Podcasts about Dolenz

Listen to a conversation with the vocalist and actor Micky Dolenz, best known for his work with The Monkees. Dolenz will be performing in Central Indiana on April 25 at the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts.   In 1966, during the height of Beatle-mania, The Monkees premiered on NBC. The show focused on the lives of a fictional California rock band, featuring Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz. The Monkees would quickly grow beyond their television roots, recording four chart-topping albums and three chart-toppings singles. Dolenz provided lead vocals for many of the group's best-known songs, including "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "I'm a Believer”, and "Last Train to Clarksville”. Also hear an interview with jazz guitarist Charlie Ballantine, he'll be performing at The Jazz Kitchen on April 9. Ballantine has built an impressive discography of releases, featuring a unique mix of indie music, Americana and straight jazz. His albums, including the 2021 release Reflections/Introspection: The Music of Thelonious Monk and the 2019 project Life is Brief —The Music of Bob Dylan have earned praise from publications including DownBeat and All About Jazz.

We're back and blowing up the place! Welcome one and all to episode 248 of the "WR? Podcast"! This week we have an "open discussion" to start the show. This includes talk regarding some recent film watching and pro wrestling discussion (Cena's first "heel" appearance). Then, we have a huge "Double Feature"! Our original film talk segment is back! Welcome to "Fridays At Midnight"! We take a look at the one and only Mickey Dolenz in "The Night of the Stangler" and "Would You Rather?". We close out the episode at the waterfall and lagoon! Please enjoy responsibly! PRESENTED by CHURCHILL PICTURES Timestamps:0:00:00 - Intro and Variety Hour: John Cena's Heel Turn and Recent Films0:36:43 - Friday's @ Midnight Part 1 Night of the Strangler (1972)0:51:38 - Friday's @ Midnight Part 2 Would You Rather (2012)1:05:55 - Goofs R GoofsThanks for Listening!

Actress, author, and artist Ami Dolenz recently joined The Locher Room for a captivating conversation.

Ami Dolenz delves into her vibrant career and the stories behind her iconic roles. Ami shares fascinating anecdotes from her time on sets of '80s and '90s classics like "Can't Buy Me Love," "She's Out of Control," and "General Hospital." Ami provides a peek into her childhood experiences with famous parents, her transition into acting, and her memorable encounters with stars like Tony Danza and Matthew Perry. Ami also talks about her pivot from acting to art offering a glimpse into her creative world today.   Highlights: Ami Dolenz's illustrious career in television and film. Ami's unique childhood, including her famous parents and living next door to Alice Cooper. Stories from the sets of popular TV shows and movies, including "Can't Buy Me Love" and "She's Out of Control." Ami's insights on working with well-known actors and directors, including Tony Danza and Bill Bixby. Her transition from acting to becoming an artist and author. Reflection on her favorite roles and the reasons behind stepping away from the acting spotlight.   You're going to love my conversation with Ami Dolenz Ami's Website Ami's book Instagram Facebook IMDB   Follow Jeff Dwoskin (host): Jeff Dwoskin on Twitter The Jeff Dwoskin Show podcast on Twitter Podcast website Podcast on Instagram Join my mailing list Subscribe to my Youtube channel (watch Crossing the Streams!) Yes, the show used to be called Live from Detroit: The Jeff Dwoskin Show   Ways to support the show: Buy me a coffee (support the show) TeePublic Store: Classic Conversations merch and more! Love the books I talk about on the show? Here is my Amazon store to shop.  

Zilch#190 with Glenn Gretlund and Mark Kleiner of "7a" discuss Davy Jones “The Bell Records Story” as Zilch celebrates it's 10th Anniversary, Monkees News as we say "So Long and Happy Trails" Thank you for listening and being part of it all.  please visit: https://www.7arecords.com/Originally aired 3/18/24"7a" can be found at https://www.7arecords.com/  Join our Facebook page If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here Download (right click, save as)We were born to love one another. Support Zilch, get a cool shirt! www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-art

Syllogism is a noun that refers to a form of logical argument featuring two propositions and a conclusion.  Our word of the day combines the Greek word sullogismos (soo low GISS mos) with another Greek word logos (LOW goes) which means ‘reasoning.' Here's an example of syllogism in use: I was perplexed by my philosophy teacher's behavior, I tried to use a syllogism to understand his logic. It didn't get me anywhere. I found two propositions, but the only conclusion I reached was that Mr. Dolenz is weird.

This week we’re Monkeeing Around with a new EP from Micky Dolenz and 7a Records, Dolenz Sings R.E.M.! We review the new EP and recount our adventures at the record release party at Wuxtry Records in Athens, GA, joined by Derek Miner of Cutout Bin and Mixing Links. Monkeeing Around is a part of the … Monkeeing Around – Dolenz Sings R.E.M. and Wuxtry Records! – Episode 40 Read More » The post Monkeeing Around – Dolenz Sings R.E.M. and Wuxtry Records! – Episode 40 appeared first on The ESO Network.

This week we're Monkeeing Around with a new EP from Micky Dolenz and 7a Records, Dolenz Sings R.E.M.! We review the new EP and recount our adventures at the record release party at Wuxtry Records in Athens, GA, joined by Derek Miner of Cutout Bin and Mixing Links. Monkeeing Around is a part of the ESO Podcast Network, Executive Producer Mike Faber.

Producer Christian Nesmith & Glenn Gretlund “7a Records” discuss the new release of Micky Dolenz ”Dolenz Sings R.E.M.”, a 4 track EP released on November 3rd. The EP is comprised of songs R.E.M. wrote throughout their career, all beautifully reimagined by Dolenz and producer Christian Nesmith.The EP features fresh and completely new arrangements of some of R.E.M.'s most memorable and catchy songs. As Dolenz says: “Once again, this EP reaffirms my long-held conviction that a solid recording always begins with solid material. You don't get much more solid than R.E.M. What a joy to sing these classics and honor a team of outstanding writers.” Links in show notes Originally aired 10/17/23"7a" can be found at https://www.7arecords.com/  Get Andrew's book here. Go to http://beatlandbooks.com/ "Join our Facebook page If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here Download (right click, save as)We are proud to announce "Dolenz Sings R.E.M.", a four-track EP by Micky Dolenz released on November 3rd. The EP is comprised of songs R.E.M. wrote throughout their career, all beautifully reimagined by Micky Dolenz and producer Christian Nesmith. You can order your copy on CD and 180g Yellow Vinyl now from the shops below, or get a signed copy straight from Micky at https://www.mickydolenz.com : U.S.A. CD & Vinyl: https://www.importcds.com/search?q=Dolenz+sings+rem&mod=AP United Kingdom: CD & Vinyl: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=dolenz+sings+REM&crid=1PXI7IMU3O4X4&sprefix=dolenz+sings+rem%2Caps%2C75&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 Canada: CD: https://www.amazon.ca/Dolenz-Sings-R-M-Micky/dp/B0CHBBKR3D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=11BAQB6FXPSJB&keywords=Dolenz+sings+rem&qid=1694692833&sprefix=dolenz+sings+rem%2Caps%2C228&sr=8-1 Vinyl: https://www.amazon.ca/Dolenz-Sings-R-M-Yellow/dp/B0CHBD11JF/ref=tmm_vnl_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1694692833&sr=8-1 Japan: CD: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Micky-Dolenz/dp/B0CHBBKR3D/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?crid=2M1JUJ2TYVL01&keywords=dolens+sings+rem&qid=1694692920&sprefix=dolenz+sings+rem%2Caps%2C222&sr=8-1-fkmr1 Vinyl: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Micky-Dolenz/dp/B0CHBD11JF/ref=tmm_vnl_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1694692920&sr=8-1-fkmr1 Germany: CD: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/poprock/detail/-/art/micky-dolenz-dolenz-sings-r-e-m/hnum/11593539 Vinyl: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/poprock/detail/-/art/micky-dolenz-dolenz-sings-r-e-m/hnum/11593542 Scandinavia: CD: https://imusic.dk/music/5060209950600/micky-dolenz-2023-dolenz-sings-r-e-m-cd Vinyl: https://imusic.dk/music/5060209950617/micky-dolenz-2023-dolenz-sings-r-e-m-lp For all other territories, please see Amazon and all good record shops. Dolenz Sings R.E.M. The EP features fresh and completely new arrangements of some of R.E.M.'s most memorable and catchy songs. As Dolenz says: “Once again, this EP reaffirms my long-held conviction that a solid recording always begins with solid material. You don't get much more solid than R.E.M. What a joy to sing these classics and honor a team of outstanding writers.” 7A Records' CEO Glenn Gretlund adds: “R.E.M. and Micky Dolenz are a match made in heaven and I'm delighted with how the recordings have turned out. Micky's voice sounds better than ever and Christian Nesmith has done a wonderful job in reimagining the arrangements.” The EP is released on 180g Yellow Vinyl, CD and on all Digital platforms on November 3rd. New Book - "I'm Told I Had A Good Time" The EP release directly coincides with the publication of Micky Dolenz's latest book: I'm Told I Had Good Time – The Micky Dolenz Archives, Volume One. Comprised of more than 1200 rare and unpublished images from Micky's private collection, this 500-page book includes photos and memorabilia spanning 1945-1978, including hundreds of images Micky shot himself of the other Monkees (Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith) as well as Jimi Hendrix, Harry Nilsson, Otis Redding, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Alice Cooper and many more. The book (available in three distinct editions) can be preordered now from https://Beatlandbooks.com "Shiny Happy People" Digital Single  The digital single from the E.P, “Shiny Happy People”,  is available to download and stream from all major digital platforms now. You can watch the music video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKSRntMvqMQ  R.E.M. Reactions to the EP: “These songs are ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. Micky Dolenz covering R.E.M. Monkees style; I have died and gone to heaven. This is really something. Shiny Happy People sounds INCREDIBLE (never thought you or I would hear me say that!!!). Give it a spin. It's wild. And produced by Christian Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith), I am finally complete”.                                                 Michael Stipe "That voice---one of the main voices of my musical awakening---singing our songs... it is beyond awesome. Let's help make this as huge as we possibly can. I am beyond thrilled."                                                 Mike Mills "I've been listening to Micky's singing since I was nine years old.  It's unreal to hear that very voice, adding new depth to songs we've written ourselves, and inhabiting them so completely."                                                 Peter Buck "I am blown away!  Micky and Christian just take these tracks to unexpected places”.                                                 Scott McCaughey Availability Dolenz Sings R.E.M.  is released November 3rd worldwide. It's available to pre-order now on 12” 180g Yellow Vinyl, CD and Digital Platforms, through all good online retailers and local record stores. Fans can also order signed copies through Micky Dolenz's own shop: mickydolenz.com   We were born to love one another. Support Zilch, get a cool shirt! www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-art

Andrew Sandoval talks Micky's new book "I'm Told I Had A Good Time: The Micky Dolenz Archives, Volume One", & "Dolenz sings R.E.M"...a 4 track EP. The EP is comprised of songs R. E. M. wrote throughout their career, all beautifully reimagined by Dolenz and producer Christian Nesmith. The EP features fresh and completely new arrangements of some of R. E. M. 's most memorable and catchy songs. As Dolenz says: "Once again, this EP reaffirms my long-held conviction that a solid recording always begins with solid material. You don't get much solid than R. E. M. What a joy to, once again, bring these songs to life". Also a reprinting of "The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story" in limited quantities and More Monkees talk!. Get Andrew's book here. Go to http://beatlandbooks.com/ "7a" can be found at https://www.7arecords.com/  Originally aired 9/14/23Originally Aired 9/14/23Join our Facebook page If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here Download (right click, save as)We are proud to announce "Dolenz Sings R.E.M.", a four-track EP by Micky Dolenz released on November 3rd. The EP is comprised of songs R.E.M. wrote throughout their career, all beautifully reimagined by Micky Dolenz and producer Christian Nesmith. You can order your copy on CD and 180g Yellow Vinyl now from the shops below, or get a signed copy straight from Micky at https://www.mickydolenz.com : U.S.A. CD & Vinyl: https://www.importcds.com/search?q=Dolenz+sings+rem&mod=AP United Kingdom: CD & Vinyl: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=dolenz+sings+REM&crid=1PXI7IMU3O4X4&sprefix=dolenz+sings+rem%2Caps%2C75&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 Canada: CD: https://www.amazon.ca/Dolenz-Sings-R-M-Micky/dp/B0CHBBKR3D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=11BAQB6FXPSJB&keywords=Dolenz+sings+rem&qid=1694692833&sprefix=dolenz+sings+rem%2Caps%2C228&sr=8-1 Vinyl: https://www.amazon.ca/Dolenz-Sings-R-M-Yellow/dp/B0CHBD11JF/ref=tmm_vnl_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1694692833&sr=8-1 Japan: CD: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Micky-Dolenz/dp/B0CHBBKR3D/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?crid=2M1JUJ2TYVL01&keywords=dolens+sings+rem&qid=1694692920&sprefix=dolenz+sings+rem%2Caps%2C222&sr=8-1-fkmr1 Vinyl: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Micky-Dolenz/dp/B0CHBD11JF/ref=tmm_vnl_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1694692920&sr=8-1-fkmr1 Germany: CD: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/poprock/detail/-/art/micky-dolenz-dolenz-sings-r-e-m/hnum/11593539 Vinyl: https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/poprock/detail/-/art/micky-dolenz-dolenz-sings-r-e-m/hnum/11593542 Scandinavia: CD: https://imusic.dk/music/5060209950600/micky-dolenz-2023-dolenz-sings-r-e-m-cd Vinyl: https://imusic.dk/music/5060209950617/micky-dolenz-2023-dolenz-sings-r-e-m-lp For all other territories, please see Amazon and all good record shops. Dolenz Sings R.E.M. The EP features fresh and completely new arrangements of some of R.E.M.'s most memorable and catchy songs. As Dolenz says: “Once again, this EP reaffirms my long-held conviction that a solid recording always begins with solid material. You don't get much more solid than R.E.M. What a joy to sing these classics and honor a team of outstanding writers.” 7A Records' CEO Glenn Gretlund adds: “R.E.M. and Micky Dolenz are a match made in heaven and I'm delighted with how the recordings have turned out. Micky's voice sounds better than ever and Christian Nesmith has done a wonderful job in reimagining the arrangements.” The EP is released on 180g Yellow Vinyl, CD and on all Digital platforms on November 3rd. New Book - "I'm Told I Had A Good Time" The EP release directly coincides with the publication of Micky Dolenz's latest book: I'm Told I Had Good Time – The Micky Dolenz Archives, Volume One. Comprised of more than 1200 rare and unpublished images from Micky's private collection, this 500-page book includes photos and memorabilia spanning 1945-1978, including hundreds of images Micky shot himself of the other Monkees (Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith) as well as Jimi Hendrix, Harry Nilsson, Otis Redding, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Alice Cooper and many more. The book (available in three distinct editions) can be preordered now from https://Beatlandbooks.com "Shiny Happy People" Digital Single  The digital single from the E.P, “Shiny Happy People”,  is available to download and stream from all major digital platforms now. You can watch the music video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKSRntMvqMQ  R.E.M. Reactions to the EP: “These songs are ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. Micky Dolenz covering R.E.M. Monkees style; I have died and gone to heaven. This is really something. Shiny Happy People sounds INCREDIBLE (never thought you or I would hear me say that!!!). Give it a spin. It's wild. And produced by Christian Nesmith (son of Michael Nesmith), I am finally complete”.                                                 Michael Stipe "That voice---one of the main voices of my musical awakening---singing our songs... it is beyond awesome. Let's help make this as huge as we possibly can. I am beyond thrilled."                                                 Mike Mills "I've been listening to Micky's singing since I was nine years old.  It's unreal to hear that very voice, adding new depth to songs we've written ourselves, and inhabiting them so completely."                                                 Peter Buck "I am blown away!  Micky and Christian just take these tracks to unexpected places”.                                                 Scott McCaughey Availability Dolenz Sings R.E.M.  is released November 3rd worldwide. It's available to pre-order now on 12” 180g Yellow Vinyl, CD and Digital Platforms, through all good online retailers and local record stores. Fans can also order signed copies through Micky Dolenz's own shop: mickydolenz.com   We were born to love one another. Support Zilch, get a cool shirt! www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-art

Zilch#187 with Glenn Gretlund from "7a"talks the deluxe 55th Anniversary release of Boyce & Hart's critically acclaimed 1968 album “I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite?” Limited 180gm red colored vinyl LP pressing. Digitally remastered edition. Released in March 1968, I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite? was the most successful merging of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart's distinct artistic styles. Whether it be Tommy's sweet pop concoctions or Bobby Hart's bluesy soul leanings, the two fully blend on this, their second long player. The album arrived on the heels of the duo's explosive success, writing and producing for the Monkees. I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite? made the charts in April 1968. A&M had a strong and fostering relationship with their artists at that time and Boyce & Hart would return with another album (It's All Happening On The Inside) and three more singles. Nevertheless, their second album was a peak commercially and artistically and still holds up decades later, as one of the finer pieces of pop craftsmanship from one of the most prolific eras of rock music. This deluxe 55th Anniversary edition has been remastered and includes extensive liner notes by Monkees manager and historian Andrew Sandoval. For more Monkee related releases (and more!), please visit: https://www.7arecords.com/get it on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-What-Shes-Doing-Tonight/dp/B0C6B65ZZNor https://www.importcds.com/i-wonder-what-shes-doing-tonite-180gm-red-vinyl/5060209950464https://www.deepdiscount.com/i-wonder-what-shes-doing-tonite-180gm-red-vinyl/5060209950464Originally Aired 9/7/23We were born to love one another. Support Zilch, get a cool shirt! www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-art Join our Facebook page If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here Download (right click, save as)

This week we’re MONKEEING AROUND with Melanie Mitchell, author of Monkee Magic: a Book about a TV Show about a Band! We also discuss the upcoming vinyl release of Micky Dolenz Puts You to Sleep from Friday Music and a special on 7a Records’ Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart you don’t want to miss! In … Monkeeing Around – Monkee Magic with Melanie Mitchell – Episode 35 Read More » The post Monkeeing Around – Monkee Magic with Melanie Mitchell – Episode 35 appeared first on The ESO Network.

