RIP Davy Jones

[Zint]

source

(Reuters) - Davy Jones, former lead singer of the 1960s made-for-television pop band The Monkees, died on Wednesday at a hospital in Florida, according to an official from the local medical examiner's office.

Jones, 66, born in Manchester, England, became the principal teen idol of the rock quartet featured on the NBC comedy series "The Monkees," which was inspired in part by the Beatles film "A Hard Day's Night" and ran from the fall of 1966 to August of 1968.

Although not allowed to play their own instruments on their early records, Jones and his three cohorts - Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork - had several hits that sold millions of copies, including "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer".

[drtydane]

Just beat me. 66 is young. He didn't look out of shape or anything.

Edited February 29, 2012 by drtydane

[jekylhyde]

R.I.P. Mr. Jones.

[zeppelinrocksnexttognr]

R.I.P. Believe it or not, I use to live near him. He had a house about 4 blocks away. Met him a few times when I was younger. Obviously then, I had no idea who he was. But he was a nice guy. I guess my old man hung out with him a couple of times.

[Guest Len B'stard]

Oh my God, you're havin' a laugh...thats like one of my favourite bands...first album i ever bought was The Monkees 16 Smash Hits...oh thats awful news...shit

They were like my first ever band..

Edited February 29, 2012 by sugaraylen

[RocketQueenGNR]

R.I.P

[JONEZY]

How the hell can Davy Jones die?!! This really pisses me off. I grew up on the Monkees re-runs every afternoon. Loved them.

RIP Davy.

[Guest Len B'stard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ornP4eeCyBI

[Chewbacca]

R.I.P.

[Guest Len B'stard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfZzAc9ce98

[Zint]

Oh my God, you're havin' a laugh...

Who's having a laugh?

The only one who was a goof about it was volcano,but that was taken care of.

People have been respectful so far imo.

It's a bummer for me,as a little kid with 3 older sisters,The Monkees were ingrained in my youth.

Monkees albums always being played,and the Monkees tv show on every week (first run prime time ).

Good times,innocent fun...some great songs came out of it all.

I have the entire tv series on dvd (the Rhino versions that came out in a box that looked like an old 45 player (a what?? )...

Think I'm going to get them out and give them a watch in tribute.

Sad news...he'll be missed.

Thanks for the fun times Davy...cheers.

By the way Len...there's a Beatles connection for you,Davy appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on the same night as the Beatles.

[Zint]

Micky Dolenz on Piers Morgan paying a wonderful tribute to his old friend.

Will repeat later on CNN..

[WhazUp]

RIP

Wasn't expecting this one

[Guest Len B'stard]

Who's having a laugh?

The only one who was a goof about it was volcano,but that was taken care of.

People have been respectful so far imo.

Just an exlaimatory expression, like 'oh you're kidding me', shoulda been clearer, sorry!

By the way Len...there's a Beatles connection for you,Davy appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on the same night as the Beatles.

The Beatles actually thought they were alright, i think John Lennon compared them to the Marx Bros. Another Beatles connection, The Monkees song, Randy Scouse Git is about Mickey Dolenz taking acid for the first time and he's at a party and he does this trip, the lyrics reference The Beatles (the four kings of EMI are sitting stately on the floor). I'm not entirely sure but i think Mickey Dolenz might've gone to Kashmir with them when they went to The Mahirishi's retreat...it was either that or they he went to the Mahirishi's convention in Bangor in Wales with them, one or the other.

Also, back to Randy Scouse Git, Randy as i'm sure you know means horny, scouse is an english slang term for someone from Liverpool (as The Beatles are). It's actually taken from a TV show called Til Death Us Do Part where Alf Garnett, a bigoted old dock worker calls his long haired 60s son in law from liverpool a 'Randy Scouse Git'. They had to change the title in England cuz it was considered offensive.

Mickey Dolenz got about though, he was at The Monterey Pop Festival when Hendrix played...apparently he'd seen him before in the East Villiage too.

Anywayz, Davy:

[dalsh327]

Zep - yeah, he was nice to fans and had a lot of friends in the horse breeding/racing world. Regret never getting autographs, but all of them were/are pretty cool, interesting guys.

Dolenz was saying last night that he was shocked because the guy took care of himself, but mentioned something about his parents not living a long life.

But you have to watch "Head" with the commentary on Criterion, esp. if it makes no sense to you. I don't think the movie's a "greatest of all time" but just being able to go back and watch it having some idea what they were trying to get at, who some of the people in the movie were, and why they were in it, it's a hell of a satire about the entertainment industry.

I hate to think Davy's death is going to throw the Monkees into the Rock Hall induction list, but it would be typical of them to do it. Joey Ramone's death pushed The Ramones into being inducted. I don't think any of them, whether it's the band or the critics, really thought about the importance and influence they had on a lot of things that affect us today. They became an oldies circuit band ( Nesmith did occasionally tour with them) but just the fact they were one of the biggest bands in the world, did write their own songs, did play the songs live, expect a big change as far as that goes. And they usually sounded great live. Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith were real musicians, Davy was a theater singer, and Micky was a child actor who figured out how to play drums.

They had a good run, they had their reunion, they're a big part of music history, and continue to be. the shows are rerun on cable, and a lot of careers came out of working for them.

And no, Charles Manson never auditioned for The Monkees. But KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer was Davy Jones' double on the show, so I'm sure he's going to be playing some of their songs.

Beatles connections? Mike was THERE for "A Day in the Life". Micky was there through Lennon's "Lost Weekend", Ringo was friends with them over the years, and they were all fans of the show.

