Very sad. We were just talking about the importance of the cute boy singers who play a role in the gentle romantic fantasy lives of adolescent girls. The kids today have Justin Bieber. Don't diminish these idealized boyfriends. Davy Jones was one of mine. I was 15 when "The Monkees" began on TV, and Davy was absolutely perfect.
ADDED: We were talking about the importance of cute boy singers because of one of the "American Idol" contestants this season, Eben Franckewitz. Here's how adults react to his performance last night:
This cutie... He just sounds so young and weak. Maybe he's just really nervous? Then no, the chorus doesn't really get any better. Oh, Eben.... Obviously, this kid is not going anywhere because we all know how this show works by now, but this was not a good performance.But... spoiler alert...
According to DialIdol, he's in first place by a mile. Obviously, it's the young girls who are watching and voting, and he is their boyfriend.
UPDATE: I was wrong about Eben. He missed the cut when the votes came in.
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84 comments:
Ah, they were a commercial creation, so the music snobs hated them...
But the young gals loved them and they absolutely had some efforts that have stood the test of time.
Head over to Utube and listen to Davey Jones on "Daydream Believer".
I especially love "I Wanna Be Free," but I couldn't find the video they used frequently on the show that had him walking on the beach.
Beautiful!
He was one of mine, too! Since they were showing the old shows on Nickelodeon when I was a kid, I'm not sure that I realized that he was older than my parents at the time. RIP.
Drs. Kildaire and Casey were my first and second crushes, Jones was my third.
What I liked most about him was his self-deprecating humor. And I don't think all the "music snobs hated them." After all, "that's it, that's a warmup."
The Monkees went up several notches on my Respect Meter after I found out that they asked Jimi Hendrix to open for 'em on their first major tour, simply because they wanted to be able to see him play guitar every night.
Rest in Peace Davey...Marcia isn't the only one who'll miss ya.
I Wanna Be Free
Daydream Believer -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU615FaODCg
I had to look it up as a Billboard success..yep, #1 for several weeks. Interestingly, Canadian Anne Murray also had a monster hit with her version several years later. (It made #1 in Adult Contemporary, top 5 in Country and Pop).
Murray's version is excellent as well.
Kind of a pathway to immortality...we will carry Whitney Houston in our minds as the voice and spirit behind some remarkable songs, same with many other singers..and unlike art, instrumental music, the connection is personal.
They may have been pre-fabricated, but they were still good musicians, and after they were assembled, they used their position to push for greater and greater control over their music. They weren't content to be sock puppets.
I saw "Head" a couple of years ago and was really struck by how much better it was than I expected, and in particular I loved this Davy song. I can't take my eyes off him in that clip. What a showman!
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Wish I knew how to link it, but my favorite Monkees song is Randy Newman's "Cuddly Toy."
And they did a version of "Riu Chiu" which is always on my Christmas playlist.
A lotta people feeling old today.
It's not quite Opie or Beaver dying, but not far off.
Daydream Believer was written by one-time Kingston Trio member John Stewart. It is a great song and Davy Jones did a fine job with it. I Wanna Be Free was more for the girls. I can't think of any other top-tier Monkees songs that Jones sang lead on.
Without Davy Jones, there would be no David Bowie. Because Bowie's given name was Jones, so he had to change it to Bowie. He probably still would have had a career, but I suspect the "Bowie" brand helped make him a superstar. Plus, his firstborn son wouldn't have been named Zowie.
A little earlier in the 60s, I had a major crush on Ricky Nelson. By the time the Monkees arrived, my crushes were on the upperclass boys in my high school.
I remember Davy. He was exactly what you say "gentle romantic fantasy." 66 is far too young to die. Of course, when I was 15 I thought 66 was ancient, and what would anyone do with life after 30? It was pretty much downhill after that.
We watched "Rat Patrol", instead.
My sister, a regular Beatlemaniac (she loved George), barely noticed them.
But, it's a shame he died so young. A warning for us all.
