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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Feb 29, 2012 14:19:34 GMT -5
We lost another good one. Davy Jones of the Monkees passed away after a heart attack.
RIP Davey and thanks for the memories.
Cheers!!
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Post by CentreHice on Feb 29, 2012 16:15:57 GMT -5
66. Too young.
Memories galore for me. I was 8 years old when the Monkees broke onto the scene....perfect target.
I have the first 5 studio albums and know every song inside and out. Yeah, it's as poppy and pre-Fab as you can get....but I was 8. And there are some damn good songs there.
-The Monkees
-More of the Monkees
-Headquarters (the only album they actually played on)
-Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones Ltd.
-The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees.
RIP Mr. Jones....
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Post by franko on Feb 29, 2012 16:36:31 GMT -5
weren't the Monkeys a "boy band" that were supposed to take on the Beatles?
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Post by CentreHice on Feb 29, 2012 17:02:19 GMT -5
I don't know if they were invented to take on the Beatles.....but certainly to join in the market. In fact, they were dubbed the Pre-Fab Four.
From Wikipedia.
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork, and Englishman Davy Jones. The band's music was initially supervised by producer Don Kirshner.
At the time of the group's formation, its producers saw The Monkees as a Beatles-like band. At the start, the band members provided vocals, but were given only limited performing and production opportunities. They eventually fought for and earned the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band's name. The group undertook several concert tours, allowing an opportunity to perform as a live band as well as on the TV series.
Their battle with Don Kirshner over control of the music is an interesting story. More in Wikipedia.
I mean, Kirshner was making hit record after hit record....but the boys wanted more control. IMO, they showed integrity in not wanting to be always known as just "acting" as a band.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Feb 29, 2012 19:33:31 GMT -5
From the same Wiki page, CH. Interesting Star Trek fact.
Notable Achievements
Had the top-charting American single of 1967 ("I'm a Believer"). (Billboard number-one for seven weeks) with "Daydream Believer" tied for third.
Gave the Jimi Hendrix Experience their first US concert appearances as an opening act in July 1967. Jimi Hendrix's heavy psychedelic guitar and sexual overtones did not go over well with the teenage girl audience. During one of the shows, Hendrix gave the audience the finger and quit the tour.
Gene Roddenberry was inspired to introduce the character of Chekov in his Star Trek TV series in response to the popularity of Davy Jones, complete with hairstyle and appearance mimicking that of Jones.
Introduced Tim Buckley to a national audience, via his appearance in the series finale, "The Frodis Caper" (aka "Mijacogeo").
Last music artist to win the MTV Friday Night Video Fights by defeating Bon Jovi 51% to 49%.
First music artist to win two Emmy Awards.
Had seven albums on the Billboard top 200 chart at the same time (six were re-issues during 1986/87).
The Monkees are one of the first artists achieving number-one hits in the United States and United Kingdom simultaneously.
More of The Monkees spent 70 weeks on the Billboard charts, becoming the 12th biggest selling album of all time.
Four number-one albums in a one-year span.
Held the number one spot on the Billboard album chart for 31 consecutive weeks, 37 weeks total.
Held the record for the longest stay at number one for a debut record album until 1982 when Men At Work's debut record album Business As Usual broke that record.
In 2008, The Monkees were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Between 1966 and 1970, The Monkees released 121 songs on 9 albums and 8 non-LP single
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Post by blny on Mar 1, 2012 17:45:36 GMT -5
More seriously, you can thank the likes of Neil Diamond for their standard classics. I think Dolenz was the only one that could play an instrument when the band was manufactured. Nesmith is living off the residules of his mother's invention: liquid paper.
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Post by CentreHice on Mar 1, 2012 18:31:33 GMT -5
I'm pretty defensive when it comes to the Monkees. Yes, a lot of great songwriters were enlisted. Neil Diamond, Carole King-Gerry Goffin, Tommy Boyce-Bobby Hart being the most prominent in my memory. Dolenz learned to play drums for the gig. And he was very elementary. He'd been a child actor, playing in Circus Boy. But the other guys were no slouches, musically. And they all could sing. Nesmith and Tork were already musicians. Jones had been in musicals...Oliver for one. Nesmith wrote a lot of songs for the Monkees' albums..... Mary Mary Tapioca Tundra Sunny Girlfriend Daily Nightly Papa Gene's Blues Writing Wrongs The Kind of Girl I Could Love Don't Call on Me You Told Me Magnolia Simms You Just May Be the One He maybe wrote more....but those are the ones I remember from my albums. He also wrote "Different Drum" which became a hit for Linda Ronstadt. I'm sure the Liquid Paper helps...but he did quite well on his own.  Don't know much about Tork, but he'd been playing in bands before the Monkees happened. Folkie stuff, I think. Not sure. EDIT: Just read that Nesmith's mother invented Liquid Paper in 1955, when Mike was 13. She sold the company to Gillette in 1980 for $48 million. Sadly, she died just a few months later at 56. |
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Post by Polarice on Mar 1, 2012 18:48:57 GMT -5
Funny, just a few days before he died they played Daydream Believer on the radio here. Took me back to the "good old days" lol.
RIP Davy!!
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Post by seventeen on Mar 2, 2012 1:53:52 GMT -5
I always watched that show. Loved the cheeky, goofy humour.
