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I have to laugh- an old post of mine is regaining sudden traction, despite the fact I literally haven't used this blog in years. lmaaooooo
that being said: go follow my main @flashbcaks if you wanna see what I'm up to these days...
been forever since I've used this blog, but I might convert it into my art blog......
‘WWF Royal Rumble’, a distant era of wrestling titles on the Super Nintendo. This was the cover artwork for the game.
If you’re looking for more content, feel free to follow my main: @flashbcaks
the interview just OPENS with this and it completely fucking blindsided me
By Robert Pollard
all the young dudes
Adam and the Ants- Antmusic (December 1980)
Directed by Steve Barron
I’ve been reading the book “I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video” and been meaning to blog about it on Tumblr, because it’s a fascinating read. I’ve learned so much about the directors that pioneered the art-form of the music video.
“Antmusic” was Steve Barron’s first ever video. It was made a full year before MTV was even on air. Steve went on to shoot legendary videos like “Don’t You Want Me Baby” by the Human League (the first music video ever shot on 35mm film), and eventually made the iconic “Billie Jean” video with Michael Jackson.
He was interviewed about this video by the BBC recently and I thought he had some interesting things to say about working with Adam.
This was his first video and it was also a turning point in my career.
The actual concept - one of the few times - came from the artist.
This was a guy who was out of art college and he had strong graphic ideas like the giant plug unplugging a jukebox.
Adam really helped pull the image side of videos up a couple of notches.
After Adam, with new bands, record companies said: “Well, you’ve got to be handsome and extreme and out there and completely different.”
And Duran Duran and all that kind of thing came out of that.
I think he deserves a lot more credit as an artist for the shake-up he helped cause in the early 80s.
With Antmusic, we also shot down an alleyway on Arlington Road where all the bums live in Camden Town.
Some of them were transported to a different time seeing Adam and his band out there looking like they were from another era.
There was a fair amount of abuse came flying and, I think, a few empty bottles were hurled.
Michael Jackson was extremely competitive and always paid attention to what was trending in pop music at any given time, and I read that he specifically requested Steve to direct “Billie Jean” after seeing the video for “Don’t You Want Me.” Also around this time, MJ called Adam Ant on the phone and asked him where he got his military jacket, which as we all know, became a part of his iconography and visual identity throughout his career. MJ in turn is probably responsible for Adam Ant’s bizarre inclusion in the Motown 25 special where MJ debuted the moonwalk for the first time.
My mini-reviews of The Monkees
The Chaperone
Season 1, episode 9
Episode in a nutshell:
The girl Davy fancies (Leslie) can only attend a party thrown by the Monkees if they have a chaperone, so Micky dons a dress and wig to become ‘Mrs Arcadian’. It’s all good in the hood until Leslie’s dad develops a bit of a thing for Micky Mrs Arcadian, AS YOU DO.
My views:
Okay let me start by saying THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE EPISODES EVER!!! And it’s one of the episodes I’ve watched the most because jahdjfhjahjad. It’s Micky. Micky in DRAG. And it’s just amazing. AMAZING.
Okay first up I think it’s so cute the way Micky, Mike and Peter try so hard to get Davy close to the girl he digs. Like they’re such good friends/wingmen, it’s so cute. And almost right away we get a classic romp to This Just Doesn’t Seem To Be My Day when the boys are getting ready for the party, including Mike trying to open a bag of pretzels with a hammer and Micky riding into the pad on a unicycle with two gigantic bags of popcorn, and then crashing in a pile on the floor (I actually have a gif of this saved on my phone, lolz). OH and Micky whizzing down the banister (does this boy have nine lives or something??) and crashing his face into the cake that Mike is holding - AMAZING.
I love it when Mr Babbit turns up and the way Mike says; “Well Mr Babbit, we’re having a party tonight, and what we needed is a chaperone” and the way he crosses his fingers is so cute, oh my lord. But Babbit is mean and wants to charge the boys for his time, which the boys can’t afford. Like who would ask to be paid?? I would pay to party and hang out with them!
Right so after Babbit is a let-down the boys ask their cleaning lady Mrs Wheevers to help them out, but she is blates a raging alcoholic and ends up passing out before Leslie and her dad (General Vandenberg) even rock up. BUT FEAR NOT.
