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    Legends of Rock & Roll: The Monkees
    Legends of Rock & Roll: The Monkees
    Legends of Rock & Roll: The Monkees
    Ebook96 pages1 hour

    Legends of Rock & Roll: The Monkees

    By James Hoag

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    About this ebook

    Legends of Rock & Roll: The Monkees

    “Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees!” Who doesn’t remember those famous words?

    This is another in the series of tributes to rock and roll heroes of the past and present. Micky, Davy, Peter and Michael were America's answer to the Beatles. They were a great band (after a little practice), they had their own television show and they even made a movie.

    The Monkees really started on February 6, 1964. That’s the famous day the Beatles appeared for the first time in America and performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. Each of the four guys who would later become the Monkees were watching that night and, like so many other performers of the Sixties, it inspired them. They each felt that they could do what the Beatles were doing and they hadn’t even met each other yet.

    Inside you will discover:

    Introduction: The kickoff for the book and my thoughts on the group.
    In the Beginning: First I explore how the television show came to be.
    Micky Dolenz: A short biography of Micky's early life.
    Davy Jones: Also, a short bio of Davy growing up.
    Peter Tork: And I do the same for Peter.
    Michael Nesmith: Last, but not least, a short bio of Michael in the years before the Monkees.
    The Coming Together of the Monkees: The coming together of four complete strangers.
    Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart: While these two were not part of the Monkees, they had a profound impact on their music.
    The Pilot: Getting the TV show off the ground.
    Becoming a Real Band: How four seemingly different people became a single unit, a rock and roll band.
    “Last Train to Clarksville”: The story behind their first big hit.
    The First Album “The Monkees”: Their first album. Did they really play on it at all?
    “I’m a Believer”: This is one of their biggest hits, a classic.
    The Reverse British Invasion: The boys go to England and make quite an impression.
    “Headquarters”: Time to work on their second album.
    “Pleasant Valley Sunday”: Their third number one single in a row. Another great hit.
    “Daydream Believer”: This would make it four number ones in a row and become their signature song.
    A House of Cards: All was not well in Monkee-land.
    “The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees”: The album that was produced as the band was falling apart.
    “Head”: They thought that making a movie would revitalize their careers.
    “33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee”: Their last grand hurrah. A variety show that did not entertain.
    The In-Between Years: Each Monkee goes his own way and tries to create his career.
    MTV Revives The Monkees: In 1986, MTV brought back the Monkees to a whole new generation.
    “Justus”: They get back together to do one more album.
    One Last Tour: Another "last". What was to be their last tour together.
    The Loss of Davy Jones: The untimely death of Davy Jones. Now, the Monkees can never re-unite.
    Legacy of The Monkees: Every Legends book has a section on the notable accomplishments of the performers.
    Afterword: My closing thoughts.
    Selected Discography: A selected reference of the works of the performers.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJames Hoag
    Release dateMay 27, 2016
    ISBN9781310860058
    Legends of Rock & Roll: The Monkees
    Author

    James Hoag

    James Hoag has always been a big fan of Rock & Roll. Most people graduate from high school and then proceed to "grow up" and go on to more adult types of music. James got stuck at about age 18 and has been an avid fan of popular music ever since. His favorite music is from the Fifties, the origin of Rock & Roll and which was the era in which James grew up. But he likes almost all types of popular music including country music.After working his entire life as a computer programmer, he is now retired and he decided to share his love of the music and of the performers by writing books that discuss the life and music of the various people who have meant so much to him over the years.He calls each book a "love letter" to the stars that have enriched our lives so much. These people are truly Legends.

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      Book preview

      Legends of Rock & Roll - James Hoag

      Legends of Rock & Roll – The Monkees

      By

      James Hoag

      ~~~

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2014 by James Hoag

      Discover other titles by James Hoag at Smashwords.com

      Cover by James Hoag

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Publishers Notes

      Disclaimer

      Legends of Rock & Roll –The Monkees Copyright 2014 James Hoag.