This week we're MONKEEING AROUND with Melanie Mitchell, author of Monkee Magic: a Book about a TV Show about a Band! We also discuss the upcoming vinyl release of Micky Dolenz Puts You to Sleep from Friday Music and a special on 7a Records' Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart you don't want to miss! In our 'You May Also Like' segment this week we highlight one of Veronica and Chucks' favorite bands, The Ruen Brothers! Monkeeing Around is a part of the ESO Podcast Network, Executive Producer Mike Faber.

Zilch#186 with Glenn Gretlund from "7a" discuss Michael Nesmith's "Pretty Much your standard ranch stash" 50th Anniversary release For more Monkee related releases (and more!), please visit: https://www.7arecords.com/We were born to love one another. Support Zilch, get a cool shirt! www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-art Join our Facebook page If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here Download (right click, save as)

I think that by now the Monkees have overcome their epithet of "Prefab Four," which I suppose was clever but not especially accurate. At least three of the Monkees were musicians who could act. I'd argue that Micky Dolenz was an actor who could play music. (More on that below.) Having said that, however, he's got one of the best voices of the rock and roll era, so my label comes from the fact that he came from acting rather than from music, as the others did. That they didn't write most of their own music is really of no consequence, given that the pressure for artists to write their own material wasn't really there yet. Similarly, the Monkees were under a tight contract, which made that difficult. Every move they made toward autonomy was met with resistance. In Michael Nesmith's case, it meant some acrimony between him and the label. At any rate, as I mention early in the show, "Daydream Believer" was the Monkees' last Number One hit, but it was only  their second-to-last Top Ten in the United States.  (Their last was 1968's "Valleri," which peaked at #3.) After that, it was the bottom half of the Hot 100 for the band until a brief comeback in 1986. While the  band members had achieved the autonomy they sought, they were also drifting apart as a group. Dolenz had lost interest in drumming, preferring instead to let session musicians take over. Producer Chip Douglas also noted that Dolenz was the weak link musically. He said that Dolenz' work on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. was cobbled together from several takes of the same song. The cancellation of the show and the poor reception of the film Head didn't help either. Finally Peter Tork quit the group by  buying out his contract at the end of 1968. By the time their television special 33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee aired in April 1969, Tork was long gone. Click here for a transcript of this episode. Click here to become a Patron of the show. As a Patron, you get access to a weekly newsletter that publishes at least 48 times per year (stuff happens once in awhile, ya know?). You also get occasional goodies like: Giveaways Special videos Bonus Episodes A Sense of Pride for Having Helped Foster an Independent Creator

Zilch #185! Cool It! It's POOL IT! this time I am joined by Elliott Marx as we discussed a controversial album in the Monkees catalog.See Micky Live Get the book herehttps://beatlandbooks.com/For more Monkee related releases, please visit: www.7arecords.comWe were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

Hey hey! This week Paco & Jef continue the Randomatic Countdown and bring you numbers 69-50 and things are starting to heat up! With a little surprise from the Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart album, a couple Christmas tunes, a song about Davy Jones asking how old your sister is and quite possibly the Monkees biggest hit, this episode is packed with fan favourites and classic tunes!

Zilch #184! Micky does Fallon, New Beatland book details, 7a Records News, The Monkees in Goldmine Magazine, & More! Ken & Christine talk about all the latest happenings in the Monkeesverse, and they speculate what songs they'd like to see Coco perform onstage with the Micky Dolenz Band. and More!See Micky Live Get the book herehttps://beatlandbooks.com/For more Monkee related releases, please visit: www.7arecords.comWe were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

