| Author | Message | ||
     Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1640 Registered: 08-2006 |
Can't say I'm a huge fan of the band, but they were part of my childhood and I'm pretty sure Grant would have felt this loss. Maybe I'll wear my Monkees-inspited McLennan shirt tonight and honor 'em both. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2868 Registered: 03-2005 |
I saw this news when I logged onto the BBC news page this afternoon. I was 10 when "Last Train to Clarkesville" happened, basically their target audience. I was a big fan. Soon enough I realized they weren't cool but I still adored most of what Michael Nesmith did and a good chunk of what the others did as well. And I never had any revisionist thing with respect to their music. It was never purged from my collection. The best of it always scored well with me. I remember eagerly buying an Aussie Monkees antho that included a number of then-rare tracks in the late 1970s at the uber-cool Rhino Records store in Westwood (Los Angeles) and quailing under the imagined opprobrium of the staff and customers. I was listening to the Jam and Sex Pistols by that time. No one said anything, of course. After all, it was in the store's import stock. One of my favorite things about the Go Betweens was their unashamed love for the records of the Monkees. I always considered Davy to be the lightweight in the group but nonetheless his voice sat on top of a bunch of their classic records and on some really nice comparative obscurities such as "You and I" and "99 Pounds" and "Love to Love" and "You Can't Tie a Mustang Down." Davy died of a very Grant McLennan-like massive heart attack. I have a lot of Monkees loaded onto my iPod and that's what'll be playing for the next day or so. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2332 Registered: 10-2004 |
The Monkees were in many ways my first encounter with rock music. I was 6 years old. We'd just moved to California, and when surfing through the TV channels one summer morning, I discovered a Monkees rerun playing on a local TV station. The cartoonish antics appealed to the 6-year-old me, but I was immediately hooked by the music. I remember especially liking "Words," "What Am I Doing Hanging Around?" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday." I was also just discovering my mom's Beatles records at this time, and the Monkees fit in with that pretty easily. But I watched those Monkees reruns religiously all throughout that first summer in California. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 802 Registered: 05-2005 |
Gee, the Monkees are the sound of my very early childhood, spent in blindingly bright, hot days at Manly beach in the late 60's and early 70's. Like Randy, they still carry through to today. So sad to hear of Davey's passing. I feel officially old now  | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2340 Registered: 01-2005 |
The Monkees sure caught a lot of flack during the late 1960's. I liked their singles but never bought any of the studio albums. I've got a greatest hits CD though. RIP Davey! | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 396 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Monkees are great http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfZzAc9ce 98 RIP Davy | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 700 Registered: 04-2005 |
Part of my childhood TV. Along with White Horses, the Double-Deckers, Robinson Crusoe (tinkly piano music, shots in B&W of waves on a beach...) Not sure 'til when the BBC continued to rerun The Monkees shows. Some great songs and goofing around. I wanted to be in a band. I'm the proud owner of a 'Music for Pleasure' Monkees Greatest LP. Does anyone know apart from Tim Buckley whether the TV shows ever featured other musicians ? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2889 Registered: 03-2005 |
Did anybody notice this? Robert Forster on the occasion of Davy Jones' passing. Of course he would write something. I can't quite give "Headquarters" and "Pisces, Acquarius" the same status he gives them but they are both very good albums. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/musi c/they-monkeyed-around-but-they-iwerei-g ood-20120301-1u60d.html | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4367 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oops, I should have checked to see if someone else had found this link... | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2351 Registered: 01-2005 |
A nice article by Robert. I can't rate the Monkees as high as Robert did in (3rd in the 1960's as far as their body of commercial work), maybe more in the bottom of the top 10. I would rate The Beatles, Beach Boys, The Byrds, Rolling Stones, The Kinks and a couple of the great Motown acts all above the Monkees. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 804 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Monkees had some GRRRRRRRRRRRREAT singles but some of their album stuff was COMPLETE fluff. I'd put them about 5th or sixth. No, I'm not going to mention ANY B bands just in case Scotland declares war on Australia! ;) | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2352 Registered: 01-2005 |
Geoff, That is always the impression I had of the Monkess albums, way too much album filler to be rated with the great commercial albums from 1966-69. If we included the great non-commercial albums that didn't sell much during the same time period, then the Monkee albums fall ever further. I'm wondering if Robert was thinking gold or platinum record volume for the commercial albums? |