frankwhite Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 i think this band are so underrated it is criminal. words like manufactured bubblegum etc dogged them their whole career but people seem to miss out on some GREAT fucking music by this band and they were also very important in a historical context because they proved something to the music industry. they proved to the music industy that the industries machinery was not the only viable option. think about it, they started as a TV show, which in itself was pretty revolutionary in terms of comic technique, reminiscient of the marx bros, kinda slapsticky comedy but that aside, they proved that record industry machinery was not the only available avenue for promoting a band and gaining popularity which i think terrified the record industry and turned them against the boys.but aside from all that, they learned VERY quickly to play their instruments, mickey dolenz in particular on the drums, mike nesmith and peter tork were already guitar players and davy jones had a wonderful voice already and they gelled VERY quickly as a band when it became apparent that people WANTED to see these boys perform. reminds me kind of, in a way of the sex pistols and how they kinda learned to play or gelled in public.in that pop period, they made some amazing enduring infectious Pop music, Im Not Your Stepping Stone, Daydream Believer, Last Train To Clarksville, Look Out Here Comes Tommorow and just TONS of these incredible songs that stand up even today. they had country tinged songs with Listen To The Band and What Am I Doin Hangin Round?, Spanish guitar on Valleri and people seem to overlook all of this diversity and get all hung up on the "manufactured" label.and even after that period, when they got sick of singing other people stuff and went out on a limb as a band and pretty much got fucking slaughtered for it, they were making some REALLY neat fuckin music. songs like Goin Down, Circle Sky, Porpoise Song were all really good fuckin music and people just seem either ashamed to admit they like this band or just dont bother to check em out with any depth because they seem to already know that they suck, without having ventured into their catalogue any.then at the end of their career, when they made the movie Head, which was a wicked satire of all they were and purported to stand for, they were shot down in flames. this movie by the way was the brain child of Bob Raefelson and Jack Nicholson who went on to make Easy Rider which, as we all know is like a groundbreaking movie and is considered a timeless classic, in the Monkees movie, Head you see all of that easy rider technique all over it. this movie is now, ALMOST getting like an inch of the acclaim that it deserved as a movie when its just a ridiculously intelligent movie that got labelled lame-brained when in fact the critics were missing the fuckin point by a mile.anyone else like this band? (can't imagine they will) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyMonk Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 I like them. Got quite a few songs from a friend a while back. Some tight, fun music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murray_TH Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Love The Monkees. Eh... got Head recently... ...I mean, I managed to acquire a copy. Still to have a watch, but I've heard it's good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JONEZY Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Love The Monkees. Eh... got Head recently... ...I mean, I managed to acquire a copy. Still to have a watch, but I've heard it's good.Strange movie, look for a young Jack Nicholson in one scene. And yes, I love the Monkees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death Star Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 hey! hey! wer'e the monkees people say we monkey around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsty Rose Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 I loved them when I was younger! They had the television show on a few years ago and I used to love watching it. Their music is pretty awesome as well, I have one of their greatest hits albums but it's missing out on a few good songs. They were a fun type of band and I loved them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Rambler Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 Gotta love the monkees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostie Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Micky Dolenz's voice reminds me a lot of Shannon Hoon. Some great tunes indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsh327 Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 They had a HUGE impact on our culture , and I'm going to repeat some things already mentioned. Without Head - we prob. never would've heard of Jack Nicholson, and Easy Rider never would've been made. Every movie maker from that era says that Easy Rider is a point of reference for the tide change in filmmaking. Maybe Harry Nilsson never would've sang "Everybody's Talkin", had he not written a couple of Monkees songs. Maybe Coppola and Lucas wouldn't have been able to make THX-1138, which flopped, but followed up with smash successes. There's a lot of what ifs and maybes. A lot of new songwriters cut their teeth writing for them. Session musicians are a who's who. Most rock bands used session musicians. The prefab label is stupid when a lot of bands did the same thing. Yes, they were put together for a TV show, but they developed into a band that played their instruments. Michael Nesmith - one of the first to create the country rock genre, which Chris Hillman had also been doing at the same time. Add to that one of the developers of MTV, AND the way TV shows are made today - the Office/Arrested/Curb style of TV? He came up with that - Garry Shandling credited him. They kicked ass on Billboard. They promoted Zappa, Tim Buckley and Jimi Hendrix. 