Episode 162 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Daydream Believer", and the later career of the Monkees, and how four Pinocchios became real boys. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-minute bonus episode available, on "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources No Mixcloud this time, as even after splitting it into multiple files, there are simply too many Monkees tracks excerpted. The best versions of the Monkees albums are the triple-CD super-deluxe versions that used to be available from monkees.com , and I've used Andrew Sandoval's liner notes for them extensively in this episode. Sadly, though, none of those are in print. However, at the time of writing there is a new four-CD super-deluxe box set of Headquarters (with a remixed version of the album rather than the original mixes I've excerpted here) available from that site, and I used the liner notes for that here. Monkees.com also currently has the intermittently-available BluRay box set of the entire Monkees TV series, which also has Head and 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee. For those just getting into the group, my advice is to start with this five-CD set, which contains their first five albums along with bonus tracks. The single biggest source of information I used in this episode is the first edition of Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees; The Day-By-Day Story. Sadly that is now out of print and goes for hundreds of pounds. Sandoval released a second edition of the book in 2021, which I was unfortunately unable to obtain, but that too is now out of print. If you can find a copy of either, do get one. Other sources used were Monkee Business by Eric Lefcowitz, and the autobiographies of three of the band members and one of the songwriters — Infinite Tuesday by Michael Nesmith, They Made a Monkee Out of Me by Davy Jones, I'm a Believer by Micky Dolenz, and Psychedelic Bubble-Gum by Bobby Hart. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript When we left the Monkees, they were in a state of flux. To recap what we covered in that episode, the Monkees were originally cast as actors in a TV show, and consisted of two actors with some singing ability -- the former child stars Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz -- and two musicians who were also competent comic actors, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork.  The show was about a fictional band whose characters shared names with their actors, and there had quickly been two big hit singles, and two hit albums, taken from the music recorded for the TV show's soundtrack. But this had caused problems for the actors. The records were being promoted as being by the fictional group in the TV series, blurring the line between the TV show and reality, though in fact for the most part they were being made by session musicians with only Dolenz or Jones adding lead vocals to pre-recorded backing tracks. Dolenz and Jones were fine with this, but Nesmith, who had been allowed to write and produce a few album tracks himself, wanted more creative input, and more importantly felt that he was being asked to be complicit in fraud because the records credited the four Monkees as the musicians when (other than a tiny bit of inaudible rhythm guitar by Tork on a couple of Nesmith's tracks) none of them played on them. Tork, meanwhile, believed he had been promised that the group would be an actual group -- that they would all be playing on the records together -- and felt hurt and annoyed that this wasn't the case. They were by now playing live together to promote the series and the records, with Dolenz turning out to be a perfectly competent drummer, so surely they could do the same in the studio? So in January 1967, things came to a head. It's actually quite difficult to sort out exactly what happened, because of conflicting recollections and opinions. What follows is my best attempt to harmonise the different versions of the story into one coherent narrative, but be aware that I could be wrong in some of the details. Nesmith and Tork, who disliked each other in most respects, were both agreed that this couldn't continue and that if there were going to be Monkees records released at all, they were going to have the Monkees playing on them. Dolenz, who seems to have been the one member of the group that everyone could get along with, didn't really care but went along with them for the sake of group harmony. And Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the production team behind the series, also took Nesmith and Tork's side, through a general love of mischief. But on the other side was Don Kirshner, the music publisher who was in charge of supervising the music for the TV show. Kirshner was adamantly, angrily, opposed to the very idea of the group members having any input at all into how the records were made. He considered that they should be grateful for the huge pay cheques they were getting from records his staff writers and producers were making for them, and stop whinging. And Davy Jones was somewhere in the middle. He wanted to support his co-stars, who he genuinely liked, but also, he was a working actor, he'd had other roles before, he'd have other roles afterwards, and as a working actor you do what you're told if you don't want to lose the job you've got. Jones had grown up in very severe poverty, and had been his family's breadwinner from his early teens, and artistic integrity is all very nice, but not as nice as a cheque for a quarter of a million dollars. Although that might be slightly unfair -- it might be fairer to say that artistic integrity has a different meaning to someone like Jones, coming from musical theatre and a tradition of "the show must go on", than it does to people like Nesmith and Tork who had come up through the folk clubs. Jones' attitude may also have been affected by the fact that his character in the TV show didn't play an instrument other than the occasional tambourine or maracas. The other three were having to mime instrumental parts they hadn't played, and to reproduce them on stage, but Jones didn't have that particular disadvantage. Bert Schneider, one of the TV show's producers, encouraged the group to go into the recording studio themselves, with a producer of their choice, and cut a couple of tracks to prove what they could do. Michael Nesmith, who at this point was the one who was most adamant about taking control of the music, chose Chip Douglas to produce. Douglas was someone that Nesmith had known a little while, as they'd both played the folk circuit -- in Douglas' case as a member of the Modern Folk Quartet -- but Douglas had recently joined the Turtles as their new bass player. At this point, Douglas had never officially produced a record, but he was a gifted arranger, and had just arranged the Turtles' latest single, which had just been released and was starting to climb the charts: [Excerpt: The Turtles, "Happy Together"] Douglas quit the Turtles to work with the Monkees, and took the group into the studio to cut two demo backing tracks for a potential single as a proof of concept. These initial sessions didn't have any vocals, but featured Nesmith on guitar, Tork on piano, Dolenz on drums, Jones on tambourine, and an unknown bass player -- possibly Douglas himself, possibly Nesmith's friend John London, who he'd played with in Mike and John and Bill. They cut rough tracks of two songs, "All of Your Toys", by another friend of Nesmith's, Bill Martin, and Nesmith's "The Girl I Knew Somewhere": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (Gold Star Demo)"] Those tracks were very rough and ready -- they were garage-band tracks rather than the professional studio recordings that the Candy Store Prophets or Jeff Barry's New York session players had provided for the previous singles -- but they were competent in the studio, thanks largely to Chip Douglas' steadying influence. As Douglas later said "They could hardly play. Mike could play adequate rhythm guitar. Pete could play piano but he'd make mistakes, and Micky's time on drums was erratic. He'd speed up or slow down." But the takes they managed to get down showed that they *could* do it. Rafelson and Schneider agreed with them that the Monkees could make a single together, and start recording at least some of their own tracks. So the group went back into the studio, with Douglas producing -- and with Lester Sill from the music publishers there to supervise -- and cut finished versions of the two songs. This time the lineup was Nesmith on guitar, Tork on electric harpsichord -- Tork had always been a fan of Bach, and would in later years perform Bach pieces as his solo spot in Monkees shows -- Dolenz on drums, London on bass, and Jones on tambourine: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (first recorded version)"] But while this was happening, Kirshner had been trying to get new Monkees material recorded without them -- he'd not yet agreed to having the group play on their own records. Three days after the sessions for "All of Your Toys" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", sessions started in New York for an entire album's worth of new material, produced by Jeff Barry and Denny Randell, and largely made by the same Red Bird Records team who had made "I'm a Believer" -- the same musicians who in various combinations had played on everything from "Sherry" by the Four Seasons to "Like a Rolling Stone" by Dylan to "Leader of the Pack", and with songs by Neil Diamond, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Leiber and Stoller, and the rest of the team of songwriters around Red Bird. But at this point came the meeting we talked about towards the end of the "Last Train to Clarksville" episode, in which Nesmith punched a hole in a hotel wall in frustration at what he saw as Kirshner's obstinacy. Kirshner didn't want to listen to the recordings the group had made. He'd promised Jeff Barry and Neil Diamond that if "I'm a Believer" went to number one, Barry would get to produce, and Diamond write, the group's next single. Chip Douglas wasn't a recognised producer, and he'd made this commitment. But the group needed a new single out. A compromise was offered, of sorts, by Kirshner -- how about if Barry flew over from New York to LA to produce the group, they'd scrap the tracks both the group and Barry had recorded, and Barry would produce new tracks for the songs he'd recorded, with the group playing on them? But that wouldn't work either. The group members were all due to go on holiday -- three of them were going to make staggered trips to the UK, partly to promote the TV series, which was just starting over here, and partly just to have a break. They'd been working sixty-plus hour weeks for months between the TV series, live performances, and the recording studio, and they were basically falling-down tired, which was one of the reasons for Nesmith's outburst in the meeting. They weren't accomplished enough musicians to cut tracks quickly, and they *needed* the break. On top of that, Nesmith and Barry had had a major falling-out at the "I'm a Believer" session, and Nesmith considered it a matter of personal integrity that he couldn't work with a man who in his eyes had insulted his professionalism. So that was out, but there was also no way Kirshner was going to let the group release a single consisting of two songs he hadn't heard, produced by a producer with no track record. At first, the group were insistent that "All of Your Toys" should be the A-side for their next single: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "All Of Your Toys"] But there was an actual problem with that which they hadn't foreseen. Bill Martin, who wrote the song, was under contract to another music publisher, and the Monkees' contracts said they needed to only record songs published by Screen Gems. Eventually, it was Micky Dolenz who managed to cut the Gordian knot -- or so everyone thought. Dolenz was the one who had the least at stake of any of them -- he was already secure as the voice of the hits, he had no particular desire to be an instrumentalist, but he wanted to support his colleagues. Dolenz suggested that it would be a reasonable compromise to put out a single with one of the pre-recorded backing tracks on one side, with him or Jones singing, and with the version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" that the band had recorded together on the other. That way, Kirshner and the record label would get their new single without too much delay, the group would still be able to say they'd started recording their own tracks, everyone would get some of what they wanted. So it was agreed -- though there was a further stipulation. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" had Nesmith singing lead vocals, and up to that point every Monkees single had featured Dolenz on lead on both sides. As far as Kirshner and the other people involved in making the release decisions were concerned, that was the way things were going to continue. Everyone was fine with this -- Nesmith, the one who was most likely to object in principle, in practice realised that having Dolenz sing his song would make it more likely to be played on the radio and used in the TV show, and so increase his royalties. A vocal session was arranged in New York for Dolenz and Jones to come and cut some vocal tracks right before Dolenz and Nesmith flew over to the UK. But in the meantime, it had become even more urgent for the group to be seen to be doing their own recording. An in-depth article on the group in the Saturday Evening Post had come out, quoting Nesmith as saying "It was what Kirshner wanted to do. Our records are not our forte. I don't care if we never sell another record. Maybe we were manufactured and put on the air strictly with a lot of hoopla. Tell the world we're synthetic because, damn it, we are. Tell them the Monkees are wholly man-made overnight, that millions of dollars have been poured into this thing. Tell the world we don't record our own music. But that's us they see on television. The show is really a part of us. They're not seeing something invalid." The press immediately jumped on the band, and started trying to portray them as con artists exploiting their teenage fans, though as Nesmith later said "The press decided they were going to unload on us as being somehow illegitimate, somehow false. That we were making an attempt to dupe the public, when in fact it was me that was making the attempt to maintain the integrity. So the press went into a full-scale war against us." Tork, on the other hand, while he and Nesmith were on the same side about the band making their own records, blamed Nesmith for much of the press reaction, later saying "Michael blew the whistle on us. If he had gone in there with pride and said 'We are what we are and we have no reason to hang our heads in shame' it never would have happened." So as far as the group were concerned, they *needed* to at least go with Dolenz's suggested compromise. Their personal reputations were on the line. When Dolenz arrived at the session in New York, he was expecting to be asked to cut one vocal track, for the A-side of the next single (and presumably a new lead vocal for "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"). When he got there, though, he found that Kirshner expected him to record several vocals so that Kirshner could choose the best. That wasn't what had been agreed, and so Dolenz flat-out refused to record anything at all. Luckily for Kirshner, Jones -- who was the most co-operative member of the band -- was willing to sing a handful of songs intended for Dolenz as well as the ones he was meant to sing. So the tape of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", the song intended for the next single, was slowed down so it would be in a suitable key for Jones instead, and he recorded the vocal for that: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"] Incidentally, while Jones recorded vocals for several more tracks at the session -- and some would later be reused as album tracks a few years down the line -- not all of the recorded tracks were used for vocals, and this later gave rise to a rumour that has been repeated as fact by almost everyone involved, though it was a misunderstanding. Kirshner's next major success after the Monkees was another made-for-TV fictional band, the Archies, and their biggest hit was "Sugar Sugar", co-written and produced by Jeff Barry: [Excerpt: The Archies, "Sugar Sugar"] Both Kirshner and the Monkees have always claimed that the Monkees were offered "Sugar, Sugar" and turned it down. To Kirshner the moral of the story was that since "Sugar, Sugar" was a massive hit, it proved his instincts right and proved that the Monkees didn't know what would make a hit. To the Monkees, on the other hand, it showed that Kirshner wanted them to do bubblegum music that they considered ridiculous. This became such an established factoid that Dolenz regularly tells the story in his live performances, and includes a version of "Sugar, Sugar" in them, rearranged as almost a torch song: [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Sugar, Sugar (live)"] But in fact, "Sugar, Sugar" wasn't written until long after Kirshner and the Monkees had parted ways. But one of the songs for which a backing track was recorded but no vocals were ever completed was "Sugar Man", a song by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer, which they would later release themselves as an unsuccessful single: [Excerpt: Linzer and Randell, "Sugar Man"] Over the years, the Monkees not recording "Sugar Man" became the Monkees not recording "Sugar, Sugar". Meanwhile, Dolenz and Nesmith had flown over to the UK to do some promotional work and relax, and Jones soon also flew over, though didn't hang out with his bandmates, preferring to spend more time with his family. Both Dolenz and Nesmith spent a lot of time hanging out with British pop stars, and were pleased to find that despite the manufactured controversy about them being a manufactured group, none of the British musicians they admired seemed to care. Eric Burdon, for example, was quoted in the Melody Maker as saying "They make very good records, I can't understand how people get upset about them. You've got to make up your minds whether a group is a record production group or one that makes live appearances. For example, I like to hear a Phil Spector record and I don't worry if it's the Ronettes or Ike and Tina Turner... I like the Monkees record as a grand record, no matter how people scream. So somebody made a record and they don't play, so what? Just enjoy the record." Similarly, the Beatles were admirers of the Monkees, especially the TV show, despite being expected to have a negative opinion of them, as you can hear in this contemporary recording of Paul McCartney answering a fan's questions: Excerpt: Paul McCartney talks about the Monkees] Both Dolenz and Nesmith hung out with the Beatles quite a bit -- they both visited Sgt. Pepper recording sessions, and if you watch the film footage of the orchestral overdubs for "A Day in the Life", Nesmith is there with all the other stars of the period. Nesmith and his wife Phyllis even stayed with the Lennons for a couple of days, though Cynthia Lennon seems to have thought of the Nesmiths as annoying intruders who had been invited out of politeness and not realised they weren't wanted. That seems plausible, but at the same time, John Lennon doesn't seem the kind of person to not make his feelings known, and Michael Nesmith's reports of the few days they stayed there seem to describe a very memorable experience, where after some initial awkwardness he developed a bond with Lennon, particularly once he saw that Lennon was a fan of Captain Beefheart, who was a friend of Nesmith, and whose Safe as Milk album Lennon was examining when Nesmith turned up, and whose music at this point bore a lot of resemblance to the kind of thing Nesmith was doing: [Excerpt: Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, "Yellow Brick Road"] Or at least, that's how Nesmith always told the story later -- though Safe as Milk didn't come out until nearly six months later. It's possible he's conflating memories from a later trip to the UK in June that year -- where he also talked about how Lennon was the only person he'd really got on with on the previous trip, because "he's a compassionate person. I know he has a reputation for being caustic, but it is only a cover for the depth of his feeling." Nesmith and Lennon apparently made some experimental music together during the brief stay, with Nesmith being impressed by Lennon's Mellotron and later getting one himself. Dolenz, meanwhile, was spending more time with Paul McCartney, and with Spencer Davis of his current favourite band The Spencer Davis Group. But even more than that he was spending a lot of time with Samantha Juste, a model and TV presenter whose job it was to play the records on Top of the Pops, the most important British TV pop show, and who had released a record herself a couple of months earlier, though it hadn't been a success: [Excerpt: Samantha Juste, "No-one Needs My Love Today"] The two quickly fell deeply in love, and Juste would become Dolenz's first wife the next year. When Nesmith and Dolenz arrived back in the US after their time off, they thought the plan was still to release "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" with "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" on the B-side. So Nesmith was horrified to hear on the radio what the announcer said were the two sides of the new Monkees single -- "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", and "She Hangs Out", another song from the Jeff Barry sessions with a Davy vocal. Don Kirshner had gone ahead and picked two songs from the Jeff Barry sessions and delivered them to RCA Records, who had put a single out in Canada. The single was very, *very* quickly withdrawn once the Monkees and the TV producers found out, and only promo copies seem to circulate -- rather than being credited to "the Monkees", both sides are credited to '"My Favourite Monkee" Davy Jones Sings'. The record had been withdrawn, but "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" was clearly going to have to be the single. Three days after the record was released and pulled, Nesmith, Dolenz and Tork were back in the studio with Chip Douglas, recording a new B-side -- a new version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", this time with Dolenz on vocals. As Jones was still in the UK, John London added the tambourine part as well as the bass: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (single version)"] As Nesmith told the story a couple of months later, "Bert said 'You've got to get this thing in Micky's key for Micky to sing it.' I said 'Has Donnie made a commitment? I don't want to go there and break my neck in order to get this thing if Donnie hasn't made a commitment. And Bert refused to say anything. He said 'I can't tell you anything except just go and record.'" What had happened was that the people at Columbia had had enough of Kirshner. As far as Rafelson and Schneider were concerned, the real problem in all this was that Kirshner had been making public statements taking all the credit for the Monkees' success and casting himself as the puppetmaster. They thought this was disrespectful to the performers -- and unstated but probably part of it, that it was disrespectful to Rafelson and Schneider for their work putting the TV show together -- and that Kirshner had allowed his ego to take over. Things like the liner notes for More of the Monkees which made Kirshner and his stable of writers more important than the performers had, in the view of the people at Raybert Productions, put the Monkees in an impossible position and forced them to push back. Schneider later said "Kirshner had an ego that transcended everything else. As a matter of fact, the press issue was probably magnified a hundred times over because of Kirshner. He wanted everybody thinking 'Hey, he's doing all this, not them.' In the end it was very self-destructive because it heightened the whole press issue and it made them feel lousy." Kirshner was out of a job, first as the supervisor for the Monkees and then as the head of Columbia/Screen Gems Music. In his place came Lester Sill, the man who had got Leiber and Stoller together as songwriters, who had been Lee Hazelwood's production partner on his early records with Duane Eddy, and who had been the "Les" in Philles Records until Phil Spector pushed him out. Sill, unlike Kirshner, was someone who was willing to take a back seat and just be a steadying hand where needed. The reissued version of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" went to number two on the charts, behind "Somethin' Stupid" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra, produced by Sill's old colleague Hazelwood, and the B-side, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", also charted separately, making number thirty-nine on the charts. The Monkees finally had a hit that they'd written and recorded by themselves. Pinocchio had become a real boy: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (single version)"] At the same session at which they'd recorded that track, the Monkees had recorded another Nesmith song, "Sunny Girlfriend", and that became the first song to be included on a new album, which would eventually be named Headquarters, and on which all the guitar, keyboard, drums, percussion, banjo, pedal steel, and backing vocal parts would for the first time be performed by the Monkees themselves. They brought in horn and string players on a couple of tracks, and the bass was variously played by John London, Chip Douglas, and Jerry Yester as Tork was more comfortable on keyboards and guitar than bass, but it was in essence a full band album. Jones got back the next day, and sessions began in earnest. The first song they recorded after his return was "Mr. Webster", a Boyce and Hart song that had been recorded with the Candy Store Prophets in 1966 but hadn't been released. This was one of three tracks on the album that were rerecordings of earlier outtakes, and it's fascinating to compare them, to see the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches. In the case of "Mr. Webster", the instrumental backing on the earlier version is definitely slicker: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Mr. Webster (1st Recorded Version)"] But at the same time, there's a sense of dynamics in the group recording that's lacking from the original, like the backing dropping out totally on the word "Stop" -- a nice touch that isn't in the original. I am only speculating, but this may have been inspired by the similar emphasis on the word "stop" in "For What It's Worth" by Tork's old friend Stephen Stills: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Mr. Webster (album version)"] Headquarters was a group album in another way though -- for the first time, Tork and Dolenz were bringing in songs they'd written -- Nesmith of course had supplied songs already for the two previous albums. Jones didn't write any songs himself yet, though he'd start on the next album, but he was credited with the rest of the group on two joke tracks, "Band 6", a jam on the Merrie Melodies theme “Merrily We Roll Along”, and "Zilch", a track made up of the four band members repeating nonsense phrases: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Zilch"] Oddly, that track had a rather wider cultural resonance than a piece of novelty joke album filler normally would. It's sometimes covered live by They Might Be Giants: [Excerpt: They Might Be Giants, "Zilch"] While the rapper Del Tha Funkee Homosapien had a worldwide hit in 1991 with "Mistadobalina", built around a sample of Peter Tork from the track: [Excerpt: Del Tha Funkee Homosapien,"Mistadobalina"] Nesmith contributed three songs, all of them combining Beatles-style pop music and country influences, none more blatantly than the opening track, "You Told Me", which starts off parodying the opening of "Taxman", before going into some furious banjo-picking from Tork: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "You Told Me"] Tork, meanwhile, wrote "For Pete's Sake" with his flatmate of the time, and that became the end credits music for season two of the TV series: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "For Pete's Sake"] But while the other band members made important contributions, the track on the album that became most popular was the first song of Dolenz's to be recorded by the group. The lyrics recounted, in a semi-psychedelic manner, Dolenz's time in the UK, including meeting with the Beatles, who the song refers to as "the four kings of EMI", but the first verse is all about his new girlfriend Samantha Juste: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Randy Scouse Git"] The song was released as a single in the UK, but there was a snag. Dolenz had given the song a title he'd heard on an episode of the BBC sitcom Til Death Us Do Part, which he'd found an amusing bit of British slang. Til Death Us Do Part was written by Johnny Speight, a writer with Associated London Scripts, and was a family sitcom based around the character of Alf Garnett, an ignorant, foul-mouthed reactionary bigot who hated young people, socialists, and every form of minority, especially Black people (who he would address by various slurs I'm definitely not going to repeat here), and was permanently angry at the world and abusive to his wife. As with another great sitcom from ALS, Steptoe and Son, which Norman Lear adapted for the US as Sanford and Son, Til Death Us Do Part was also adapted by Lear, and became All in the Family. But while Archie Bunker, the character based on Garnett in the US version, has some redeeming qualities because of the nature of US network sitcom, Alf Garnett has absolutely none, and is as purely unpleasant and unsympathetic a character as has ever been created -- which sadly didn't stop a section of the audience from taking him as a character to be emulated. A big part of the show's dynamic was the relationship between Garnett and his socialist son-in-law from Liverpool, played by Anthony Booth, himself a Liverpudlian socialist who would later have a similarly contentious relationship with his own decidedly non-socialist son-in-law, the future Prime Minister Tony Blair. Garnett was as close to foul-mouthed as was possible on British TV at the time, with Speight regularly negotiating with the BBC bosses to be allowed to use terms that were not otherwise heard on TV, and used various offensive terms about his family, including referring to his son-in-law as a "randy Scouse git". Dolenz had heard the phrase on TV, had no idea what it meant but loved the sound of it, and gave the song that title. But when the record came out in the UK, he was baffled to be told that the phrase -- which he'd picked up from a BBC TV show, after all -- couldn't be said normally on BBC broadcasts, so they would need to retitle the track. The translation into American English that Dolenz uses in his live shows to explain this to Americans is to say that "randy Scouse git" means "horny Liverpudlian putz", and that's more or less right. Dolenz took the need for an alternative title literally, and so the track that went to number two in the UK charts was titled "Alternate Title": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Randy Scouse Git"] The album itself went to number one in both the US and the UK, though it was pushed off the top spot almost straight away by the release of Sgt Pepper. As sessions for Headquarters were finishing up, the group were already starting to think about their next album -- season two of the TV show was now in production, and they'd need to keep generating yet more musical material for it. One person they turned to was a friend of Chip Douglas'. Before the Turtles, Douglas had been in the Modern Folk Quartet, and they'd recorded "This Could Be the Night", which had been written for them by Harry Nilsson: [Excerpt: The MFQ, "This Could Be The Night"] Nilsson had just started recording his first solo album proper, at RCA Studios, the same studios that the Monkees were using. At this point, Nilsson still had a full-time job in a bank, working a night shift there while working on his album during the day, but Douglas knew that Nilsson was a major talent, and that assessment was soon shared by the group when Nilsson came in to demo nine of his songs for them: [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "1941 (demo)"] According to Nilsson, Nesmith said after that demo session "You just sat down there and blew our minds. We've been looking for songs, and you just sat down and played an *album* for us!" While the Monkees would attempt a