-Mike Nesmith
-Peter Tork
-Davy Jones
-Micky Dolenz
The Monkees being in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame has been a debate for ages and ages. A lot of people have written petitions and spoken out about it but they are still not in. The reason for that is believed to be that most people view the Monkees as a "fake" band. Which you can argue they were, at least at the beginning.
The Monkees were created around a sitcom premise that they were a struggling band trying to be the Beatles. The show was a success both with audiences and critics, winning the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy in 1967. Along with that show success came musical success. Their first 4 albums reached #1 and their 5th reached #3. In terms of singles, 6 of their first 7 made the top 3 in the US charts and the one that didn't reached #2 in the UK.
But in time, the series wore down and so did the records. The show was canceled after 2 seasons and soon their music began to fall out, partially assisted by the movie Head, which is now a cult film, but poorly received at the time. They recorded up until 1971, eventually starting to write their own music.
Now if that was where the story ended, then I don't think there would be much of a case for them.
However....
In 1986, MTV And Nickelodeon began rerunning the Monkees TV show and all of the sudden, the Monkees were hot again with a brand new generation of children and perhaps some people with nostalgia. The Monkees, who had gone seperate ways for the most part, toured again and released a new single "That was Then and This is Now" which reached #20 on the charts.
Another interesting thing happened. The production company tried to do the whole thing over again with "The New Monkees" Never heard of it? There's a reason. It was gone in a blink of an eye. What it shows is that the Monkees themselves were not built in a mold. You just couldn't copy them over. It speaks to their individuality outside the machine. Ever since then the Monkees have been remembered very fondly by the public and by musicians in general. The thing that I find most interesting is that the Monkees gained respect from the very people that they were built to imitate in the first place; The Beatles. John Lennon famously told Mike Nesmith that the Monkees were the greatest comedy act since the Marx Brothers. And even Ringo had some fun with them.
Now the fan respect for the Monkees is all well and good but that still doesn't make them Hall-worthy even for me. So I have to look to the music. For the past two entries I have picked two songs that I believe makes them stand out. The two I have for the Monkees is a classic and new song. The classic is "Daydream Believer"
It was written by The Kingston Trio's John Stewart, who said it was supposed to be about suburban life and emergence from a haze of two lovers. From reading these past lists, you know that I like songs that have hidden meanings. Especially hidden behind glossy fronts. But in this case, the glossy front becomes a bit scratched if you listen to the chorus. You can hear a touch of melancholy in the voice of Davy Jones as he sings "Oh, what can it mean?" It is a brilliant touch and what propels this song above their others in my opinion.
Davy Jones passed away in 2012, which led to another little rise of interest in the Monkees. In 2016, the surviving members, including Nesmith, who most Monkee fans know is a bit aloof when it comes to the Monkees, recorded a new album called Good Times! to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Monkees. The album went to #14 on the charts and was critically lauded and raved. I picked this second song because it shows the craftsmanship of their musical talents in terms of what they can pull off. The song is called "Me and Magdalena"
It is a great harmonical piece by Nesmith and Dolenz, written for them by Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie. And it speaks to a simpler time in life. It sounds like it comes out of that time where the Monkees came from.
Now to the opposition. Clearly in the beginning they did not write their own songs, and still don't much. Who cares? Bernie Taupin's lyrics combined with Elton John's melodies brought him to stardom. People write for other musicians all the time. The other complaint is that they did not play instruments in the beginning. That I believe is true because the show was the primary outlet. But as time went on, they began to become confident with instruments and learned to write songs for themselves and play their own tunes. They became a proper band. Unfortunately, by the time they grew into it, the fad died out and they were done.
At least it seemed they were done, when in fact they were not. The fact that their legacy has lasted so long and they have become more and more respected over time and they have created good music to this day shows that they are a proper band and should qualify for the Rock and Roll HOF.
Next week, the final installment in this round of my nominees: Kool and the Gang
If you have ideas for nominees at a later date and if you want this to continue, please let me know in the comments or on my Facebook page
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