The Monkees: Classic or Dud?

P.S. to Mr. Grout - "Goin' Down" was the B-side to "Daydream Believer." The B-side of "A Little Bit Me" was "The Girl I Knew Somewhere."

And if I ever see a karaoke bar with "Goin' Down," fuck if I'm not gonna try it.

I would love to hear someone pull that off - that's a fucking tongue twister.

SOCK IT TO ME!

I am puzzled by Ewing upthread saying that the Monkees invented everything.

...up there with the finest Pinefoxian pronouncements!

"The Girl I Knew Somewhere" is indeed of the gods.

Only for the second season, though I think they changed it to this for both seasons in reruns.

Anyone seen "Head"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOI-SDYGviM

"You should spend more time on it (music) because the youth of America depend on you show the way." - Zappa

Yes. It's the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glwYXCOMKto

"Circle Sky" rocks so hard. Just listen to that shrieking mass of hysterical Mormon jailbait!

Anyone seen "Head"?

Only more than almost any other film in the history of cinema <--- saddo

Just saw a bunch of bands pay tribute to the Monkees at Southpaw in Brooklyn tonight. Made me all shades of happy. Especially the ones who did "Cuddly Toy" and "Porpoise Song" and "Steppin' Stone."

Giving a listen to Headquarters today. It's a perfect summer album, and was number one right behind Sgt. Peppers during the summer of 1967 for two months or so, though maybe it should be slotted more alongside Odessey and Oracle, 5th Dimension and Da Capo. The album should get more overall credit -- the sole single off it was the fairly atypical (for the album, not for the Monkees) "Randy Scouse Git" aka "Alternate Title" but the net result means that the whole stands on its own pretty nicely as perfectly in-the-moment pop, especially given that it was pretty much the only album where the four called most of the shots and did most of the performances down the line, aside from a bit of bass from Chip Douglas and some brief horn/string parts.

Anyway, "You Just May Be the One" should be more famous than it is.

"You Just May Be the One" should be more famous than it is

Def in my top five of Monkees tunes.

Has anyone else seen that new Monkees doc on Smithsonian On Demand? Straight up, Don Kirshner was a royal a-hole. What I didn't know is that the boiling point for his relationship with The Monkees was the song "Sugar, Sugar". The band refused to perform it, so Kirshner threw a fit and then formed the fictional The Archies so they wouldn't argue with him.

Headquarters is such a touchstone for me I almost can't put it into words. In 1966/67, the Monkees TV series (and from there, the records) ruled my life. I replayed their first three albums COUNTLESS times. So obsessed was I that I really don't remember much other contemporaneous music (hello, Beatles) until "Quick Joey Small" by Kasenetz-Katz became my favorite record (fall of '68.)

Never mind the furthermore, the plea is self defense

Hey hey, we're the bitter dudes who hate each other. Or at least Davy is.

In fairness, Mike has hated the others for at least two decades now.

In addition to my comment over here, it's worth pointing out that Jones is kinda really super-jealous of his former bandmates because they've all been successful at other ventures, while the only way he gets an audience aside from occasional acting gigs is through Monkees reunions or singing Monkees songs. Nesmith obviously has his legacy income from Liquid Paper and his business ventures, and Tork tours quite a lot both on his own and with his blues band. Don't really know what Dolenz does, although I do know he does some painting. Jones also hates that Dolenz sang more of their big hits than he did.

Makes him sound like the Eric Idle of the band...

And in further proof that Facebook will soon be taken over by the AARP, Peter Tork, responding to Davy’s comments, said that he is on Facebook and slammed Nesmith saying: “We’re not even Facebook friends. But I do have more friends of Facebook that he does.”

lolz

haha, that is great.
My wife's company re-published Mickey Dolenz's autobio a few years back. The worst thing I have ever read.
Love the Monkees, though!

My wife's company re-published Mickey Dolenz's autobio a few years back. The worst thing I have ever read.

Details. Badly written, stupid stories, what?

http://luvdavy.tripod.com/kissagod.html

And I just sat there,
absorbing His essence,
and smiling and smiling.

I hear it can happen that way.

oh the Dolenz book is all of the above -- horribly written, delusional ... just dumb.
"The concert tour was a box-office smash (it was the top grossing tour of 1986), we were the darlings of MTV, our new single had gone gold and our album, platinum. All of these accomplishments were unheard of for a group that hadn't released a record in 20 years. Offers were coming in from left and right, from movies to TV specials to megabuck commercials. The consensus of the press was, "It's the most amazing comeback in rock & roll history!"
And so forth ...

That was then...

the whole thing is padded out with a bunch of "screenplay" kind of segments, too. There are some good chapter titles, though
"Lights - Camera - Madness!"
"The Long and Whining Road"

My grandfather worked for the Monkees in the 1960s, which means the only movie premiere my father ever went to as a boy was when he was ten and he saw "Head." He still talks about that movie, though he hasn't seen it since 1968.

I read that too quickly and thought your father was working for the Monkees when he was ten.

The consensus of the press was, "It's the most amazing comeback in rock & roll history!"

I'm pretty sure this wasn't the consensus.

I read that too quickly and thought your father was working for the Monkees when he was ten.

Well, maybe that, too. A wonderful street team of third graders talking up your band at recess (getting your demo in the hands of the jr. high school hipsters) could've been the difference between being a rich monkee or a disbanding zombie.

"The Door Into Summer", from 1967, sounds like CSN two years before the fact. I know that Stills tried out for the band, and wondered for a moment if he'd written this song. But no, it's Douglas/Martin. It's a great song!

Three-piece reunion tour

Saw them yesterday at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Really liked it - as they dust off a lot of the album tracks, including from Head (the set list for the tour is on the net if you need to check). Davy recreates the dance sequence from Head, Peter looks really cool and clearly enjoyed himself, and Micky....Well, Micky was a bit quieter than I expected.

Go see them if you get a chance.

saw Head for the first time in a long time last night at a local library. they played the 5.1 mix, decent volume. sounded amazing.

learned that davy's dance partner in that scene is toni basil. common knowledge i guess but news to me.

A fellow Monkee-maniac just shared this with me on FB. Someone's MIA.

Part of what's so cool about Headquarters is that they pull off their usual range of styles like a normal band would have, but of course there really were no normal bands with an assortment of individuals like the Monkees were. So the range on that album is really wide.

Rest of US tour cancelled due to "Business Reasons".