few of Nilsson's songs over the next year or so, the first one they chose to complete was the first track recorded for their next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones, Ltd., a song which from the talkback at the beginning of the demo was always intended for Davy Jones to sing: [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "Cuddly Toy (demo)"] Oddly, given his romantic idol persona, a lot of the songs given to Jones to sing were anti-romantic, and often had a cynical and misogynistic edge. This had started with the first album's "I Want to Be Free", but by Pisces, it had gone to ridiculous extremes. Of the four songs Jones sings on the album, "Hard to Believe", the first song proper that he ever co-wrote, is a straightforward love  song, but the other three have a nasty edge to them. A remade version of Jeff Barry's "She Hangs Out" is about an underaged girl, starts with the lines "How old d'you say your sister was? You know you'd better keep an eye on her" and contains lines like "she could teach you a thing or two" and "you'd better get down here on the double/before she gets her pretty little self in trouble/She's so fine". Goffin and King's "Star Collector" is worse, a song about a groupie with lines like "How can I love her, if I just don't respect her?" and "It won't take much time, before I get her off my mind" But as is so often the way, these rather nasty messages were wrapped up in some incredibly catchy music, and that was even more the case with "Cuddly Toy", a song which at least is more overtly unpleasant -- it's very obvious that Nilsson doesn't intend the protagonist of the song to be at all sympathetic, which is possibly not the case in "She Hangs Out" or "Star Collector". But the character Jones is singing is *viciously* cruel here, mocking and taunting a girl who he's coaxed to have sex with him, only to scorn her as soon as he's got what he wanted: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Cuddly Toy"] It's a great song if you like the cruelest of humour combined with the cheeriest of music, and the royalties from the song allowed Nilsson to quit the job at the bank. "Cuddly Toy", and Chip Douglas and Bill Martin's song "The Door Into Summer", were recorded the same way as Headquarters, with the group playing *as a group*, but as recordings for the album progressed the group fell into a new way of working, which Peter Tork later dubbed "mixed-mode". They didn't go back to having tracks cut for them by session musicians, apart from Jones' song "Hard to Believe", for which the entire backing track was created by one of his co-writers overdubbing himself, but Dolenz, who Tork always said was "incapable of repeating a triumph", was not interested in continuing to play drums in the studio. Instead, a new hybrid Monkees would perform most of the album. Nesmith would still play the lead guitar, Tork would provide the keyboards, Chip Douglas would play all the bass and add some additional guitar, and "Fast" Eddie Hoh, the session drummer who had been a touring drummer with the Modern Folk Quartet and the Mamas and the Papas, among others, would play drums on the records, with Dolenz occasionally adding a bit of acoustic guitar. And this was the lineup that would perform on the hit single from Pisces. "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who had written several songs for the group's first two albums (and who would continue to provide them with more songs). As with their earlier songs for the group, King had recorded a demo: [Excerpt: Carole King, "Pleasant Valley Sunday (demo)"] Previously -- and subsequently -- when presented with a Carole King demo, the group and their producers would just try to duplicate it as closely as possible, right down to King's phrasing. Bob Rafelson has said that he would sometimes hear those demos and wonder why King didn't just make records herself -- and without wanting to be too much of a spoiler for a few years' time, he wasn't the only one wondering that. But this time, the group had other plans. In particular, they wanted to make a record with a strong guitar riff to it -- Nesmith has later referenced their own "Last Train to Clarksville" and the Beatles' "Day Tripper" as two obvious reference points for the track. Douglas came up with a riff and taught it to Nesmith, who played it on the track: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] The track also ended with the strongest psychedelic -- or "psycho jello" as the group would refer to it -- freak out that they'd done to this point, a wash of saturated noise: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] King was unhappy with the results, and apparently glared at Douglas the next time they met. This may be because of the rearrangement from her intentions, but it may also be for a reason that Douglas later suspected. When recording the track, he hadn't been able to remember all the details of her demo, and in particular he couldn't remember exactly how the middle eight went. This is the version on King's demo: [Excerpt: Carole King, "Pleasant Valley Sunday (demo)"] While here's how the Monkees rendered it, with slightly different lyrics: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] I also think there's a couple of chord changes in the second verse that differ between King and the Monkees, but I can't be sure that's not my ears deceiving me. Either way, though, the track was a huge success, and became one of the group's most well-known and well-loved tracks, making number three on the charts behind "All You Need is Love" and "Light My Fire". And while it isn't Dolenz drumming on the track, the fact that it's Nesmith playing guitar and Tork on the piano -- and the piano part is one of the catchiest things on the record -- meant that they finally had a proper major hit on which they'd played (and it seems likely that Dolenz contributed some of the acoustic rhythm guitar on the track, along with Bill Chadwick, and if that's true all three Monkee instrumentalists did play on the track). Pisces is by far and away the best album the group ever made, and stands up well against anything else that came out around that time. But cracks were beginning to show in the group. In particular, the constant battle to get some sort of creative input had soured Nesmith on the whole project. Chip Douglas later said "When we were doing Pisces Michael would come in with three songs; he knew he had three songs coming on the album. He knew that he was making a lot of money if he got his original songs on there. So he'd be real enthusiastic and cooperative and real friendly and get his three songs done. Then I'd say 'Mike, can you come in and help on this one we're going to do with Micky here?' He said 'No, Chip, I can't. I'm busy.' I'd say, 'Mike, you gotta come in the studio.' He'd say 'No Chip, I'm afraid I'm just gonna have to be ornery about it. I'm not comin' in.' That's when I started not liking Mike so much any more." Now, as is so often the case with the stories from this period, this appears to be inaccurate in the details -- Nesmith is present on every track on the album except Jones' solo "Hard to Believe" and Tork's spoken-word track "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky", and indeed this is by far the album with *most* Nesmith input, as he takes five lead vocals, most of them on songs he didn't write. But Douglas may well be summing up Nesmith's *attitude* to the band at this point -- listening to Nesmith's commentaries on episodes of the TV show, by this point he felt disengaged from everything that was going on, like his opinions weren't welcome. That said, Nesmith did still contribute what is possibly the single most innovative song the group ever did, though the innovations weren't primarily down to Nesmith: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"] Nesmith always described the lyrics to "Daily Nightly" as being about the riots on Sunset Strip, but while they're oblique, they seem rather to be about streetwalking sex workers -- though it's perhaps understandable that Nesmith would never admit as much. What made the track innovative was the use of the Moog synthesiser. We talked about Robert Moog in the episode on "Good Vibrations" -- he had started out as a Theremin manufacturer, and had built the ribbon synthesiser that Mike Love played live on "Good Vibrations", and now he was building the first commercially available easily usable synthesisers. Previously, electronic instruments had either been things like the clavioline -- a simple monophonic keyboard instrument that didn't have much tonal variation -- or the RCA Mark II, a programmable synth that could make a wide variety of sounds, but took up an entire room and was programmed with punch cards. Moog's machines were bulky but still transportable, and they could be played in real time with a keyboard, but were still able to be modified to make a wide variety of different sounds. While, as we've seen, there had been electronic keyboard instruments as far back as the 1930s, Moog's instruments were for all intents and purposes the first synthesisers as we now understand the term. The Moog was introduced in late spring 1967, and immediately started to be used for making experimental and novelty records, like Hal Blaine's track "Love In", which came out at the beginning of June: [Excerpt: Hal Blaine, "Love In"] And the Electric Flag's soundtrack album for The Trip, the drug exploitation film starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and written by Jack Nicholson we talked about last time, when Arthur Lee moved into a house used in the film: [Excerpt: The Electric Flag, "Peter's Trip"] In 1967 there were a total of six albums released with a Moog on them (as well as one non-album experimental single). Four of the albums were experimental or novelty instrumental albums of this type. Only two of them were rock albums -- Strange Days by the Doors, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd by the Monkees. The Doors album was released first, but I believe the Monkees tracks were recorded before the Doors overdubbed the Moog on the tracks on their album, though some session dates are hard to pin down exactly. If that's the case it would make the Monkees the very first band to use the Moog on an actual rock record (depending on exactly how you count the Trip soundtrack -- this gets back again to my old claim that there's no first anything). But that's not the only way in which "Daily Nightly" was innovative. All the first seven albums to feature the Moog featured one man playing the instrument -- Paul Beaver, the Moog company's West Coast representative, who played on all the novelty records by members of the Wrecking Crew, and on the albums by the Electric Flag and the Doors, and on The Notorious Byrd Brothers by the Byrds, which came out in early 1968. And Beaver did play the Moog on one track on Pisces, "Star Collector". But on "Daily Nightly" it's Micky Dolenz playing the Moog, making him definitely the second person ever to play a Moog on a record of any kind: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"] Dolenz indeed had bought his own Moog -- widely cited as being the second one ever in private ownership, a fact I can't check but which sounds plausible given that by 1970 less than thirty musicians owned one -- after seeing Beaver demonstrate the instrument at the Monterey Pop Festival. The Monkees hadn't played Monterey, but both Dolenz and Tork had attended the festival -- if you watch the famous film of it you see Dolenz and his girlfriend Samantha in the crowd a *lot*, while Tork introduced his friends in the Buffalo Springfield. As well as discovering the Moog there, Dolenz had been astonished by something else: [Excerpt: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Hey Joe (Live at Monterey)"] As Peter Tork later put it "I didn't get it. At Monterey Jimi followed the Who and the Who busted up their things and Jimi bashed up his guitar. I said 'I just saw explosions and destruction. Who needs it?' But Micky got it. He saw the genius and went for it." Dolenz was astonished by Hendrix, and insisted that he should be the support act on the group's summer tour. This pairing might sound odd on paper, but it made more sense at the time than it might sound. The Monkees were by all accounts a truly astonishing live act at this point -- Frank Zappa gave them a backhanded compliment by saying they were the best-sounding band in LA, before pointing out that this was because they could afford the best equipment. That *was* true, but it was also the case that their TV experience gave them a different attitude to live performance than anyone else performing at the time. A handful of groups had started playing stadiums, most notably of course the Beatles, but all of these acts had come up through playing clubs and theatres and essentially just kept doing their old act with no thought as to how the larger space worked, except to put their amps through a louder PA. The Monkees, though, had *started* in stadiums, and had started out as mass entertainers, and so their live show was designed from the ground up to play to those larger spaces. They had costume changes, elaborate stage sets -- like oversized fake Vox amps they burst out of at the start of the show -- a light show and a screen on which film footage was projected. In effect they invented stadium performances as we now know them. Nesmith later said "In terms of putting on a show there was never any question in my mind, as far as the rock 'n' roll era is concerned, that we put on probably the finest rock and roll stage show ever. It was beautifully lit, beautifully costumed, beautifully produced. I mean, for Christ sakes, it was practically a revue." The Monkees were confident enough in their stage performance that at a recent show at the Hollywood Bowl they'd had Ike and Tina Turner as their opening act -- not an act you'd want to go on after if you were going to be less than great, and an act from very similar chitlin' circuit roots to Jimi Hendrix. So from their perspective, it made sense. If you're going to be spectacular yourselves, you have no need to fear a spectacular opening act. Hendrix was less keen -- he was about the only musician in Britain who *had* made disparaging remarks about the Monkees -- but opening for the biggest touring band in the world isn't an opportunity you pass up, and again it isn't such a departure as one might imagine from the bills he was already playing. Remember that Monterey is really the moment when "pop" and "rock" started to split -- the split we've been talking about for a few months now -- and so the Jimi Hendrix Experience were still considered a pop band, and as such had played the normal British pop band package tours. In March and April that year, they'd toured on a bill with the Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, and Englebert Humperdinck -- and Hendrix had even filled in for Humperdinck's sick guitarist on one occasion. Nesmith, Dolenz, and Tork all loved having Hendrix on tour with them, just because it gave them a chance to watch him live every night (Jones, whose musical tastes were more towards Anthony Newley, wasn't especially impressed), and they got on well on a personal level -- there are reports of Hendrix jamming with Dolenz and Steve Stills in hotel rooms. But there was one problem, as Dolenz often recreates in his live act: [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Purple Haze"] The audience response to Hendrix from the Monkees' fans was so poor that by mutual agreement he left the tour after only a handful of shows. After the summer tour, the group went back to work on the TV show and their next album. Or, rather, four individuals went back to work. By this point, the group had drifted apart from each other, and from Douglas -- Tork, the one who was still keenest on the idea of the group as a group, thought that Pisces, good as it was, felt like a Chip Douglas album rather than a Monkees album. The four band members had all by now built up their own retinues of hangers-on and collaborators, and on set for the TV show they were now largely staying with their own friends rather than working as a group. And that was now reflected in their studio work. From now on, rather than have a single producer working with them as a band, the four men would work as individuals, producing their own tracks, occasionally with outside help, and bringing in session musicians to work on them. Some tracks from this point on would be genuine Monkees -- plural -- tracks, and all tracks would be credited as "produced by the Monkees", but basically the four men would from now on be making solo tracks which would be combined into albums, though Dolenz and Jones would occasionally guest on tracks by the others, especially when Nesmith came up with a song he thought would be more suited to their voices. Indeed the first new recording that happened after the tour was an entire Nesmith solo album -- a collection of instrumental versions of his songs, called The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, played by members of the Wrecking Crew and a few big band instrumentalists, arranged by Shorty Rogers. [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith, "You Told Me"] Hal Blaine in his autobiography claimed that the album was created as a tax write-off for Nesmith, though Nesmith always vehemently denied it, and claimed it was an artistic experiment, though not one that came off well. Released alongside Pisces, though, came one last group-recorded single. The B-side, "Goin' Down", is a song that was credited to the group and songwriter Diane Hildebrand, though in fact it developed from a jam on someone else's song. Nesmith, Tork, Douglas and Hoh attempted to record a backing track for a version of Mose Allison's jazz-blues standard "Parchman Farm": [Excerpt: Mose Allison, "Parchman Farm"] But after recording it, they'd realised that it didn't sound that much like the original, and that all it had in common with it was a chord sequence. Nesmith suggested that rather than put it out as a cover version, they put a new melody and lyrics to it, and they commissioned Hildebrand, who'd co-written songs for the group before, to write them, and got Shorty Rogers to write a horn arrangement to go over their backing track. The eventual songwriting credit was split five ways, between Hildebrand and the four Monkees -- including Davy Jones who had no involvement with the recording, but not including Douglas or Hoh. The lyrics Hildebrand came up with were a funny patter song about a failed suicide, taken at an extremely fast pace, which Dolenz pulls off magnificently: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Goin' Down"] The A-side, another track with a rhythm track by Nesmith, Tork, Douglas, and Hoh, was a song that had been written by John Stewart of the Kingston Trio, who you may remember from the episode on "San Francisco" as being a former songwriting partner of John Phillips. Stewart had written the song as part of a "suburbia trilogy", and was not happy with the finished product. He said later "I remember going to bed thinking 'All I did today was write 'Daydream Believer'." Stewart used to include the song in his solo sets, to no great approval, and had shopped the song around to bands like We Five and Spanky And Our Gang, who had both turned it down. He was unhappy with it himself, because of the chorus: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] Stewart was ADHD, and the words "to a", coming as they did slightly out of the expected scansion for the line, irritated him so greatly that he thought the song could never be recorded by anyone, but when Chip Douglas asked if he had any songs, he suggested that one. As it turned out, there was a line of lyric that almost got the track rejected, but it wasn't the "to a". Stewart's original second verse went like this: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] RCA records objected to the line "now you know how funky I can be" because funky, among other meanings, meant smelly, and they didn't like the idea of Davy Jones singing about being smelly. Chip Douglas phoned Stewart to tell him that they were insisting on changing the line, and suggesting "happy" instead. Stewart objected vehemently -- that change would reverse the entire meaning of the line, and it made no sense, and what about artistic integrity? But then, as he later said "He said 'Let me put it to you this way, John. If he can't sing 'happy' they won't do it'. And I said 'Happy's working real good for me now.' That's exactly what I said to him." He never regretted the decision -- Stewart would essentially live off the royalties from "Daydream Believer" for the rest of his life -- though he seemed always to be slightly ambivalent and gently mocking about the song in his own performances, often changing the lyrics slightly: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] The Monkees had gone into the studio and cut the track, again with Tork on piano, Nesmith on guitar, Douglas on bass, and Hoh on drums. Other than changing "funky" to "happy", there were two major changes made in the studio. One seems to have been Douglas' idea -- they took the bass riff from the pre-chorus to the Beach Boys' "Help Me Rhonda": [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Help Me Rhonda"] and Douglas played that on the bass as the pre-chorus for "Daydream Believer", with Shorty Rogers later doubling it in the horn arrangement: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daydream Believer"] And the other is the piano intro, which also becomes an instrumental bridge, which was apparently the invention of Tork, who played it: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daydream Believer"] The track went to number one, becoming the group's third and final number one hit, and their fifth of six million-sellers. It was included on the next album, The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees, but that piano part would be Tork's only contribution to the album. As the group members were all now writing songs and cutting their own tracks, and were also still rerecording the odd old unused song from the initial 1966 sessions, The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees was pulled together from a truly astonishing amount of material. The expanded triple-CD version of the album, now sadly out of print, has multiple versions of forty-four different songs, ranging from simple acoustic demos to completed tracks, of which twelve were included on the final album. Tork did record several tracks during the sessions, but he spent much of the time recording and rerecording a single song, "Lady's Baby", which eventually stretched to five different recorded versions over multiple sessions in a five-month period. He racked up huge studio bills on the track, bringing in Steve Stills and Dewey Martin of the Buffalo Springfield, and Buddy Miles, to try to help him capture the sound in his head, but the various takes are almost indistinguishable from one another, and so it's difficult to see what the problem was: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Lady's Baby"] Either way, the track wasn't finished by the time the album came out, and the album that came out was a curiously disjointed and unsatisfying effort, a mixture of recycled old Boyce and Hart songs, some songs by Jones, who at this point was convinced that "Broadway-rock" was going to be the next big thing and writing songs that sounded like mediocre showtunes, and a handful of experimental songs written by Nesmith. You could pull together a truly great ten- or twelve-track album from the masses of material they'd recorded, but the one that came out was mediocre at best, and became the first Monkees album not to make number one -- though it still made number three and sold in huge numbers. It also had the group's last million-selling single on it, "Valleri", an old Boyce and Hart reject from 1966 that had been remade with Boyce and Hart producing and their old session players, though the production credit was still now given to the Monkees: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Valleri"] Nesmith said at the time he considered it the worst song ever written. The second season of the TV show was well underway, and despite -- or possibly because of -- the group being clearly stoned for much of the filming, it contains a lot of the episodes that fans of the group think of most fondly, including several episodes that break out of the formula the show had previously established in interesting ways. Tork and Dolenz were both also given the opportunity to direct episodes, and Dolenz also co-wrote his episode, which ended up being the last of the series. In another sign of how the group were being given more creative control over the show, the last three episodes of the series had guest appearances by favourite musicians of the group members who they wanted to give a little exposure to, and those guest appearances sum up the character of the band members remarkably well. Tork, for whatever reason, didn't take up this option, but the other three did. Jones brought on his friend Charlie Smalls, who would later go on to write the music for the Broadway musical The Wiz, to demonstrate to Jones the difference between Smalls' Black soul and Jones' white soul: [Excerpt: Davy Jones and Charlie Smalls] Nesmith, on the other hand, brought on Frank Zappa. Zappa put on Nesmith's Monkee shirt and wool hat and pretended to be Nesmith, and interviewed Nesmith with a false nose and moustache pretending to be Zappa, as they both mercilessly mocked the previous week's segment with Jones and Smalls: [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith and Frank Zappa] Nesmith then "conducted" Zappa as Zappa used a sledgehammer to "play" a car, parodying his own appearance on the Steve Allen Show playing a bicycle, to the presumed bemusement of the Monkees' fanbase who would not be likely to remember a one-off performance on a late-night TV show from five years earlier. And the final thing ever to be shown on an episode of the Monkees didn't feature any of the Monkees at all. Micky Dolenz, who directed and co-wrote that episode, about an evil wizard who was using the power of a space plant (named after the group's slang for dope) to hypnotise people through the TV, chose not to interact with his guest as the others had, but simply had Tim Buckley perform a solo acoustic version of his then-unreleased song "Song to the Siren": [Excerpt: Tim Buckley, "Song to the Siren"] By the end of the second season, everyone knew they didn't want to make another season of the TV show. Instead, they were going to do what Rafelson and Schneider had always wanted, and move into film. The planning stages for the film, which was initially titled Changes but later titled Head -- so that Rafelson and Schneider could bill their next film as "From the guys who gave you Head" -- had started the previous summer, before the sessions that produced The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees. To write the film, the group went off with Rafelson and Schneider for a short holiday, and took with them their mutual friend Jack Nicholson. Nicholson was at this time not the major film star he later became. Rather he was a bit-part actor who was mostly associated with American International Pictures, the ultra-low-budget film company that has come up on several occasions in this podcast. Nicholson had appeared mostly in small roles, in films like The Little Shop of Horrors: [Excerpt: The Little Shop of Horrors] He'd appeared in multiple films made by Roger Corman, often appearing with Boris Karloff, and by Monte Hellman, but despite having been a working actor for a decade, his acting career was going nowhere, and by this point he had basically given up on the idea of being an actor, and had decided to start working behind the camera. He'd written the scripts for a few of the low-budget films he'd appeared in, and he'd recently scripted The Trip, the film we mentioned earlier: [Excerpt: The Trip trailer] So the group, Rafelson, Schneider, and Nicholson all went away for a weekend, and they all got extremely stoned, took acid, and talked into a tape recorder for hours on end. Nicholson then transcribed those recordings, cleaned them up, and structured the worthwhile ideas into something quite remarkable: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Ditty Diego"] If the Monkees TV show had been inspired by the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges, and by Richard Lester's directorial style, the only precursor I can find for Head is in the TV work of Lester's colleague Spike Milligan, but I don't think there's any reasonable way in which Nicholson or anyone else involved could have taken inspiration from Milligan's series Q.  But what they ended up with is something that resembles, more than anything else, Monty Python's Flying Circus, a TV series that wouldn't start until a year after Head came out. It's a series of ostensibly unconnected sketches, linked by a kind of dream logic, with characters wandering from one loose narrative into a totally different one, actors coming out of character on a regular basis, and no attempt at a coherent narrative. It contains regular examples of channel-zapping, with excerpts from old films being spliced in, and bits of news footage juxtaposed with comedy sketches and musical performances in ways that are sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes distasteful, and occasionally both -- as when a famous piece of footage of a Vietnamese prisoner of war being shot in the head hard-cuts to screaming girls in the audience at a Monkees concert, a performance which ends with the girls tearing apart the group and revealing that they're really just cheap-looking plastic mannequins. The film starts, and ends, with the Monkees themselves attempting suicide, jumping off a bridge into the ocean -- but the end reveals that in fact the ocean they're in is just water in a glass box, and they're trapped in it. And knowing this means that when you watch the film a second time, you find that it does have a story. The Monkees are trapped in a box which in some ways represents life, the universe, and one's own mind, and in other ways represents the TV and their TV careers. Each of them is trying in his own way to escape, and each ends up trapped by his own limitations, condemned to start the cycle over and over again. The film features parodies of popular film genres like the boxing film (Davy is supposed to throw a fight with Sonny Liston at the instruction of gangsters), the Western, and the war film, but huge chunks of the film take place on a film studio backlot, and characters from one segment reappear in another, often commenting negatively on the film or the band, as when Frank Zappa as a critic calls Davy Jones' soft-shoe routine to a Harry Nilsson song "very white", or when a canteen worker in the studio calls the group "God's gift to the eight-year-olds". The film is constantly deconstructing and commenting on itself and the filmmaking process -- Tork hits that canteen worker, whose wig falls off revealing the actor playing her to be a man, and then it's revealed that the "behind the scenes" footage is itself scripted, as director Bob Rafelson and scriptwriter Jack Nicholson come into frame and reassure Tork, who's concerned that hitting a woman would be bad for his image. They tell him they can always cut it from the finished film if it doesn't work. While "Ditty Diego", the almost rap rewriting of the Monkees theme we heard earlier, sets out a lot of how the film asks to be interpreted and how it works narratively, the *spiritual* and thematic core of the film is in another song, Tork's "Long Title (Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?)", which in later solo performances Tork would give the subtitle "The Karma Blues": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Long Title (Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?)"] Head is an extraordinary film, and one it's impossible to sum up in anything less than an hour-long episode of its own. It's certainly not a film that's to everyone's taste, and not every aspect of it works -- it is a film that is absolutely of its time, in ways that are both good and bad. But it's one of the most inventive things ever put out by a major film studio, and it's one that rightly secured the Monkees a certain amount of cult credibility over the decades. The soundtrack album is a return to form after the disappointing Birds, Bees, too. Nicholson put the album together, linking the eight songs in the film with collages of dialogue and incidental music, repurposing and recontextualising the dialogue to create a new experience, one that people have compared with Frank Zappa's contemporaneous We're Only In It For The Money, though while t

