Hey hey they’re not the Monkees
They look like the Monkees in that photo though
shareThat's because the Monkees were a cheap.imitation of the Beatles.
The Beatles were called "The Fab Four", and the Monkees were called "The Pre-fab Four". Meow!
The Monkees began as a fictional band that soon evolved into a real band. And they are one of my favourites.
shareI had their albums when I was a teen-ager. They had way more musical talent than they were given credit for.
A lot of their songs still hold up to this day. Most people think of "I'm a Believer" or "Last Train to Clarksville", but they had so many more great tunes.
Agreed! Songs like “Saturday’s Child” or “Mary Mary” are perfect pop/rock songs. Even their later psychedelic stuff showed they were willing to experiment.
shareCheck this out for pop/rock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxpuE-yMtZc
I really liked "I'm not your Steppin' Stone" best of all. Especially the way Dolenz gets all worked up in it. Such turmoil!
shareDolenz was a great singer, in the sense that he had a natural gift for sounding very comfortable. He didn't have to over-sing things to get the song across. I definitely appreciate what you are saying about getting worked up in Steppin' Stone, but he also sang most of the big hits without coming across like the leader of the band. I admire him so much for seeming like a regular guy while so many songs that feature him were huge hits, and the singing is smooth and assured.
I mean, Burton Cummings is assuredly a better singer, right? But he had to go the emotional leather-lungs route for people to take note. In contrast, Mickey was such a cool cat.
Yeah, did they even know how to play the instruments in the beginning?
shareTwo of them, Mike and Pete were musicians prior to joining the Monkees. Davy was a Broadway singer, and Micky a child actor who turned out to be the best singer of all. They became a legitimate band and not only used the top songwriters, but became great songwriters on their own...at least Mike did. It's a matter of Don Kirshner wouldn't let them play on their first album, so they fought for their right to play all the instruments themselves which they did on the later albums and on tour.
shareOn top of that, the whole enterprise - which the four guys had to be a part of - was created to commodify a product, i.e., make $$ off rock music. The producers had excellent studio musicians who could play rings around any youthful bands at the time. No one made or makes commercials or sit-coms based on the limitations of the actors. They made them act like something other than what they were, and created great music to sell the show.
I'm glad the four guys wanted to break out and be legit, despite the restraints they had to put up with at the beginning, and they succeeded very well in both guises.
Interesting.
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