12th best selling album of all time, held the #1 spot for 31 consecutive weeks. And Wenner doesn't feel they're a "real band" so he's prevented them from being inducted, or there hasn't been enough of a push by committee members to include them in the Rock Hall. He came up with Rolling Stone magazine when The Monkees were at their peak, so maybe he just has some axe to grind all these years later, and doesn't have it in him to agree to it. He fought like hell to keep Genesis out but not when Peter Gabriel is critically acclaimed and prob. will get knighted for all the work he's done in entertainment as well as all the social activism he's been doing for decades. Even after the show was cancelled, and it was on one less season than Star Trek was, they continued to record and perform as a band. Yet bands like The Monkees created interest in picking up an instrument to play, and had a string of hits that put them right up with The Beatles for a while. ...AND David Jones had to change his name to David Bowie because of Davy. Would David Jones have been as successful as David Bowie? The only thing that was manufactured was the show itself. This was a hybrid of stage actors and musicians that started out being a TV show, but turned into a legit band. Prefab would mean they were using instruments as props and someone else would be singing the parts, and everyone is replaceable. So - what about studio bands that become a real band? What about all the people who recorded for Motown that were inducted? Before Stevie and Marvin challenged Berry's authority, most of the music that came out of Motown could be considered prefab, and if Mary Wells didn't want to do a song, Diana Ross could do it. Or if Smokey or Marvin turned a song down, there were plenty of others to sing it. Glee is kind of the descendent of the Monkees show but they all sing and I'm sure will be a springboard for CDs under their real names. But according to Wenner's warped logic, none of them are real singers, they're all prefab singers. But Tork and Nesmith fought hard to write and play on the first two or three albums. The Beach Boys and The Monkees used a lot of the same session musicians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uctalum01 Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 when they did that reunion (minus Mike) in the 80s and released then and now the best of the Monkees (which I had on vinyl! ) I was totally into them. MTV even aired a marathon of the show which I watched quite a bit of and I believe my mom taped most of it, if not all of it. lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsh327 Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 when they did that reunion (minus Mike) in the 80s and released then and now the best of the Monkees (which I had on vinyl! ) I was totally into them. MTV even aired a marathon of the show which I watched quite a bit of and I believe my mom taped most of it, if not all of it. lol.There's DVDs of the two seasons, plus Criterion just issued "Head" on Blu Ray, which is part of a bigger box set that includes "Five Easy Pieces" and "Easy Rider". I think it's pretty cool that their weird little film helped change the landscape of filmmaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelinrocksnexttognr Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I actually use to live near davey jones. When I was about 7 or 8. I didn't know who he was at the time. But he was a pretty cool guy n had drinks with my old man now and again.. but I know one time he got pissed cuz some asshole kept pestering him for an autograph. He just left. n I saw him almost get hit by some one driving badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostie Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Believe it or not, these guys are touring this summer, albeit without Mike again. Gonna say what the fuck and go see them in the Cities at the zoo of all ironic places. Real venue there, not some tent or some such shit. Actually kinda pumped! :xmasssanta: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raebbit Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I actually saw them in concert in the 80s. It was my first concert ever and I loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pico Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 YOURE READIN ALL THEM HIGH FASHION MAGAZINESTHE CLOTHES YOURE WEARIN GIRL THEYRE CAUSIN PUBLIC SCENESI SAID I I I I'M NOT YOUR STEPPING STONEthis is the hardest song known to man; sincere apologies to every band who formed after the monkees Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelinrocksnexttognr Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 @AgainstAllOdds.. yeah, I do. He had a nice decent sized house about 4 blocks away from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zint Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Believe it or not, these guys are touring this summer, albeit without Mike again. Gonna say what the fuck and go see them in the Cities at the zoo of all ironic places. Real venue there, not some tent or some such shit. Actually kinda pumped! :xmasssanta:I'm actually tempted to go see this tour... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Len B'stard Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 (edited) http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=circle+sky+monkees&aq=0&oq=circle+skyThis is why they can't do without Nesmith, they were so wasted on the fuckin teenyboppers. Edited June 12, 2011 by sugaraylen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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