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The Legacy of Paul Revere & The Raiders and The Monkees
"To my way of thinking, the thing that sets The Monkees apart from all of the other TV shows about the youth culture of its time was that Bert was a fan. He was a fan of The Beatles. He liked the spirit of the time. It wasn't just another fad for an out-of-touch producer to cash in on. That's the impression I got from everybody else who made TV shows."- Peter Tork.
The Monkees will long be remembered as rock's first big embarassment-- the band who didn't play their own instruments. Never mind the fact that an ignorant public wasn't aware that such legends as The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, The Mamas and the Papas, The Byrds, the Association, and nearly every American group didn't play their own instruments either. The Monkees were just more blatant about it. In 1967, rock journalists and bitter wannabe rock bands were lambasting the Monkees for being untalented fakes and calling them a disgrace to pop music. All the while you had Mama Cass sniffing that "The Monkees may have the money, but we'll have the legend." Oh, if only Cass could see them now.
In the years that followed their 1970 break-up, The Monkees have become pop culture icons, their popularity and impact has surpassed all expectations, most of all the expectations of the band themselves. The Monkees, unlike the Raiders, make no arrogant claims about their place in music. Micky Dolenz even has a famous line comparing their becoming a real rock band to "Leonard Nimoy becoming a Vulcan." But after thirty-five years, The Monkees have become one of the few bands from the 60s to remain popular throughout different generations, resulting in huge concert attendences in the 1980s, good album and single sales, praise from rock's elite, movies about the phenomenon, books written about their story, and much, much more. The Monkees WAS the group that defied the British Invasion, mainly because in 1967, they OUTSOLD the Beatles and the Stones COMBINED and are in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the most Number One albums in a single year
(They had four #1 albums in 1967, a feat that will never be equaled). Yet their legacy isn't strickly confined to music. Their television show remains a stable in reruns and it's fast paced, Richard Lester style direction has changed the face of television forever and pioneered the music video. Their show was the first to feature the youth of America without any authority figure, and the first to put rock music and 'long haired weirdos' into prime time.
The Monkees were dismissed and hated by rock critics and wannabe musicians because they seemed to get fame the easy way, without struggle. Their weekly television show was instrumental in getting their records heard to all of America, bypassing the usual road to stardom (paying the right people in the radio industry to play your records). Peter Noone explains:
"We were all jealous that the Monkees were making it because we thought there was a book of rules that said you had to get a guitar, a pair of Beatle boots and some unique clothes.....The Monkees broke all the rules....There's always some sort of jealousy when somebody comes along and steals your business and then becomes successful at it."
Yet despite their manufactured beginnings, The Monkees did what no other 'manufactured' or manipulated band had ever done before; they revolted. They were the first band to disrupt the system of power between the powers that be and the artists. Of all of the musicians under the thumb of the establishment before them; Bobby Vee, Fabian, Frankie Avalon, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Paul Peterson, etc., all had been good little boys and did whatever their makers wanted them to do. The Monkees changed that. They revolted against the musical director (Donnie Kirshner) and changed things for pop forever. Since their revolt, artists like David Cassidy, Leif Garrett, NKOTB, Rick Springfield, N Sync, BSB have ALL followed the Monkees lead and revolted, to varying degrees of success. When Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider asked to cast four wild boys that wouldn't be the typical Hollywood image of teenagers, they certainly got what they wanted.
The Monkees changed television and music, and the way that both were made. Although their musical career began mundane and banal, once they had control of things, they began to experiment with new styles and sounds, they didn't write the same songs over and over like the Raiders. And also, The Monkees were not only cool with the dopey nine year olds. In the late 1960s, they were readily accepted into the elite L.A rock scene, all reasons for their success today and beyond..