Zilch #183-M101-16 "Son of a Gypsy" & More! Ken & Christine talk about Micky's tour, MMR Ticket give aways and what we have been up to since last episode. Sarah and Rosanne Welch's Monkees 101 segment for episode 16 "Son of a Gypsy" which aired 12/26/66Synopsis "The Monkees are forced to steal a priceless statuette called the Maltese Vulture."Songs: "Let's Dance On," "I'm a Believer" and Davy does a bit of “Clarksville”See Micky Live www.monkeemeetandgreets.com/micky-s-tour-appearances or go to www.monkees.comCheck out Music from thr Monkeesverse on Monkee Mania Radio, 24/7 with Ken Mills, Christine Wolfe and a bunch of DJs that are bringing you music you will love..Listen here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

Mekka-lekka-hi, Mekka-ho-ho-ho! We search for the Christmas spirit within the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, the Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special, and the Monkees Christmas Show – with nothing but a box of Sno-Caps to guide our way! #peeweeherman #jamesgunn #monkees #christmas #guardiansofthegalaxy #snocaps

Andrew Sandoval talks The Monkees"Headquarters Super Deluxe Edition" available exclusively at monkees.comMicky Dolenz announces upcoming 2023 solo tour “The Monkees Celebratedby Micky Dolenz”with performance of the Headquarters album each night plus all of the band's biggest hits!Tickets on sale this friday Pre order code "Zilch"This Limited edition 4-cd/7” vinyl set revisits the entire headquarters project with 69 previously unreleased recordings, including the entire album newly remixed, the debut of backing tracks made for an abandoned version of the album, the band's earliestdemo recordings, and more monkees studio outtakesEACH NIGHT PLUS ALL OF THE BAND'S BIGGEST HITSTICKETS ON SALE THIS FRIDAY Presale code "Zilch"Limited Edition 4-CD/7” Vinyl Set Revisits The Entire Headquarters Project With 69 Previously Unreleased Recordings, Including The Entire Album Newly Remixed, The Debut Of Backing Tracks Made For An Abandoned Version Of The Album,The Band's EarliestDemo Recordings, And More Monkees Studio Outtakes. Go to www.monkees.comCheck out Music from thr Monkeesverse on Monkee Mania Radio, 24/7 with Ken Mills, Christine Wolfe and a bunch of DJs that are bringing you music you will love..Listen here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

Zilch#181 with Glenn Gretlund & Mark Kleiner from "7a" discuss their new Micky, Davy & Peter releases. For more Monkee related releases, please visit: www.7arecords.com Aired 9/20/22Check out Music from thr Monkeesverse on Monkee Mania Radio, 24/7 with Ken Mills, Christine Wolfe and a bunch of DJs that are bringing you music you will love..Listen here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

The Monkees community has lost one of our own, David (Dave) Alexander, after his long fight with cancer. He was part of The Monkees/Micky/Davy touring bands for 25 years. He was a fellow fan, and was one of us. Listen to a song with Peter and David , Davy, Sandy Gennero with some audio full of love. Thank you John Billings. We miss you Dave. Love to you. Also in this show, we have an Interview with Rosemary Ward-Tuski, owner of Retrocon, where Micky will be appearing on September 24th and 25th at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA. Learn more and buy tickets at https://retrocons.com Originally aired 9-2-22 Check out Music from thr Monkeesverse on Monkee Mania Radio, 24/7 with Ken Mills, Christine Wolfe and a bunch of DJs that are bringing you music you will love..Listen here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

The Zilch Staff and Andrew Sandoval look back at Bob Rafelson. The song "Tapioca Tundra," was used in an episode of "Better Call Saul". It was a demo version pretty much lost to time. Its use says something about Bob Rafelson's legacy that words cannot. Bob Rafelson, (February 21, 1933 – July 23, 2022) film director, writer, and producer. He is regarded as one of the key figures in the founding of the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s. He is one of the creators of the pop group and TV series The Monkees with BBS partner Bert Schneider. Originally aired 8/9/22Check out Music from thr Monkeesverse on Monkee Mania Radio , 24/7 Round the Clock with Ken Mills and a bunch of DJs that are bringing you music you will love.Listen here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

GZilch#178 with Glenn Gretlund & Mark Kleiner from "7a" discuss the new 2 disc set of "Dolenz Jones Boyce & Hart" Finally available and it sounds so much better than what we have heard before.As "The Summer of 7a" continues on!For more Monkee related releases, please visit: www.7arecords.comTons of Micky/Monkees News and a Contest!!!Share this episode to win a free pass to "Retro Con with Micky, details below.News"Head" at a special showing on 8/7Info herehttps://www.facebook.com/events/1160311804552719/Micky at The Hotwheels Con 8/27Micky at Retrocon September 24th & 25th to the Greater Philadelphia Expo CenterThe 10th Anniversary of Retro Con is coming September 24th & 25th to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center. And in addition to over 235 vendors selling their retro collectables, many special guests, panels, contests, cosplay and more, you can attend a special panel discussion with Micky Dolenz! But wait, there's more! You can also get your picture taken with Micky AND the Monkeemobile! That's right. The iconic Monkeemobile will be on display right next to Micky's table.And one lucky member of Zilch nation can WIN a pair of weekend passes to the event. All you have to do to be entered is go to the Zilch Facebook page and share our post for this episode. Each “share” gets you one entry into the drawing. The winner will be announced on the Zilch Facebook page and be contacted with information as to how to pick up their tickets.Don't forget to look for our own Sarah Clark who will be there handing out Zilch buttons, as well.  Learn more at https://retrocons.com/Originally aired 7/21/22Check out Music from thr Monkeesverse on Monkee Mania Radio , 24/7 Round the Clock with Ken Mills and a bunch of DJs that are bringing you music you will love.Listen here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

For full shows, live streams, bonus podcasts and more fun fun FUN: www.patreon.com/iainandkatherine See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Glenn Gretlund of 7a Records joins us to talk about "The Summer of 7a". "And The Hits Just Keep On Comin' (50th Anniversary Ed.) & "Tantamount To Treason, Vol. 1 (50th Anniversary Ed), are both out now - expanded with bonus tracks. Glenn also talks Micky's "Demoiselle" and other projects, and lets slip about the "Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart" set coming. We are joined later in the show by Wilson McLean, who painted both the original album sleeve for "Tantamount To Treason" and the brand new cover painting as well. Aired 6/2/22For more Monkee related releases, please visit: www.7arecords.comCheck out Music from thr Monkeesverse on Monkee Mania Radio , 24/7 Rounnd the Clock with Ken Mills and a bunch of DJs that are bringing you music you will love.Listen here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

Andy Schaal and Aubrey Winter join your host, Christine Wolfe, to recap the final tour stop of Micky Dolenz Remembers the Monkees in Madison, WI. Listen and enjoy some of Aubrey's bootleg from that night, featuring the Micky's red hot band - Wayne Avers, Emeen Zarookian, Gemma Dolenz, Rich Dart, Alex Jules, John Billings & Pete Finney. Check out Music from thr Monkeesverse on Monkee Mania Radio , 24/7 Rounnd the Clock with Ken Mills and a bunch of DJs that are bringing you music you will love.Listen here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014For more Monkee related releases, please visit: www.7arecords.comAired 5/13/22We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

From child star to teen music sensation - Mickey Dolenz has almost always been meant to be in the spotlight.  At the age of ten in 1956  he starred in a children's TV show called Circus Boy under the name Mickey Braddock.  He played Corky, an orphaned water boy for the elephants in a one-ring circus at the start of the 20th century. The program ran for two seasons, after which Dolenz made sporadic appearances on network television shows and pursued his education.  In 1964, he was cast as Ed in the episode "Born of Kings and Angels" of the NBC education drama series Mr Novak, starring James Franciscus as an idealistic Los Angeles teacher.  Dolenz was attending college in Los Angeles when he was hired for the "drummer" role in NBC's  The Monkees.   After The Monkees television show ended, Dolenz continued performing providing voice-overs for a number of Saturday morning cartoon  series.   I had the pleasure of meeting Mickey twice. Once when he headlined for one of our K-HITS concert series of Oldies artists we called "Hullabaloo" and again for this interview when he was in town for a free live concert.  Here's that interview on K-HITS 92.1

Back to the mean stuff this week: a quartet of versions of "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone"! Step one: we can have lots of fun with Paul Revere & the Raiders' 1966 original (2:13) Grave-digger riffs galore, FUZZ bass, crucial organ,  snappy snare sounds, and vocals by the Human Exclamation Mark! - Mark Lindsay - make this one a winner. There's so much to do with Step 2 - another version from '66 by The Liverpool Five (49:12).  The guitar produces volume swells and squalls, a "Green Onions" riff emerges out of the sonic stew - and riffs, reverb, and R&B a-plenty. It's a little bit you and a little bit me with Step 3 - The Monkees and their well-known hit version from 1967 (1:12:56). No fuzz? Dolenz's dulcet tones? This one gets its mean genes from some Boyce-terous backing vocals by the song's co-writer, Tommy Boyce.  And one more with Step 4  - another '66er from British freakbeat merchants The Flies (1:41:18). This one's slooooooow, heavy, and loud - with shades of "Purple Haze"?!?! Check out the weird jazz-scat section, and the snaky sibliance from the singer.  You'll be walkin' round like you're front page news!!

Sarah Clark lets us know Micky Tour dates! Then Sarah and Rosanne Welch's Monkees 101 segment for episode 15, "Too Many Girls (Davy and Fern)"! Check out www.monkees.coolcherrycream.com go to https://monkeemeetandgreets.com for all the news on Micky and some cool events you do not want to miss!"Dolenz Sings Nesmith - The EP". It is out on vinyl, CD and digital. Released on March 18, the EP features brand new recordings by Micky Dolenz, including the first release of "Soul-Writer's Birthday", a song Nesmith wrote in 1967, but never recorded. Also included is "Grand Ennui", which sees its first ever release on vinyl and digital.Vinyl EP: https://www.deepdiscount.com/sings-nesmith.../5060209950327CD EP: https://www.deepdiscount.com/sings-nesmith.../5060209950891For more Monkee related release, please visit: www.7arecords.comOn tour! Micky Dolenz featuring the Mike & Micky Show band - Wayne Avers, Emeen Zarookian, Gemma Dolenz, Rich Dart, Alex Jules, John Billings & Pete Finney.4/5/22--Nashville, TN-- Ryman Auditoriumhttps://bit.ly/3gtscJe4/6/22--Richmond, KY--EKU Center for the Artshttps://bit.ly/3smArfS4/8/22--Nashville, IN--Brown Country Music Centerhttps://bit.ly/3B9aQLh4/9/22--Cincinnati, OH--Andrew J Brady ICON Music Centerhttps://bit.ly/3GxgdVN4/12/22--Akron, OH--Goodyear Theaterhttps://bit.ly/3AZVk4e4/13/22--Joliet, IL--Rialto Square Theatrehttps://bit.ly/34e3fiJ4/16/22--Madison, WI--Overture Center for the Artshttps://bit.ly/34jlyCQAired 3/19/22We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

Carla Bley - Enormous Tots (1974) The vocalist is Julie Tippetts, formerly Julie Driscoll, who sang on releases by Bob Dylan and Donovan. You've heard her before on this show, singing on the Centipede album. Her band of note in the late '60s, Brian Auger and The Trinity, starred in the rarely-seem 33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee, a post-Head TV special, more psychedelic than the movie if you can believe that. As you know, I love Carla Bley. Her early '70s stuff is amazing. Like Zappa. More abstract.  The Move - Feel Too Good (1970)  The Carla Bley Band - Musique Mecanique I (1979) This suite is meant (I think) to sound like a mechanical device brought to sentience. I could and probably am very wrong. I love it.  The Carla Bley Band - Musique Mecanique II (At Midnight) (1979) The Carla Bley Band - Musique Mecanique III (1979) Electric Light Orchestra - Boy Blue (1974)  Electric Light Orchestra - Laredo Tornado (1974)  Electric Light Orchestra - Poor Boy (1974) I don't know if it was this album's legend or the fact that there's mostly a real orchestra/chorus, or the wonderful cover, but when I bought this I felt like I was holding something special. It really is a wonderful pop album. Their second-best.  Pink Floyd - Dogs (1977)  A filmstrip record from American Motors used to train salesmen how to sell the Rebel Machine. (1970) I know nothing about cars. But I did find this record and wanted to play it for you.  Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports - Can't Get My Motor To Start (1981) This is a Carla Bley vanity project that was released under Nick Mason's name. He has said he liked the record he did with Rick Fenn (who was in 10CC after Godley and Creme left to develop the Gizmo) better, but it's not nearly as interesting as this. No one knew what to do with this, and people expecting The Wall were probably amused or stunned or both.  Louie and the Rockets - Stay Away From Karen (Unholy Rollers) (1972) "Behind-the-scenes life of the Roller Derby circuit... A beautiful young woman joins a Roller Derby team, but her fierce independence and competitive spirit get her into trouble." This song was written by Bobby Hart, one half of the Boyce-Hart team that wrote "Come A Little Bit Closer" as well as a bunch of hits for The Monkees' first couple albums. And the theme. And they toured with Dolenz and Jones in 1975. Louie and the Rockets have a website.  Marvin Gaye - "T" Stands For Trouble (1972) From the film "Trouble Man", Marvin Gaye's one and only soundtrack album.  Yes - Going For The One (1976) 

