the most political they could be without upsetting the suits. My mother and I listened to the song and tried to figure out how anyone was ever supposed to pick up on that. She said it certainly didn't seem political at the time.

― Chris P (Chris P), Thursday, 19 December 2002 23:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Monkees = good music/great tv
what since has dared?

― horace mann, Friday, 20 December 2002 04:38 (twenty-three years ago)

I've been playing "auntie grizelda" a ton lately...such a fine song. the only monkeys songs I have are on my gf's tapes from when she was a youngster.. . I have to get some.

anyhow, definitely classic. I for one like the tv show, though I've only seen the same 4 episodes over and over again. I approve of Head.

― nick ring (nick ring), Friday, 20 December 2002 06:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Best connection ever: Listen to the Monkees' "Sweet Young Thing" and then Loop's "Heaven's End"

― Chris Barrus (xibalba), Friday, 20 December 2002 06:35 (twenty-three years ago)

i must get head at the video store.

― di smith (lucylurex), Friday, 20 December 2002 08:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Whenever I say that they throw me out...

― Prude, Friday, 20 December 2002 08:37 (twenty-three years ago)

Gonzo from crawlspace gave me head once, it was great!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 20 December 2002 08:48 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Private joke that which prob Di didn't even get

― Mr Mime (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 10:31 (twenty-two years ago)

No, she would've actually.

― Mr Mime (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 10:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Listening to "Birds Bees Monkees" now, "The Poster" is a pretty funny idea, the Beatles did "Mr Kite" so let's do a song about a circus poster too

― Mr Mime (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 10:50 (twenty-two years ago)

A Monkees thread without a single mention of Neil Diamond?

― shookout (shookout), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 16:58 (twenty-two years ago)

classic when rodney bingenheimer sits in with them

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Tuesday, 20 April 2004 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

The non-Tork songs from Head are beautiful of course but my aboslute favorite, and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, is Randy Scouse Git from Headquarters. I've always thought of it as in the vein of,though superior,to most Kinks songs. Dolenz' lead vocals on the track are furious and fun. The song has a neat structure as well, nice old-timey piano intro and outro, contrasted sharply by the punk rock chorus.

― theodore fogelsanger, Tuesday, 20 April 2004 21:44 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

(Way after the fact I know, but Theodore I mentioned "Randy Scouse Git" in the question text!)

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 13 August 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

hh my...so you did. well I'm sorry I neglected to notice that but I don't regret going slightly further into the subject of Randy Scouse Git's greatness.

― herbert hebert (herbert hebert), Saturday, 14 August 2004 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

da da da Da! da da da Da!

My teenage years would have somehow been a little less fulfilled without "She" from their second album. Or was it their second hit from their first album?

Never ashamed to wear my Monkees badge here...

― jim wentworth (wench), Saturday, 14 August 2004 04:46 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Girl
I don't wanna fight
I'm a little bit wrong
You're a little bit right
Girl
You know that it's true
It's a little bit me
And it's a little bit you
Too

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Sunday, 26 September 2004 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, "Words" is another song with Peter singing in lead capacity (he trades off with Mickey on the verse).

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Sunday, 26 September 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Best Monkees song? "If I ever get to Saginaw" of course. Best damn sentimental countrypopsong ever.

― dr do-good, Sunday, 26 September 2004 21:12 (twenty-one years ago)

six months pass...

I'm so glad I'm not alone here! I just got these songs off of iMusic:
For Pete's Sake, Take a Giant Step, She, Papa Gene's Blues, Auntie Grizelda, A lil bit me A lil bit you, Goin' Down...

verdict: CLASSIC!

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 01:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"For Pete's Sake" is totally on my fantasy cover-band set list. We have a "Favorite Episodes" DVD from Netflix right now and watched a couple last night — CLAHSSIC. EPIC. RACK 'EM.

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Pretty dang good through the first four albums.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Sold back the discs after Mickey left, but everything up through Head, now that's mighty fine.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 01:57 (twenty-one years ago)

"Porpoise Song"!