Kensington: That "Head" clip was great. The song is fun, kind a Monkees' equivalent to the Beatles' "Your Mother Should Know." And the Zappa bit at the end is funny. Another guy taken too young. Been thinking about Zappa a lot lately for some reason. Certainly no one with his particular mix of gifts is out there now.
Does rap/Hip-hop have a Zappa equivalent?
Here we come,
Walking down the street,
We get the funniest looks from
Everyone we meet.
Hey, hey we're the Monkees
And people say we monkey around,
But we're too busy singing
To put anybody down.
We're just trying to be friendly,
Come watch us sing and play,
We're the young generation
And we got something to say.
Hail and Farewell, Davy.
Aw damn. He still looked cute and young-ish to me, and seemed to also be just an all-around nice guy.
That is sad...I saw him live at a local summer festival a couple of years ago ...he still had it...
Gene Roddenberry added a young Walter Koenig to the cast of Star Trek as Ensign Chekov in the hopes of creating a teen-age heart throb a la Davy Jones. Notice how Ensign Chekov resembles Jones in both facial shape and haircut?
Needless to say, it didn't work.
ahh, Saturday mornings of my youth...The Monkees, then American Bandstand. Good times. What a cutie...RIP Davy.
I adored the Monkees, but only in re-runs. My parents were uber-strict and we did not have television growing up, so my girlhood crushes were all on literary figures -- my first major crush was Ken MacLaughlin from the Mary O'Hara series, and then of course, all the Narnia "bad boys" (never Peter or Prince Caspian, lol).
I never know who half these people are, but I do know the Monkees and Davey Jones. So sad. Sail on, Davey... :~)
RIP Davey. You were a talented man.
Heart attacks are very sudden. You should try to live close enough to a heart specialist hospital, and decide now never to wait to see if you feel better later.
You have to be treated as suddenly as the sudden heart attack pains begin.
Heart disease is probably not going to be cured, but many of its victims can be saved.
I was in Times Square last week and his name was on the marquee of the B.B.King Blues Club. I'm not sure it that meant he was playing that night or was a coming attraction.
How unfortunate. I always liked the Monkees, and HEAD (co-scripted by Jack Nicholson) is a better movie than either A HARD DAY'S NIGHT or HELP, (the latter of which I liked very much).
Loved the Boyce- Hart catalouge. Learned a lot of it back in the day. The guitar lick on "Last Train to Clarksville" is a bitch. Practiced that one for 40 years and still get it wrong to this day. Wonder if he ever got any from Marcia after the dance? I know she would have given it up.
Is my now faded memory, or did Davy Jones come on the scene about a year or two after Ricky Nelson was taken off the air?
Since my cohort was too young for any of those guys, I remember the girls in 6th & 7th grade just going ape over Bobby Sherman.
We boys, of course, thought such things ludicrous. There is nothing "gentle" about the fantasies of adolescent boys.
"Brainy" Monkee Michael Nesmith posted this on Facebook:
Michael Nesmith
All the lovely people. Where do they all come from? So many lovely and heartfelt messages of condolence and sympathy, I don’t know what to say, except my sincere thank you to all. I share and appreciate your feelings. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. While it is jarring, and sometimes seems unjust, or strange, this transition we call dying and death is a constant in the mortal experience that we know almost nothing about. I am of the mind that it is a transition and I carry with me a certainty of the continuity of existence. While I don’t exactly know what happens in these times, there is an ongoing sense of life that reaches in my mind out far beyond the near horizons of mortality and into the reaches of infinity. That David has stepped beyond my view causes me the sadness that it does many of you. I will miss him, but I won’t abandon him to mortality. I will think of him as existing within the animating life that insures existence. I will think of him and his family with that gentle regard in spite of all the contrary appearances on the mortal plane. David’s spirit and soul live well in my heart, among all the lovely people, who remember with me the good times, and the healing times, that were created for so many, including us. I have fond memories. I wish him safe travels.
Is it just me, or does this tribute seem kind of ambivalent? Nesmith, a good songwriter, sometimes seemed embarrassed by his Monkee past. Did having to acknowledge that he was still friends with Jones cause him to have to wrap his sentiments about his death in this kind of mystical fog?
