Monkee predictions for 2016

Dude, I'm sending you the doctor's bill for making me bite my tongue so hard.

Did you look that up pre-2012? I would swear at one time all 4 of them were attached to The Monkees Special, Inc (or whatever the precise name was), but frankly I could be misremembering. Damn dissertation keeps overwriting all the actually important facts in my brain.

 

For a band that wasn't supposed to be a "real" band, they sound pretty damned good.

 

Davy had a drummer's soul IMO, and his timing on the tambourine acted as glue when the Monkees played.

 

As I said once on Zilch, if Davy had been four inches taller and from Manchester, New Hampshire, they probably would have flipped the casting of the drummer and the front man. I think Peter's told some stories here and there of Davy playing bass competently in concert with essentially no training.

 

I really think the whole Nez VS Davy thing was simply.. When they regrouped in 1985, Nez wasn't interested so Davy was in charge. Davy liked being in charge. Everytime Nez would show up post 1985, Nez wanted to be in charge. It was a battle of the egos. Both did a great job being in charge though.

 

I think Micky's book put forth the proposition that, in his opinion, Micky should have been the front man, Davy the drummer, Peter the guitarist, and Mike the bass player, to accommodate everyone's strengths.

 

I think I remember that (it's been a while), but wherever the notion came from I agree with it.

 

He's also said something like Davy had a natural sense of rhythm/timing...

 

He (Micky) got the idea from their video for "Words"

 

I am almost certain it was pre-2012. It was some site that listed legal corporations, when they were established and whether they were active or defunct. Theirs was defunct.

 

and he also could jump behind the drums and keep a beat, and his bass playing (best evidenced on the Glen Campbell Live Medley of Clarksville, Salesman and Believer--and btw, imagine if they found the full version of that!) was super solid for what was required.

 

I, for one, really love Micky's drumming and totally appreciate the fact that he was able to pull it together so quickly. I know people who PLAY the drums (supposedly) who aren't that good.
This song says it all.
And yes, I know--Mickey is spelled Micky--someone made a mistake on the youtube.

 

I think Peter does, too.

Personally, I would've kept Mike on guitar, had Peter on guitar and keys, and told the already-guitar-playing Micky to play bass.

And I may have said before that the tambourine/percussion is no joke. I've been in far too many situations where someone with nothing else to do with his or her hands has grabbed a tambourine and the consequent arrhythmic thwacking has been, at best, a very distracting nuisance.

 

You just made me remember that Nez is on record saying that Long Title and Can you dig it are the best songs on Head-- or the best that capture the film's spirit (or something to that effect.)
I'm convinced that Raybert was holding on those tunes for Head and that's why Peter isn't represented on Birds, Bees for the most part.

Come to think of it, a radio friendly shortened 45-version of Can You Dig it might have fared better on the charts than Porpoise Song.

 

Very true (I once worked for a radio/TV archive and the sad state of our broadcast heritage is well known to me.) I just can't believe that in this day and age we can't get answers about the special. What date it was broadcast? *Was* a copy...even a kinescope...saved? Where that audio recording came from, and why is it so good? Were there ads for it in the Japanese equivalent of TV Guide and is it possible to get scans of them? Was it aired only once or did it get a repeat airing? We know next to nothing about it except for the audio. It's only been in the past couple of years that we even are seeing better and color pictures from the Japanese concerts thanks to sites like Monkees Live Almanac. For me, anyway, it's the most tantalizing piece of Monkees' history because of its mystery and outlaw nature. (Produced outside of Screen-Gems/Raybert, etc.)

 

That's actually a matter of record. (no pun intended) Those two tunes were supposed to be on Birds.. but Rafelson himself commandeered them at the last minute for inclusion in Head. And from what I've gathered, he did it so close to the release of the LP they barely had time to resequence the album and amend the artwork.

I've always thought that instead of feeling slighted by being barely represented on Birds... Peter should have gone "glass half-full" and felt proud that those two songs impressed Rafelson so much that he HAD to have them in the film. By doing that Peter dominates the music in the film, an impressive coup at least in my eyes!

 

Awful tough for lots of people to play bass and sing lead, even harder than drums. As bass parts often have a distinct rhythm that is very different from the rhythm of the vocal line. Certainly some do it (Paul, Sting, Bootsy, Geddy, Rick) but way more cannot.

 

The remarks about Davy not being cast as the drummer because of his height always kind of bugged me because, as a drummer myself, they could have put Davy behind a smaller than usual kit (like the smaller sized set Ringo used on the Ed Sullivan show) if they were worried about his height messing with an aesthetic symmetry. And, honestly, he doesn't get "swallowed" up by Micky's kit when you see him behind it in video's like "Words."

 

Fair point. And I shouldn't have been a smart aleck there, I think I was actually a little bit shorter than Davy when I went out for drums in 6th grade.

 

They didn't make Davy the drummer because they intended him to be the star of the show.

 

Well yeah, that too. ;-)
(Hence the Manchester, New Hampshire part of my comment--they justifiably wanted the cute English kid front and center)

 

Here's my Blog report of the August 27th Monkees concert with Micky Dolenz & Peter Tork at the Mayo PAC in Morristown, NJ, with some big 'engaging' news!

http://www.monkees.net/monkees-mayo-concert-w-big-engagement-news/

 

Good point.

And if you think about it-- Nez actually has TWO songs in the film. Really, Daddy's Song is his production.

 

Saw the big news over on the Monkeeland forum yesterday. Congratulations Fred.

Darryl