Davy and Mike rush downstairs (Peter is already down there) after there’s a knock at the door, and it just so happens to be Vandenberg dropping off Leslie and her friend. So the boys are thinking it’s game over, poor Davy is thinking he’s blown his chance at getting his leg over getting close to Leslie, but OH NO. DON’T LOSE FAITH JUST YET, BOYS.
So then who saves the day??? MICKY. MICKY IN A PURPLE SPARKLY DRESS AND BLONDE WIG. He walks down the stairs and everyone’s jaws drop, not because “oh here’s this dude in drag” but because “DAMN who’s that fine looking lady??” Like even the other Monkees are clearly stunned by how foxy Micky looks (Mike especially looks FLOORED).
So Micky wastes no time in doing what he does best and FLIRTING;
“Good evening General Vandenberg, how nice of you to come.”
MICKY you really don’t need to flirt with everyone!!!!!!!!! Someone get this boy a leash, OH MY LORD. And because Vandenberg has a pulse, he obviously thinks Micky looks amazing and is instantly smitten by him.
THIS IS WHEN it all starts getting seriously fun!! Obviously Vandenberg wants to try his luck with Micky (who Mike has introduced as ‘Mrs Arcadian’ (is that the name he uses for Micky during their role-playing sessions, I wonder…??)) so he decides to stick around at the party, which wasn’t what poor Mick was expecting.
Micky: “I thought he’d see the chaperone and leave.” Mike: “Ohh so he stays a few minutes, he’ll be gone in a minute.” Micky: “A few minutes?! Man, he’s trying to get serious!” Davy: “Micky, will you calm down? He’ll be gone in a minute.” Micky: “Calm down? How can I calm down?” Davy: “He’ll be gone any minute!” *Micky goes to walk off* Davy: “Hey Micky? You’re lovely.” #quality banter
No really, watch Mike’s eyes as he watches Micky walk away. Damn.
Let’s just talk about what a good friend Micky is for a moment. The boys could’ve carried on having a party without a chaperone; the only reason they needed a chaperone in the first place was to keep one girl’s dad happy. The party could’ve gone on without her. But because this girl just so happens to be one that Davy likes, Micky decided to take one for the team and don a dress and wig. And not only that, but he keeps up the act. Like he said; he assumed Vandenberg would see the chaperone and leave. But even after Micky has to put up with unwelcome advances all night, he still keeps up the act because he knows how gutted Davy will be if their scheme gets busted and Leslie has to leave. I mean let’s be honest; it’s fairly obvious Micky has no beef with wearing that dress (and although the wig clearly irritates him, he probably has no major problem with wearing that either) because he’s Micky and it’s no stretch AT ALL to believe that Micky digs dressing in drag. But dealing with some old bloke trying it on? That’s another kettle of fish, and even though Micky almost loses his cool about it a couple of times, he doesn’t blow his cover and reveal he’s just a young MAN, which would obviously (I guess..?) put an end to Vandenberg’s advances right away. But Micky doesn’t do that because he’s a great mate and doesn’t want to blow things for Davy. If that ain’t friendship I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS.
So the only part of this episode that raises serious ???? is the Take a Giant Step performance, because it appears that Micky is both Micky - playing the drums and singing the song and looking like an angel - AND Mrs Arcadian at the same time. Now my theory is 'Mrs Arcadian’ went to the loo or something, Micky ditched the dress/wig, and then performed the song. The footage of Mrs Arcadian boogying away to the tune I like to think happened earlier in the evening, and as soon as Micky’s vocals ended he legged it and got back into character again. Either that or, you know, MONKEE MAGIC.
Instead of filling this up with quotes, here’s another of my favourite Micky-almost-losing-it moments that I screen-capped. My fave part of this scene is actually when Micky is like “oh here he comes” and then runs off into a different room (I’m not sure which room? The downstairs bedroom? The bathroom?) and the look he gives those girls hanging outside the door before he opens it makes me laugh too much, oh my goodness.
BUT THEN MR BABBIT TURNS UP and does he recognise that Mrs Arcadian is in fact one of his young tenants in drag? DOES HE HECK.
Mr Babbit: “If I knew you were coming I would’ve paid them.” OH MY LORD Micky look at the affect you have on people!!!