Influence? I have to believe kids in the late 60s-early 70s took up an instrument and covered the songs. I also think some of those songs were challenging to a musician, so I imagine even Jimmy Page gave the records a listen at the time.

David Jones changed his name to David Bowie because of it. Would we still have heard of him as David Jones? Hard to say.

But just the fact Zappa did the show and gained a few Mothers fans from it, and gave Tim Buckley and Jimi Hendrix some exposure through the TV show and the live show, is pretty freaking cool. The fact Jack Nicholson wrote "Head" (and produced the soundtrack...good trivia question btw) and then decided to listen to the producers and act in "Easy Rider", never would've happened.

Even O'Reilly thinks it's ridiculous, and he wasn't even a fan until later.

"You present yourself in the way people enjoy". Isn't that every rock band?

Maybe Axl can finally admit to where he got the snake dance from.. *L* even if it was subconscious.

[Guest Len B'stard]

Yeah, Axl does the Davy dance And as far as Head, come onnn, it's obvious what that movie is about. It's trippy but it's not even approaching subtle and thats not a criticism either.

The song Circle Sky from that movie is amazing...

It's bullshit that Davy was the "lead singer" though, like every obituaries saying, the didn't have a lead singer.

also, i wanna know where the fuck all these Monkees fans were before

Edited March 1, 2012 by sugaraylen

[moreblack]

this'd be the only thing I've ever willingly had to do with the Monkees

[Zint]

this'd be the only thing I've ever willingly had to do with the Monkees

...ahhh the zebra pants!

[dalsh327]

If you have Antenna TV on your cable, they're doing a Monkees marathon on Saturday.

Did you read Mike Nesmith's statement?

All the lovely people. Where do they all come from?

So many lovely and heartfelt messages of condolence and sympathy, I don’t know what to say, except my sincere thank you to all. I share and appreciate your feelings.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.

While it is jarring, and sometimes seems unjust, or strange, this transition we call dying and death is a constant in the mortal experience that we know almost nothing about. I am of the mind that it is a transition and I carry with me a certainty of the continuity of existence. While I don’t exactly know what happens in these times, there is an ongoing sense of life that reaches in my mind out far beyond the near horizons of mortality and into the reaches of infinity.

That David has stepped beyond my view causes me the sadness that it does many of you. I will miss him, but I won’t abandon him to mortality. I will think of him as existing within the animating life that insures existence. I will think of him and his family with that gentle regard in spite of all the contrary appearances on the mortal plane.

David’s spirit and soul live well in my heart, among all the lovely people, who remember with me the good times, and the healing times, that were created for so many, including us.

I have fond memories. I wish him safe travels.

Also, check this interview out he did last year.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2109125/Davy-Jones-dead-Revealed-besotted-wife-half-age.html

[Guest Len B'stard]

Mike always struck me as the more stoic down to earth one, as statements go, that ones very Peter Tork! Or mid 60s Mickey Dolenz-ish. Nah, i get the sentiment though, fair play to him

[moreblack]

this'd be the only thing I've ever willingly had to do with the Monkees

...ahhh the zebra pants!

lol, an interesting change from the usual Pete Way pants.

[Guest Len B'stard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emLj0d66DQ

The Monkees doing a Harry Nilsson number. Only found out decades later who Nilsson even was.

[dalsh327]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emLj0d66DQ

The Monkees doing a Harry Nilsson number. Only found out decades later who Nilsson even was.

Hopefully you saw the documentary, there's a lot of stuff on You Tube with him. I wouldn't be surprised if he stumbled his way into Ola Hudson's house... and Saul took his bottle when he passed out.

[Guest Len B'stard]

i haven't gotten round to it actually but i've got the link saved on my comp, why, is Nilsson in it? I've not been aware of Nilsson until like literally a couple of days ago. Before then my knowledge of him is limited to knowing that he spent a lot of time having big piss ups with heroes of mine, people like Lennon, Ringo, Moonie etc and the classic Lennon thing, whose your favourite artist "nilsson', whose your favourite band "nilsson"...and also, i heard the song Coconut on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack which i listened to tons for a while there during the mid 90s but i never remembered the name much...also, that song Everybodys Talkin' i've heard numerous places, in fact i knew the words to but i never knew who'd sung it, it's just one of them songs, big song. But now i've given his stuff a go it's sort of tying together that i've heard this fellas work in numerous places and having been a big Monkees fan all my life i know his Monkees songs off by heart, like Cuddley Toy, Daddys Song etc but honestly, it's another world listening to him doing em.

Quite frankly i'm just fuckin BLOWN AWAY by this guy...i've honestly not been fuckin this blown away by an artist forever...i cannot think of the last person i listened to that i just like, on first listen, right-a-fuckin-way just thought, ohmigod, this stuff is just fuckin brilliant. I've only listened to his greatest hits so far and fuck me, this guys a fuckin genius. went out and got all his albums, studio albums, in one go, i just know from those greatest hits that he's fuckin it...downloaded this documentary and watched it, it's called Who Is Harry Nilsson and Why is Everybody Talking About Him? and God i wish i'd seen it before, has tons of people i know of from my other fandoms, y'know, ring's there, moonie, may pang, yoko ono, mickey dolenz, all sorts. i just can't believe i've never given him a shot before, he's like a one man Beatles, just absolutely fantastic...beyond all compare, i'm absolutely in love with this guy, having been in love with his material by proxy with The Monkees and never known it. I'm not sure what else The Monkees have done thats by him though.

[Zint]

I've got Micky Dolenz' autobiography...an interesting read.

I liked it a lot.

The guy had his party years I'll tell ya!

He was one of the "Hollywood Vampires".