Or is this what a sincere statement of condolences looks like in SF, where Nesmith now lives? I wasn't sure how to take it.
Davy started out in musicals. He was in "Oliver!" So there was no embarrassment for him in playing the role of a Beatle-like musician in a TV series modeled on "A Hard Day's Night." It was a great role for a singing actor, and in no sense any kind of a sellout.
Manson tried out to be a Monkey but wasn't crazy enough. But he will live to be ninety surrounded by his maenads, still screeching, "I'm a Believer!"
@Stodder: Did Mickey send condolenzes?
Davy started out in musicals. He was in "Oliver!"
I wonder if he replaced Steve Marriott (who played the same role around the same time).
God rest Davey Jones.
I don't know how many years they were out but there's probably one two or three songs that I think are at all memorable. PVS, I'm a Believer. And I don't know, something like Auntie Grzelda maybe. Or that crazy song Mike Nesmith did for Head.
Does this tribute seem kind of ambivalent?
No. It is an expression of hope, not the "hope" of wishes and grasping at straws, but the true hope of trustworthy confidence and assured expectation of eternal life and salvation from eternal death.
I'm a '56 model and the first new album I owned was "More of The Monkees" - I played it a lot. When I got a few years older, I was embarrassed to have it in my album collection - it wasn't cool enough to be with Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Now, I'm not ashamed to say that I have some of their songs on my MP3 player.
Pleasant Valley Sunday by Carole King and Gerry Goffin was my fav. It had that A Well Respected Man attitude. :-P
Obviously they didn't take themselves seriously, which was their main appeal, plus the music. Even the Beatles appreciated their contribution to Rock 'n' Roll, such as it was ie the Keystone Kops of Rock.
Davy RIP.
>
And I won't comment on the user unfriendliness of this blog. :-P
Kirby Olson, though he moves from his initial premise to some fairly inspired monkee-ing around (e.g., Manson "wasn't crazy enough", etc.) is wrong to state that Charles Manson attempted to become a Monkee. As the wonderful de-bunking site snopes.com points out, Manson was in prison from 1961-1967 and thus could not possibly have attended the auditions in 1965.
I was going to say something about how Davey caught the last train to Clarksville, but I decided not to. I remember the Monkees TV show only vaguely, as I was pretty young at the time, but they did have some nice tunes. The last time I "saw" Davey Jones was in an episode of the cartoon Hey Arnold, where he was performing at a mountain resort. Rest in Peace, Davey, or play on in the hereafter!
As regards the young girls' crushes, I guess things don't change that much. My 13-year-old is into the Justin Bieber thing now; before that it was the Jonas Brothers. And after she saw Twilight with her Mom and her sister, she complained that the Laughtner fellow only took off his shirt once!
YoungHegelian: Not sure if I agree with you about gentle fantasies. I was 11 in 1976 and found myself extremely but rather innocently charmed by a young Rumanian gymnast who was tearing it up in Montreal that year.
BTW: Most of you probably know how the mother of Davey's bandmate Michael made her fortune -- she was the secretary that invented whiteout.
The Monkees played here a few months ago, and the reviewer complained that the concert was...too long. He looked good in the video at the link.
Good music and a show that made this boy laugh. Not bad for an aspiring jocky, Mr. Jones.
Robert Cook said... I was in Times Square last week and his name was on the marquee of the B.B.King Blues Club. I'm not sure it that meant he was playing that night or was a coming attraction.
The video at Ann's link is of that show. His last show, a few weeks ago.
He was too busy singing
To put anybody down.
RIP
I can't believe it -- I'm the only person here heartless enough to say it: The Monkees sucked.
There, now I'm the asshole. Happy?
They sucked so hard that they tore a hole in the time-space continuum that allowed unspeakable, unnameable horrors like New Kids on the Block and Milli Vanilli to crawl into our universe from another Lovecraftian dimension. The first pre-fabricated pop group -- that's a hell of a thing to have carved onto your tombstone.
