While growing up in the 80s I started listening to my sister's albums of the "old" Monkees, those mop-haired fellows from twenty years before, I figured they were a joke band and a sad parody of the Beatles. I mean they even had a British guy leading them! But the tunes were pretty catchy. I was aware there was some dispute about them writing the songs. But I did enjoy the music, a lot.
Long before Backstreet Boys and N'Sync, The Monkees were essentially
the first boy band. Brought together after a casting call, the Monkees had to fight to get their own voices and instruments in on early recordings. During the run of their show they achieved great success and ridicule. By the late 60s, their TV show cancelled, the Monkees broke apart in dis-harmony and agitated by the fact they were not taken seriously. They even filmed a psychedelic movie, "Head" (produced by young Jack Nicholson), which made fun of their image and tried to break the mold. A failure, the band broke apart, only reuniting occasionally since and not always as the original 4-member band.
In the 1980s a new show and new band, aptly named "The New Monkees," premiered on television. The epic badness of this project lives on only in Youtube videos.
The Monkees charismatic lead singer Davy Jones passed away recently, Leap Day 2012. The legacy of the Monkees were 122 songs and 10 albums during their heyday of the 60s. They had four #1 albums in one year alone. They were the first music artists to win 2 Emmy Awards. And if you are a Star Trek fan, you might be intrigued to know that the character "Chekhov" was modeled after Davy Jone's hair and appearance.
When the film Shrek released a version of "I'm a Believer" by the band Smashmouth, the Monkees saw renewed interest all over again (the song was originally recorded by Neil Diamond). The Monkees with the passage of time are now taken more seriously as a band, with enduring hits like "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" receiving airplay everywhere.
The outpouring of sadness I have seen over Davy Jone's passing has shown me that people truly love the music of the Monkees. The public library currently has a couple of Monkees Greatest Hits CDs in circulation and more on the way. Place a hold now and enjoy these wonderful tunes.
No comments:
Post a Comment
What can I post on your wall?
Commenting & Posting Guidelines
Welcome to your library on social media!
Pima County Public Library (PCPL) offers blogs and other social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter for educational, cultural, civic, customer service, and recreational purposes. They provide a limited (or designated) public forum to facilitate the sharing of ideas, opinions, and information about library-related subjects and issues.
By choosing to comment or post on our social media accounts, you agree with the following:
Comments and posts are moderated by library staff, and the library reserves the right to remove any that are unlawful or off topic. Posts containing the following may be deleted:
Copyright violations
Off-topic comments
Commercial material/spam/solicitation
Sexual content, or links to sexual content
Threatening or harassing postings
Libelous or other kinds of personal attacks
Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity
Content that reveals private, personal information without permission
Vulgar language or content
Comments in support of or in opposition to political campaigns or ballot measures
Content that degrades others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability or other classification
P.S. Protect your privacy. Don't post personally identifying information in these public spaces, including details like your library card number, phone number, or medical information, etc.
Young people under age 18, especially, should not post information such as your school, age, phone number, and address.