One of my favorite bands from the ’60’s is The Monkees, and I hate it when people say, “They weren’t a real band.”
Granted in the beginning, they really weren’t. They were four guys who auditioned for the TV show and they were thrown together by a TV studio to be, The Monkees. The TV show was hilarious and their first two albums produced two number one hits. On those two albums, only Mike Nesmith played a little guitar and wrote a few songs that appeared on the albums. Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones sang most of the songs with Nesmith handling lead vocals on the tunes he wrote.
However, when the band started touring, all four of them played their own instruments and sang. This is when they became a real band and it’s is when they demanded control over their music and what songs they would record.
Their third album, Headquarters was released in May of 1967 and all of the music and vocals are played and sung by the four Monkees. Nesmith, Dolenz and Tork all wrote songs that appeared on the album. The producer, Chip Douglas played some bass on the album, but outside of him and a French Horn player, it’s all The Monkees and it’s a great album!
After that, they started utilizing session musicians again, but all four continued to play musical instruments on the songs, particularly Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork.
Today is Mickey Dolenz’s birthday, so in honor of that, I’m putting up links to online articles about The Monkees and a video of their original screen tests for the TV show. And then there’s the MBIP Coming Attractions for next week.
The Story Of The Monkees - This is a great article that details the history of The Monkees.
The Monkees’ Tragic Real-Life Story - I had no idea about some of these tragic Monkees happenings in their lives.
11 Things You Might Not Know About The Monkees - Some interesting Monkees factoids here.
Top Ten ‘The Monkees’ TV Episodes - I need to search these out on YouTube!
The Monkees Complete Discography - This is a great discography that not only lists every album, it’s got a clickable link to each LP for credits and reviews of the albums.
On this day in 1968: “The Monkees” TV series concludes - The last show was the beginning of the end of The Monkees.
The Monkees Tried To Cut Their Strings With ‘Head’ - And their movie “Head” was pretty much the end of the end. After that, Peter Tork quit, then Mike Nesmith and soon it was no more Monkee business until they reunited in the ’80’s.
The Original Monkees Screen Tests - Here’s the original screen tests that got them on the air. There’s silence in the beginning, but the audio kicks in after about a half a minute.
Monday: It’s a double post on Monday as I was a guest at my friend’s Kevin and Star’s supper club at Jim’s Steak House and then checked out a new club on Farmington Road, Luxxx Showgirls!
Tuesday: We continue the Mexican food tour and MBIP pal and Wheelman, Scott Turley is driving me to Pekin for a Mexican meal. I forget the name of the restaurant, so tune in Tuesday to see where we end up at!
Wednesday: I’ll be taking Wednesday off to work on the upcoming Marty Monologues show and I’m also working on a YouTube show. Yeah, just what I need, another project!
Thursday: I’m going to be busy working on the aforementioned Marty Monologues and the YouTube show, but I’ve got something to take the place of Thursday Minute Marty Meals when I’ve got a lot going on but still want to post something. This is going to be another food segment called, “Marty’s White Trash Meals.” It’ll be quick and tasty. This week’s meal is called, “Lunch In A Goddamned Cup.”
Friday: I’m going to continue eating the McDonald’s Menu, woo and hoo.
Saturday: I’ll be spotlighting another Sandwich of Peoria, I think since spring is right around the corner, it might be a sandwich from Emo’s!
Okay, Scott will be here soon, so I have to get ready to roll! Have a happy and snappy Sunday and we’ll see you all tomorrow!
Related Posts: Sunday Links: Hot Ones, Easy Rider and Sonny and Cher.