I'm sure he was a nice guy. And I'm sure that many women of a certain age have warm sentimental feelings for him. But let's not go over the top here. The rule of etiquette about not speaking ill of the dead doesn't mean we have to gush over them with flattering hyperbole.
Personally, the thought of Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees makes me want to throw up. That's like Bach polishing Justin Bieber's shoes.
Pastafarian wrote: Personally, the thought of Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees makes me want to throw up.
Which part made you want to vomit, Pasta? The absolute separation of artistic styles?
"Personally, the thought of Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees makes me want to throw up."
Pastafarian just threw away Michigan.
"The first pre-fabricated pop group -- that's a hell of a thing to have carved onto your tombstone."
I could think of a hell of a lot worse. C'mon, this is pop music, and despite what people like Dave Marsh think, almost none of it qualifies as High Art or Terribly Meaningful.
By the way, I hope Rebecca Black makes a zillion dollars.
WVs were "tutib" and "tainguat," which sound like scary-looking things my wife grew up eating.
I have this image of Santorum and Pastafarian on their knees hanging on to the front of the toilet. Santorum's saying "JFK. You?"
The Monkees sucked. There, now I'm the asshole. Happy?
That's way too harsh.
The Monkees, musically, represented the flowering of the ongoing marriage between the Brill Building songwriters and the top-notch LA studio musicians sometimes known as the Wrecking Crew. On their most famous records, they mostly just sang songs written by writers like Neil Diamond, Goffin and King, Boyce and Hart, John Stewart. Their legacy primarily is those songwriters' and I honor that greatly. The same studio players who livened up the recordings by the Byrds, Beach Boys, Sonny & Cher and Phil Spector, played on those records -- played the heck out of it on some cuts like "Last Train to Clarksville," a great pop-rock riff.
On top of that, their show was genuinely funny and surreal.
On top of that, Mike Nesmith went on to have an excellent solo career.
On top of that, "Head," while not a great movie, is a great document of the LA chapter of the 1960s.
There was a lot of bubblegum music that had no staying power after brief runs on the charts, but the Monkees did -- powered by their songs and the crisp musicianship. When you hear the Monkees, you're hearing the sound of Los Angeles, playing the words and music of New York, circa the mid-1960s. You're hearing another tributary of the great conspiracy of grizzled pros who gave adolescents and kids much better music than they should've expected. It could've been 100 percent exploitation, but the professionalism took over, and that's what I love about the Monkees.
Pasta,
"There, now I'm the asshole. Happy?"
I guess somebody has to be. It must be very fulfilling.
Why not be gentle and speak well? Does it hurt?
I personally love the idea of Hendrix opening for the Monkeys. Hendrix hasn't any more claim to greatness than the Monkees.
Popular music is entertainment. Not exactly high art.
Hendrix hasn't any more claim to greatness than the Monkees.
I can see standing by your boys, but that's just not right.
Do I have to share the same toilet, phx? Isn't there a urinal in there I can hang onto? I have my dignity, after all.
It's not the separation in style, chickenlittle. Bach:Bieber::Hendrix:Monkees. To have Hendrix open for the Monkees, to put him in that secondary role; it's...just...blaaahhchhblurrppwretch...son of a bitch, now my keyboard smells like The Macallan and bile.
"He was too busy singing
To put anybody down."
Pastafarian should've been singing.
Eben F. acted very age-appropriately when he was put into the finals ahead of his best bud Mr. Leathers. So instead of offering Leathers support, he's jumping around with joy behind him. It looked tacky, but teen girls don't care, I guess.
I was hoping it was in this clip, but it's right after the end.
Aah...here. Melinda Doolittle talking about it.
@Pastafarian: I recall a cousin talking about seeing The Who open for Herman's Hermits--in Madison. Stuff like that happened then. Still does, actually.
@Pastafarian: I'm just glad you didn't liken it to miscegenation...or worse--beastiality!
John Stodder, I can remember having to watch that shitty show.
I was young, and had 4 older sisters, and we had but one television that received 4 channels. I remember the asshole with the stocking cap on his head. What a douchebag poseur, I thought at the time; and I was 5. I wanted to slap that fucking stocking cap off of his fucking head.
