The Monkees

I have enjoyed watching this show for years since I first saw it in syndication on local television back in the late 1970s. From the first time I watched The Monkees I was hooked and have watched the show ever since. Whenever it would be shown over the years I was there to watch it, including the revival in popularity that arose in 1986 when MTV ran a Monkees marathon that exposed their antics to a new generation of fans. The show had a great zaniness that blended a unique mixture of music and comedy, which made the show a delight for me. As a kid I enjoyed the entertaining plots and thought it would be cool to hang around with these 4 guys. I did, though, always look forward to the musical numbers that occurred in each episode.

The music on the show was what really appealed to me and made me a fan in the beginning. Their albums from the 60s still make up part of my music collection. The show was never that popular when it was originally airing on commercial television, but the music really helped push the popularity of the band giving The Monkees a cult-like status similar to The Beatles at the time. I especially like the music of Michael Nesmith. The songs that appeared in the show by Nez were most appealing to me and this carried over to his solo career as well. Another thing that was a great part of the show was the comic timing of Mickey Dolenz. He always cracks me up with his wacky style of voices and improvisation. All four were talented in their own way, but Mickey Dolenz was the funniest to me.

It is still one of my all time favorite shows and has left a lasting impression on me that will stay with me my whole life. One of the more memorable shows was the parody of Faust called The Devil and Peter Tork. It had some seriousness, but that helped the comedy to play. Some episodes played out better than others with the second season being a little more reflective of the 60s culture that was growing popular during that period in America.

Was it a TV show? Was it a rock n' roll group? It was neither, and it was a little of both. Mickey Dolenz equated their becoming a group to Leonard Nimoy becoming a Vulcan. No matter what you believe, we can all agree that The Monkees, although brief in its original run, was about a group that did play, that did perform their own music and the way they did it left an impact on generations both young and old and will do so for years to come.

Every now and then, on TV, they repeat The Monkees, and when they do, you know you're in for half an hour of lunacy.

I've been to a few staff parties at the places I've worked over the years, and when "Here we come..." blasts out, the dance floor's always packed in seconds.

LONG LIVE THE MONKEES!

The Monkees may have been created as a Beatles-of-America series, but like The Fab Four the show and the group within had a pivotal role in pop music history. While the concept of quick-edit rock music pieces began with A Hard Days Night and its sequels, it was The Monkees that really fleshed out the concept that today is known as the music video.

The power of television proved itself with Monkee-mania, and seeing the series and listening to the records four decades after their debut reveals how fresh and engaging both still are. The sit-com concept was basically parodied, and the free-wheeling styles of Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and David Jones made the parodies all the more cutting and funny. There is a magnetism to Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy that still shows in the show and the music; the use of session hipsters in the backing tracks certainly created a strong baseline at the beginning, but in concert with session help or all on their own (in the album Headquarters and the songs from which the show made use), it was Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy who gave the music a stamp that was undeniably theirs.

The same is true of the show - other singers have shown engaging humor (Alison Krauss is one of the funniest), but none show the magnetic zaniness of The Monkees (if anything, Ms. Krauss' sense of humor is more like Mike Nesmith's than anything).

This is why the show and the group will always endure.

Something for everyone, the Monkees is still funny and eye-catching today. They exemplified the sixties for a lot of people in my generation and I still love them today. Not only for the nostalgia but just for the fun of it all.

No-one has ever tried to pretend that 'The Monkees' were anything more than a pop group specifically created for a television show, and to sell bubblegum music to kids. That said, it should also be noted how talented Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, David Jones, and Micky Dolenz were as comedy performers, far more so than the members of 'Herman's Hermits' and 'The Dave Clark Five', both of whom tried and failed to reach the same audience. The show took its cue from the Beatles' movie 'Help!', with the band constantly running across rooftops, chased by screaming girls, and famous actors hamming it up for all it was worth in cameo roles. John Lennon likened The Monkees to the Marx Brothers, and its not hard to see why. The show caught the mood of the time; it was colourful, daft fun, just what the world needed as the Vietnam war raged. And the songs were good too, particularly 'Last Train To Clarksville'. Such was the show's popularity in Britain that it was being rerun long after the group disbanded.