When I started getting into classic rock, I bought this coffee-table book at a garage sale and it’s survived many moves and purges. It was published in 1973 and it’s 160 pages long. Back when it was somewhat conceivable to pack the entire history of rock ’n’ roll and pop music into 160 pages. It had great photos ... skimpy on the words.
I wanted to see what it said about The Monkees. If they did get mentioned, I figured it wasn’t going to be very nice. Because a) it was 1973 and the Monkees’ career as a pop group was barely cold in its grave, so there would be no warm nostalgia, and b) this book was written by the one-time managing editor of the NME and rock critics were especially dismissive of The Monkees.
Presented below. It’s bad. It’s not even written well or correctly.
“The Monkees made up the most remarkable group of the year, with four Gold Discs and winning millions of fans between the age of 5 and 15. They were a prefabricated pop group. First scripts were written for a mad-mad TV series in which four young fellows did crazy things to help people in need or get jobs for their pop group. From hundreds of auditions Peter Tork, a folk singer, Mike Nesmith, a country-jazz singer, Micky Dolenz, formerly in “Circus Boy” children’s TV series and a drummer, and Davy Jones, an English youngster who was in the musical “Mr. Pickwick,” were chosen.
“First-class songwriters were enlisted to write for them and the group’s multi-million sellers were Last Train to Clarksville, I’m a Believer, Little Bit Me Little Bit You, and Pleasant Valley Sunday. They came to Britain for five packed shows at Wembley Pool, playing, as in America, mostly to children between 5 and 15. Record sales soared with this age group and their TV series was watched by millions.
“But The Monkees threw it all away by internal fights and antagonising their young fans by denying they were teenybop idols but serious musicians. Strangely enough, no other group or young star cashed in on The Monkees’ popularity, unlike today with David Cassidy, The Osmonds and The Jackson Five and other groups and singers exciting the very young record buyers.
“While the weenyboppers were kept happy by The Monkees, a big change was happening in The Beatles’ camp …”
(they did get one photograph included in the book)
I thought it was an interesting look at what The Monkees’ legacy was nearly 50 years ago compared to now. Overall, this book was weird to read in the ’90s and even it’s even weirder now.