These were the early days of TV, though; and it was a notch up from Hee Haw, in terms of comedic sophistication. But it was actually about three notches down musically, and that includes the two hillbillies standing in the cornfield "slapping and gasping" -- "hip haw hip hip haw". And the duet that consisted of a jug and a washboard.
Was there other shit music being made at the same time? Sure. But they were also contemporaries with Cream and the Yardbirds and early Black Sabbath.
Actually I am a child of the last 70s/early 80s, but the Monkees were my first album. They were on after school when I was a little boy so had to get the album.
("Available on album, 8-track or cassette").
wyo sis: "Hendrix hasn't any more claim to greatness than the Monkees."
OK, wyo sis, clearly I've gone to far criticizing your teen crush. I've caused you to suffer some sort of gran mal event, accompanied by a psychotic break.
Stay away from sharp objects; make your way to the phone; and call for help. No, sis, that's not the phone, that's the blender. Put that down. Do not push those buttons.
"I recall a cousin talking about seeing The Who open for Herman's Hermits--in Madison"
I am a big Peter Noone fan. The guy was only 17 when he made it big.
Pastafarian wrote: I remember the asshole with the stocking cap on his head.
Hey, that "asshole" produced one of my all time favorite movies.
Someone needs to invent "liquid paper" for pixels.
The first pre-fabricated pop group
Well, not really. Motown did a fair amount of fabricating groups, rather than merely sign kids that had already formed their own group. The Monkees were just the first pre-fabricated group for pop TV.
But even before that, there were pre-fabricated groups for radio. Back when producers and studios ran everything, as in the 30s and 40s, there were plenty of groups that were manufactured or otherwise discovered and groomed, rather than merely signed.
EDH said...
Little does Althouse know that all her her male commenters live together in one zany pad like the Monkees.
2/23/12 9:51 PM
Being about 5 at the time, that's what I loved about the Monkees, apart from the tunes. The madcap camaraderie they enjoyed as young men, tempered by an approachable decency, the "just try'n to be friendly part".
Generally, the hippies of the day intimidated and frightened me.
I am a big Peter Noone fan. The guy was only 17 when he made it big.
So? Rick Derringer was only 17 when he let go "Sloopy"
Was he still wearing that fucking hat when he produced the movie?
I always kind of felt bad for Mike Nesmith - someone else mentioned he didn't seem comfortable with the whole Monkee thing.
Kind of like Pat Sajak who must have really believed he should have been doing greater things, like hosting Johnny Carson or Late Nite. Instead...it's just a little bitter.
I wasn't a big Monkees fan but I will give them some credit. They were far better than The Banana Splits. Sadly, I can't say the same for Eben.
RIP Davey.
Shiloh @ 2:34
In future, should (when) we disagree politically, I promise to say anyone who links to the kinks can't be all bad!
CWJ
Although I was totally into the Beatles and Stones as well, there was something "unique" about The Kinks and The Who ie they marched to the beat of their own drummer, Keith Moon notwithstanding.
Interesting er shocking when the Monkees decided to do their "own" music, the show's ratings declined.
>
The Monkees were about as good as The Partridge Family lol which I never watched, although the P Family did have Susan Dey. :D
RIP Davy, when I was 15 i had a huge crush on you too!!1 Loved you and George Harrison (my favorite Beatle)
Daydream believer, and a homecoming queen. Song written by the late, great John Stewart of the Kingston Trio.
Small tears in my eyes.
Vicki from Pasadena
Here's To A Guy My Sister Liked (Davy Jones 1945-2012)
I heard an interview with Jerry Garcia from about 1968 or so- he was asked- "what do you think of the Monkees?" He said (I'm quoting from memory here) "What do you want me to say- they do good songs, they're fun. I liked "I'm a believer 40 years ago- still like it today! I hope Mark Lindsay's still alive!
I was going to say something about how Davey caught the last train to Clarksville
He left a sammich in his locker a week ago, and the smell made him fall in.
John Stodder said... I Wanna Be Free was more for the girls.