So it’s not long after Babbit arrives (and leaves again) that it all goes wrong and Vandenberg overhears Davy telling Leslie that Mrs Arcadian is in fact Micky. Then he gets everyone to march out of the Pad (as you do?) and SPANKS MICKY (!!!!) and then tells them that Mrs Arcadian has just consented to being his wife!!! And instead of Micky being like “WHAAAT?!”, although he shows some intitial surprise Micky genuinely seems tempted by the proposal after Vandenberg says that they’ll honeymoon in Madrid before flying on to Venice and then he has that little moment of imagining himself laying back in a boat fanning himself…
gif by revychumso <3
…but then Vandenberg reveals he knows the truth, whips off Micky’s wig and the game is up. Then comes probably the best bit of the episode which is when Micky and Mike, for NO REASON WHATSOEVER, stand ridiculously close and look like they’re about to kiss???? Like there is no reason why ANYONE would ever need to be that close unless they were about to have a make-out session, but there they are, literally standing nose to nose, and Peter is there smirking like he’s egging them on, as if before the take he’d challenged them to close the couple of inches between their faces and kiss. It is so random and ???? and I think it’s beautiful. They’re gazing into each other’s eyes as well which almost makes me feel like we’re invading some kind of private time and we should all scarper and leave them to it!
But then Micky snaps out of his moment with Mike and delivers this classic line;
Micky: “There’s only one thing that bothers me though.” Mike: “What?” Micky: “Do I gotta give back the ring?”
Well it’s good to see you can’t be bought, Micky.
So the episode basically wraps up with Davy out with Leslie, although instead of a chaperone her father has now given her a gigantic guard dog which is legit the same size as her and Davy. Then we have Micky and Mike out with a couple of chicks from the party, and then Peter swings in as Tarzan and…bless him.
So the moral of the story is, once again, that it’s the boys’ desperation and the lengths they’re willing to go to that end up getting them what they want, as opposed to how they actually go about it. General Vandenberg said, when confronted by his daughter, that all Davy needed to do was just say that he wanted to date Leslie, instead of having all that palaver with the party and Mrs Arcadian. This is similar to Success Story, when it wasn’t the Monkees stunts that got Davy to stay, but their clear desperation, determination, and extreme levels they were willing to go to that got Davy’s grandad to change his mind - basically by all their crazy antics they proved how much they loved Davy and that their hearts were in the right place. So it’s the motive behind the Monkees crazy solutions to problems, as opposed to the 'solutions’ themselves, that ultimately wins the deal in the end.
I honestly love more or less everything about this episode. It’s fun, easy to follow, dumb, cute, funny, sexy (what? it is!!), has a few great songs/romps, and is just overall a BLAST. And this honestly isn’t because it’s kinda Micky-central and Micky is my fave. It’s just a quality episode. But it’s no lie that none of the other boys could pull off Mrs Arcadian, and that’s a FACT. So now I’m going to delve in a little deeper as to why Micky was perfect in the role.
Obviously Davy was never going to play Mrs Arcadian, because he was the one who really needed the chaperone in the first place - so he could get close to Leslie. Could Davy have pulled off that frock and wig? No. No he couldn’t. We do see Davy in a drag role later on, but he’s certainly not even close to being as realistic as Micky was in this episode. Davy may have the height of a woman, but he’s also a lot more masculine facially. Yeah, he has a cute baby face, but it’s also quite manly.
Next up there’s Peter. Just no, no, no. We see Peter in drag only once, and it’s quite clear that’s not his bag. Pretty sure Real!Peter wouldn’t be into it either. And again, Peter doesn’t have the look or the character to pull off a dress and wig like Micky wore here. The character of Peter wouldn’t be able to sell it either.
So that leaves Mike. Now, we know from Fairy Tale that, which the right make-up and the right wig, Mike actually looks really seriously good as a woman. Like, it’s almost frightening because he’s very tall and also the most masculine looking of all the Monkees, so by rights Mike in drag shouldn’t work at all: BUT IT DOES. IT REALLY DOES. HOWEVER. Real!Mike was playing Princess Gwen. In this episode, it would’ve been Show!Mike playing Mrs Arcadian, and I really don’t think that would’ve worked at all. He’s not the right character. Again, he wouldn’t have been able to sell it the way Micky does; he doesn’t have the confidence or flamboyance. Mike is the mind, the brains - Micky is the action.
