HEY, HEY! THEY'RE THE MONKEES, AGAIN
(from the Rocky Mountain News, Denver,
12/14/94)
 
Rhino Records issues CD catalog from the '60s
ultimate 'faux
band'
 
By Alan Dumas
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
 
     For almost 30 years, rock 'n' roll purists have made fun of
the Monkees.
     "They weren't a *real* band," is the most typical comment,
and it drives the Monkees crazy.
     "Of course it wasn't a real band," says Michael Nesmith.
"There is no Wizard of Oz; Judy Garland was not really Dorothy;
and the Monkees were a make-believe band. Why is that so hard
for people to figure out?"
     Rhino Records is betting that the world is again ready for
the Monkees, real or make-believe.  The company recently acquired
the rights to all the Monkees materials and is in the process of
re-releasing all the Monkees albums on CD.  All but
*Headquarters*, *Instant Replay* and *Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn
and Jones, Ltd.* are out for Christmas, and those three will be
available in January.
     In addition, Rhino will release the Monkees' 1968 feature
film *Head* (written by actor and Monkees fan Jack Nicholson) on
Jan. 15, and all 58 episodes of the TV show later in 1995.
     Moreover, all of the Monkees have agreed to a new film
project and a reunion tour next year - even Nesmith, who sat out
the last Monkees reunion concerts, claiming prior obligations
with musical and video projects of his own.
     Monkee Micky Dolenz says that in the beginning, there was no
intention of the Monkees playing together as a rock group.
     "We weren't a group; we were a TV show about a group," he
explains."  We were hired as actors to portray these
entertainers.  The Monkees became the Monkees like Yul Brenner
became the king in *The King and I*.  The fact we did eventually
become a group was really amazing.  It's like Leonard Nimoy
becoming a real Vulcan.
     The Monkees were the first post-modern rock band.  A
creation of the media looking for a way to cash in on the
emerging counter-culture, the Monkees sang about themselves
("Hey, hey! We're the Monkees!"), starred in a self-titled TV
show about themselves and the characters in the band had the same
names as the actors who portrayed them: Michael Nesmith, Micky
Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones.  It was the epitome of
self-referential pop art, and back in 1966, people confused the
line between fantasy and reality.
     The Monkees got a little confused themselves.  Although they
sang on the first two soundtrack albums from their TV show, the
songs were written by professional songwriters and most of the
instruments were played by studio pros.  In 1967, they demanded
that they be allowed to write and play their own music.  Like an
actor playing Hamlet who suddenly refuses to die at the end of
the play, the Monkees wanted to become what they'd been hired to
portray.  It wasn't easy.
     "Personally, I didn't have that much trouble playing a
drummer in a band, and when I went home, I put down my sticks,"
says Dolenz.  "But Peter and Mike were really musicians, and it
was harder for them.  When we tried to make *Headquarters*, the
first real Monkees album, it was like we had four lead singers.
Most bands have one driving force, or sometimes two, like Jagger
and Richards, but we had four very distinct musical visions, and
when it came to trying to find our real group sound, it got
complicated.
     "Peter was into hard rock at the time; Michael was into
electric country rock; Davy was into Tony Newley and Broadway,
and I liked Chuck Berry and the Stones and the Animals.  To make
that all meld together was very difficult, and after
*Headquarters*, we didn't even really try, we just each did our
own things."
     Nesmith says that despite the difficulties, there was
something wonderful about a synthetic creation such as the
Monkees.
     "The public responded very well to the music, and although
there was also a very large group that found us annoying, there
was a hard-core, underground, ultra-hip segment that really got
it; they understood, although they had to hide their Monkees
albums inside a Stones jacket so people wouldn't make fun of
them."
     Is the world ready for the Monkees 30 years later?
     Dolenz thinks so.
     "We can't pretend we're 19 years old, but I think people
will appreciate the humor and tone of the original show," he
says.  "The Monkees represented the counter-culture of the time.
We almost didn't get on TV in 1966 because our hair was too long.
But the counter-culture of today is very grim, very dark in
comparison, and we can't do anything like that. The idealism of
the '60s is now our mainstream pop culture. Just look at
President Clinton.  That's where we fit in."
 
 
From: DRMIS@boco.co.gov