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Post by CentreHice on Mar 2, 2012 12:53:55 GMT -5
I always watched that show. Loved the cheeky, goofy humour. Yep...the creative impetus, from what I've read, was the Beatles' film "A Hard Day's Night". Imagine that....two producers watching that movie and thinking, "Hey...let's build a 4-man pop band for a crazy TV show. Not only that...we'll hire the best songwriters/producers to do the music...and use the show to sell the records!" It really was a stroke of genius. In the same realm as a toy company creating an animated series. It's really a series of 22-minute commercials. |
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Post by blny on Mar 2, 2012 15:47:34 GMT -5
My understanding is that the songs the Monkees wrote, and wanted on records didn't happen until after their dispute with the label. The label viewed them as an entertainment cash cow, not a 'band'. They did eventually get to release their songs though - to less fanfare.
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Post by CentreHice on Mar 2, 2012 16:37:56 GMT -5
My understanding is that the songs the Monkees wrote, and wanted on records didn't happen until after their dispute with the label. The label viewed them as an entertainment cash cow, not a 'band'. They did eventually get to release their songs though - to less fanfare. There's enough info on the net to dispel any misconceptions concerning the Monkees. It's well-documented. I happen to know a lot on the topic...because I was a ravenous fan as a kid, and therefore have been very interested in learning about them as an adult. I'm like that with Grand Funk Railroad, too. Incorrect re: their songs appearing on albums. The dispute with Kirshner happened after the second album, More of the Monkees. Nesmith had two songs on the first album....and two songs on the second one. They played almost every instrument (Chip Douglas played bass...and they had some horn players as well) on their third album, Headquarters, but didn't write all of the songs. The dispute also centred on doing the playing as well....as they really wanted to show they were musicians. On their fourth and fifth albums, Pisces, Aquarius... and The Birds, The Bees...., they actually went back to using studio musicians...ha!.....and again, didn't write all of the songs. Correct, though, that their own songs didn't do nearly as well as the hits. "Mary Mary" might be the most well-known of the bunch....and maybe "You Just May Be the One". Peter Tork co-wrote another familiar song, for those who watched the show....."For Pete's Sake" was played under the ending credits. From Headquarters. |
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Post by CentreHice on Mar 4, 2012 2:29:21 GMT -5
Nice read from Mitch Albom ( Tuesdays With Morrie). Davy Jones died.
I didn't think that was possible.
If there was ever a forever-young pop idol, Davy was it. Boyish-faced, long-haired, short, thin, British accent, always goofing around with the other Monkees, singing bubble-gum music and making little girls scream.
He was Justin Bieber before there was a Justin Bieber, or Justin Timberlake, or Ricky Martin, or New Edition, or New Kids on the Block, or even Michael Jackson and Donny Osmond.
And although he wasn't the first singer to make girls swoon -- the Beatles, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, the list goes way back -- he did personify a time when being a teen idol was a huge business, but still a relatively innocent one.
I looked up an old cover of Tiger Beat magazine from 1967. It was an entire edition devoted to Davy Jones. The cover boasted stories like: "Will He Marry?" "Are You His Type?" "What He's Like At Home ... On A Stage ... On A Date."
The stories themselves were equally gushing. There was no talk of drugs, arrests, DUIs or sex. Maybe they'd mention a first kiss -- in the same cooing tones reserved for a Prince Charming.
But stardom was different back then.
Snail mail vs. the Internet
For one thing, even a huge star like Davy Jones had limited exposure in your everyday life. There's a big difference between hanging a poster in your bedroom and tweeting, YouTubing and Googling your heartthrob's every minute. As massively popular as Jones was, you only saw him once a week on "The Monkees" TV show, or maybe an occasional interview somewhere.
Today, a Google search on "Justin Bieber" reveals 700 million results. That's one a day for the next 2 million years. You can hear Bieber talk, sing, tweet and opine, and view his photos, videos or nearly every article ever written about him with the simple tap of a computer button.
Doesn't that take the mystery out of it? I remember girls in our neighborhood writing letters to Davy Jones, then waiting for the mailman each afternoon. Sure enough, one day, an envelope would arrive with a signed photo inside, and the girls would rip it open and scream and then, if I recall correctly, pass out.
It was all sweet and innocent and over in its time, as pop infatuations should be.
'A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You'
Today, teens have a different relationship with fame. It envelops them. It is both entertainment and goal. Their stars are not just singers in pop bands, but reality show creations like the Kardashians and the "Jersey Shore" group. They make their own videos. They nurture their own legends on Facebook.
The most recent Teen Choice awards named "Bad Teacher" as favorite film (an R-rated movie, theoretically off-limits to many teens) and favorite TV comedy as "Glee" -- which, like "The Monkees," features a put-together group of singers, but, unlike "The Monkees," surrounds them with story lines of teenage pregnancies, teachers having romantic affairs and kids exploring all avenues of their sexuality.
In "The Monkees," Davy would get kidnapped in order to marry a princess.
But as I said, it was a different time, a time of tambourines and "Daydream Believer." Davy Jones didn't curse in his music, didn't get arrested, didn't beat up men or women, and -- in our minds, anyhow -- didn't grow old.
In real life, of course, he did. I saw a joke he told Britain's Daily Mail last year about his young wife, who apparently suggested to him one day that they run upstairs and make love. "I looked at her. 'At my age,' I said, 'it's going to have to be one or the other.' "
He died this past week, at 66, of a heart attack, which has its poignancy, given the palpitations he caused an entire generation of girls. I don't know why his passing saddens me as much as it does. I never mailed him a letter. Never waited for a signed photo. Maybe it's just that whole end of innocence thing. Or maybe that Jones, unlike so many big names today, seemed to really enjoy being a pop star while never acting as if it was a birthright.
I read that the first night he performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show," at age 18, he sang, "I'd Do Anything" from the Broadway hit, "Oliver!," in which he was appearing. That same night, another group gave its first Sullivan show performance: the Beatles.
Davy Jones watched in awe from backstage, seeing the girls go crazy. You wonder whether he knew he was seeing his future. |
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