Which leads me onto the fact that there was only one Monkee that could’ve played this role in this way, and that was Micky. Both Real!Micky (who clearly loves dressing in drag for no apparent reason, as we’ve seen a few times in the past) and Show!Micky have what it takes to really become this character and sell it. It’s not just a looks thing; sure, Micky is by far the most feminine looking Monkee, and if he was in a better-suited wig and had full make-up like Mike did as Gwen, then damn… he really would’ve rocked it hardcore. He has a very soft and gentle face. His height is only a minor issue; there are loads of seriously tall women out there, and he’s skinny enough to get away with it. But no, it’s not just the looks - it’s the balls. Micky is gutsy and confident and naturally sassy and flirty - both Real! and Show! Mickys. He just has what it takes. And it’s also totally believable that he would pull a stunt like that as well, so everything about Micky slipping on that purple sparkly dress just WORKS.
…but the fact that he did it for a mate just makes it all the more awesome and in my eyes gives Micky about 100000 bro points.
Things I like about this episode:
Most of the female characters in The Monkees are annoying, but I actually think Leslie is quite cool and also a bit of a babe. Her and Davy would make a well cute couple. Look how tiny they both are! ADORABLE.
“I’ll be back later. Tell your mother I like roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.” Smooth, Davy.
Micky’s “it’s cute.”
“What TV show was she watching?” “Ours I hope.” #qualityfourthwallbreak
Davy trying to sell old magazines!!
'General Micky’
The This Just Doesn’t Seem To Be My Day romp adhjahjajfjs this is one of my faves, there are so many great moments within this romp!!
Micky literally climbing the walls in the romp. That boy is mad (and also seriously strong!)
Also during the romp: Davy jumping on the back of Peter’s motorbike.
“Mrs Wheevers, wake up, come on, please!….She’s stoned.”
The Monkees’ reaction to seeing Micky as Mrs Arcadian for the first time - what a beautiful moment!!!
The way Micky keeps blowing the wig out of his eyes
That girl in the green dress during the Take a Giant Step performance is having none of Tarzan’s shit, haha.
“He’s getting fresh” lmaoooo
The way Babbit tells Mrs Arcadian he would kick the Monkees out of the pad so she could live there instead, OMG.
PETER’S DANCING
The chick dancing by the jukebox has the grooviest trousers I’ve ever seen, wow.
Mike’s salute when Vandenberg approaches the boys after kicking everyone out of the Pad hjahfjajaklkdd rofl.
Vandenberg SPANKS MICKY there’s no denying that’s what he does he SPANKS HIM and MICKY DOESN’T EVEN FLINCH WHAT THE HELLLLLL I love this show so much I’m literally LOL'ing
I’m still laughing omg
Micky being totally into the idea of marrying a much older man just so he can be spoilt and taken to Venice. Micky do you have no shame whatsoever??!??
I’m still laughing about Micky getting spanked by an old man and not giving a shit, what even are you Micky.
Micky’s face when Vandenberg whips his wig off.
I love that Leslie gives her father a bollocking. “Look at what you made these boys go through just because Davy wanted to date me!” yeah you go girlfriend.
When Mr Babbit appears again: “I went back to my apartment but I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t get you out of my mind… Did you dye your hair?”
Micky telling Babbit to “get out of here” and Babbit being totally freaked out.
The way Vandenberg continues to stroke Micky’s wig (that he’s now holding) as he walks away is a little creepy, I’m not going to lie. God only knows where that wig ends up.
I think the reason Mike and Micky get so freakishly close to each other at the end there is it’s Micky’s silent way of telling Mike that he’s the only man for him. #reallove
Micky asking if he’s gotta give the ring back proves he was only happy to be with Vandenberg for the money, DON’T WORRY MIKE.
Davy hiding up the tree at the end!!!!
Peter as Tarzan, bless him. This is basically the only thing he does in this episode. :(
The You Just May Be The One romp/performance at the end. I will forever love the boys in their orange wetsuits.
Things I dislike about this episode:
During Take A Giant Step that old dear is looking through the telescope and there’s stock footage of like elephants and stuff?? Why???? I don’t like any of the stock footage EVER but this episode is so full of quality that I especially don’t see why it was needed in this case??
Nothing. There’s literally nothing else to dislike.
Choice quotes:
Leslie: “Mrs Arcadian sounds like a really strange woman.” Davy: “She ought to be; she’s my room mate Micky.” Vandenberg: “We’ll honeymoon in Madrid before flying onto Venice…” Davy: “Micky, will you please tell him?” Mrs Arcadian: “Did you say Venice?” Davy: “Micky!” Mike: “General Vandenberg, look, uh, you don’t understand, I uh, uh– Micky, will you please explain to him and get off the Venice thing?” Davy: “Micky!”
