MOG

I didn't even know this was an issue. Going back through their songs, there's some stone-cold 60's classics: "Daydream Believer", "Last Train To Clarksville", and, od course, "Steppin' Stone".

I'm totally on your bandwagon although I only recognize their bigger songs. I thought they were excellent.

i reallt like the monkees music most all of it it was da bomb in the day

The Monkees were great at being exactly what they were - which was four likeable young guys who could sing and play instruments some playing a band.

Later they developed into a band

But, actually, the real shit they caught was for using a ot of session men and not writing all their own songs, like real bands.

Of course, Ringo didn't play on the Beatles' early albums, replaced by a session man; ditto Mick Avory on the Kinks's (rumours persist that a young Jimmy Page played the guitar part, all i know for sure is that Dave Davies certainly played it Just Fine live in latter days...).

One of the Beatles' prettier songs (on the White Album) might better be retitled While Eric's Guitar Gently Weeps, because George Harrison couldn't play the solo he wrote and his buddy EC stepped in.

Nicky Hopkins was all over the place, and David Bowie was a sesseion sax player before he ever thought of Ziggie Stardust.

And so on.

But what the Monkees had going for them was an incredible gang of songwriters - Boyce & Hart, Nillsson and Neal Diamond, just to name a few.

And some of them blossomed into capable songwriters in their own right, particularly Mike Nesmith. What Am I Doin' Hangin' Round?, Papa Gene's Blues, Listen to the Band, Joanne and Different Drum alone would qualify as a pretty good songwriting career, and there's a lot more. (And he even gave Hulk Hogan his first break in teevee/video.)

Manymany years after the teevee show wet off, and many many years ago from now, the Monkees did a reuinio tour (Nes played some of the West Coast gigs, but it was Micky, Peter and Davy on this side of the country.)

Great show. My first wife (not yet ex- then) and i went.

It was like three old buddies hanging out and goofing on each other - which means it was incredibly tightly written and directed, and the three of them were absolutely great.

My favourite bit involved a routine in which they all did costume changes - Micky wound up in drag in a red gown and Carmen Miranda frueitbowl headdress. They al went off stage tochange back, and Davy cam out first.

He sat down between the footlights with his feet dangling off the edge of ths stage, and began quietly playing something on acoustic guitar.

Then Pete came out. "David," says he, "what are you doing?"

"Playin' the intro for the next song."

"David, you can't do that. Don't you know it's a well-known, established fact that Monkees can't play their own instruments?"

"Sure. I know that."

(beat)

"This is Micky's guitar."

That sums it up about what was/is great about the Monkees - they were the best at what they did. And what they did was a lot of fun.

And who the hell needs more than that, really?

Which is why you can still buy every album the Monkees ever put out, forty-plus years after the show went off the air ... and, if you're lucky, you can buy "Greatest Hits" packages by the bands that slagged them off for eing "plastic"...

(Oh - BTW - i mentioned than Nes put first Hulk Hogan in front of the cameras?

(Ever see Elephant Parts?

(If you did, remember Cruisin' - "Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam"?

Well, that's Terry "Hulk" Hogan, selling watches on the street, with short hair and no mustache, wearing shades and a red speedo and not much more...)

Don't forget my favorite Monkees song "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," written by Nesmith. (There are two versions, the B-side/album track with Dolenz on lead vocals and Nesmith on oh-lonesome-me back-up vocals; and a second - only available on an anthology - where they switch roles. Both versions are great.)

WOW - thanks for the great response, Fairpy. So info-packed that it actually led to a rediscovery of a TV sketch I saw about 20 years ago and never forgot...a funny one for those of us with some Irish in our history. I remembered the line "Does the bride come with potatoes?" and that's about it...but through the wonders of the Internets, I unearthed this:

It's from 1985's "Television Parts," hosted by Mike Nesmith himself. Even better, the Irish Language Instructor is played by none other than the wonderfully named Jonathan Schmock, a.k.a. the Chez Quis Maitre D' from Ferris Bueller's Day Off (as in, "I weep for the future!").

All this, just because of some fake '60s band. Not bad, Monkees!

That sounds like Grace Slick but it is actually Dolenz. Or is it? Amazing either way.