_________________ "You hang out with nice people, you get nice friends. You hang out with smart people, you get smart friends. You hang out with yo-yo people, you get yo-yo friends. You see, it's simple mathematics."
Sad news indeed. The Monkees and frontman Davy Jones hit a 'chord' with me a a youth. Surrounded by the sounds of Rhythm and Blues in our inner city apartment we would turn on the TV those Monday evenings after homework and watch the 'prefab four'. The show was a unique blend of comedy, art, and singing. Davy Jones became our favorite Monkee with Mickey Dolenz a close second.
A unique show, a unique group with a unique frontman. It hurts to see pieces of one's youth go. Prayers go out to his children
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:39 pm Posts: 19079 Location: Jersey City
doowop14 wrote:
With all the conversation about the Monkees since Davy's passing, I've discovered that I was probably the only Mike Nesmith fan in the world.
RIP Davy
I hadn't given Nesmith much thought from the time "The Monkees" went into syndication until he surfaced again with a program called "Popclips".
My family in Connecticut had just gotten cable (wasn't available before in the relatively, thinly-populated area I grew up in) and "Popclips" was a program on the Nickelodeon channel.
It showed music videos, which I'd never seen before, either.
Research reveals that Nesmith came up with the idea as a new means of marketing pop artists and the idea was slightly tweaked not long after and launched as MTV.
If I remember correctly, videos of a couple of Nesmith's solo performances were part of the rotation on "Popclips".
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doowoop, I actually think for younger generations (as in the people who were introduced to re-runs of The Monkees on MTV and Nick at Nite) Mike was the favorite. For people who became familiar with the Monkees' backstory, Nesmith being the most vocal in trying to give the band more creative freedom, I think Mike was respected. Plus I personally thought he was the funniest on the show. Anybody who just saw him as the grump who never showed up to the reunions, needs to watch the episodes and see a guy who was very dedicated. He and Mickey were my favorites but I totally understood the Davy fandom because my mother was of the Davy fandom.
Davy was the first to get a contract with the show and was built as the lead for both the band and the show but Mickey had all of the hits on lead vocal which caused a rivalry. Then came, "I'm A Believer" and Davy finally got his signature song. Davy was still the favorite for the girls but the band and the mainstream seemed to edge toward Mickey's vocals.
Now if you told me Davy would be the first to die, given Peter's health problems and Mickey not looking anything like Mickey anymore, I would have thought you were kidding.
RIP
I'll just leave the song here that I played on a loop.
doowoop, I actually think for younger generations (as in the people who were introduced to re-runs of The Monkees on MTV and Nick at Nite) Mike was the favorite. For people who became familiar with the Monkees' backstory, Nesmith being the most vocal in trying to give the band more creative freedom, I think Mike was respected. Plus I personally thought he was the funniest on the show. Anybody who just saw him as the grump who never showed up to the reunions, needs to watch the episodes and see a guy who was very dedicated. He and Mickey were my favorites but I totally understood the Davy fandom because my mother was of the Davy fandom.
Davy was the first to get a contract with the show and was built as the lead for both the band and the show but Mickey had all of the hits on lead vocal which caused a rivalry. Then came, "I'm A Believer" and Davy finally got his signature song. Davy was still the favorite for the girls but the band and the mainstream seemed to edge toward Mickey's vocals.
Now if you told me Davy would be the first to die, given Peter's health problems and Mickey not looking anything like Mickey anymore, I would have thought you were kidding.
RIP
Having been a musician, I saw that Mike had the chops. He wasn't just making believe. Even Peter, who was an excellent musician in his own rite, was playing around for the cameras. Mike seemed to take the faux music seriously. I guess that I just respected what Mike was doing more than the others. Plus, I thought he was actually funnier than the rest. While the others just clowned around, Mike seemed serious about his role and seemed more accomplish.
Funny you should mention about the "front man" thing. I once compiled a list of who sang lead on what song on all the albums through "Head".
Mickey sang lead on twenty five Davy had twenty three leads. Surprisingly, Mike had seventeen songs. Pete only had a hand full.
But it seems odd that the least musically talented (while Micky couldn't play the drums at first, he was a passable guitarist) was passed off as the group's "Front Man". I guess the creators merely visualized them as actors in a comedy show who were supposed to be a musical group but not real musicians. Davy was a legitimate actor in the theater. So they probably assumed he would carry the show. BTW, I assumed you meant Daydream Believer as Davy's defining song.
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Gil Hodges Should Be In The Hall Of Fame
doowoop, I actually think for younger generations (as in the people who were introduced to re-runs of The Monkees on MTV and Nick at Nite) Mike was the favorite. For people who became familiar with the Monkees' backstory, Nesmith being the most vocal in trying to give the band more creative freedom, I think Mike was respected. Plus I personally thought he was the funniest on the show. Anybody who just saw him as the grump who never showed up to the reunions, needs to watch the episodes and see a guy who was very dedicated. He and Mickey were my favorites but I totally understood the Davy fandom because my mother was of the Davy fandom.
Davy was the first to get a contract with the show and was built as the lead for both the band and the show but Mickey had all of the hits on lead vocal which caused a rivalry. Then came, "I'm A Believer" and Davy finally got his signature song. Davy was still the favorite for the girls but the band and the mainstream seemed to edge toward Mickey's vocals.
Now if you told me Davy would be the first to die, given Peter's health problems and Mickey not looking anything like Mickey anymore, I would have thought you were kidding.
RIP
Having been a musician, I saw that Mike had the chops. He wasn't just making believe. Even Peter, who was an excellent musician in his own rite, was playing around for the cameras. Mike seemed to take the faux music seriously. I guess that I just respected what Mike was doing more than the others. Plus, I thought he was actually funnier than the rest. While the others just clowned around, Mike seemed serious about his role and seemed more accomplish.
Funny you should mention about the "front man" thing. I once compiled a list of who sang lead on what song on all the albums through "Head".
Mickey sang lead on twenty five Davy had twenty three leads. Surprisingly, Mike had seventeen songs. Pete only had a hand full.
But it seems odd that the least musically talented (while Micky couldn't play the drums at first, he was a passable guitarist) was passed off as the group's "Front Man". I guess the creators merely visualized them as actors in a comedy show who were supposed to be a musical group but not real musicians. Davy was a legitimate actor in the theater. So they probably assumed he would carry the show. BTW, I assumed you meant Daydream Believer as Davy's defining song.
I did mean "Daydream Believer".
People forget that Davy was a legitimate Broadway stage presence, having just spent a lot of his life associated with the Artful Dodger role in Oliver! and had a solo career pre-Monkees. Considering the show was meant to be a parody The Beatles, why not get the cute guy who had wholesome, reads young quality that girls will immediately get attached to watching and hearing? I mean both Mickey and Davy had backgrounds in show business while people like Stephen Stills (at the time already had thinning hair and terrible teeth) got rejected from the show, it was obvious they just wanted to find a 'voice' who had a certain look.
"You May Just Be The One" was the first they recorded together as a group written by themselves, of course, Davy was not present for those sessions and there was a rift. Davy appeared to side with Don Kirshner (and why wouldn't he, he was groomed to be the star) . But Kirshner consistently went behind their backs over what songs were to appear and the moment Mike's song got cut in favor of another churned out pop song that they just sang, it was over.
Also note that Pavel Chekov in Star Trek was cast and created with the intention to have a Davy Jones look-alike which they got with Walter Koenig.
"Steppin' Stone" is my favorite (and I love all of the punk rock covers) followed by "Valleri", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "The Porpoise Song", "Randy Scouse Git", "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round" and "Last Train to Clarksville".
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