Exactly 51 years ago, us kids started watching the Monkees on NBC. I feel old.

Heh, I always thought it was "trying hard to learn THIS song", kind of a self-referential thing, like Carly Simon in You're So Vain. A musical Droste Effect.

 

It was on the news....in 1969...but not a broadcast interruption. I do in fact remember a broadcast interruption in 1966 announcing Walt Disney is dead...and we all know the rumors that he is frozen under Walt Disney World....

 

I heard that it happened during the original broadcast of the first episode

 

So do I.

 

Guess that's when I started buying Monkee's gum cards.

 

Funny thing, when I was at the Monkeemobile's first appearance after full restoration, in Las Vegas, I was talking to George Barris about the car and I swear he said there was only one Monkeemobile and told me it's history. They had 6 weeks to make a Monkeemobile before the TV series started filming and they were given the GTO to make the car out of. The car I saw in person was in fact that car with it's bone stock 389 V-8 and 2-speed automatic which was the only one available on any mid-sized Pontiac in 1966. Maybe they could have built another 'trick' exhibition Monkeemobile later, but I wouldn't think that Barris would have made the mistake of different sized lettering. Besides, the restored Monkeemobile has all new paint and lettering, so maybe there is a difference and that is how say there's 2 different cars. Also on display was Batmobile #2 which the same people restored a year or so before. George told me that he built 5 Batmobiles, #1 being the lead sled and the rest were fiberglass shells. Each was used in the show for different stunts. It has been said that Batmobile #1 was made of steel and started life out as the Lincoln Futura prototype show car. It was fully driveable but had a top speed of 25-35 MPH. They must have limited it somehow because the engine which was in it is a L-M 368 V-8 and I can assure from working with them, the car should have been able to break 100 MPH. In videos I've seen of Barris' Kustom Cars, there were a couple Batmobile fiberglass shells stacked by a fence. I can't remember which one, but there was a TV show that featured a car that looked closer to the original Futura and it was painted pink or red. No Bat emblems, no mag wheels and I think the bubble top was fully enclosed.

 

Of course, Barris was not part of the design/build team, and according to wiki only purchased the "show car" (aka Monkeemobile #2) after the show ended. It's conceivable that his knowledge was faulty.

 

On a related note, have you all heard Carole King's demo for "Pleasant Valley Sunday?" Micky switched up some of the lines from the song, which changed their meaning in an interesting way:



Monkees:
Creature comfort goals, they only numb my soul
And make it hard for me to see
My thoughts all seem to stray to places far away
I need a change of scenery

Carole King:
Creature comfort goals can only numb my soul
I need a change of scenery
My thoughts all seem to stray to places far away
I don't ever want to see

 

He died on Dec. 15th. I honestly don't remember what show I was watching.

 

Yup! Kids in the 80's liked it too! Obviously it was a bit retro, like the 80's is now.
The wool cap though didn't come until the 90's!

 

What's interesting in a broader sense is that, our generation (growing up in the 1980s) watched a TON of re-runs of shows our parents grew up with in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. So much so that I'm as fluent in that pop culture of music and TV, etc (I'm 37) as my parents are (they're 60 & 63). Yet my own kids (ages 7, 8, 11, 13) barely know any of that stuff and only know through my wife and I. Hell, they barely know anything of the 80s, 90s, or even early 2000s. It's a different world now...

 

You are so right DrBeatle! My son is almost 20 and he doesn't really know (or care) about the pop culture you speak of. He tolerates talk of it because of me. I guess we were lucky to grow up in a time where we could appreciate and even enjoy, the 50's-60's-70's. I feel like it was a part of my growing up, although it was obviously more in my parents/grandparents generation. My Mom loved the Monkees!

 

I remember it well as a kid watching it back then, but I don't have any sentimental nostalgia for it.

 

My liking for it-I should say "patience"-is strictly nostalgia based. I remember the flip-motion books, the brown tainted bubblegum cards, the Colgems 45 of I'm A Believer spinning on an older friend's portable little record player and trying to get a glimpse of the show each week before my father would come along and switch channels on me. But when I tune in to an episode now and then in the present day, I find them very hard to sit through. The only truly "cool" moments are the "performance" sequences of the songs. At the time, they epitomized the mid 1960's 'Pop combo"..perfectly dressed and groomed, great songs.

 

me too! an amazing year for music, TV, movies and toys!

 

...especially the "Kenner Close 'n' Play"!!!

 

we don't need no reminding whippersnapper! ah ha ha ha ...

 

oh yea! I remember that!

 

LOL, just think how Mickey and Mike feel today! Hmmm, I guess lucky! Indeed...

 

One of my most cherished memories of that thing was playing the green swirl Capitol Starline 45 of Boys/Kansas City which my youngest uncle had bought. I rebought a copy about two years ago or so...sounds pretty bad (OVERLY "hot" pressings of both songs)but the sight of that green swirl brings back nice memories.

 

I have that 45, too. It looks cool, but as you said, sounds pretty bad. I never understood this Starline label and what was the purpose of this different Capitol label? Do you happen to know?

 

Starline was their "oldies" label.

 

I was fortunate to appreciate the show when they would air it in 1987. Although I was only 9 years old, growing up with older siblings who listened to classic rock and appreciated the pop culture from and before their childhood, made the show a lot more relevant to me. The Monkees had great chemistry and of course the music is cool!

 

the 60's was one of the greatest decades!