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 03:23 (twenty-one years ago)

The Birds, the Bees, and the Monkees is kind of crap, though.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 05:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Some more Pete love: "For Pete's Sake" was more punk than "Steppin' Stone," and "Do I Have to Do This All Over Again" is the best rock song about reincarnation ever.

Some more Davy love: "You And I" called the star game what it was far more accurately than "So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star."

Some more Mike love: "Carlisle Wheeling" is one of only 3 or 4 songs I will always always always know every every single word to.

Some more Micky love: His morning radio show here in NYC is occasionally humorous, at least when he's not being snarky to people asking him Monkees questions.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 07:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Mickey has a morning radio show? which channel?

― debden, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 07:57 (twenty-one years ago)

and "Do I Have to Do This All Over Again" is the best rock song about reincarnation ever

Fairly easily one of the best things any of the Monkees ever did. That bridge is pretty astonishing.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:23 (twenty-one years ago)

That's Stephen Stills playing guitar on that that is!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Mickey has a morning radio show?

'Sometime In The Morning' perhaps?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:46 (twenty-one years ago)

is that really stephen stills? wow! sounds way too good for him, not nearly lumpen enough. For some reason (wishful thinking I guess) I imagined Peter played it himself.

― debden, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 622 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

WIthout clicking, looks like they are singing "Nine TImes Blue."

― Came Here to Roll the Microscope (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 April 2022 00:04 (four years ago)

I'm watching Richard Linklater's new rotoscoped film Apollo 10 1/2 - which I'm enjoying a lot - and something unintentionally funny happens about 55 minutes from the end. One of the characters puts on a Monkees record...and the label says "Sundazed," a modern day reissue label, not one that existed in the '60s. So I guess when they shot the movie, the art or props department bought a Sundazed reissue thinking nothing of it, and then the animators rotoscoped that reissue label.

― birdistheword, Wednesday, 6 April 2022 03:10 (four years ago)

Ahhh, I really need to scroll up before I post...C. Grisso/McCain caught it.

― birdistheword, Wednesday, 6 April 2022 03:10 (four years ago)

Even funnier is thst one of the other records one of the sisters handles is the first Souther Hillman Furay Band album, a dollar-bin staple released in the mid-'70s.

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 6 April 2022 03:16 (four years ago)

Furay's Buffalo Springfield buddy Neil sittin' in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvN6LA0dCQs

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 6 April 2022 03:30 (four years ago)

LOL. Cameron Crowe would never make this mistake!

(But Linklater's a far better filmmaker and the movie's highly entertaining so I'll let it slide.)

― birdistheword, Wednesday, 6 April 2022 03:36 (four years ago)

Ahhh, I really need to scroll up before I post...C. Grisso/McCain caught it.

― birdistheword, Tuesday, April 5, 2022 8:10 PM

I'm glad you did, because now I understand what "the new Linklater" refers to. I also assume that the Cash show episode came after the movie's period, correct?

― nickn, Wednesday, 6 April 2022 16:13 (four years ago)

The core of the film takes place in 1969, so the Cash episode should be correct in terms of the period. (They also make a reference to Tork's departure, with the narrator asking "why is there only three of them?")

It's a really good film, FWIW. On paper, I thought it was going to be Linklater remakes The Wonder Years but that does a huge disservice to what he's done. It's deceptively light, but it really is about pop culture, growing awareness and shared, ephemeral experiences - themes that run through a lot of his best work. It never devolves into self-involved or self-pitying nostalgia.

― birdistheword, Wednesday, 6 April 2022 16:27 (four years ago)

In the YouTube description they say it was filmed in Nashville on May 6th (two days after the Monkees played in Houston, where much of the Linklater film takes place), and aired on July 19th.

The weird thing about the kids wondering why there were only three of them is that the group had already put out its first trio album in February.

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 6 April 2022 16:41 (four years ago)

Although I imagine if one didn't necessarily read the fan mags or go to the concert or buy Instant Replay, one wouldn't know. Isn't it one of the brothers who asks about it?