"The Monkees" was a television show ABOUT a band trying to become successful, it wasn't initially a real band at all. Originally, Bert and Bob (B&B) wanted to cast a band that was already together for their series, but finding a band that could act proved tough. Instead, B&B ran an ad in Daily Variety in August 1965 for "folk and roll" musicians-singers for acting roles in a tv series. The ultimate blend of music, comedy and television that had never been done before. B&B came from the new breed of directors/producers in Hollywood, unlike the Dick Clarks of the world, B&B WERE the youth culture, they weren't just trying to market it. Relatively young, hip, and laid back, B&B not only changed the television industry with the Monkees, but the film industry as well with 'Easy Rider' in 1969. Besides asking for musican/singer/actors in their ad, they asked for 'spirited Ben Frank's types'.
Ben Frank's was a hip place on Sunset Strip where after all of the clubs closed, people would hang out while trying to come off the drugs they had taken. The ad also asked that those auditioning 'must come down for interview', a reference that no one should come in stoned. It was apparent that B&B didn't want people like Paul Revere and the Raiders or Paul Peterson. They wanted people who could improvise and be hip and atune with the new youth culture. What they got were two actors (Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz) and two musicians (Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith). By hiring Peter and Mike, The Monkees hip quotient with L.A's music scene was already apparent; Peter Tork was a former Greenwich Village folkie who used to date Mama Cass, hang around The Lovin Spoonful and was recommended to audition for the Monkees by his pal Stephen Stills (of The Buffalo Springfield),
,Mike Nesmith was the MC at the Troubador folk club on Sunset for New Talent night. Already his song "Mary Mary" had been recorded by the super-respected Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and Mike hung around Troubador regulars like Linda Rondstadt and Tim Buckley, and was managed by Randy Sparks
"The Monkees" was really the first television show to feature rock and roll music and the youth of America entirely free from the establishment. It almost didn't get on air because at that time, television was dominated by shows like "My Three Sons" and older actors who thought rock music was stupid kids stuff. The only time rock and roll was heard in prime time was on Variety shows, yet the Monkees was a television show where rock and roll was the main feature. And although the initial ratings were poor, by early 1967 The Monkees was winning its time slot and was seen by twenty million viewers a week. The show was fast paced, improvisational. It was a look at the younger generation of America, with groovy clothes, a groovy band, and dialogue that was definitely more radical than say, the dialogue on Green Acres. Or to quote Dr. Timothy Leary in his book "The Politics of Ecstacy":
"Hollywood
executives decide to invent and market an American version of the Beatles-the early
pre-prophetic cute, yeh yeh Beatles. Got It? They auditioned a hallfull of candidates and type cast four
cute kids. What do the screaming teenyboppers want? Crank out the production and promote it. Feed the
great consumer monster what it thinks it wants: plastic, syrupy, tasty, marshmallow-filled, chocolate
coated, Saran wrapped, and sell it. No controversy, no protest. No thinking strange, unique thoughts. No
offending Mom and Dad and the advertisers. Make it silly, suntanned, grinning NBC-TV. And What
happened? The same thing that happened to the Beatles. The four young Monkees weren't fooled for a
moment. They went along with the system but didn't buy it. Like all the beautiful young sons of the new
age-Peter Fonda and Robert Walker and young John Barrymore and young Steinbeck and the wise young
Hitchcocks-the Monkees use the new energies to sing the new songs and pass on the new message. The
Monkees' television show, for example. Oh you thought that it was silly teenage entertainment? Don't be
fooled. While it lasted, it was a classic Sci-Fi put on. An early-Christian electronic satire. A mystic magic
show. A jolly Buddha laugh at hypocrisy. At early evening kiddie-time on Monday the Monkees would
rush through a parody drama, burlesquing the very shows that glue Mom and Dad to the set during prime
time. Spoofing the movies and the violence and the down-heavy-conflict-emotion themes that fascinate
the middle-aged. And woven into the fast-moving psychedelic stream of action were the prophetic, holy,
challenging words. Micky was rapping quickly, dropping literary names, making scholarly refrences: then
the sudden psychedelic switch of the reality channel. He looked straight at the camera, right into your
living room, and up-levelled the comedy by saying: "Pretty good talking for a long-haired weirdo, huh,
Mr. and Mrs. America?" And then ZAP, flash. Back to the innocuous comedy."