Episode 144 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Last Train to Clarksville" and the beginnings of the career of the Monkees, along with a short primer on the origins of the Vietnam War.  Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a seventeen-minute bonus episode available, on "These Boots Are Made For Walking" by Nancy Sinatra, which I mispronounce at the end of this episode as "These Boots Were Made For Walking", so no need to correct me here. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources As usual, all the songs excerpted in the podcast can be heard in full at Mixcloud. The best versions of the Monkees albums are the triple-CD super-deluxe versions that used to be available from monkees.com , and I've used Andrew Sandoval's liner notes for them extensively in this episode. Sadly, though, the only one of those that is still in print is More of the Monkees. For those just getting into the group, my advice is to start with this five-CD set, which contains their first five albums along with bonus tracks. The single biggest source of information I used in this episode is the first edition of Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees; The Day-By-Day Story. Sadly that is now out of print and goes for hundreds of pounds. Sandoval released a second edition of the book last year, which I was unfortunately unable to obtain, but that too is now out of print. If you can find a copy of either, do get one. Other sources used were Monkee Business by Eric Lefcowitz, and the autobiographies of three of the band members and one of the songwriters -- Infinite Tuesday by Michael Nesmith, They Made a Monkee Out of Me by Davy Jones, I'm a Believer by Micky Dolenz, and Psychedelic Bubble-Gum by Bobby Hart. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript We've obviously talked in this podcast about several of the biggest hits of 1966 already, but we haven't mentioned the biggest hit of the year, one of the strangest records ever to make number one in the US -- "The Ballad of the Green Berets" by Sgt Barry Sadler: [Excerpt: Barry Sadler, "The Ballad of the Green Berets"] Barry Sadler was an altogether odd man, and just as a brief warning his story, which will last a minute or so, involves gun violence. At the time he wrote and recorded that song, he was on active duty in the military -- he was a combat medic who'd been fighting in the Vietnam War when he'd got a wound that had meant he had to be shipped back to the USA, and while at Fort Bragg he decided to write and record a song about his experiences, with the help of Robin Moore, a right-wing author of military books, both fiction and nonfiction, who wrote the books on which the films The Green Berets and The French Connection were based. Sadler's record became one of those massive fluke hits, selling over nine million copies and getting him appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, but other than one top thirty hit, he never had another hit single. Instead, he tried and failed to have a TV career, then became a writer of pulp fiction himself, writing a series of twenty-one novels about the centurion who thrust his spear into Jesus' side when Jesus was being crucified, and is thus cursed to be a soldier until the second coming. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived until he shot Lee Emerson, a country songwriter who had written songs for Marty Robbins, in the head, killing him, in an argument over a woman. He was sentenced to thirty days in jail for this misdemeanour, of which he served twenty-eight. Later he moved to Guatemala City, where he was himself shot in the head. The nearest Army base to Nashville, where Sadler lived after his discharge, is Fort Campbell, in Clarksville: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Last Train to Clarksville"] The Vietnam War was a long and complicated war, one which affected nearly everything we're going to see in the next year or so of this podcast, and we're going to talk about it a lot, so it's worth giving a little bit of background here. In doing so, I'm going to use quite a flippant tone, but I want to make it clear that I'm not mocking the very real horrors that people suffered in the wars I'm talking about -- it's just that to sum up multiple decades of unimaginable horrors in a few sentences requires glossing over so much that you have to either laugh or cry. The origin of the Vietnam War, as in so many things in twentieth century history, can be found in European colonialism. France had invaded much of Southeast Asia in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, and created a territory known as French Indo-China, which became part of the French colonial Empire. But in 1940 France was taken over by Germany, and Japan was at war with China. Germany and Japan were allies, and the Japanese were worried that French Indo-China would be used to import fuel and arms to China -- plus, they quite fancied the idea of having a Japanese empire. So Vichy France let Japan take control of French Indo-China. But of course the *reason* that France had been taken over by Germany was that pretty much the whole world was at war in 1940, and obviously the countries that were fighting Germany and Japan -- the bloc led by Britain, soon to be joined by America and Russia -- weren't very keen on the idea of Japan getting more territory. But they were also busy with the whole "fighting a world war" thing, so they did what governments in this situation always do -- they funded local guerilla insurgent fighters on the basis that "my enemy's enemy is my friend", something that has luckily never had any negative consequences whatsoever, except for occasionally. Those local guerilla fighters were an anti-imperialist popular front, the Việt Minh, led by Hồ Chí Minh, a revolutionary Communist. They were dedicated to overthrowing foreign imperialist occupiers and gaining independence for Vietnam, and Hồ Chí Minh further wanted to establish a Soviet-style Communist government in the newly-independent country. The Allies funded the Việt Minh in their fight against the Japanese occupiers until the end of the Second World War, at which point France was liberated from German occupation, Vietnam was liberated from Japanese occupation, and the French basically said "Hooray! We get our Empire back!", to which Hồ Chí Minh's response was, more or less, "what part of anti-imperialist Marxist dedicated to overthrowing foreign occupation of Vietnam did you not understand, exactly?" Obviously, the French weren't best pleased with this, and so began what was the first of a series of wars in the region. The First Indochina War lasted for years and ended in a negotiated peace of a sort. Of course, this led to the favoured tactic of the time, partition -- splitting a formerly-occupied country into two, at an arbitrary dividing line, a tactic which was notably successful in securing peace everywhere it was tried. Apart from Ireland, India, Korea, and a few other places, but surely it wouldn't be a problem in Vietnam, right? North Vietnam was controlled by the Communists, led by Hồ Chí Minh, and recognised by China and the USSR but not by the Western states. South Vietnam was nominally independent but led by the former puppet emperor who owed his position to France, soon replaced by a right-wing dictatorship. And both the right-wing dictatorship and the left-wing dictatorship were soon busily oppressing their own citizens and funding military opposition groups in the other country. This soon escalated into full-blown war, with the North backed by China and Russia and the South backed by America. This was one of a whole series of wars in small countries which were really proxy wars between the two major powers, the USA and the USSR, both of which were vying for control, but which couldn't confront each other directly because either country had enough nuclear weapons to destroy the whole world multiple times over. But the Vietnam War quickly became more than a small proxy war. The US started sending its own troops over, and more and more of them. The US had never ended the draft after World War II, and by the mid sixties significant numbers of young men were being called up and sent over to fight in a war that had by that point lasted a decade (depending on exactly when you count the war as starting from) between two countries they didn't care about, over things few of them understood, and at an exorbitant cost in lives. As you might imagine, this started to become unpopular among those likely to be drafted, and as the people most affected (other, of course, than the Vietnamese people, whose opinions on being bombed and shot at by foreigners supporting one of other of the dictators vying to rule over them nobody else was much interested in) were also of the generation who were the main audience for popular music, slowly this started to seep into the lyrics of songs -- a seepage which had already been prompted by the appearance in the folk and soul worlds of many songs against other horrors, like segregation. This started to hit the pop charts with songs like "The Universal Soldier" by Buffy Saint-Marie, which made the UK top five in a version by Donovan: [Excerpt: Donovan, "The Universal Soldier"] That charted in the lower regions of the US charts, and a cover version by Glen Campbell did slightly better: [Excerpt: Glen Campbell, "The Universal Soldier"] That was even though Campbell himself was a supporter of the war in Vietnam, and rather pro-military. Meanwhile, as we've seen a couple of times, Jan Berry of Jan and Dean recorded a pro-war answer song to that, "The Universal Coward": [Excerpt: Jan Berry, "The Universal Coward"] This, of course, was even though Berry was himself avoiding the draft. And I've not been able to find the credits for that track, but Glen Campbell regularly played guitar on Berry's sessions, so it's entirely possible that he played guitar on that record made by a coward, attacking his own record, which he disagreed with, for its cowardice. This is, of course, what happens when popular culture tries to engage with social and political issues -- pop culture is motivated by money, not ideological consistency, and so if there's money to be made from anti-war songs or from pro-war songs, someone will take that money. And so on October the ninth 1965, Billboard magazine ran a report: "Colpix Enters Protest Field HOLLYWOOD -Colpix has secured its first protest lyric disk, "The Willing Conscript,"as General Manager Bud Katzel initiates relationships with independent producers. The single features Lauren St. Davis. Katzel says the song was written during the Civil War, rewritten during World War I and most recently updated by Bob Krasnow and Sam Ashe. Screen Gems Music, the company's publishing wing, is tracing the song's history, Katzel said. Katzel's second single is "(You Got the Gamma Goochee" by an artist with that unusual stage name. The record is a Screen Gems production and was in the house when Katzel arrived one month ago. The executive said he was expressly looking for material for two contract artists, David Jones and Hoyt Axton. The company is also working on getting Axton a role in a television series, "Camp Runamuck." " To unpack this a little, Colpix was a record label, owned by Columbia Pictures, and we talked about that a little bit in the episode on "The Loco-Motion" -- the film and TV companies were getting into music, and Columbia had recently bought up Don Kirshner's Aldon publishing and Dimension Records as part of their strategy of tying in music with their TV shows. This is a company trying desperately to jump on a bandwagon -- Colpix at this time was not exactly having huge amounts of success with its records. Hoyt Axton, meanwhile, was a successful country singer and songwriter. We met his mother many episodes back -- Mae Axton was the writer of "Heartbreak Hotel". Axton himself is now best known as the dad in the 80s film Gremlins. David Jones will be coming up shortly. Bob Krasnow and Sam Ashe were record executives then at Kama Sutra records, but soon to move on -- we'll be hearing about Krasnow more in future episodes. Neither of them were songwriters, and while I have no real reason to disbelieve the claim that "The Willing Conscript" dates back to the Civil War, the earliest version *I* have been able to track down was its publication in issue 28 of Broadside Magazine in June 1963 -- nearly a hundred years after the American Civil War -- with the credit "by Tom Paxton" -- Paxton was a popular singer-songwriter of the time, and it certainly sounds like his writing. The first recording of it I know of was by Pete Seeger: [Excerpt: Pete Seeger, "The Willing Conscript"] But the odd thing is that by the time this was printed, the single had already been released the previous month, and it was not released under the name Lauren St Davis, or under the title "The Willing Conscript" -- there are precisely two differences between the song copyrighted as by Krasnow and Ashe and the one copyrighted two years earlier as by Paxton. One is that verses three and four are swapped round, the other is that it's now titled "The New Recruit". And presumably because they realised that the pseudonym "Lauren St. Davis" was trying just a bit too hard to sound cool and drug culture, they reverted to another stage name the performer had been using, Michael Blessing: [Excerpt: Michael Blessing, "The New Recruit"] Blessing's name was actually Michael Nesmith, and before we go any further, yes his mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, did invent the product that later became marketed in the US as Liquid Paper. At this time, though, that company wasn't anywhere near as successful as it later became, and was still a tiny company. I only mention it to forestall the ten thousand comments and tweets I would otherwise get asking why I didn't mention it. In Nesmith's autobiography, while he talks a lot about his mother, he barely mentions her business and says he was uninterested in it -- he talks far more about the love of art she instilled in him, as well as her interest in the deep questions of philosophy and religion, to which in her case and his they found answers in Christian Science, but both were interested in conversations about ideas, in a way that few other people in Nesmith's early environment were. Nesmith's mother was also responsible for his music career. He had spent two years in the Air Force in his late teens, and the year he got out, his mother and stepfather bought him a guitar for Christmas, after he was inspired by seeing Hoyt Axton performing live and thinking he could do that himself: [Excerpt: Hoyt Axton, "Greenback Dollar"] As he put it in his autobiography, "What did it matter that I couldn't play the guitar, couldn't sing very well, and didn't know any folk songs? I would be going to college and hanging out at the student union with pretty girls and singing folk songs. They would like me. I might even figure out a way to get a cool car." This is, of course, the thought process that pretty much every young man to pick up a guitar goes through, but Nesmith was more dedicated than most. He gave his first performance as a folk singer ten days after he first got a guitar, after practising the few chords in most folk songs for twelve hours a day every day in that time. He soon started performing as a folk singer, performing around Dallas both on his own and with his friend John London, performing the standard folk repertoire of Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly songs, things like "Pick a Bale of Cotton": [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith, "Pick a Bale of Cotton"] He also started writing his own songs, and put out a vanity record of one of them in 1963: [Excerpt: Mike Nesmith, "Wanderin'"] London moved to California, and Nesmith soon followed, with his first wife Phyllis and their son Christian. There Nesmith and London had the good fortune to be neighbours with someone who was a business associate of Frankie Laine, and they were signed to Laine's management company as a folk duo. However, Nesmith's real love was rock and roll, especially the heavier R&B end of the genre -- he was particularly inspired by Bo Diddley, and would always credit seeing Diddley live as a teenager as being his biggest musical influence. Soon Nesmith and London had formed a folk-rock trio with their friend Bill Sleeper. As Mike & John & Bill, they put out a single, "How Can You Kiss Me?", written by Nesmith: [Excerpt: Mike & John & Bill, "How Can You Kiss Me?"] They also recorded more of Nesmith's songs, like "All the King's Horses": [Excerpt: Mike & John & Bill, "All the King's Horses"] But that was left unreleased, as Bill was drafted, and Nesmith and London soon found themselves in The Survivors, one of several big folk groups run by Randy Sparks, the founder of the New Christie Minstrels. Nesmith was also writing songs throughout 1964 and 1965, and a few of those songs would be recorded by other people in 1966, like "Different Drum", which was recorded by the bluegrass band The Greenbriar Boys: [Excerpt: The Greenbriar Boys, "Different Drum"] That would more successfully be recorded by the Stone Poneys later of course. And Nesmith's "Mary Mary" was also picked up by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band: [Excerpt: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, "Mary Mary"] But while Nesmith had written these songs by late 1965, he wasn't able to record them himself. He was signed by Bob Krasnow, who insisted he change his name to Michael Blessing, and recorded two singles for Colpix -- "The New Recruit", which we heard earlier, and a version of Buffy Saint-Marie's "Until It's Time For You To Go", sung in a high tenor range very far from Nesmith's normal singing voice: [Excerpt: Michael Blessing, "Until It's Time For You To Go"] But to my mind by far the best thing Nesmith recorded in this period is the unissued third Michael Blessing single, where Nesmith seems to have been given a chance to make the record he really wanted to make. The B-side, a version of Allen Toussaint's swamp-rocker "Get Out of My Life, Woman", is merely a quite good version of the song, but the A-side, a version of his idol Bo Diddley's classic "Who Do You Love?" is utterly extraordinary, and it's astonishing that it was never released at the time: [Excerpt: Michael Blessing, "Who Do You Love?"] But the Michael Blessing records did no better than anything else Colpix were putting out. Indeed, the only record they got onto the hot one hundred at all in a three and a half year period was a single by one David Jones, which reached the heady heights of number ninety-eight: [Excerpt: David Jones, "What Are We Going to Do?"] Jones had been brought up in extreme poverty in Openshaw in Manchester, but had been encouraged by his mother, who died when he was fourteen, to go into acting. He'd had a few parts on local radio, and had appeared as a child actor on TV shows made in Manchester, like appearing in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street (still on today) as Ena Sharples' grandson Colin: [Excerpt: Coronation St https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FDEvOs1imc , 13:30] He also had small roles in Z-Cars and Bill Naughton's TV play "June Evening", and a larger role in Keith Waterhouse's radio play "There is a Happy Land". But when he left school, he decided he was going to become a jockey rather than an actor -- he was always athletic, he loved horses, and he was short -- I've seen his height variously cited as five foot three and five foot four. But it turned out that the owner of the stables in which he was training had showbusiness connections, and got him the audition that changed his life, for the part of the Artful Dodger in Lionel Bart's West End musical Oliver! We've encountered Lionel Bart before a couple of times, but if you don't remember him, he was the songwriter who co-wrote Tommy Steele's hits, and who wrote "Living Doll" for Cliff Richard. He also discovered both Steele and Marty Wilde, and was one of the major figures in early British rock and roll. But after the Tommy Steele records, he'd turned his attention to stage musicals, writing book, music, and lyrics for a string of hits, and more-or-less singlehandedly inventing the modern British stage musical form -- something Andrew Lloyd Webber, for example, always credits him with. Oliver!, based on Oliver Twist, was his biggest success, and they were looking for a new Artful Dodger. This was *the* best role for a teenage boy in the UK at the time -- later performers to take the role on the London stage include Steve Marriott and Phil Collins, both of whom we'll no doubt encounter in future episodes -- and Jones got the job, although they were a bit worried at first about his Manchester vowels. He assured them though that he could learn to do a Cockney accent, and they took him on. Jones not having a natural Cockney accent ended up doing him the biggest favour of his career. While he could put on a relatively convincing one, he articulated quite carefully because it wasn't his natural accent. And so when the North American version found  in previews that their real Cockney Dodger wasn't being understood perfectly, the fake Cockney Jones was brought over to join the show on Broadway, and was there from opening night on. On February the ninth, 1964, Jones found himself, as part of the Broadway cast of Oliver!, on the Ed Sullivan Show: [Excerpt: Davy Jones and Georgia Brown, "I'd Do Anything"] That same night, there were some other British people, who got a little bit more attention than Jones did: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand (live on Ed Sullivan)"] Davy Jones wasn't a particular fan of pop music at that point, but he knew he liked what he saw, and he wanted some of the same reaction. Shortly after this, Jones was picked up for management by Ward Sylvester, of Columbia Pictures, who was going to groom Jones for stardom. Jones continued in Oliver! for a while, and also had a brief run in a touring version of Pickwick, another musical based on a Dickens novel, this time starring Harry Secombe, the British comedian and singer who had made his name with the Goon Show. Jones' first single, "Dream Girl", came out in early 1965: [Excerpt: Davy Jones, "Dream Girl"] It was unsuccessful, as was his one album, David Jones, which seemed to be aiming at the teen idol market, but failing miserably. The second single, "What Are  We Going to Do?" did make the very lowest regions of the Hot One Hundred, but the rest of the album was mostly attempts to sound a bit like Herman's Hermits -- a band whose lead singer, coincidentally, also came from Manchester, had appeared in Coronation Street, and was performing with a fake Cockney accent. Herman's Hermits had had a massive US hit with the old music hall song "I'm Henry VIII I Am": [Excerpt: Herman's Hermits, "I'm Henry VIII I Am"] So of course Davy had his own old music-hall song, "Any Old Iron": [Excerpt: Davy Jones, "Any Old Iron"] Also, the Turtles had recently had a hit with a folk-rock version of Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe", and Davy cut his own version of their arrangement, in the one concession to rock music on the album: [Excerpt: Davy Jones, "It Ain't Me Babe"] The album was, unsurprisingly, completely unsuccessful, but Ward Sylvester was not disheartened. He had the perfect job for a young British teen idol who could sing and act. The Monkees was the brainchild of two young TV producers, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, who had come up with the idea of doing a TV show very loosely based on the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night (though Rafelson would later claim that he'd had the idea many years before A Hard Day's Night and was inspired by his youth touring with folk bands -- Schneider always admitted the true inspiration though). This was not a particularly original idea -- there were a whole bunch of people trying to make TV shows based in some way around bands. Jan and Dean were working on a possible TV series, there was talk of a TV series starring The Who, there was a Beatles cartoon series, Hanna-Barbera were working on a cartoon series about a band called The Bats, and there was even another show proposed to Screen Gems, Columbia's TV department, titled Liverpool USA, which was meant to star Davy Jones, another British performer, and two American musicians, and to have songs provided by Don Kirshner's songwriters. That The Monkees, rather than these other series, was the one that made it to the TV (though obviously the Beatles cartoon series did too) is largely because Rafelson and Schneider's independent production company, Raybert, which they had started after leaving Screen Gems, was given two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars to develop the series by their former colleague, Screen Gems' vice president in charge of programme development, the former child star Jackie Cooper. Of course, as well as being their former colleague, Cooper may have had some more incentive to give Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider that money in that the head of Columbia Pictures, and thus Cooper's boss' boss, was one Abe Schneider. The original idea for the show was to use the Lovin' Spoonful, but as we heard last week they weren't too keen, and it was quickly decided instead that the production team would put together a group of performers. Davy Jones was immediately attached to the project, although Rafelson was uncomfortable with Jones, thinking he wasn't as rock and roll as Rafelson was hoping for -- he later conceded, though, that Jones was absolutely right for the group. As for everyone else, to start with Rafelson and Schneider placed an ad in a couple of the trade papers which read "Madness!! Auditions Folk and Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series. Running parts for 4 insane boys ages 17-21. Want spirited Ben Frank's types. Have courage to work. Must come down for interview" There were a couple of dogwhistles in there, to appeal to the hip crowd -- Ben Frank's was a twenty-four-hour restaurant on the Sunset Strip, where people including Frank Zappa and Jim Morrison used to hang out, and which was very much associated with the freak scene we've looked at in episodes on Zappa and the Byrds. Meanwhile "Must come down for interview" was meant to emphasise that you couldn't actually be high when you turned up -- but you were expected to be the kind of person who would at least at some points have been high. A lot of people answered that ad -- including Paul Williams, Harry Nilsson, Van Dyke Parks, and many more we'll be seeing along the way. But oddly, the only person actually signed up for the show because of that ad was Michael Nesmith -- who was already signed to Colpix Records anyway. According to Davy Jones, who was sitting in at the auditions, Schneider and Rafelson were deliberately trying to disorient the auditioners with provocative behaviour like just ignoring them, to see how they'd react. Nesmith was completely unfazed by this, and apparently walked in wearing a  green wool hat and carrying a bag of laundry, saying that he needed to get this over with quickly so he could go and do his washing. John London, who came along to the audition as well, talked later about seeing Nesmith fill in a questionnaire that everyone had to fill in -- in a space asking about previous experience Nesmith just wrote "Life" and drew a big diagonal line across the rest of the page. That attitude certainly comes across in Nesmith's screen test: [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith screen test] Meanwhile, Rafelson and Schneider were also scouring the clubs for performers who might be useful, and put together a shortlist of people including Jerry Yester and Chip Douglas of the Modern Folk Quartet, Bill Chadwick, who was in the Survivors with Nesmith and London, and one Micky Braddock, whose agent they got in touch with and who was soon signed up. Braddock was the stage name of Micky Dolenz, who soon reverted to his birth surname, and it's the name by which he went in his first bout of fame. Dolenz was the son of two moderately successful Hollywood actors, George Dolenz and Janelle Johnson, and their connections had led to Dolenz, as Braddock, getting the lead role in the 1958 TV series Circus Boy, about a child named Corky who works in a circus looking after an elephant after his parents, the Flying Falcons, were killed in a trapeze accident. [Excerpt: Circus Boy, "I can't play a drum"] Oddly, one of the other people who had been considered for that role was Paul Williams, who was also considered for the Monkees but ultimately turned down, and would later write one of the Monkees' last singles. Dolenz had had a few minor TV appearances after that series had ended, including a recurring role on Peyton Place, but he had also started to get interested in music. He'd performed a bit as a folk duo with his sister Coco, and had also been the lead singer of a band called Micky and the One-Nighters, who later changed their name to the Missing Links, who'd played mostly covers of Little Richard and Chuck Berry songs and later British Invasion hits. He'd also recorded two tracks with Wrecking Crew backing, although neither track got released until after his later fame -- "Don't Do It": [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Don't Do It"] and "Huff Puff": [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Huff Puff"] Dolenz had a great singing voice, an irrepressible personality, and plenty of TV experience. He was obviously in. Rafelson and Schneider took quite a while whittling down the shortlist to the final four, and they *were* still considering people who'd applied through the ads. One they actually offered the role to was Stephen Stills, but he decided not to take the role. When he turned the role down, they asked if he knew anyone else who had a similar appearance to him, and as it happened he did. Steve Stills and Peter Tork had known of each other before they actually met on the streets of Greenwich Village -- the way they both told the story, on their first meeting they'd each approached the other and said "You must be the guy everyone says looks like me!" The two had become fast friends, and had played around the Greenwich Village folk scene together for a while, before going their separate ways -- Stills moving to California while Tork joined another of those big folk ensembles of the New Christie Minstrels type, this one called the Phoenix Singers. Tork had later moved to California himself, and reconnected with his old friend, and they had performed together for a while in a trio called the Buffalo Fish, with Tork playing various instruments, singing, and doing comedy bits. Oddly, while Tork was the member of the Monkees with the most experience as a musician, he was the only one who hadn't made a record when the TV show was put together. But he was by far the most skilled instrumentalist of the group -- as distinct from best musician, a distinction Tork was always scrupulous about making -- and could play guitar, bass, and keyboards, all to a high standard -- and I've also seen him in more recent years play French horn live. His great love, though, was the banjo, and you can hear how he must have sounded on the Greenwich Village folk scene in his solo spots on Monkees shows, where he would show off his banjo skills: [Excerpt: Peter Tork, "Cripple Creek"] Tork wouldn't get to use his instrumental skills much at first though, as most of the backing tracks for the group's records were going to be performed by other people. More impressive for the TV series producers was his gift for comedy, especially physical comedy -- having seen Tork perform live a few times, the only comparison I can make to his physical presence is to Harpo Marx, which is about as high a compliment as one can give. Indeed, Micky Dolenz has often pointed out that while there were intentional parallels to the Beatles in the casting of the group, the Marx Brothers are a far better parallel, and it's certainly easy to see Tork as Harpo, Dolenz as Chico, Nesmith as Groucho, and Jones as Zeppo. (This sounds like an insult to Jones, unless you're aware of how much the Marx Brothers films actually depended on Zeppo as the connective tissue between the more outrageous brothers and the more normal environment they were operating in, and how much the later films suffered for the lack of Zeppo). The new cast worked well together, even though there were obvious disagreements between them right from the start. Dolenz, at least at this point, seems to have been the gel that held the four together -- he had the experience of being a child star in common with Jones, he was a habitue of the Sunset Strip clubs where Nesmith and Tork had been hanging out, and he had personality traits in common with all of them. Notably, in later years, Dolenz would do duo tours with each of his three bandmates without the participation of the others. The others, though, didn't get on so well with each other. Jones and Tork seem to have got on OK, but they were very different people -- Jones was a showbiz entertainer, whose primary concern was that none of the other stars of the show be better looking than him, while Tork was later self-diagnosed as neurodivergent, a folkie proto-hippie who wanted to drift from town to town playing his banjo. Tork and Nesmith had similar backgrounds and attitudes in some respects -- and were united in their desire to have more musical input into the show than was originally intended -- but they were such different personalities in every aspect of their lives from their religious views to their politics to their taste in music they came into conflict. Nesmith would later say of Tork "I never liked Peter, he never liked me. So we had an uneasy truce between the two of us. As clear as I could tell, among his peers he was very well liked. But we rarely had a civil word to say to each other". Nesmith also didn't get on well with Jones, both of them seeming to view themselves as the natural leader of the group, with all the clashes that entails. The four Monkees were assigned instruments for their characters based not on instrumental skill, but on what suited their roles better. Jones was the teen idol character, so he was made the maraca-playing frontman who could dance without having to play an instrument, though Dolenz took far more of the lead vocals. Nesmith was made the guitarist, while Tork was put on bass, though Tork was by far the better guitarist of the two. And Dolenz was put on drums, even though he didn't play the drums -- Tork would always say later that if the roles had been allocated by actual playing ability, Jones would have been the drummer. Dolenz did, though, become a good drummer, if a rather idiosyncratic one. Tork would later say "Micky played the drums but Mike kept time, on that one record we all made, Headquarters. Mike was the timekeeper. I don't know that Micky relied on him but Mike had a much stronger sense of time. And Davy too, Davy has a much stronger sense of time. Micky played the drums like they were a musical instrument, as a colour. He played the drum colour.... as a band, there was a drummer and there was a timekeeper and they were different people." But at first, while the group were practising their instruments so they could mime convincingly on the TV and make personal appearances, they didn't need to play on their records. Indeed, on the initial pilot, they didn't even sing -- the recordings had been made before the cast had been finalised: [Excerpt: Boyce & Hart, "Monkees Theme (pilot version)"] The music was instead performed by two songwriters, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who would become hugely important in the Monkees project. Boyce and Hart were not the first choice for the project. Don Kirshner, the head of Screen Gems Music, had initially suggested Roger Atkins, a Brill Building songwriter working for his company, as the main songwriter for The Monkees. Atkins is best known for writing "It's My Life", a hit for the Animals: [Excerpt: The Animals, "It's My Life"] But Atkins didn't work out, though he would collaborate later on one song with Nesmith, and reading between the lines, it seems that there was some corporate infighting going on, though I've not seen it stated in so many words. There seems to have been a turf war between Don Kirshner, the head of Screen Gems' music publishing, who was based in the Brill Building, and Lester Sill, the West Coast executive we've seen so many times before, the mentor to Leiber and Stoller, Duane Eddy, and Phil Spector, who was now the head of Screen Gems music on the West Coast. It also seems to be the case that none of the top Brill Building songwriters were all that keen on being involved at this point -- writing songs for an unsold TV pilot wasn't exactly a plum gig. Sill ended up working closely with the TV people, and it seems to have been him who put forward Boyce and Hart, a songwriting team he was mentoring. Boyce and Hart had been working in the music industry for years, both together and separately, and had had some success, though they weren't one of the top-tier songwriting teams like Goffin and King. They'd both started as performers -- Boyce's first single, "Betty Jean", had come out in 1958: [Excerpt: Tommy Boyce, "Betty Jean"] And Hart's, "Love Whatcha Doin' to Me", under his birth name Robert Harshman, a year later: [Excerpt: Robert Harshman, "Love Whatcha Doin' to Me"] Boyce had been the first one to have real songwriting success, writing Fats Domino's top ten hit "Be My Guest" in 1959: [Excerpt: Fats Domino, "Be My Guest"] and cowriting two songs with singer Curtis Lee, both of which became singles produced by Phil Spector -- "Under the Moon of Love" and the top ten hit "Pretty Little Angel Eyes": [Excerpt: Curtis Lee, "Pretty Little Angel Eyes"] Boyce and Hart together, along with Wes Farrell, who had co-written "Twist and Shout" with Bert Berns, wrote "Lazy Elsie Molly" for Chubby Checker, and the number three hit "Come a Little Bit Closer" for Jay and the Americans: [Excerpt: Jay and the Americans, "Come a Little Bit Closer"] At this point they were both working in the Brill Building, but then Boyce moved to the West Coast, where he was paired with Steve Venet, the brother of Nik Venet, and they co-wrote and produced "Peaches and Cream" for the Ikettes: [Excerpt: The Ikettes, "Peaches and Cream"] Hart, meanwhile, was playing in the band of Teddy Randazzo, the accordion-playing singer who had appeared in The Girl Can't Help It, and with Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein he wrote "Hurts So Bad", which became a big hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials: [Excerpt: Little Anthony and the Imperials, "Hurts So Bad"] But Hart soon moved over to the West Coast, where he joined his old partner Boyce, who had been busy writing TV themes with Venet for shows like "Where the Action Is". Hart soon replaced Venet in the team, and the two soon wrote what would become undoubtedly their most famous piece of music ever, a theme tune that generations of TV viewers would grow to remember: [Excerpt: "Theme from Days of Our Lives"] Well, what did you *think* I meant? Yes, just as Davy Jones had starred in an early episode of Britain's longest-running soap opera, one that's still running today, so Boyce and Hart wrote the theme music for *America's* longest-running soap opera, which has been running every weekday since 1965, and has so far aired well in excess of fourteen thousand episodes. Meanwhile, Hart had started performing in a band called the Candy Store Prophets, with Larry Taylor  -- who we last saw with the Gamblers, playing on "LSD-25" and "Moon Dawg" -- on bass, Gerry McGee on guitar, and Billy Lewis on drums. It was this band that Boyce and Hart used -- augmented by session guitarists Wayne Erwin and Louie Shelton and Wrecking Crew percussionist Gene Estes on tambourine, plus Boyce and session singer Ron Hicklin on backing vocals, to record first the demos and then the actual tracks that would become the Monkees hits. They had a couple of songs already that would be suitable for the pilot episode, but they needed something that would be usable as a theme song for the TV show. Boyce and Hart's usual working method was to write off another hit -- they'd try to replicate the hook or the feel or the basic sound of something that was already popular. In this case, they took inspiration from the song "Catch Us If You Can", the theme from the film that was the Dave Clark Five's attempt at their own A Hard Day's Night: [Excerpt: The Dave Clark Five, "Catch Us If You Can"] Boyce and Hart turned that idea into what would become the Monkees theme. We heard their performance of it earlier of course, but when the TV show finally came out, it was rerecorded with Dolenz singing: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Monkees Theme"] For a while, Boyce and Hart hoped that they would get to perform all the music for the TV show, and there was even apparently some vague talk of them being cast in it, but it was quickly decided that they would just be songwriters. Originally, the intent was that they wouldn't even produce the records, that instead the production would be done by a name producer. Micky Most, the Animals' producer, was sounded out for the role but wasn't interested. Snuff Garrett was brought in, but quickly discovered he didn't get on with the group at all -- in particular, they were all annoyed at the idea that Davy would be the sole lead vocalist, and the tracks Garrett cut with Davy on lead and the Wrecking Crew backing were scrapped. Instead, it was decided that Boyce and Hart would produce most of the tracks, initially with the help of the more experienced Jack Keller, and that they would only work with one Monkee at a time to minimise disruption -- usually Micky and sometimes Davy. These records would be made the same way as the demos had been, by the same set of musicians, just with one of the Monkees taking the lead. Meanwhile, as Nesmith was seriously interested in writing and production, and Rafelson and Schneider wanted to encourage the cast members, he was also assigned to write and produce songs for the show. Unlike Boyce and Hart, Nesmith wanted to use his bandmates' talents -- partly as a way of winning them over, as it was already becoming clear that the show would involve several competing factions. Nesmith's songs were mostly country-rock tracks that weren't considered suitable as singles, but they would be used on the TV show and as album tracks, and on Nesmith's songs Dolenz and Tork would sing backing vocals, and Tork would join the Wrecking Crew as an extra guitarist -- though he was well aware that his part on records like "Sweet Young Thing" wasn't strictly necessary when Glen Campbell, James Burton, Al Casey and Mike Deasy were also playing guitar: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Sweet Young Thing"] That track was written by Nesmith with Goffin and King, and there seems to have been some effort to pair Nesmith, early on, with more commercial songwriters, though this soon fell by the wayside and Nesmith was allowed to keep making his own idiosyncratic records off to the side while Boyce and Hart got on with making the more commercial records. This was not, incidentally, something that most of the stars of the show objected to or even thought was a problem at the time. Tork was rather upset that he wasn't getting to have much involvement with the direction of the music, as he'd thought he was being employed as a musician, but Dolenz and Jones were actors first and foremost, while Nesmith was happily making his own tracks. They'd all known going in that most of the music for the show would be created by other people -- there were going to be two songs every episode, and there was no way that four people could write and record that much material themselves while also performing in a half-hour comedy show every week. Assuming, of course, that the show even aired. Initial audience response to the pilot was tepid at best, and it looked for a while like the show wasn't going to be green-lit. But Rafelson and Schneider -- and director James Frawley who played a crucial role in developing the show -- recut the pilot, cutting out one character altogether -- a manager who acted as an adult supervisor -- and adding in excerpts of the audition tapes, showing the real characters of some of the actors. As three of the four were playing characters loosely based on themselves -- Peter's "dummy" character wasn't anything like he was in real life, but was like the comedy character he'd developed in his folk-club performances -- this helped draw the audience in. It also, though, contributed to some line-blurring that became a problem. The re-edited pilot was a success, and the series sold. Indeed, the new format for the series was a unique one that had never been done on TV before -- it was a sitcom about four young men living together, without any older adult supervision, getting into improbable adventures, and with one or two semi-improvised "romps", inspired by silent slapstick, over which played original songs. This became strangely influential in British sitcom when the series came out over here  -- two of the most important sitcoms of the next couple of decades, The Goodies and The Young Ones, are very clearly influenced by the Monkees. And before the broadcast of the first episode, they were going to release a single to promote it. The song chosen as the first single was one Boyce and Hart had written, inspired by the Beatles. Specifically inspired by this: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "Paperback Writer"] Hart heard that tag on the radio, and thought that the Beatles were singing "take the last train". When he heard the song again the next day and realised that the song had nothing to do with trains, he and Boyce sat down and wrote their own song inspired by his mishearing. "Last Train to Clarksville" is structured very, very, similarly to "Paperback Writer" -- both of them stay on one chord, a G7, for an eight-bar verse before changing to C7 for a chorus line -- the word "writer" for the Beatles, the "no no no" (inspired by the Beatles "yeah yeah yeah") for the Monkees. To show how close the parallels are, I've sped up the vocals from the Beatles track slightly to match the tempo with a karaoke backing track version of "Last Train to Clarksville" I found, and put the two together: [Excerpt: "Paperback Clarksville"] Lyrically, there was one inspiration I will talk about in a minute, but I think I've identified another inspiration that nobody has ever mentioned. The classic country song "Night Train to Memphis", co-written by Owen Bradley, and made famous by Roy Acuff, has some slight melodic similarity to "Last Train to Clarksville", and parallels the lyrics fairly closely -- "take the night train to Memphis" against "take the last train to Clarksville", both towns in Tennessee, and "when you arrive at the station, I'll be right there to meet you I'll be right there to greet you, So don't turn down my invitation" is clearly close to "and I'll meet you at the station, you can be here by 4:30 'cos I've made your reservation": [Excerpt: Roy Acuff, "Night Train to Memphis"] Interestingly, in May 1966, the same month that "Paperback Writer" was released, and so presumably the time that Hart heard the song on the radio for the first time, Rick Nelson, the teen idol formerly known as Ricky Nelson, who had started his own career as a performer in a sitcom, had released an album called Bright Lights and Country Music. He'd had a bit of a career downslump and was changing musical direction, and recording country songs. The last track on that album was a version of "Night Train to Memphis": [Excerpt: Rick Nelson, "Night Train to Memphis"] Now, I've never seen either Boyce or Hart ever mention even hearing that song, it's pure speculation on my part that there's any connection there at all, but I thought the similarity worth mentioning. The idea of the lyric, though, was to make a very mild statement about the Vietnam War. Clarksville was, as mentioned earlier, the site of Fort Campbell, a military training base, and they crafted a story about a young soldier being shipped off to war, calling his girlfriend to come and see him for one last night. This is left more-or-less ambiguous -- this was a song being written for a TV show intended for children, after all -- but it's still very clear on the line "and I don't know if I'm ever coming home". Now, Boyce and Hart were songwriters first and foremost, and as producers they were quite hands-off and would let the musicians shape the arrangements. They knew they wanted a guitar riff in the style of the Beatles' recent singles, and Louie Shelton came up with one based around the G7 chord that forms the basis of the song, starting with an octave leap: Shelton's riff became the hook that drove the record, and engineer Dave Hassinger added the final touch, manually raising the volume on the hi-hat mic for a fraction of a second every bar, creating a drum sound like a hissing steam brake: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Last Train to Clarksville"] Now all that was needed was to get the lead vocals down. But Micky Dolenz was tired, and hungry, and overworked -- both Dolenz and Jones in their separate autobiographies talk about how it was normal for them to only get three hours' sleep a night between working twelve hour days filming the series, three-hour recording sessions, and publicity commitments. He got the verses down fine, but he just couldn't sing the middle eight. Boyce and Hart had written a complicated, multisyllabic, patter bridge, and he just couldn't get his tongue around that many syllables when he was that tired. He eventually asked if he could just sing "do do do" instead of the words, and the producers agreed. Surprisingly, it worked: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Last Train to Clarksville"] "Last Train to Clarksville" was released in advance of the TV series, on a new label, Colgems, set up especially for the Monkees to replace Colpix, with a better distribution deal, and it went to number one. The TV show started out with mediocre ratings, but soon that too became a hit. And so did the first album released from the TV series. And that album was where some of the problems really started. The album itself was fine -- ten tracks produced by Boyce and Hart with the Candy Store Prophets playing and either Micky or Davy singing, mostly songs Boyce and Hart wrote, with a couple of numbers by Goffin and King and other Kirshner staff songwriters, plus two songs produced by Nesmith with the Wrecking Crew, and with token participation from Tork and Dolenz. The problem was the back cover, which gave little potted descriptions of each of them, with their height, eye colour, and so on. And under three of them it said "plays guitar and sings", while under Dolenz it said "plays drums and sings". Now this was technically accurate -- they all did play those instruments. They just didn't play them on the record, which was clearly the impression the cover was intended to give. Nesmith in particular was incandescent. He believed that people watching the TV show understood that the group weren't really performing that music, any more than Adam West was really fighting crime or William Shatner travelling through space. But crediting them on the record was, he felt, crossing a line into something close to con artistry. To make matters worse, success was bringing more people trying to have a say. Where before, the Monkees had been an irrelevance, left to a couple of B-list producer-songwriters on the West Coast, now they were a guaranteed hit factory, and every songwriter working for Kirshner wanted to write and produce for them -- which made sense because of the sheer quantity of material they needed for the TV show, but it made for a bigger, less democratic, organisation -- one in which Kirshner was suddenly in far more control. Suddenly as well as Boyce and Hart with the Candy Store Prophets and Nesmith with the Wrecking Crew, both of whom had been operating without much oversight from Kirshner, there were a bunch of tracks being cut on the East Coast by songwriting and production teams like Goffin and King, and Neil Sedaka and Carole Bayer. On the second Monkees album, released only a few months after the first, there were nine producers credited -- as well as Boyce, Hart, Jack Keller, and Nesmith, there were now also Goffin, King, Sedaka, Bayer, and Jeff Barry, who as well as cutting tracks on the east coast was also flying over to the West Coast, cutting more tracks with the Wrecking Crew, and producing vocal sessions while there. As well as producing songs he'd written himself, Barry was also supervising songs written by other people. One of those was a new songwriter he'd recently discovered and been co-producing for Bang Records, Neil Diamond, who had just had a big hit of his own with "Cherry Cherry": [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Cherry Cherry"] Diamond was signed with Screen Gems, and had written a song which Barry thought would be perfect for the Monkees, an uptempo song called "I'm a Believer", which he'd demoed with the regular Bang musicians -- top East Coast session players like Al Gorgoni, the guitarist who'd played on "The Sound of Silence": [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "I'm a Believer"] Barry had cut a backing track for the Monkees using those same musicians, including Diamond on acoustic guitar, and brought it over to LA. And that track would indirectly lead to the first big crisis for the group. Barry, unlike Boyce and Hart, was interested in working with the whole group, and played all of them the backing track. Nesmith's reaction was a blunt "I'm a producer too, and that ain't no hit". He liked the song -- he wanted to have a go at producing a track on it himself, as it happened -- but he didn't think the backing track worked. Barry, trying to lighten the mood, joked that it wasn't finished and you needed to imagine it with strings and horns. Unfortunately, Nesmith didn't get that he was joking, and started talking about how that might indeed make a difference -- at which point everyone laughed and Nesmith took it badly -- his relationship with Barry quickly soured. Nesmith was getting increasingly dissatisfied with the way his songs and his productions were being sidelined, and was generally getting unhappy, and Tork was wanting more musical input too. They'd been talking with Rafelson and Schneider, who'd agreed that the group were now good enough on their instruments that they could start recording some tracks by themselves, an idea which Kirshner loathed. But for now they were recording Neil Diamond's song to Jeff Barry's backing track. Given that Nesmith liked the song, and given that he had some slight vocal resemblance to Diamond, the group suggested that Nesmith be given the lead vocal, and Kirshner and Barry agreed, although Kirshner at least apparently always intended for Dolenz to sing lead, and was just trying to pacify Nesmith. In the studio, Kirshner kept criticising Nesmith's vocal, and telling him he was doing it wrong, until eventually he stormed out, and Kirshner got what he wanted -- another Monkees hit with Micky Dolenz on lead, though this time it did at least have Jones and Tork on backing vocals: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "I'm a Believer"] That was released on November 23rd, 1966, as their second single, and became their second number one. And in January 1967, the group's second album, More of the Monkees, was released. That too went to number one. There was only one problem. The group weren't even told about the album coming out beforehand -- they had to buy their own copies from a record shop to even see what tracks were on it. Nesmith had his two tracks, but even Boyce and Hart were only given two, with the rest of the album being made up of tracks from the Brill Building songwriters Kirshner preferred. Lots of great Nesmith and Boyce and Hart tracks were left off the album in favour of some astonishingly weak material, including the two worst tracks the group ever recorded, "The Day We Fall in Love" and "Laugh", and a novelty song they found embarrassing, "Your Auntie Grizelda", included to give Tork a vocal spot. Nesmith called it "probably the worst album in the history of the world", though in truth seven of the twelve tracks are really very strong, though some of the other material is pretty poor. The group were also annoyed by the packaging. The liner notes were by Don Kirshner, and read to the group at least like a celebration of Kirshner himself as the one person responsible for everything on the record. Even the photo was an embarrassment -- the group had taken a series of photos in clothes from the department store J. C. Penney as part of an advertising campaign, and the group thought the clothes were ridiculous, but one of those photos was the one chosen for the cover. Nesmith and Tork made a decision, which the other two agreed to with varying degrees of willingness. They'd been fine miming to other people's records when it was clearly just for a TV show. But if they were being promoted as a real band, and having to go on tour promoting albums credited to them, they were going to *be* a real band, and take some responsibility for the music that was being put out in their name.  With the support of Rafelson and Schneider, they started making preparations to do just that. But Don Kirshner had other ideas, and told them so in no uncertain terms. As far as he was concerned, they were a bunch of ungrateful, spoiled, kids who were very happy cashing the ridiculously large cheques they were getting, but now wanted to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. They were going to keep doing what they were told. Things came to a head in a business meeting in January 1967, when Nesmith gave an ultimatum. Either the group got to start playing on their own records, or he was quitting. Herb Moelis, Kirshner's lawyer, told Nesmith that he should read his contract more carefully, at which point Nesmith got up, punched a hole in the wall of the hotel suite they were in, and told Moelis "That could have been your face". So as 1967 began, the group were at a turning point. Would they be able to cut the puppet strings, or would they have to keep living a lie? We'll find out in a few weeks' time...

