The Monkees, an American pop/rock band manufactured for a television series designed to capitalize on the blockbuster 1965 Beatles film Help!, unwittingly outstripped that TV show in popularity with their music. Don Kirschner, who was in charge of the recording process, employed songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to pen their songs while professional musicians came in to provide the instrumentation. Two of the Monkees...Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones...were just professional actors, but the other two...Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork...were musicians in their own right. It was Nesmith who began to demand that the Monkees themselves provide the music and not just the vocals, causing controversy as well as Kirschner angrily leaving his job after only the second album. As it turned out, their music continued to be good and they produced a phenomenal SIX studio albums in a little more than two years, two of them after the television series was cancelled in early 1968 after just two seasons and 107 episodes...
The Monkees were wildly popular, outselling the Beatles during their "glory" days in 1967. But the Fab Four weren't upset: they supported the Monkees and praised them, wondering how they could combine their arduous acting routine for the series with recording, promotional appearances...and even concert tours. And I wonder, too...could it be that all those highbrows who put down this very likeable group were wrong and there was a lot more to the Monkees than suspected? All I know is that, in the winter, spring, and summer of 1967 I was a diehard fan, watching their show, listening to their music, and even collecting their bubblegum cards (let me insert here that I was ten years old)...
At the end of 1968, the movie Head came out, which was a very cynical look at the Monkees...I didn't like it at all. But the soundtrack album...that's an entirely different matter, with it being their crowning achievement (Tork and Nesmith were fantastic). Following Head, Peter Tork left the group, they made two more albums, and then Michael Nesmith left. They disbanded in 1970, but every decade or so since they've reunited, made a new album, and toured. But I'm not at all a fan of their later works, and I'm sad that Davy Jones passed away five years ago...
Below is a list of my thirty favorite Monkees songs...you really should check them out...
1 PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY.....Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
2 SOMETIME IN THE MORNING.....More of the Monkees (1967)
3 CIRCLE SKY....................................Head (1968)
4 DAYDREAM BELIEVER................The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
5 THE PORPOISE SONG....................Head (1968)
6 CAN YOU DIG IT.............................Head (1968)
7 LOOK OUT (HERE COMES TOMORROW)....More of the Monkees (1967)
8 SATURDAY'S CHILD.......................The Monkees (1966)
9 TAKE A GIANT STEP.......................The Monkees (1966)
10 A LITTLE BIT ME, A LITTLE BIT YOU......Single (1967)
11 YOU JUST MIGHT BE THE ONE.....Headquarters (1967)
12 THE GIRL THAT I KNEW SOMEWHERE....B-Side of #10 Single (1967)
13 WRITING WRONGS........................The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
14 THE DOOR INTO SUMMER...........Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
15 FOR PETE'S SAKE...........................Headquarters (1967)
16 I'M A BELIEVER..............................More of the Monkees (1967)
17 DADDY'S SONG..............................Head (1968)
18 SHADES OF GRAY..........................Headquarters (1967)
19 VALLERI...........................................The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
20 SHE....................................................More of the Monkees (1967).
21 LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE.......The Monkees (1966)
22 (I'M NOT YOUR) STEPPIN' STONE.....More of the Monkees (1967)
23 MONKEE'S THEME...........................The Monkees (1966)
24 WORDS..............................................Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
25 LOVE IS ONLY SLEEPING..............Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones (1967)
26 AUNTIE'S MUNICIPAL COURT......The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
27 I WON'T BE THE SAME WITHOUT HER......Instant Replay (1969)
28 EARLY MORNING BLUES AND GREENS.....Headquarters (1967)
29 I'LL BE BACK UPON MY FEET.......The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
30 GONNA BUY ME A DOG.................The Monkees (1966)
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