Wheras PRR may have been secretely not buying the Revolutionary War-anti drug crap they were promoting, The Monkees made it obvious they weren't down with the establishment. Beneath their seemingly innocent show, there were all sorts of references to drugs,sex, and counterculture, radical views.
Musically, The Monkees were not near as competent as the Raiders were, because they quite frankly WEREN'T a band, they were a television show. Eventually, the music became more of their focus as the two musical Monkees began open hostility with their musical director, Donnie Kirshner. Donnie had his stable of East Coast songwriters (many of the Raiders songs were written by the same people), and his studio musicians. He wouldn't let the band play on their albums, nor write their own material. On the first two albums, Mike was the only Monkee able to write and produce his own songs, and that was because he was the one at the forefront of the battle. Yet in late 1966, to capitalize on their success, The Monkees went on tour and in return, became a bona fide pop group. Their confidence and solidarity also increased, and in early 1967,
Kirshner was out as their musical director and they were free to make their own music. Unlike The Raiders, The Monkees music incorporated different styles and new technology, mainly because The Monkees were four very different individuals music wise. Mike's country rock (a genre he pioneered on their first album in 1966), Peter's folk, Micky's rock and soul, and Davy's Broadway stylings showed that they weren't going to make the same songs over and over again like the Raiders. Their first album 'Headquarters' utilized all of these styles of music and featured seven songs written by the group. It was also the first pop album to use pedal steel guitar, and if not the first, one of the first albums to top the Billboard Top 200 Album chart without having a single on it. While the Raiders were technically better and had excellent singles, their album tracks left little to be desired.
The Monkees album tracks, on the other hand, had a freshness, an inventiveness, and many Headquarters tracks were played on the radio, despite not having any singles from the album in America. Their musical boundaries grew with each new album, on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones, The Monkees had the first pop album to use a Moog Synthesizer (two FULL years before the Beatles), as well as having songs about drugs, groupies, the Sunset Strip riots, and other topics the Raiders would never touch. The Monkees were hip with change, they didn't avoid it in order to sell more records. Sometimes their ability to change and evolve didn't sell records, but in the end, it proved more successful than making the same songs over and over like the Raiders did. In the years that followed, The Monkees' music would gain considerable acceptance. They made great pop records with Donnie, and without him, their records provided an interesting look at each individual Monkees musical taste. Michael Nesmith has been called one of the forefathers of country rock, and his solo country-rock albums have all been lauded and praised by Rolling Stone Magazine, Q, and Mojo as classics. He has also emerged as a pioneer in music video and has been called the inventor of MTV with his late 70s program "Pop Clips", which is essentially, a thirty minute show consisting nothing of music videos.
While the Raiders were terminally un-hip with the L.A music crowd due to their anti-drug song, their clothes, and their perceived squareness, The Monkees were accepted into the elite rock scene quite easily. Although their early songs were pop and bubblegum, the L.A crowd knew that they weren't down with the establishment. The Monkees embraced the new counterculture; they wore the right clothes, had the same ideals, embraced drugs, and became cool with the rock stars. They didn't represent the establishment like the Raiders. Peter was already friends with Stephen Stills and other folkies, Mike was atune with the Troubador club people, and things progressed from there. Chip Douglas, former member of the Modern Folk Quartet and the Turtles, and The Monkees' Producer explains:
"I think all the fellow musicians that were in L.A at the time, like Love, the Byrds, and the Buffalo Springfield all loved The Monkees and thought they were great. Everybody loved their TV show and loved them as singers. I think it was mostly the people who weren't making it as successful musicians who were more critical of them, and it was the press. They had a lot of friends in the Los Angeles music scene, I remember."