Glenn Gretlund of "7a" joins us to talk "Dolenz Sings Nesmith - The EP". It is now available to pre-order on vinyl, CD and digital. Released on March 18, the EP features brand new recordings by Micky Dolenz, including the first release of "Soul-Writer's Birthday", a song Nesmith wrote in 1967, but never recorded. Also included is "Grand Ennui", which sees its first ever release on vinyl and digital.Vinyl EP: https://www.deepdiscount.com/sings-nesmith.../5060209950327CD EP: https://www.deepdiscount.com/sings-nesmith.../5060209950891For more Monkee related release, please visit: www.7arecords.comOn tour! Micky Dolenz featuring the Mike & Micky Show band - Wayne Avers, Emeen Zarookian, Gemma Dolenz, Rich Dart, Alex Jules, John Billings & Pete Finney.4/5/22--Nashville, TN-- Ryman Auditoriumhttps://bit.ly/3gtscJe4/6/22--Richmond, KY--EKU Center for the Artshttps://bit.ly/3smArfS4/8/22--Nashville, IN--Brown Country Music Centerhttps://bit.ly/3B9aQLh4/9/22--Cincinnati, OH--Andrew J Brady ICON Music Centerhttps://bit.ly/3GxgdVN4/12/22--Akron, OH--Goodyear Theaterhttps://bit.ly/3AZVk4e4/13/22--Joliet, IL--Rialto Square Theatrehttps://bit.ly/34e3fiJ4/16/22--Madison, WI--Overture Center for the Artshttps://bit.ly/34jlyCQAired 2/7/22We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