Shirtless shots and other gay content in the music and tv appearances of Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz of "The Monkees"
So…this is a rather interesting article about the gay-overtoned content in The Monkees television show, at least from the perspective of this writer. It’s kind of hilarious/slightly off-base at times, but a whole lot of this is stuff we at NP have noticed in the show, too. Here’s a few favorite excerpts:
“One of my first crushes was on Davy Jones, singer for the pre-fab boy band The Monkees. In fact, the first album I ever bought (or rather, asked Mom and Dad for) was The Monkees (1966), because it showed Davy Jones seated in the foreground, dirty from working outdoors, with Peter Tork’s arm around him. I figured they were boyfriends.”
This is especially amusing given Peter’s completely un-subtle man-crush on Davy. Next:
“The TV series (1966-68, then on Saturday morning 1968-70) seemed to concur. The nonsensical plots, filled with blackout gags, self-referential humor, and spoofs of every movie cliché from superheroes to Westerns, were surprisingly gay-friendly. And shirtless shots were quite common. Although Micky Dolenz was ostensibly the leader of the group, Davy Jones, only 5’3”, with dark eyes and a sensual pout, quickly became the standout star. He was prominently displayed on every album cover, and almost every episode required him to wear a swimsuit or revealing prizefighter’s trunks, or get his clothes ripped off by fans, or otherwise display his slight but firm physique.”
…All very good points. Next:
“Many minor characters were gay-vague, such as the flamboyant Sir Twiggly Toppin Middle Bottom (Bernard Fox) and beach movie star Frankie Catalina (Bobby Sherman), who hates the beach and is “allergic to girls” (i.e., gay).”
Top…Bottom…Good lord, why didn’t we see it before? And finally, the best is saved for last:
“And the Monkees themselves obviously preferred buddy-bonding over girl-chasing. I couldn’t wait to see their constant caressing of faces, hands, and chests, their cuddling together, their panicked hugging in moments of danger. Regardless of what the actors thought they were conveying, for gay kids they produced a powerful evocation of same-sex love.”
So there we have it! What do you folks think?
This is so interesting, especially because it seems to be written by someone who isn’t influenced by the fandom (I may be wrong, but the fact there’s no references to slash fanfiction etc. makes me think this person wasn’t swayed in any way) and it’s all so, so true.
I found this person’s perception of Micky interesting;
Micky is the one that I figured liked boys, not girls. My evidence: the voice-over introduction to “Monkees on the Wheel” (December 1967) notes that Las Vegas is the; “Pleasure capital of the world, where each man seeks the things he loves most. [Shot of Peter following a girl.] The things he loves most. [Shot of Mike following a girl.] The things he loves most.[Shot of Davy following a girl.]“ And then the story begins. Why is Micky omitted? Because the joke has run its course, or because girls are not the things he loves most?
Also, in “Monkees Mind their Manors” (February 1968), the group travels to England. At the airport, the boys realize that the customs agent is being portrayed by Jack Williams, the show’s prop master, but Williams protests that he is actually a famous singer. Then he sings the Dean Martin standby “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime”, and Micky, overcome with passion, leaps into his arms.
I’d actually never picked up on that before! Maybe it being so well-documented how “girl crazy” Micky was in real life made us miss things like that? But at the same time, Micky was probably the most typically “gay” of all of them, on the show at least. He was often very dramatic, OTT, and could be rather camp. I suppose, from an outsiders POV, if any of the guys were to be gay, people would probably suspect it was Micky (not to mention his and Mike’s innability to keep a normal distance between each other).
But this is such a great little read! It definitely highlights one of The Monkees main charms (and yet someone manages to leave out the most gay moment of all; when they strip each other’s clothes off, and not to mention when Mike and Micky stand nose-to-nose for literally no reason and look like they’re about to kiss) I LOVE IT.
I love giggling Davy! :-)
Mike and Davy in action on the 1967 tour!
Things that were happening while "The Day We Fall in Love" was being recorded:
Davy: *is singing the song with a fake blue sky/white clouds background hanging behind him and a wind machine blowing his hair*
Micky: *is banging the girl that Davy is singing to*
Peter: *is quietly sobbing because he wants to be the girl that Micky is banging*
Mike: *is flipping Don Kirshner the bird and setting the recording studio on fire*
Don Kirshner: *is patting himself on the back for selecting yet another hit song*
Good Taste: *is lying dead on the floor with a bag over its head*
Hey now, wait a minute...