Uh HUH. Chick song. :) I wore my brother's record out playing that song. He was dreamy for a while. I did eventually take more of a liking to Peter Tork, though. But I have quirky taste like that.
And hey, that was sweet, Crack.
I especially love "I Wanna Be Free,"
This is how the Commies undermined the West: teenager girls learned to accept cohabitation/single parentage instead of marriage through music and cute boys. One schmaltzy song and video, and a few years later we're at 40% illegitimacy and 50% divorce.
This is how the Commies undermined the West: teenager girls learned to accept cohabitation/single parentage instead of marriage through music and cute boys. One schmaltzy song and video, and a few years later we're at 40% illegitimacy and 50% divorce.
It's a little known fact that the songs were released in the Soviet Union but the titles and lyrics were changed:
"I Don't Want To Be Free"
"I'm Not A Believer"
"Last High Speed Train To Clarksgrad"
"Day Dream Unbeliever"
"I especially love "I Wanna Be Free,"/"This is how the Commies undermined the West: teenager girls learned to accept cohabitation/single parentage instead of marriage through music and cute boys. One schmaltzy song and video, and a few years later we're at 40% illegitimacy and 50% divorce."
This is true. I was deluged with the ideology of freedom when I was a teenager. It determined the path of my life.
If I had heard the counterargument and lived amongst folk who believed it, I would have been an entirely different person. I really did accept the ideology that making no demands on the other person was what made you a good, modern, desirable woman.
I'm surprised no one mentioned that Nesmith's comment referred to the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby.
Pastafarian expresses a view that was common among those who wanted rock to be the soundtrack of the revolution. You can bet that none of the Chicago 7 would have had any Monkeea songs on their playlists (had they had playlists back then). In his way, Pastafarian remains a true, loyal anti-fan.....There were many groups that were supposed to raise your consciousness and change the world. The Monkees were not one of them, but that's the group Althouse claims has made her a better person. Were Phil Ochs alive, he'd be confused......It's an intimation of mortality when a rock star dies a natural death at a not totally inappropriate age. Whitney Houston. Davy Jones. Is Pia Zadora next?
Actually I'm not really sure Althouse claimed that the Monkees made her a better person.
Sometimes you have to read Althouse very carefully.
And rock was the soundtrack of the revolution.
John Stodder did a great job of describing the sound. It captured the transition of society and provided a soundtrack for that era. Unlike the rock gods coming of age, the Monkees were also able to capture the parents as well.
Liked Chuck66, I too started my music listening courtesy of a K-Tel mid 1970's Monkees greatest hits album.
Pleasant Valley Sunday. What a brilliant song on many levels.
phx: I was being tongue in cheek. The Monkees had about the same effect on their culture and times as Pia Zadora. Rock music was considered portentous, the gateway to a liberated life. Follow the beat and new lights will begin and increase. Except no one made those claims about the Monkees. They were not considered messengers from the future but rather polyethelene byproducts without authenticity or significance.....Their music is pleasant enough and will endure at least for the lifetime of its fans. Compare and contrast with Phil Ochs. He was the real deal, the true pure troubadour of his age. He didn't cash in. He committed suicide when the world didn't live up to his expectations. I would bet anything that Daydream Believer is played a lot more than I Ain't Marching Anymore. The posterity prize goes to the Monkees. Go figure....The Monkees were located at the cash nexus of tv and rock music and, in that sense, were the true prophets and profits of their age. I'm sure that Althouse's interest in the Commerce Clause is directly related to her early interest in this group. The Monkees by their living example taught their fans that it was better to be rich and famous than pure and poor.
Heart attacks can be asymptomatic. That is you feel nothing. So maybe Davey just died while feeling nothing. Let's get out the Ouija Boards and ask! Maybe we'll get one last song!
S'truth William. S'truth.
He didn't even get time to clean out his locker.
They weren't a great band, but there was something charming about them.
I saw Davey Jones in a production of Oliver in Los Angeles when I was a kid in the late 60s or early 70s. He played the Artful Dodger. Oliver Reed played Sikes.
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