Peter Tork's house quickly became an L.A spot to be, and along with David Crosby's place and Mama Cass', it became a regular stop for all L.A musicians. Frank Zappa also loved the Monkees. He commented that their records were better produced and played than some of the phony San Francisco elite who made fun of them, and appeared on their television show AND their movie. Tim Buckley also appeared on their show, as did Dino Danelli from the Rascals and Harpo from PRR (though both never made it to the final cut). The Monkees regularly jammed with the likes of Dewey Martin, Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Buddy Miles, Harry Nilsson, Henry Diltz, Jerry Yester, and former WTAI member Keith Allison, all who jammed on various Monkees songs. In L.A, David Crosby introduced Peter to his second wife, Micky and Peter hung out at Monterey as a guest of Steve Stills, and Mike composed songs with Keith Allison on a regular basis.
They were accepted into the rock scene right away as peers. They even found themselves becoming friends with The Beatles, the band that everyone wanted acceptance from. John Lennon, when asked by Mike, compared their show to the Marx Brothers. George Harrison invited Peter to play on his "Wonderwall" soundtrack and said things like, "The Monkees are still finding out who they are and they seem to be improving as performers each time I see them. When they've got it all sorted out, they may be the greatest." John Lennon remarked, "They've got their o
wn scene and I won't send them down for it. You try a weekly television show and see if you can manage one half as good!" Once in England, Micky got an invitation to visit Paul McCartney's house and go to a Beatles record session, John Lennon invited Mike and his wife Phyllis to stay at his place in Weybridge the week that they visited.
And on their second trip to England, the Beatles threw the Monkees a private party. So were the Monkees only liked by 'dopey nine year olds', as the Raiders assess. Not unless you consider the likes of Buddy Miles, Stephen Stills, and The Beatles 'dopey nine year olds'. The Monkees were always hip with the rock musicians.
The Monkees had always been liked and appreciated by their fellow musicians, it was always the press that latched on to their manufactured beginnings and dismissed them to sell more magazines. In 1967, people claimed that after it was all over, The Monkees would make no mark on pop culture, yet they have defied every expectation. Despite the Raiders claims that THEY were the biggest American group in the 1960s, it was actually The Monkees. And The Monkees even today continue to be successful. Their television show garnered two Emmy Awards in 1967 (Outstanding Comedy and Best Direction) and changed the way youth is portrayed on television. Last year their show was the 13th Greatest Rock and Roll Moment on TV, where the Raiders were nowhere to be found. Their music has gained appreciation over the years from people in the music industry, and with new generations who discover their songs. The Monkees have come full circle.
The Monkees' story is one of the most interesting in rock and roll history, and unlike the Raiders, their presence in pop culture history has grown to huge proportions since their breakup in 1970. Besides having the most successful concert tour of 1986-87 and regaining a whole new generation of fans, their highly influential television show continues to be aired in countries all around the world, bringing in new legions of fans every few years. There have been documentaries about their legacy on the Disney Channel, an E! True Hollywood Story, a VH1 Behind the Music. In the 1980s, MTV ran Monkee-Marathons, in the 90s ABC broadcast a brand new Monkees episode, in 2000 VH1 made a movie about them entitled "Daydream Believers". There have been books about the phenomenon ("Monkeemania", "A Manufactured Image", "The Monkees Tale", "Hey Hey We Are the Monkees", "Total Control- The Mike Nesmith Story" as well as auto-biographies).
Despite all accounts that after the initial run was over, The Monkees would be tossed aside and forgotten forever...they have managed to come back time and time again and gather more space in pop culture history. Their albums continue to sell as well; last year the Monkees Greatest Hits, a collection over five years old, sold more than 500,000 copies. In 1986, seven of their 60s albums re-appeared on the Billboard Top 200. Their comeback single bounced into the Top 20 and went gold, their comeback album went platinum. They even have such big name rock stars as Bono fom U2 and Michael Stipe from R.E.M saying that they should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not too bad for a group the Raiders claimed "only appealed to dopey nine year olds".
And 65 million albums later, they're still appreciated and adored by fans of all ages and rock stars alike.
In 1967 Sir Paul McCartney said it best: "I'm sure The Monkees are going to live up to a lot of things many people didn't expect."
And he's exactly right.
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