      All rights reserved.

      No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the publisher. The only exception is for a reviewer. A reviewer may quote brief passages in a review.

      Published by

      www.number1project.com

      Monument Marketing Publishing LTD.,

      53 Hanover Dr., Orem, Utah 84058

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      In the Beginning

      Micky Dolenz

      Davy Jones

      Peter Tork

      Michael Nesmith

      The Coming Together of the Monkees

      Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart

      The Pilot

      Becoming a Real Band

      Last Train to Clarksville

      The First Album The Monkees

      I’m a Believer

      The Reverse British Invasion

      Headquarters

      Pleasant Valley Sunday

      Daydream Believer

      A House of Cards

      The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees

      Head

      33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee

      The In-Between Years

      MTV Revives The Monkees

      Justus

      One Last Tour

      The Loss of Davy Jones

      Legacy of The Monkees

      Afterword

      Selected Discography

      Episode List

      About the Author

      Introduction

      Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees! Who doesn’t remember those famous words? At least if you were alive in the Sixties, you probably remember them.

      I absolutely loved the Monkees. The music was great, but I really liked the television show. With this group, you had the best of both worlds. It’s probably no secret that the Monkees were a manufactured band. They were four guys that were chosen especially for the show. They were, and are today, Micky Dolenz, who played drums, Davy Jones, who sang and played percussion, Peter Tork, who played guitar, and Michael Nesmith, who was the lead guitarist. They were literally created by two guys who wanted to put together a group that would be the American equivalent of the Beatles.

      The Beatles were the hottest band in the world in the Sixties, and America needed an answer to that. The Monkees never came up to the level of the Beatles, but they were fun and, even though they were created from nothing, they had talent.

      If it had been just bad music, no one would have bought it; but they were really good. I had just gotten married when the Monkees came on the scene, and I can remember rocking my new baby and listening to the Monkees on the radio. We were in Dallas, away from home, and the Monkees helped brighten the day when we were feeling homesick.

      Be warned, however; this is kind of a sad story. Life was good for the Monkees some of the time, but much of the time there was conflict and sorrow. Here we have four guys who were never really friends trying to get along with one another and sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing.

      Lovingly called the Pre-Fab Four, here are the Monkees.

      In the Beginning

      I’m going to turn things around a little. If you’ve read any of my other books, you know I usually start with a brief history of the life of the performer before they became famous. But in this case, I’d like to start with the creation of the group and how they came to be.

      The Monkees really started on February 6, 1964. That’s the famous day the Beatles appeared for the first time in America and performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. Each of the four guys who would later become the Monkees were watching that night and, like so many other performers of the Sixties, it inspired them. They each felt that they could do what the Beatles were doing and they hadn’t even met each other yet.

      Later that summer, the Beatles would release their first movie, A Hard Day’s Night to great acclaim. It debuted in England first and then came to America in August. This did not escape the notice of two producers in Hollywood who had been thinking of creating a television show about musicians who were a lot like the Beatles.

      Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson had just created a new company called Raybert Productions and were looking for a project to promote to the television networks. Rafelson had had some experience with other television shows. He had worked on The Wackiest Ship in the Army, a show based on the movie of the same name in New York. It was after being fired from the show and retreating to the West Coast that he met Bert Schneider.

      The appeal of A Hard Day’s Night told Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson that it was doable and so they set about to put together a show which featured silly musicians having all sorts of fun and misadventures. They now thought they had a good chance of selling the idea to a television network. This would be really the first show that showed young people as the main characters. I looked through a list of television shows that were playing in 1966 and none of them featured just young people. Batman had his Robin and the Adams Family had children, but there were always adults around to supervise.

      Rafelson wanted a show that would star just the young rock stars and show their antics as they went from one silly situation to another. For Rafelson, the idea goes back to before the Beatles were even known. He had the idea of doing a show like this years before, only the group would be a folk group who travelled around having adventures. He had never been able to get anything off the ground until the Beatles came along and proved it could be

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