Listen to the Band

My old videotape of a handful of Monkees TV show 

episodes... though I don't watch VHS anymore, this is

still a cool-looking little collectible. And a fine-looking

postcard pic of the band. 

Hey, hey, I've got some Monkees stuff here... I was recently digging through my closet, shelves and drawers (not the kind you wear) and found some fun old Monkees stuff I picked up years ago. First, there is the old VHS tape that I bought from Columbia House Record, CD and Video Club back in the 90's. There are a few episodes of the Monkees TV show from the 60's on there, which I enjoyed revisiting after a couple of decades of missing that classic musical comedy program. Silly and creative, the show pre-dated the music videos that ruled the tele-universe in the 80's and beyond. Sure, the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night movie was the first to really venture into this experimental medium, but the Monkees took it to the next level.

The U.S. sit-com was irreverent and imaginative with it's blend of stories, sketch comedy, and musical performances. The show ran from 1966-68, just two TV seasons, but won two Emmy Awards and paved the way to the MTV generation with its innovative film techniques. And it played in heavy syndication for many years later.

The Monkees program was inspired by A Hard Day's Night, and though only three of the four young lads chosen after auditions had even a little previous musical experience, the quartet, after initially providing only vocals to instrumentation by studio musicians, honed their skills so that they truly became a performing band in their own right. The TV show was run with a tight rein over the boys' input, and their early record releases allowed little more from them. But once the Monkees felt confident writing and playing their own music, they put their foot down about recording only themselves onto their albums. 

Apparently many sets and props from the Three Stooges short films were used in the Monkees episodes. Coolest fact ever!

Micky Dolenz, the drummer and vocalist, was always my favourite Monkee. His wacky sense of humour always got me laughing, while the rest of the gang sort of mugged their way along as best they could. And Mickey's singing style, usually light-hearted and fun, really punched up terrific songs like Goin' Down, I'm a Believer, Steppin' Stone, and She. Vocalist and tambourine man Davy Jones was marketed as the "dreamboat" for the girls in the audience, while Peter Tork on bass and keyboards was the naive one, and guitarist Michael Nesmith (wearing the knit cap) was the smart and serious guy - and seemed to be the leader of the band.

A mint condition Monkees jigsaw puzzle

that I've hung onto for many years. Never 

even opened, let alone assembled.

The Monkees were one of my favourite bands (second to only The Beatles) for many years, and they still remain among my all-time faves. Great, timeless pop music, much of it written by top songwriters of the era, like Boyce and Hart, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, Gerry Goffin, and Carole King. 

And The Monkees TV show was something else altogether... a visually and overall stylistically unique creation that had more ambition and experimentation than anything else in the glut of formulaic comedy programming of the 60's. Watching it today, my only real gripe is the over-use of laugh track, which I find really grating at the best of times. Just let me watch and enjoy, and I'll decide when to laugh, instead of listening to that canned roar after nearly every line of dialogue (even the unfunny ones). 

I don't think I was mentally prepared when I saw the Monkees' movie Head some years ago. It seemed to be a very disjointed mish-mash of stuff that I couldn't really get into, but I think it's high time I gave the film another chance. I might appreciate it more nowadays. Might.