A Part of My Childhood is Over : The Monkees ....

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Usually I am rarely serious on CBR. Beyond some NFL , Wrestling and some political stuff ...I like to joke around. I am a comedian type after all and believe we all need to laugh and joke at times. So nothing rarely gets me down much. But the last few days have been a bit harder in a way. A bit harder to not realize I'm never gonna have the memories I had as a kid happen again in my lifetime. Those are gone....



As a kid in the 1980's we had cable TV sure. But unlike today where you can stream or turn on cable with hundreds of channels...we had maybe 10 or 20 cable ones. USA Network had the Cartoon Express , Nickelodeon had Count Duckula and Pinwheel and MTV had its lineup and....the Monkees. Yes the channel that had cool music and MTV VJ's like Martha Quinn and Kurt Loder had a 1960's show about a make believe band (they were real as we know).

Being a kid The Monkees were just a fun loving group of guys who had adventures. From being in a western town as cowboys to facing mobsters. All with the dream of becoming big rock stars as a group. If you watched The Monkees the interplay and magic had you believe they had been friends for years. As a kid I had thought The Monkees were a current group and had no clue this was a 20 year old band then. We didn't have internet then and I was a kid to know this.

But I really loved this show and would watch daily. The Monkees songs and more became part of my childhood and I was a huge fan. My parents found me a cassette and I must have played it a ton on trips etc.




It wasn't til years later I learned this was an older band from the 1960's and the history. Of how the band was put together as a corporate money grab due to popularity of the Beatles. That the idea was a cross promotional deal with a TV network to advertise the band essentially in episodes to sell songs and albums. That the producer Don Kirshner wouldn't let the band play instruments and just wanted vocals from them. They also didn't get to write their own songs. The idea was simple to let the song writers of Neil Diamond , Carol King , Boyce & Hart do the heavy lifting as song writers.

The guys all fit a certain dynamic. Peter Tork was the weird goofy guy , Davy Jones was the teen heart throb type , Mickey Dolenz was the comedic clown and Mike Nesmith was the serious leader. So serious he upset the apple cart Kirshner wanted. Nesmith was a serious musician and song writer. He could play instruments and rallied the guys to realize...they could be a legit band if they pulled together and put work in together.

This folks is how the Monkees legit went from make believe band who never performed to suddenly by Mike Nesmith to performing LIVE CONCERTS on TOURS ! Then he demanded the band play on an album and do their own songs soon after. The label realizing 4 men were sticking together and could walk from successful deal...bowed to them. Allowing these 4 men to do this. All because Mike Nesmith stood up and said...we can do this.

Lets keep this in mind. You had Mickey Dolenz who had never played drums before and these 4 men who never played together suddenly did it on a major scale off the bat. That is some f'n talent and drive to do it. All because the 4 wanted to prove they could be a band.





Of course The Monkees show would get cancelled as the 4 men wanted power over it as well. They wanted to morph the show from the comedy series it was to a sketch comedy/musical act show in the vein of the Sonny & Cher Show or Johnny Cash Show. The network declined doing this and the show was cancelled. They then put out a very surreal movie called "HEAD" which was to show the band moving beyond its teen image. It sadly was too out there of course (it became a cult classic).

With its main advertising push gone the album sales slipped a lot as the label wasn't that interested in The Monkees by the late 1960's. Peter Tork left the band 1st as the 3 men stuck around 2 years longer putting out 2 albums. By the end Nesmith was also done as he and others were basically recording alone and he wanted to move on. So the final Monkees album was to fufill a contract with Davy Jones and Mickey Dolenz together.

The band would have ended there of course. The critics would have won. Rolling Stone Magazine hated the Monkees and held a grudge that 50+ years later has held the band from the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in a disgraceful act. But for all intents the Monkees should have ended there. But...they didn't.

MTV airing the Monkees restarted interest in the band. New fans like myself discovered them and soon enough the band was BACK. All 4 reunited and did a new big tour with them shocked that the audience was now split with young and older people there. Monkeemania had exploded due to MTV and for a couple years there was pretty good. Which led to a new album with 3 members (Jones , Tork & Dolenz)

More reunions followed almost every decade with new albums at times. Even Michael Nesmith came back at times to take part at times. The band was one that as much as critics wished ...would never go away. Them being ignored by Rock n Roll Hall of Fame became a literal punchline as the members all admitted one man didn't like them and wouldn't let them in. But as time passed the Hall has became an utter joke by them ignoring acts like Judas Priest , Iron Maiden and more.


I never thought the Monkees would end. I was saddened when Davy Jones died. It really hit me a bit and on CBR I made a post then in 2012 that America's oldest Teen heart throb had passed. Detailing it was only fitting Jones would pass away on leap day. To fit his image as that teen heart throb. RIP Davy Jones.

The band reformed with Nesmith returning to keep it going now. With him , Dolenz and Tork. They toured and more. Putting out a new album by young artists like Rivers Cumo from Weezer taking part. In 2019 after beating cancer once...Peter Tork died. Nesmith admitted him and Tork weren't close then but he still was saddened by his loss. This now left only Dolenz and Nesmith to carry on.


Maybe it was fate or timing but in 2021 early , Nesmith & Dolenz announced they were ending The Monkees after 50+ years. The band was going away for good after a tour by them both. They were close to 80 and well..i was saddened. Then weeks after the last show...the most serious Monkee ...the man who legit made this make believe band REAL....passed away.

Michael Nesmith deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. They all deserved that honor. Yet they didn't and its a sad travesty he never got the credit. But now were seeing people like Paul McCartney , Ringo Starr and more applaud Nesmith for his talent and what he accomplished as a song writer etc. He made a make believe band real. No one will ever be able to take that away.

The Monkees era is over for me. A piece is gone and its sad. The Monkees were my 80's childhood and its sadly...now over for real. Pretty hard deal to realize you will never relieve your childhood I suppose....

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Well done, SuperE! I discovered The Monkees while watching reruns of their show in syndication in the early 80's and quickly became a fan. Mike, Davy, Peter and Micky were fun, AND talented as I loved their music, and they most definitely deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it's a shame that asshole Jann Wenner denied them that worthy honor.

[Scott Taylor]

Nice write up! Just last night I watched the final set of the Mike and Micky show from November at the Greek Theatre. Their last performance ever. Mike was great, it was so heartbreaking to hear about his loss.

[ed2962]

[Iron Maiden]

I love this tribute thread. Great first post. I am old enough to have watched them when the series first aired. Now it's just Mickey. He was always my favorite of the band but I later read all the background info you bring up about Mike Nesmith. I really hope they get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame someday. But sadly there may be none of them left when that happens.