Community Chat

[JustJazzmom]

Dolenz knew how to play the guitar but was put on the drums and eventually did learn to play the drums (according to wikipedia).

Yes, it was at great protest to Kirschner that the Monkees finally got to play their own instruments on 2 of their initial 4 albums. I read at wiki that their 2nd album was not even played by them but they went in and did the vocals without the musicians there. That 2nd album, More of the Monkees was never handed to them either, they had to buy it at a record store to hear the final product.

The last two albums were with them playing their instruments-- Headquarters and Pieces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones LTD.

[JustJazzmom]

I happened to look at the songs on Headquarters and the song 'Shades of Gray' was written by the song writing team of Mann and Weil-- if anyone has seen the play Beautiful in NYC or on tour(?) this team was featured in the Carole King play.

ETA: The Monkees have never been nominated to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and many people feel they should be in there.

[CatsyCline]

i loved the Monkees especially the intro where they all walked together . as a kid i liked Mickey the best. Now i would go with Mike!

Mike Nesmith was so talented, he began recoring in 1963 and Screen GEms purchased some of his songs for the Monkees show

he wrote "Different Drum"  - Linda Ronstadt's hit with the Stone Poneys  and many other songs and film projects

Mike's mom invented typewriter -correction fluid (wite-out) called Liquid Paper in the mid-50s and launched Liquid Paper Corp

[Kalli]

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@ashleigh dupray wrote:

i loved the Monkees especially the intro where they all walked together . as a kid i liked Mickey the best. Now i would go with Mike!

Mike Nesmith was so talented, he began recoring in 1963 and Screen GEms purchased some of his songs for the Monkees show

he wrote "Different Drum"  - Linda Ronstadt's hit with the Stone Poneys  and many other songs and film projects

Mike's mom invented typewriter -correction fluid (wite-out) called Liquid Paper in the mid-50s and launched Liquid Paper Corp

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Wow!  Never knew that!  Very interesting.  

[esmeraldagooch]

My FIL was flying them somewhere in WA state in the 60's and they were at the airport my husband lived at.  It was his birthday and they came in for cake.

[BeckiWV]

I love the Monkees.  I was glued to the TV every week during their original run.  My best friend and I would spend hours reading teen magazines and listening to their records.

Peter Tork was always my favorite.  I loved Mike too.  My friend adored Mickey.  

When the Monkees re-runs surged on MTV during the late '80's, my daughters fell in love with them.  And so did I.  Again, LOL.  I have a boxed set of episodes and sometimes I watch them on youtube as well.

I have seen them in concert twice in Cincinnati.  Once was Peter, Mickey and Davy.  The second time was Peter, Mickey and Mike, after Davy passed away (so sad....).  

I wish I could have seen all four at the same time but at least I got to see them all.  

Both concerts were excellent, just excellent.  The voices were still there and magnificent, and they did indeed play their instruments.  They are very talented muscians and singers (as someone else said, Peter and Mike always were musicians, Mickey learned to play the drums).  They also had a couple of backing muscians on stage, which is not unusual to get that fuller sound for a large venue.  

Anyway, I loved them and adored them.  A big part of my early teenage years and I still love them.  

edited to add info re: concerts - yes, they did play and sing their own songs

[DowntonAbbey]

Hello, so they were not singing those songs on the show?  Were they not a real band that traveled around?

[DowntonAbbey]

I can still laugh at the old shows, I love Lucy, That Girl, The Monkees, enjoy them still and I hope that I can always laugh..so much sorrow in the world.

[LyndaGee]

They showed "The Monkees" reruns on MTV in the '80s, too.  They were still touring then.  My aunt took us to see them in concert, and when they made their entrance, my little cousin said:"WHO are those old guys?"  He didn't realize the show was made in the '60s !!!

[chickenbutt]

I was another 'Peter girl'.  He was just kind of cute and sweet.  I liked that.  Nothing against the cutie Davy of course, or Mike or Mickey.  But Peter was my first Monkees crush.

I remember when there was this huge 'Monkees vs Beatles' thing.  I always thought that was odd, as they were night and day in most every way.  But, while I liked the Beatles just fine, I was on 'Team Monkees'.  

I wish I had seen them live.   I was terribly saddened when Davy Jones died way too young.