Poll--The Weakest Link: The Monkees HEADQUARTERS, Round 1

We gotta be free......................


Hi everyone. Time to honor Michael Nesmith's passing (I gave it a month) plus his and Davy Jones birthdays by doing a Monkees album Weakest Link game. Nez had a big legacy......and among them, I decided to choose Headquarters as this was the album where he successfully fought to give the Monkees control of their albums.

I normally try to avoid running albums for Weakest Link that were already done, but Headquarters was last run 14 years ago in 2008, and it was run as the full deluxe edition........so, this will be the first time it's going to be done as just the regular album. I'm guessing a couple of you weren't here 14 years ago either. We'll start off for awhile eliminating 3 songs. Choose your first 3 weakest links.

Discussion question: When did you first hear Headquarters, and what was your initial opinion of it?

 

This round's easy!

Zilch
Band 6
I Can't Get Her Off My Mind

I first heard Headquarters sometime in 1980, when I was about 6 or 7, when the young couple who lived across the hall from my grandmother were moving out and left behind a stack of albums for me if I wanted them, including the first three Monkees LPs (I already had the first two as hand-me-downs, but this one was new to me). I wasn't all that discerning at that age, but I did love the music on this album from the first spin.

 

Zilch/Band 6/Mind

I first heard it right before Christmas, 1986 (Rhino reissue vinyl). I was a freshman in high school and got on board that fall. Loved it immediately, though of course some songs have risen and fallen in stature over the last 35 years.

 

Band 6
Zilch
Can't Get Her Off My Mind

?: Got it on Rhino cassette tape from Caldor in 1986 when I was 10. Something was wrong with my tape and one side had weird speed fluctuations. We should have returned it. I think the seasickness tainted my enjoyment of the album permanently. Whenever I listen to "Blues and Greens" I start to get sick. It all comes rushing back. Great album. Never my favorite.

 

I think I was the one who hosted the last weakest link for this album. Anyway, like probably everyone else, my 3 weakest are:
Zilch
Band 6
I Can't Get Her Off My Mind
My first time hearing Headquarters? Christmas day in 1967 when my older brother got it for Christmas. I do not remember this, as I was just 3 at the time, but my earliest memories are of hearing the first 4 albums on my brother's record player in our room. I got my own copy when I was 5 at a bookstore (used) for about a quarter. I loved this album , and still do.

 

First round is easy. After that, it'll get hard. This is probably my favorite overall Monkee's album. Considering there's no "big hit single" on this, I'll be curious to see what ends up winning here.

I first heard this back in the 70s when the TV show went into another round of syndication somewhere and my uncle gave me his Monkee's albums as he had outgrown them (just the first 4). It took me years to realize that there were more albums after this one.

 

Zilch
Band 6
I Can't Get Her Off My Mind

I bought it when I was 15 and even though I perceived the sound to be a bit rawer than the two previous albums I loved it from the first listen.

 

No "Zilch"? I love that song. Very Ken Nordine kind of thing going on. It does sound like there might have been a little smoke involved in the making of.

 

Band 6
Zilch
Randy Scouse Git

I know the last one is a fav of many and was a UK hit, but it never appealed to me. Strikes me as gimmicky and doesn't flow. I really don't like any of Micky's self-penned tunes, though he was their strongest singer.

I got the first 3 Monkees albums in the 70s and only acquired the rest later. Despite the appeal of the DIY aspect of this one, it was the least appealing of their first 4 albums. It doesn't have any of their US hits on it and the playing on a garage band level. I'm still very glad they did it, and I do enjoy it.

 

I going with the consensus on this though I do think that both Zilch and Band 6 strongly add to the homemade feel of the album and after 50+ years I’d miss them.

I Can’t Get You Off My Mind is, in truth, the one track that never quite fits, to my ears at least.

I’m sort of with you on Alternate Title, though it has grown on me over the years.

I’ve always thought that Michael was the best singer, though Micky can turn his hand to many different styles and when he’s good, he’s great. ie Porpoise Song, Goin’ Down, Clarksville etc, etc. One man’s meat...

 

1986 was when I first heard it, reissue on vinyl from that year - in the wake of punk sounded really good, probably wouldn't have appreciated it as much in 1967 with my head full of Sgt. Pepper, etc.

 

How can you guys vote off Zilch so quickly?

bah

 

Zilch/Band 6/Mind

I can't remember when I heard this album first, but I actually just listened to it on my morning commute.
I enjoyed it them, and I still love it now.

The Nesmith tunes are excellent. You Just May Be the One is one of my all time favorite songs.

 

Oh this should be fun. Thanks, @LandHorses! I enjoyed your recent Shakedown Street (Grateful Dead) post too.

I went with Band 6, Zilch, and I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind. The first two are short little fillers (But fun little filler!), and the third is (IMO) the weakest song on the album. Doesn’t suck, just not as good as the others.

All in all, Headquarters is a terrific album and a triumph for the Pre-fab Four. Pinocchio became a real boy, and The Monkees had become a real band.

Garage pop-rock, with a couple of dashes of psych and nascent country-rock. I consider it a landmark album and belongs on the (daunting) list of 1967’s best. Looking forward to the discussion.

DQ: Bought the Rhino cassette in 1986, and the Arista CD a year (?) or so later when I got my first CD player.

I think there are two even better Monkees albums than this one (Pisces, and HEAD) but I always loved Headquarters.

 

It’s the people voting off “Randy” (11.6% currently) and “No Time” (23.3%) I don’t understand.

 

I love Zilch so No Time got the boot instead, along with Band 6 and I Can't, this is easily their best album - when I told a friend that I'd rather listen to it than Sgt. Pepper he said that was because it is 12 songs rather than 12 production experiments. I also agree with Peter that is groovier to listen to than PACJ.

 

To me Micky’s wacky, off-kilter songwriting was terrific. Mike could be avant-garde (See “Daily Nightly” and “Writing Wrongs”), but when Mick could be bothered to write he was operating on another planet from the rest of them.

I love that.

Makes sense that Zappa would later invite Micky to join the Mothers of Invention. Wish he’d taken that offer. I also wish he’d kept with songwriting and taken his music more seriously over the years. Everyone knows he’s a great singer. But he’s got a wildly creative mind too.

 

For those of you voting off Zilch, if there was no Zilch, there wouldn't be this song below:

 

Eh, I’m good.

 

He should have fought harder to have a better album cover because ' Headquarters' is awful.

 

Oh, dude.

 

Actually, what’s with this voting off Early Morning Blues and Greens (Currently 12.5%)??

A pox on your houses, I say!

 

You disagree?
' Headquarters' came out a few weeks before ' Sgt Pepper's...'
The Monkees must have hid their heads in shame.

 

My first Monkees' album and still my favorite. My grandma bought it for me at a thrift store when I was 4. I've listened to this so much it's in my DNA. Love at first listen. Really hard to choose what should go, but with great reluctance I chose:
"Band 6"
"I'll Spend My Life With You"
&
"I Can't Get Her Off My Mind"
Edit: changed one choice

 

I know... It’s not nearly as iconic a cover as Pepper. Few are. It’s also not the album Pepper is (Again, few are).

It is a pretty basic cover, maybe even a bit bland, but I kinda like the idea of “It’s just us” (Not to be confused with “Justus” 30 years later)

It was (mostly) just them, on the album, which was important, so the simple cover makes sense.