Andrew Sandoval, John Billings and Alex Jules Join us as we pay tribute to the life and creativity of Michael Nesmith. Thanks for the ride Nez.Check out www.monkees.coolcherrycream.comListen to "MMR" here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014Aired 1/28/22https://www.monkees.com/We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

Daniel interviews actor, writer, comedian Georgia Dolenz. Georgia is the creator and star of Open House, and has starred in Criminal Minds, Reverie, Johnno and Michael Try, Spirit Riding Free: Riding Academy, and more.

We rock out this week, as we serve up a hefty holiday portion of Beatles along with a side of Monkees! First up is a marathon viewing session of Get Back, followed by a deconstruction of 1968's Head. Now back in the box, all of you… #beatles #getback #monkees #paulmccartney #johnlennon #ringostarr #georgeharrison #mikenesmith #mickydolenz #petertork #davyjones #head

The Zilch Staff gather at HQ for a good old fashioned Holiday Clip Show! Revisit favorite moments from Holiday Specials Past, and jam out to the best of the Monkees' solo and group Christmas tunes from Riu Chiu to Unwrap You at Christmas. Grab your Ugly Mr. Schneider Sweater and join the fun! Thank you for listening through out the years, Peace & Love! Episodes Featured:Episode 21 (2014 Holiday Special)Episode 46 (2015 Holiday Special)Episode 76 (2016 Holiday Special)Episode 129(Christmas Party Album Roundtable) ****Programming note: This episode was recorded before the passing of Michael Nesmith. We dedicate this episode to his memory as well as to his family and friends. Zilch will be releasing a tribute episode to Nez in the new year. Check out www.monkees.coolcherrycream.comListen to "MMR" here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014Aired 12/16/21https://www.monkees.com/We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

One day in 2000, I was standing chatting to Mickey Dolenz in Dublin Hotel before we did an interview for radio. Billy Bob Thornton walked over, said, 'Hey, hey! I flew all the way to Dublin to see the Monkees show! Aren't they cool, man?" I said, "They always were." And they were. Even as a child I knew that. So, I am very sad to hear of Mike Nesmith's death. I never interviewed him but this is me and Dolenz telling the story of The Monkees in a way that he said had never been told before. I loved their music. 

This second studio album from The Monkees was number 1 on the Billboard 200 for 18 weeks, displacing their debut album to get there.  More of the Monkees has been certified quintuple platinum, was the first pop/rock album to be the best selling album of the year in the U.S. – and the third best-selling album of the 60's.It is also the one that Monkee Michael Nesmith said was “probably the worst album in the history of the world."The Monkees were originally Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones.  The group was conceived for the TV series “The Monkees” which aired from 1966 to 1968, and the band members primarily contributed lead vocals and only limited roles in the studio, as they were expected to spend their time filming the television series.  Michael Nesmith composed and produced some songs, and Peter Tork did some guitar work, but it was mainly session musicians.  The Candy Store Prophets were the studio band for the first album, and other session musicians including The Wrecking Crew were involved in the second album. Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider had the idea for the show.  They interviewed musicians for the job, first recruiting Davy Jones, who had been working in Broadway.  The instruments played were driven by what looked good on camera rather than what they actually played.  Davy Jones was the only one with experience playing drums, but he was considered too short so Dolenz was assigned to the drums.  Nesmith was on guitar, Tork on bass, and Jones was the front man.  The more natural lineup for concerts would be Jones on drums, Tork on guitar, Nesmith on bass and Donlenz as front man.The show was a hit, but the music was a bigger hit, with album sales outstripping Nielsen ratings.  That pushed the producers to pay more attention to the music.  It also encouraged the studio to send the Monkees out to play live concerts.  These guys were recording the TV show by day, recording songs by night, and doing special appearances on the weekend, then they had to figure out how to rehearse for live performances.  It was all very confusing for the “band,” with Nesmith shocked to see the first album presenting them as an actual band.  That was October 1966.  But the second album was released while they were on tour as a real band in January of 1967.  They hadn't selected the songs, and it went out without their permission or knowledge.  They weren't even given a copy, but had to buy it in a record store.  The album cover was a picture of the band originally taken for a JC Penny commercial.  This would eventually lead to the band being able to take creative control, and Don Kirshner being dismissed.  Despite the controversy, this is quite a good album, and quite representative of the music at the time. (I'm Not Your) Steppin' StoneThis track was written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and Micky Dolenz is on lead.  Paul Revere & the Raiders originally recorded it, but the Monkees' version is the best known.  It was also the first song from the Monkees' to chart as a B-side.Mary, MaryAlso featuring Micky Dolenz on lead, this track was written by Michael Nesmith.  It was originally recorded by The Butterfield Blues Band in 1966, and in the summer of the same year Nesmith produced and recorded the song for The Monkees with Dolenz on lead and the Wrecking Crew on backing instruments.  It was never released as a single in the U.S., but was given away as a cut-out cereal box prize in 1969.When Love Comes Knockin' (At Your Door)Davy Jones takes lead duties here, and the song was written by Carole Bayer Sager and Neil Sedaka. I'm A BelieverThis is the big hit from the album.  Micky Dolenz returns to lead, and the song was written by Neil Diamond.  It hit number 1 for the week ending December 31st, 1966, and would be the biggest selling single for all of 1967.  It went gold within two days of its release because of advance orders.   ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Main theme from the television series The Green Hornet)This was the last month for a short-lived series was famous for co-starring Bruce Lee as Kato.  It also had a crossover with the Batman TV series. STAFF PICKS:Happenings Ten Years Time Ago by the YardbirdsBrian's brings us the psychedelic sensibilities of the Yardbirds.  The singer is looking back on the time from a perspective of reincarnation.  This song has participation from both Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.  John Paul Jones also contributed the bass lines for this one.   Look What You've Done by Pozo-Seco SingersRob features a folk-oriented piece from Don Williams before his solo career.  Williams would go on to have 17 number one country hits.  His hits would be covered by everyone from Eric Clapton to Pete Townshend...to Telly Savalas.(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet by The Blues MagoosWayne's staff pick returns to the psychedelic genre.  This is the best known song for The Blues Magoos.  While not very successful commercially as a band, the Blues Magoos was a big influence on many bands including Pink Floyd.Good Vibrations by The Beach BoysBruce brings us the high water mark song of The Beach Boys' discography.  Good Vibrations was the costliest single ever recorded.  Brian Wilson recorded a bunch of short musical modules with his bandmates and with session musicians at four different Hollywood studios.  He had more than 90 hours of tape to make this 3.5-minute single.  Wilson's mother was the inspiration for this song. COMEDY TRACK:Snoopy vs. The Red Baron by The Royal GuardsmenA novelty song inspired by the comic serial "Peanuts," in which Snoopy often daydreams of fighting the Red Baron in his doghouse - re-envisioned as a Sopwith Camel.

Sarah and Tim update everyone on the Monkees news (including Christian Nesmith's and Circe Link's new album COSMOLOGICA, followed by Sarah and Rosanne's Monkees 101 segment for episode 14, Dance Monkee Dance! Next is a replay of a 2016 interview with Derrik Lewis (the head Dancing Smoothie), and then the latest from our friends over at Monkeemania Radio!Links:Sarah Radle as The Monkees: https://youtu.be/8KK-94pKvpsDerrik Lewis: https://www.facebook.com/derrik.lewisPatrick Cooper can be found at https://www.facebook.com/nolaacousticrootsmusic Check out www.monkees.coolcherrycream.comListen to "MMR" here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014Aired 11/2/21https://www.monkees.com/We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

We talk the Monkees Farewell tour review with Ron McNeil of "The Fab Four" , We play some of his Monkees tributes , we discuss "HEAD", "Monkee Mania Radio and more! Here is the Fab Fours website www.thefabfour.com Listen to "MMR" here https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014Aired 9/29/21https://www.monkees.com/We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

It's time for Monkees 101! Tim Powers and Sarah Clark host the show and talk Monkees current events in 2021, then Sarah and Rosanne talk "One Man Shy", which aired Dec 5th 1966. Bashful Peter tries to win the heart of lovely debutante Valerie Cartwright (Lisa James) while dealing with her haughty boyfriend Ronnie Farnsworth (George Furth).Songs: "I'm a Believer", "You Just May Be the One" (original version)1967 reruns: "I'm a Believer" was replaced with "Forget That Girl."Saturday mornings: "I'm a Believer" was replaced with "If I Knew." Check out Monkee Mania Radio https://live365.com/station/Monkee-Mania-Radio-a57014Aired 9/07/21https://www.monkees.com/We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

Tim Powers and Ken Mills throw the body of the first Monkees album up on the table and deconstuct it and reconstruct it. We made a Monster and "It's ALIVE!" Hear the album in a way you never have before , Listen to our Youtube play list to hear full versions of these songs. Playlist on Youtube here https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUN_OvZd42BWnSbcXkosqowmziBk6iv2nAired 7/31/21We were born to love one another.Support Zilch, get a cool shirt!www.redbubble.com/people/designsbyken/works/12348740-zilch-podcast?c=314383-monkees-inspired-artJoin our Facebook pageFind us on Twitter @ZilchcastIf you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file hereDownload (right click, save as)

"Return of the Robot Maker" Airdate: January 26, 1975 Written by Del Reisman (story) and Mark Frost (story and teleplay) Directed by Phil Bondelli Synopsis: Dr. Dolenz returns with a plot to steal another top secret device with the aid of a robot duplicate of Oscar. John and co-host, artist Jerry Lange, are joined by The Quick and the Dad writer/artist Ken Holtzhouser as they discuss the conclusion of the robot maker trilogy where John makes the argument that this is simply a remake of the first episode, but done better. Join us Sunday nights at 8:00EST as we discuss an episode of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and Wednesday nights at 8L00ES as we discuss an episode of THE BIONIC WOMAN with a fan as well as featuring live commentary from our viewers.  Bionic Operative Ken Holtzhouser       BIONIC GALLERY    

Watch out for those skittering blood-suckers, especially that massive Panic-sized one, because we're bringing you another minisode! We interviewed the wonderful Ami Dolenz as a companion piece to our latest episode, 3.17 Ticks! We asked Ami about her time working on the flick, along with some of her other roles including Stepmonster, Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway, Pumpkinhead II: Bloodwings, and more. So sit back, put your feet up, hit play, and please ignore the infested Clint Howard in the corner.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/moviedumpster)

As someone who was a fan of the Monkees as a teenager, and who bought all their albums and even went to see their hugely unpopular movie, Head, interviewing Micky Dolenz was a pure delight for me. We had previously talked on the phone but this recording was made during the band's rehearsal for a gig in Dublin's Vicar Street in 2000. Incidentally, while Dolenz and I were standing in a hotel lobby where we met before going to the venue, Billy Bob Thorntonwalked over, said 'Sorry for interrupting you guys" and then he addressed me, directly. He said, "I flew in just to see the gig. Aren't the Monkees, so cool." I said, "Yes they are!" And after he left I joked to Dolenz, "Did you pay him to do and say that!" He laughed. And boy we had fun that day. I hope it all comes across in this podcast. 

Here's this week's music mix for your listening pleasure curated by our very own Toofless. This mix takes us through an exclusive journey of eclectic and talented regional artists, masters of their craft, such as Irshad aka Jibbeish, Zahed Sultan, Muqata'a, BeiRu, The Narcycist and Wriggly Scott aka Dolenz. A true reflection of today's diverse regional and international artistry in this digital revolution. #WelcomeToYourTribe The Dukkan Show is hosted by OT and Reem, powered by Toofless. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.