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 6 April 2022 16:50 (four years ago)

Yeah, it was one of the brothers who probably didn't follow them that closely. It's very possible they just didn't find out that quickly in an analog world, which is one of the film's charms - I forgot how things were like pre-internet and cell phones.

― birdistheword, Wednesday, 6 April 2022 16:59 (four years ago)

Yeah. It's wild to think about how slowly music news traveled stateside back then. Xgau has mentioned how his columns for Esquire had really long leads (like 3-5 months sometimes) before hitting newsstands.

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 6 April 2022 17:09 (four years ago)

LOL. Cameron Crowe would never make this mistake!

In Almost Famous there's a scene set in 1969 where Joni's Blue appears amongst Tommy and Axis: Bold As Love, among others. On the DVD commentary Crowe acknowledges that Blue came out two years later, but deliberately put it in the scene because he loves Joni Mitchell.

(But the version of the Who's "Sparks" that Lester Bangs yanks off a radio station turntable in 1973 wouldn't come out until 1995.)

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 6 April 2022 17:18 (four years ago)

Ah k - well at least Blue was intentional and I can see how it was more important to include something like that, especially if it's a record his sister was handing down to her brother.

― birdistheword, Wednesday, 6 April 2022 17:35 (four years ago)

one month passes...

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1987/07/19/monkees-hits-make-fans-day/62683387007/

― Groovy Situation Vacant (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 19 May 2022 14:14 (four years ago)

three months pass...

An unexpected development

Huh, Micky Dolenz, the lone surviving member of The Monkees, has lodged a FOIA lawsuit for FBI records related to the band. pic.twitter.com/MAYhKEwAGQ
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 30, 2022

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 15:06 (three years ago)

Makes sense.

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S06E11/1001549.jpg?b64lines=IFRoZSBNb25rZWVzIHdlcmVuJ3QgYWJvdXQKIG11c2ljLCBNYXJnZS4gVGhleSB3ZXJlCiBhYm91dCByZWJlbGxpb24sIGFib3V0CiBwb2xpdGljYWwgYW5kIHNvY2lhbAogdXBoZWF2YWwh

― birdistheword, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 15:11 (three years ago)

I am having problems getting past George Michael Dolenz Jr

― castanuts (DJP), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 15:11 (three years ago)

Somebody told me
The FBI wants
What the FBI needs

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 15:27 (three years ago)

Trying and failing to stop imagining him singing “I Want Your Sex”

The giggles are incapacitating

― castanuts (DJP), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 15:29 (three years ago)

And the wounded skies above
Say it's much, too much, too late
Well, maybe we should all be praying for FOIA

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 15:29 (three years ago)

xpost Someone needs to see Head!

'Quiet, isn't it, George Michael Dolenz?'

Blew my mind the first time, for sure.

― Beautiful Bean Footage Fetishist (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 15:47 (three years ago)

I will file a FOIA lawsuit
Put your documents with mine
Add me to the docket, poppet
Pencil me in any time
I will file a FOIA lawsuit
I am guilty of no crime
I will be restoring my good name
‘Til the end of
Time

― castanuts (DJP), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 15:53 (three years ago)

Daydream Subpoena

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 17:24 (three years ago)

I Wanna Be Free (From FBI Scrutiny)

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 18:59 (three years ago)

What Are The FBI Doing Hangin' Round?

― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 19:08 (three years ago)

Listen to the Band (Using Covert Surveillance Devices)

― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 19:10 (three years ago)

Look Out (Here Comes COINTELPRO)

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 19:11 (three years ago)

Habeas Corpus Song

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 21:41 (three years ago)

Gonna Bug Me a Dog

― Buckfast At Tiffany's (Tom D.), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 22:23 (three years ago)

lol

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 30 August 2022 22:29 (three years ago)

Ladies FBI Society

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 23:26 (three years ago)

Last Train to Quantico

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 30 August 2022 23:33 (three years ago)

"Mary, Mary (Why ya buggin?)"

― Hongro Hongro Hippies (Myonga Vön Bontee), Wednesday, 31 August 2022 00:52 (three years ago)

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