The Monkees at 50
 

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Thanks, great old memories.

The ironic part is this: many bands from that era did not play their own instruments on their records, they used the same studio musicians as the monkeys in their recording sessions. it was standard practice.
Yet they didn't get the same criticism.

Here are a few examples:
The Beach Boys
Jan & Dean
Sonny & Cher
Barry McGuire
the Mamas & the Papas
Frank Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
The Byrds
Bob Dylan
The crystals
The Ronettes
The Righteous Brothers
Johnny Rivers
Gary Lewis and the Playboys
Simon & Garfunkel
The Association
The 5th Dimension
Scott McKenzie
Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Glen Campbell
The Grass Roots
Richard Harris (MacArthur park)
Mason Williams (classical gas)
Neil Diamond
Tommy Roe
The Partridge Family (OK, maybe)
The Carpenters
Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
Paul revere and the Raiders
Captain & Tennille
Most Phil Spectre recordings (wall of sound)

Unusual to see a band that still cares for each other after 50 years very nice too see.
I would say the Monkees actually were the first band to have music videos. I remember watching the show and they would play the music over different scenes.
I remember hearing that Don Kirschner started the band as a joke for the TV show and when they became a number one selling band and got big egos he got mad and replaced them with the Archies because they were comic book characters and would not be difficult to deal with.

Indeed.

I was eight when the show debuted.

Huh, didn't think I'd enjoy that as much as I did. SmileWavy

Well with a couple of exceptions those are singers.

Their instrument is their voice.

Still, on the opposite end of the spectrum you have people like Stevie Wonder, Prince, Dave Grohl, Sir Paul, John Fogerty, Stevie Winwood, Mike Oldfield, Todd Rundgren who played every instrument on at least one if not several complete albums.

and here's the folks who played for these bands<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wDCGNFsz8xo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Worth seeing the documentary

Glen Campbell was a studio musician before he broke out on his own. He was an extremely skilled guitar player with the Wrecking Crew, playing backup to a lot of of those names mentioned in the list.

It appears that Peter Tork still likes getting high :-)

This song gets decent rotation on the local college radio station. Reminds me a bit of the late 60's Laurel Canyon crowd.....

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Mason Williams didn't play on Classical Gas. Interesting.

In the opening scene they cruised down Eagle Rock on Colorado BLVD. Home of the Rose Parade further East in Pasadena.

Dr John, Glen Campbell, Leon Russell were all in the Wrecking Crew.
The Stones also had recordings with band members from the Wrecking Crew.

Fun facts:
-Jimmy Hendrix was an opening act for the Monkees! He hated them (surprise). Said they were "dishwater" and couldn't believe that anyone would like them.
-The Monkees albums out sold the Stones and the Beatles in `66.

As a 10 yr old, I thought they were cool on TV so I bought the albums.

What changes? Nothing. Today we have "The Biebs" outselling Gary Clarke Jr.

The masses don't have good taste in music.

My kids got me to like Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars. My daughter even got me to like a couple One Direction songs. Yeah, I said it. Even took me to a JT concert and it was great fun. Of course I raised them on Beatles, Stones, Who, Zepp, Journey, etc., etc.

I enjoyed their music. But, I hung out with a crowd of music snobs so I had to keep it a secret. Interestingly, Al Kooper and his Kooper Session album was on the "approved" list. I didn't learn until recently that Kooper was s sometimes part of the Royal Teens - dismissed by my friends as bubblegum-popping nobodies.

As far as not playing on their recordings, I don't care - now. Screw my music snob friends.
Last year I finished editing a book Tom Austin, drummer, writer, and singer for the Royal Teens (with Al Kooper) and The Four Seasons.

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Now I'm working on a book about Charles Calello. After hearing him talk about how a popular song gets put together, I figure anyone who can write, arrange, record, and perform a song on tour is a genius. Until I talked to Charlie I had no idea what went into making a song. So the Monkees didn't do it all. They were entertaining, but not geniuses. Big deal.

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Al Kooper has had a diverse career -everything from playing the organ on Like a Rolling Stone to producing Lynyrd Skynyrd's first couple of albums.

JT and Bruno are the real deal.

Much as I want to hate JT I can't.

One Direction, meh, pretty much every hit is a blatant rewrite of something else that was a hit.

The make more money off of Who songs than The Who ever did.

Really? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Gas