Hello, Tumblrers! We hope that you’re all having a wonderful weekend, wherever you are. A situation, of sorts, has recently arisen in the Monkees fandom, and so we’d like to take just a moment to address this matter.
As some of you may have noticed, someone here on Tumblr (beatlesbabe1994) has recently made claims of interviewing Peter Tork on multiple occasions, the most recent of which being this past week (she also had claimed to interview Ringo Starr). Excerpts from a prior “interview” with Peter were posted on her Tumblr, and multiple posts were made in the Monkees tags soliciting questions from fans for a second, “follow up” interview with Peter. Further, this person stated that said interview would be posted on the Facebook fan group known as Totally Tork, of which she (beatlesbabe) had been made an administrator.
Well, over the last few days, the sad and startling truth has come to light: There was no interview, either in the past or present.
Now, it would be one thing if this person’s claims only went as far as the interview. But when the administrator of totallytork voiced her suspicions about the veracity of the interview–which beatlesbabe had claimed was going to be recorded, but then retracted, and when asked, could offer no photos or any other proof of the interview’s existence–things turned really ugly.
As of the past few days, Beatlesbabe has made a number of threats against the Totally Tork admin, and she has also threatened to commit suicide. She has further claimed that Peter has made statements in her defense attacking the fans who have called her out–none of which are able to be substantiated. To that end, she has been removed from the Totally Tork group, and the team behind Peter’s Facebook page has been contacted, to once and for all put an end to this madness.
The most troubling aspect of this entire situation–other than the potential libel against Peter and making him look bad–is the deception this person has perpetrated against fellow fans. We at NP have encountered similar situations in the past–person or persons claiming to be close to one of the Monkees, when they were, in fact, not. It is for this reason and many others that we urge you all to exercise tremendous caution in believing people who make said claims.
The truth is, the more a person brags about knowing a celebrity or being close to them, the less likely it is that they actually know the person. And in this case, it’s especially telling that there hasn’t been a single shred of credible evidence to back up the claims this person made. So if you hear that little voice inside telling you that something is off, listen to it, because it is there for a reason.
It is unfortunate that things have gone as far as they have, but now that the truth is out, it is our hope that no one’s love for Peter or the Monkees will have been affected by this person’s shenanigans. Also, remember that we are always here to help, so do feel free to message us or psychojello if you have a concern or question in the future.
Thanks for reading, folks, and we now return to your regularly scheduled Naked Persimmon-ing.
More of the Monkees
Since we’re talking about it, I’m gonna go on a bit of a tangent about More of the Monkees. Many years ago I wrote a very brief ranking of the songs on the album and gave some facts about it, but I think this album represents a lot more than just a collection of pleasant yet often banal pop songs written by a coalition of the alleged best songwriters of the 1960s.
It’s very fitting that the cover is a putrid green shade, the color of dirty money. It featured the Monkees in “groovy” clothes from a JC Penney campaign they were forced to participate in. Not even the cover photo was real, it was spliced together between two separate photos.
Released at the apex of the Monkees popularity, this album was #1 for 18 weeks straight and has sold over 5 million copies in America alone. At that time, the Monkees could have released “happy birthday with a beat and it would have sold a million copies” (a quote attributed to Nez) or an album of various fart noises and it would’ve been a hit, that’s how hot they were at the time (keep in mind this album knocked of their first album off the top of the charts– where it had been #1 for 13 weeks).
This album represents everything critics hate about pop music, and the Monkees as “manufactured pop stars” and the worst part is the Monkees had nothing to do with it. They thought they were recording songs for the inclusion on their TV show. They thought they were wearing the hideous clothes on the album cover for a JC Penney campaign (both were true). What they didn’t know is that Kirshner was planning to release this album while they were on tour without their approval.
“A manufactured image with no philosophy”
This album was made to get as much money out of teenagers pockets and into the pockets of Kirshner and the NYC coalition of writers that he oversaw. On the back of the album he thanks the writers first– before the Monkees. No secret where his loyalty lies. Also on the back cover, his name is so prominently displayed it’s only slightly smaller than the name of the band. This is not a Monkees album; it’s a Don Kirshner album.
Now to delineate from the history lesson from a bit, I will say, despite the gross way in which it was assembled and released without consent, this album has some bops. Obviously “I’m a Believer’ and “Stepping Stone” are classics by any estimation, “Mary Mary” contains killer drumming that is so iconic it’s been sampled numerous times in hip hop, “She” is great dirty garage rock, and Micky’s vocals on “Sometime in the Morning” slay. But every time I hear this album I feel dirty. I feel bad because it sounds like greed and betrayal. The Monkees first album, made with the same coalition of writers and some contributions from Nesmith, has an innocent, carefree tone, much like the symbolic “we’re the young generation” refrain from their theme.
This album just feels cynical and fake. At one of the sessions when Nesmith brought in “Mary Mary” to record, someone in the Kirshner posse scoffed at it but said “well think of how many Mary’s there are,” implying well at least it will make them more money because it has a girls name in the title. This was not about music for them, this was about money. And control.
“There were some tracks that were brought in by producers from New York. The guys, they didn’t like that at all,” says recording engineer Hank Cicalo of The Monkees’ involvement in these East Coast matters. “I didn’t blame them; that was kind of underhanded. A lot of that was Donnie: they wanted to do it in New York with their musicians. [The Monkees would] come in, and we’d put vocals on and percussion, stuff like that. Some of them were very basic; some of them were full. You’ve got to remember that they were tired. It was a horrendous schedule with a lot of pressure. So there were times when a tune would arrive, and it wouldn’t be their tune, so there was always that bit of intimidation.“
This album simultaneously ruined and helped their career. This album reaffirmed the belief of those in the mainstream press who had started to go in after the Monkees for being a fake band, mere puppets controlled by Kirshner in it for the money.
But Kirshner turned out to be the ultimate loser, when Nesmith and Tork, enraged about being lied to and cut out of the Monkees musical process, only became more outspoken in their desire to have musical control. Eventually they got Micky and Davy on their side and infamously went head to head with Kirshner with a single wall punch (and the blessing of Bert and Bob.)
So while this album discredited their talents at the time, in the end it’s what ended Kirshner’s reign as the Colgems music supervisor.
Peter Tork: “The second record was so angering because Donnie Kirshner was almost militantly out to cut us out of the process,” says Tork. “It was like he was angry at us. On the back [cover] of it is nothing but Donnie Kirshner congratulating himself for having hired all these other good musicians. We were playing our music on stage, and we were righteously pissed.”
Peter Tork: “We had to buy the album to hear it. Somebody went across the street to the mall and bought the album. We were on the road at the moment. We were so enraged about it.”
So for me, it’s really hard to assess this album without putting into context the situation that was brewing during its release. This album represents the nasty side of pop fame. So many people think pop stars are just soulless people, controlled, in it for the money. To me that’s what this album represents, at no fault to the Monkees of course, who as we all can see, had no control over their music at all.
It was released to make a quick buck, with no thought for the Monkees or their vision, no thought to even make the recordings that great. Jeff Barry (a producer and Kirshner ally) even said years later, “The guitar sounds out of tune,” he says. “Now that I’m hearing all of this, it was kind of like a little hodgepodgey. As I recall, there wasn’t time. I don’t remember picking these songs. I think [the powers-that-be said], ‘Here, cut these.’ Kirshner being the main supplier of the songs – he published everything. I always remember urgency. Today you take six months or a year. Don Kirshner just had all these writers going in and making demos. The only difference between a demo and master was the label.”
I think in retrospect this album represents the end of an era. This album represented the past; the Brill building stable of writers that wrote so many hit songs in the early 1960s, the nameless faceless backing band that Kirshner never gave credit, the cynical appeal to teenage girls without any heart behind it.
Mere months later the Monkees would be back at #1 for one week (and #2 the entire summer of love) with their own artistic statement: Headquarters. An album that somehow combined banjos, mantras, psychedelic freakouts, pedal steel guitars, sparse arrangements, songs about hippie ideals. It was an album that represented the now. It represented them. A week later it was replaced by Sgt. Pepper and pop music was finally allowed to be taken seriously as art and not music for kids. Old farts in suits weren’t dictating culture anymore, it was the teenagers. And they were tired of the bullshit.
sources: “More of the Monkees Deluxe Liner Notes” by Andrew Sandoval and “#1 Albums of 1967,” Wikipedia/Billboard
Amazing photo of Peter with a fan in the ‘60s.
(Pic via the Real Peter Tork FB page.)
